This week’s TWD was chosen by Becky of Project Domestication: burnt sugar ice cream. I have to thank Becky for this selection for a number of reasons. First, the recipe was relatively uncomplicated and I really needed that this week. I’m not sure I could have handled anything with lots of components and tricky steps – I’ve been off my game for a few days and am still trying to find my mojo and get back into the swing of things. Aside from this ice cream, I haven’t baked in 4 or 5 days, which may not seem like much, but around here it’s an eternity! Also, I know I promised photos from Shane’s first marathon and a race report and I’m still going to deliver, it’s just going to be a few days later than I’d originally hoped. Stay tuned!
Becky’s ice cream selection was also very timely as the month of May seems to have brought some July weather to Rhode Island along with it. We’ve had a few hot and humid days and what could be better on a day like that than ice cream? The only downside? We haven’t turned our a/c on so the house has been fairly warm, which made photographing this ice cream difficult. By the time I scooped it into the bowl and got it set up for its photo, it was soupy and not terribly attractive (see, for example, the second and fourth photos of the post). I kept popping it back in the freezer, but I’m impatient so never really left it in there long enough to get completely hard again.
A few months ago I made the caramel ice cream from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home and while it was quite good, I didn’t love the flavor enough to eat it by itself – it was definitely more of an accompaniment to other desserts. Dorie’s recipe included very similar ingredients, the main difference being that Thomas Keller’s recipe is far richer – a higher cream to milk ratio and more egg yolks. I was hoping Shane would help me eat the ice cream this week but I only made 1/2 batch so there wouldn’t be as much and I also added M&M’s to the recipe – chocolate in a recipe greatly increases the chances that Shane will at least try it! I also used half and half in place of some of the cream and milk and then used extra 1% milk to get the ratio of cream to milk correct. As Dorie warned, my caramel did seize when I added the milk and cream, but it smoothed out with a little heat and some diligent stirring. I strained the custard before adding the vanilla just in case any bits of hard caramel remained. Finally, I froze the M&M’s for a few hours before folding them into the ice cream (thanks to a tip here) in an attempt to keep them from bleeding (for the record, they still bled, but not as much as they do when I don’t freeze them).
I tried to make ice cream sandwiches with some of the fabulous chocolate cookies Margot sent me, but the ice cream kept melting so I had to stick with eating it out of a bowl 🙂 The verdict? Shane and I both liked the ice cream, but it’s probably not a recipe I’d make over and over again. It’s essentially the same verdict I reached on Thomas Keller’s version. I think perhaps we’re just not big enough fans of caramel to appreciate the flavor. That said, just about all of the TWD folks who made this one and posted on the P&Q’s couldn’t say enough good things about this ice cream, so don’t let me deter you from giving it a shot! Thanks again to Becky for hosting this week! You can find the recipe for the ice cream on her blog or on page 432 of Dorie’s book.
I’m sorry you two weren’t crazy about this ice cream. It still looks fantastic. I love the addition of M&Ms.
i have dorie’s book. guess i’d have to try these soon!
Smarties – good idea! I was looking for something quick and easy to fold in, and ended up with caramelized almonds, but Smarties would have been even quicker and easier…
Love the M&m mix in! If you put chocolate in a recipe, it would greatly increase my chance of making it, too! Sorry you weren’t too crazy about this one, but as always it is picture perfect!
Party ice cream! Looks like fun.
It looks like a party in a bowl! How fun to add the candies…guys here would love that, too. Nice job. We loved it, too. I only made half a batch so I could be sure it would be gone…no need anything this tempting hanging around the house.
I want to lick that last picture, Tracey! :o) Stay cool. I think we’ve been having some of the same weather. I’m not ready for summer just yet.
How fun looking with the M&Ms! We must be related because I like my ice cream photos to have a little melting and I was too impatient to wait for it to happen. I hope we both get the urge to get back to baking soon.
Ha – my ice cream looked more like ice cream soup too! Yours really does look fab and with those M&Ms – OMG!! I LOVE that last photo – just gorgeous!
