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The summers here in South Carolina are brutal. Hot, very hot and humid, almost like you are sitting in a sauna. Not having frozen treats in the freezer is not an option and I always have supply of cool treats. Check out these few healthy recipes that may inspire you:
Lately, my boys are loving ice cream more than other treats. Even though my freezer is well stocked, I almost feel like I have to compete with the ice cream truck.
The older they are getting the more flavors of ice cream they are willing to try. This makes me happy. Their latest favorite is caramel ice cream.
That's why I came up with the idea to make salted caramel ice cream by using one of my childhood favorite ingredients, Dulce de Leche.
This Dulce de Leche ice cream is pure heaven on a spoon. It is not a true caramel ice cream, but close enough to call it this way. It's incredibly simple to make, and you can control your sweetness level, and salt. No cooking is required and no ice cream maker either!
Here are the top 4 of our favorite ice creams:
What do I need to make salted caramel ice cream?
Heavy cream, the higher the fat content the better. Easy to find in the refrigerator section in every supermarket. How to choose, please check out the notes below.
Salt, flaky salt with big crystals, I used Celtic salt in the video.
Dulce de leche, one can is enough for my taste, and another can I use for garnishing the final product. Please, use more if you like very sweet.
Notes on ingredients for salted caramel ice cream
On a Dulce de Leche
What is it and where can I buy it?
Dulce De Leche are fancy words to describe simply cooked sweetened condensed milk. There are only 2 ingredients: sugar and milk! That's it!
Just about every European grocery store will have it. Also, Latin American countries have used this product for many, many decades. So, if you have one, go and get it. It's great to have on hand. Sometimes, I enjoy treating my boys after school with a snack of sliced green apples and Dulce de Leche dip. Yummy!
But what to do if you can't find it in the store, well do what I do and what our parents used to do: Make it yourself. It's so easy.
Here is how to do it:
Do you see the difference between cooked vs uncooked sweetened condensed milk?
1. Place one can or a few cans of sweetened condensed milk in a pot and fill it with water and turn the stove on low heat and boil for 2 and
half hours or use a crock pot (which I prefer) and set on low and
cook for 8 hours or leave overnight.
2. Let it cool and store at room temperature just like any canned food. Add to many desserts or eat as it is. To serve, first warm it up a little bit in order to achieve a nice consistent drizzle.
On a salt
I can easily call myself a salt snob, oh yes, I am. Throughout my blog, I have mentioned many times how much I like Celtic salt. This salt and pink salt are the only salts I use in my kitchen. Generally, I recommend that you stay away from table salt because it contains too many additives such as: Anti-caking agents (aluminum). Also, unlike real salt lack of trance minerals. Has been bleached and the last but not least contains microplastic (due to the ocean pollution)
Politics on eating salt
So many people are afraid of salt, and it has been given a bad reputation for more than a few decades in the US. No wonder older folks especially react to the use of salt with negativity. Heart disease hasn't decreased at all since the government began advertising this theory. Infact, heart disease is growing. It was in the late 1980s, in response to the notion that sodium had a major impact on the population’s blood pressure that we were encouraged to limit our salt intake.
The lack of a clear relationship between salt intake and blood pressure is best exemplified with the standard hospital saline IV drip, which supplies an average of three liters of 0.9 percent sodium chloride per day. This is equivalent to twenty-seven grams of salt (4.5 teaspoons) per day while in the hospital and in addition to the six grams (one teaspoon) of salt taken in food (if the Guidelines are followed). That is a total of thirty-three grams of salt per day or more than five times the Dietary Guideline recommendations! Yet patients’ BP is checked every four to six hours and does not change. Where is the purported relationship of salt intake to blood pressure?
Chloride is essential for digestion and in respiration. Without sodium, which the body cannot manufacture, the body would be unable to transport nutrients or oxygen, transmit nerve impulses, or move muscles, including the heart. An adult human being contains about 250 grams of salt, which would fill three or four saltshakers, but is constantly losing it through bodily functions. It is essential to replace this lost salt.
What salt is best for this recipe?
Celtic Sea Salt, my favorite, being of a grayish hue, it is naturally harvested in Brittany, France near the Celtic Sea using a 2,000-year-old Celtic method that is crucial to preserving its life-giving micro nitrites. Takes 500 years to degrade.
Himalayan Sea Salt, known as “pink gold” or “pink sea salt,” Himalayan crystal salt is actually a beautiful translucent pink and contains all of the elements found in your body. As Celtic salt also contains a lot of minerals.
Fleur de Sel, French or Portuguese for “flower of salt”. This sea salt gets its name from the patterns of crystals that resemble flowers and is beautiful for finishing a dish.
Flake Sea Salt, this salt is perfect for finishing dishes as well, and you can find under the brand Maldon sea salt flakes. Flake sea salts have thin, flattened crystals that provide more surface area with less mass resulting in a quick-dissolving and crunchy salt.
On the cream
Over the years I see more and more people give up on dairy, with the reason being that they generally don't feel good eating dairy.
If you have been reading my blog for a while, you probably noticed that I constantly encourage the consumption of quality food. Especially dairy, and heavy cream is a straightforward ingredient, isn't it? Basically, it's a dairy product with higher fat content than milk, and a more viscous consistency. Before milk goes through the homogenization process, the high-butter fat layer is skimmed from the top of the milk and used to produce heavy cream. It contains a minimum of 35% fat. That's it! Right?
But now look at this list:
Carrageenan, Mono and Diglycerides, Cellulose Gum, Polysorbate 80:
What you see are additives that impact your endocrine system and make us sick.
All these food additives manufacturers use as a thickening agent and food stabilizers to prolong shelf life. They are terrible for our health.
Polysorbate 80 has also been linked with an increased risk of blood clots, stroke, heart attack, heart failure, and of tumor growth or recurrence in patients with certain types of cancer.
Please, always choose organic and clean product as much as possible.
How to make Dulce de Leche Ice Cream:
Place 4 cups of cold heavy cream in an electric mixer.
With the whisk attachment, start mixing on medium speed.
As soon as you see the cream thickening up a little bit, add salt.
Then add one spoon at a time.
Stop whisking cream after soft peaks form. Remember you are not looking for whip cream consistency.
Pour into a freezer container or individual ice cream cups and leave in the freezer for 3-8 hours.
Let's do it...
Prep time: 5 minutes
Making time: 5-10 minutes
Freezing time: 3-8 hours
Total time: 8 hours and 10 minutes
Yield: 12-13 kid-sized servings
Author: Inna of innichkachef.com
Ingredients
4 cups cold heavy cream (see note above)
1-2 cans Dulce de Leche (see note above)
2 teaspoons Celtic salt
Directions
1. Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, add your cream whisking on medium speed for a few minutes, then add salt.
2. As soon as you notice it slightly thickening, add one spoon at the time of your Dulce de Leche. If you want to achieve sweetness like store bought ice cream, then add two cans. Keep whisking until soft peaks are achieved. Pour in a freezable containers or individual ice cream cups and leave in the freezer for a few hours, depending on the size of your vessel, this can take anywhere between 3 to 8 hours.
Use ice cream maker to have a quicker result.
Or you can use an ice cream maker to have a quicker result.
3. Serve as it is! Or sprinkle with additional salt and drizzle with some Dulce de Leche on top of the ice cream (Delce de Leche warm up in microwave for a minute or so and whisk for a perfect drizzle consistency). Serving ice cream in a cone is even better. Keep an eye out for my next recipe for homemade ice cream cones. ENJOY!
I hope you'll make this recipe soon. If you do, please tag me #innichka_chef on Instagram, Facebook, Patreon or Pinterest.