Salted-caramel ice cream sandwiches recipe
Easy to make ahead and with serious wow-factor, ice-cream sandwiches are perfect for parties. Try this super-indulgent recipe from Blu Top Ice Cream’s Richard Makin.
Makes just under 1 litre
INGREDIENTS
For the ice-cream
540g whole milk
210g double cream
130g granulated sugar
55g skimmed milk powder
3 egg yolks
25g cornflour
10g vanilla paste (or seeds of one vanilla pod)
For the caramel
300g granulated sugar
295g double cream
For the cinnamon snickerdoodle cookies
Makes 16 cookies
113g unsalted butter
150g granulated sugar, plus 3 tbsp for topping
1 large egg
¼ tsp vanilla extract
175g plain flour
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
METHOD
To make the caramel
Heat the sugar in a medium-sized dry pan on a medium high heat. Measure out your cream while you wait.
Do not stir, just swirl the pan over the heat until the sugar starts to melt. (Remember, molten sugar is incredibly hot and can cause serious burns).
Once the sugar has melted and no crystals can be seen in the pan, keep it over the heat until it turns a deep amber colour. If it begins to smoke, remove the pan from the heat.
Add the double cream to the pan of melted sugar in one go. The mix will bubble and can splatter, so be careful.
Mix the caramel over a medium heat until all the melted sugar has dissolved into the cream (it tends to lump into a ball but don’t panic, it will dissolve).
Add a good pinch of Maldon sea salt flakes and stir.
Put the pan of caramel into an ice bath and allow it to cool for around 10 minutes before covering in clingfilm and transferring to the fridge.
To make the ice cream
Add the milk, cream and half of the sugar (65g) to a large pan over a medium high heat. Monitor the temperature with a probe or jam thermometer and bring the mix to 40C.
While the mix is warming, whisk together the skimmed milk powder and cornflour in a medium bowl.
When milk mix hits 40C add around half of it to the skimmed milk powder and cornflour and blend. Pour through fine sieve back into pan of milk mix.
Add the vanilla to the mix.
Stir continuously with a silicone spatula, scraping the bottom of pan over a medium heat. Try not allow the cornflour to congeal on the bottom of pan, but don’t worry too much if this happens – it will be sieved out later.
Warm gradually to 70C then remove from heat.
Immediately whisk the egg yolks and remaining 65g sugar until pale and foamy in a medium bowl. Temper the egg yolks by pouring a slow, thin drizzle of the hot milk mix over the egg-and-sugar mix while whisking constantly. This stops the eggs from cooking too quickly.
Once around half of the milk mix has been combined with the egg yolks, pour the egg yolk mix into pan through a sieve with the rest of the base while stirring with the spatula.
Stir continuously, scraping the bottom of the pan, until the custard thickens and reaches 85C.
Immediately plunge the pan into an ice bath and blend with a stick blender for around a minute.
Stir occasionally until the temperature drops to 21C.
Add the now cool caramel and blend with a stick blender until the mix is smooth. Cover and chill overnight or for at least four hours in fridge.
Ensuring that the mix is at around 3C to 5C, strain through a sieve and blend with a stick blender before churning in an ice-cream machine for approx 20 minutes, or until it reaches the texture of soft-serve ice cream.
Decant the ice-cream into a tub and keep in the freezer for at least 6 hours.
To make the cookies
Pre-heat the oven to 180C and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat and leave to cool slightly.
Beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla in a mixer on high speed for a minimum of 6 minutes
Add the butter to mixer in a slow drizzle, scraping the pan with a spatula to make sure you include all of it.
Mix the flour, salt and baking soda together in a separate bowl.
Add this dry mix to the wet ingredients in a mixer on a low speed but do not over-mix – just until it’s ombined.
Combine the extra sugar with the cinnamon in a baking tray and set aside.
The cookie dough will be wet at this stage, so wrap it in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Pre-heat the oven to 180C and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
Form the dough into balls weighing 30g each (around the size of a walnut).
Dunk the top of each ball into the sugar and cinnamon mix and arrange on the prepared baking sheets (cinnamon side up) with a few centimetres gap between each cookie.
Bake at 180C for 10 minutes. The edges should be slightly brown and the centre pale.
Immediately transfer the cookies on their baking parchment to a cooling rack and let cool for minimum of an hour.
To assemble
To assemble the sandwiches, take a large scoop of the ice cream and place it in the centre of a face-down snickerdoodle. Top with another snickerdoodle and squeeze slightly until the ice cream meets the edges of the cookies. Eat straight away!