Caramel Gelato
I swear I haven't been trying to torture you by making you wait for this post. My head has been in several different places lately. We're headed to San Diego at the end of the month and I've already left the sauna/blast furnace/oven that is Houston and am sitting poolside at our vacation getaway. Can you blame me?
But I do want to tell you about this ice cream I made with that luscious homemade caramel sauce.
I'm a little spoiled when it comes to ice cream. Traveling to Italy almost every summer of my life has done that to me. If you've eaten authentic Italian gelato, you understand why. I have consumed a lot of gelato in my life and I plan on consuming more now that I know how to make it!
I've never given any thought to making my own gelato at home because I always thought it was too time-consuming and difficult. Was I way wrong. Even worse is the fact that I could have been making my own homemade batches of gelato for the past 13 years because I've had an ice cream maker sitting unused in my kitchen all this time. It was a gift from Peter's mom when we were first engaged. It's moved with us to every apartment and new house and sat patiently in boxes and cupboards only to be used for the first time just couple of weeks ago. It's going to be getting a lot more use from now on, that's for sure.
There is a significant difference between Italian gelato and American ice cream, that is noteworthy. If you read Bon Appetit magazine, you may have read about this in the May issue (the ITALY issue!), where it was explained perfectly (on page 121 to be exact). I'll summarize here: Italian gelato has less air incorporated into it than American ice cream, which makes it much denser in texture. Gelato is served at a much warmer temperature than American ice cream, which means it melts as soon as you take a taste and your taste buds start to party. Finally, gelato tends to have less butterfat content than American ice cream. More for me!
Making gelato requires some advance planning and preparation, but it's nothing complicated. Both the caramel sauce and the plain base should be made a day in advance so they have time to chill. Take the caramel sauce out of the refrigerator first thing the day you plan to make the gelato so it can soften. From there, it's just a matter of throwing everything into the ice cream machine and letting it do it's thing. You will have to freeze the churned gelato before you can eat it so it can continue to set, but if you make it early in the day, you'll be enjoying your ice cream for your after-dinner dessert.
Tip: Read the manufacturer's instructions for your ice cream machine. Some models require you to place the bowl of the machine in the freezer for up to 24 hours in advance before using. Follow all the instructions for safety, cleaning and use of your machine for proper performance.
Plain Base
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
2/3 cup granulated sugarCombine the milk and cream in a heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir occasionally (so a skin doesn't form) until an instant-read thermometer reaches 170 degrees. You may see small bubbles along the edge starting to form as it comes to temperature. What you are doing here is called "scalding" the milk. Do not let the milk come to a boil. Once it comes to temperature, turn off the heat.
While the milk and cream are heating, whisk the egg yolks in a heat-proof bowl (glass or stainless steel). Gradually whisk in the sugar until it is well incorporated and the mixture is thick and pale yellow in color.
Temper the egg/sugar mixture by slowly pouring in small ladlefuls of the scalded milk/cream mixture while whisking continuously. Keep adding the milk/cream mixture until it has all been added to the egg/sugar mixture. Transfer the custard back to the saucepan and place it over low heat. Cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the custard has thickened in texture and reaches 185 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. It won't be exceptionally thick, but it will be thicker in consistency than when you first started cooking it.
Pour the cooked custard through a fine mesh strainer into a clean heat-proof bowl and let it cool to room temperature, stirring it every 5-10 minutes. Once it has completely cooled, cover the container and place it in the refrigerator to chill until very cold--4 hours or overnight.
Caramel Gelato
Plain Base
1/4 cup caramel sauce, at room temperature (I added all of the caramel sauce that I made which was close to 1 cup and it turned out delicious).Make the plain base as instructed above.
When you are ready to make the gelato, remove the chilled plain base from the refrigerator and whisk in the caramel sauce. It's OK if you see bits of caramel throughout the base--they will dissolve once the ice cream machine starts churning the mixture.
Pour the mixture into your ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Transfer the churned gelato to another container, cover tightly and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.
Note: The gelato will not get rock hard as it freezes, but it will firm up considerably.
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Hi Flavia! This looks just beautiful. Do you have a recommendation for an ice cream machine?
Homemade ice cream is the best - especially with homemade caramel sauce!
I fell in love with gelato in Dallas. They have tons of shops. Then I moved to Cali and it's frozen yogurt central. I miss my gelato:( Thanks for a homemade recipe!
This gelato looks SO GOOD. And so easy to make! I'm definitely bookmarking this one :)
Thank you love! It was delicious...next..hazelnut or pistachio gelato!!! :-)