I love the freezing the m&ms tip. I’m going to remember that. I thought about making ice cream sandwiches, but this ice cream is so soft that I didn’t think it would work. Your pictures look great!
the m&ms make it look so good though…
That ice cream looks delicious!!!
A note about the ice cream not freezing all the way… did you leave the ice cream maker bowl in the freezer for at least 24 hours? if that’s not cold enough then your ice cream probably won’t freeze all the way. Regardless – that ice cream really does look delicious. I’ll have to add m&ms to my next batch.
The pictures look awesome, sorry the taste wasn’t as good.I do love Smarties ice cream
Making ice cream sandwiches was a great idea! Even with the drippy ice cream, it’s looks delicious!
how FUN!!! my son would love this!
I have to agree – that last picture makes the ice cream look fabulous! 🙂 Sorry it wasn’t a favorite!
p.s. Glad you received the book! Can’t wait to see what you make out of it! 🙂
Great idea to add the M&Ms. They add a lot of color to a rather colorless ice cream.
It DID seem to melt quickly.
We can’t all like everything we make, but you did a great job on the ice cream nevertheless. The M&M’s add some lovely color.
hmmm…my MIL sent us a big bag of m&ms for easter. i’m not crazy about them, so we haven’t opened it…maybe i should put them in ice cream!!
I love the M&M colors! Sorry you didn’t love the taste.
Fun photos. This ice cream did melt quickly, huh. It’s good, but a little too rich, sweet for me. Which is saying a lot, I know!
Great idea adding the M&Ms, sorry about the melting! i thought it was great, just too much work to make over and over again.
I actually felt the same way, but there was so much peer pressure I felt bad not being one of the “OMG this ice cream is amazing!” people. 🙂
It looks like a party in a bowl! Kids would love it.
M&M’s! What a brilliant idea. I’ll have to try that next time. I agree with you, this ice cream did melt very quickly 🙂
Looks great Tracey! I think that adding chocolate to these is a great idea – it was so sweet that it almost needed something else going on. I could really only eat a bite or two of this (and that is saying something, because I’m not generally “a bite or two” kind of girl) because it is so sweet. I loved this, but I think you are right that caramel ice cream in general might work best as an accompaniment to something else. Hope it cools down a little for you all before it gets hot again!
I like the color pop from the M&Ms.
This ice cream is definitely for folks who like the taste of caramel. My hubs is not a fan of anything caramel (this ice cream included), so you are in good company.
Great idea to add M&Ms! What a cool tip to freeze them first too. I thought this was good, but I can’t say I’d make it again.
i love your whimsical m&m’s, tracey:)
congrats to shane on his first marathon! can’t wait to read more about it.
Love the psychedelic colors from the M&M. It looks darn tasty.
the candies give it a nice color but i think i prefer mine plain! oh and there is a TWD recipe coming up w/apples so maybe you can make the caramel apple oatmeal bars then 😉
Wow… This ice cream looks really pretty. I love the picture of the melty ice cream sandwich!
It looks so good with the M&Ms! I didn’t cook mine long enough and it still tasted really caramelly, so I guess it’s not a great recipe if you aren’t huge caramel fans.
Haven’t baked in 5 days?! I usually bake a lot over the weekend and then want to bake again around Wednesday; I think I’m going to make the SM recipe tonight.
Ohh, what a great recipe that looks like! I like that you out m n ms in it too, it’s so pretty.
The m&m color bleeding looks really pretty! I know it wasn’t the intention, but it looks cool and m&m’s in ANYTHING wins my vote.
The Melting M&Ms have got me melting and wanting ice cream.
I actually made this one without an ice cream machine and I had the same melting problem that you did. I used the Lebowitz method you turned me on to a while back via twitter 🙂
Your ice cream looks great!!!! The flavor to me was a bit reminiscent of the dulce I made for the dulce de leche duos.
Oh how fun and colorful 🙂