The ice-cream maker has come out of the cupboard, and my latest fave is this caramelised white chocolate ice-cream. It takes a little longer to make due to the caramelising of the chocolate, but hot damn is the results worth it. I've actually made it 3 weeks in a row now as many a friend will attest to having eaten it for dessert at multiple dinner parties...
ICE-CREAM BASE
I like using a good number of egg yolks in my base - 5 to be exact, I lower the amount of sugar I am adding into a typical ice-cream base due to the extra sweetness of the caramelised white chocolate. A pinch of salt helps balance it out and NATURALLY some delicious vanilla from my good friends over at SloFoodGrp - the quality of their Madagascar vanilla bean is second to none.
WHY CARAMELISE THE CHOCOLATE?
White chocolate is often loved or hated. Is it really chocolate after all? Technically no, but that's a conversation for another day. As we all know, white chocolate is notoriously sweet (which I LOVE). What caramelising the chocolate does is darkens the colour of the chocolate, adds a lovely nutty flavour and brings out guess what - caramel notes too. All this wrapped up in the delicious white chocolate flavour. 100% drool-worthy
HOW TO CARAMELISE WHITE CHOCOLATE?
It's crazy easy but definitely takes a few mins to do. Patience is the key with this one. Set the oven to 110c, chop the white chocolate into small pieces and lay it flat onto a silicone mat. Don't have a silicone mat? No stress, you can use parchment paper or even just stick it onto (a clean) rimmed baking tray.
Basically to caramelise the white chocolate you want to cook it at a low temperature over the course of about an hour. Stir the chocolate every 10 minutes or so and you will gradually see the chocolate turn from a pale white/yellow colour to a delicious smooth golden caramel colour.
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF MY CHOCOLATE IS GRAINY?
This can be a common problem with caramelised white chocolate. In fact, it happened to me a couple times so don't stress. The reason for this is you want to use white chocolate with at least 30% cocoa butter content. Most supermarket white chocolate will be about 20% cocoa butter content. SO, what do you do if this is the chocolate you are using? Continue the same way, and if you find that your chocolate is a touch grainy after an hour, then pop it in the blender with a splash of cream and give it a whizz. This will smooth it out, and you are good to go.
One thing to point out - your caramelised white chocolate will go a little clumpy & grainy, to begin with, but be patient and persistent, and it will ultimately smooth out.
CAN I LET THE CHOCOLATE COOL?
Once the chocolate cools it will go grainy and a little streaky too so I tend to use it relatively quickly after I have made it. Works WONDERFUL in this caramelised white chocolate ice-cream recipe, in a custard, for grenache or even stirred through cream (defo let it cool enough for this though).
WHAT TO SERVE WITH CARAMELISED WHITE CHOCOLATE?
Truthfully, I could eat the lot on its own so don't worry about HAVING to make something else with it 😉 For us here we have had friends over for dinner lately and as my dessert skills are limited we have been eating this with my delicious MOREISH chocolate brownies. I have made these about 1000 times now, and they are perfect every time. Warm one up and put a good scoop of my caramelised white chocolate ice-cream on top!
Alternatively, it works great with a warm vanilla sticky toffee pudding, chocolate tart or as part of a sundae - I did say my dessert skills are limited 😉
ALTERNATIVE ICE-CREAM RECIPES
Dulce de Leche Ice-Cream by Yours Truly
Passionfruit Ice-Cream by Robyn Jones of 'MrsJonesKitchen'
Hot Cross Bun Ice-Cream by Yours Truly
Pumpkin Spice Ice-Cream by Sarah Brooks of 'Keep Calm And Eat Ice-Cream'
Acai Ice-Pops by Yours Truly
Keto Chocolate Ice-Cream by Megan Ellam of 'Mad Creations Hub'
Happy Cooking & Happy Eating Friends!!
Ingredients
Caramelised White Chocolate
- 250 g white chocolate
Ice-Cream
- 5 egg yolks
- 600 ml milk
- 250 ml cream
- 100 g castor sugar
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
Caramelised White Chocolate
- Place chopped white chocolate on a high sided baking tray and place into a 110c oven for 1 hour
- Every 10 minutes stir the white chocolate to mix it all together
- After approx 1 hour you should be left with a darker coloured caramelised white chocolate
Ice-Cream
- Mix warm caramelised white chocolate with 1/2 the cream, place a sieve on top and set aside
- Whisk eggs & vanilla until light and fluffy - set aside
- Mix remaining cream, milk, sugar & salt together and heat until just below boiling point (stir regularly)
- Pour 1/2 the heated milk mixture into the eggs and stir to combine. Once combined pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and place back on the heat
- Heat on low/medium heat until mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of the spoon
- Pour heated egg mixture through the sieve into the white chocolate/cream mixture, stir to combine and allow to cool.
- Once cooled place in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours (I like to leave mine overnight) or until cold through
- Using an ice-cream churner churn for 40-45 minutes or until thickened. Serve immediately or place in the freezer to harden
Notes
Essential Tools
- measuring utensils
- rimmed baking tray
- ice-cream churner
- whisk
- silicone spatula
- sieve
- mixing bowl x 2
- saucepan
Tips/Tricks
- the colder the anglaise (ice-cream mix) the thicker it will be and the faster it will churn resulting in a smoother ice-cream
- the reason we pour a small amount of the mix into the eggs and then back into the saucepan is to stop it from cooking/curdling if you added all the heated milk it would start to cook
- pouring the heated egg mix through a sieve will help remove any lumpy or unwanted bits into your ice-cream should any of formed - an extra fail safe 😉
Will definitely try this one. Thanks
What an awesome sounding ice cream flavour. And the combo of white chocolate ice cream and brownies is a match made in heaven! I imagine this would go perfectly with some summer berries to or maybe some strawberry sauce, delicious!