Salted Caramel Ice-Cream

Ice-cream has to be my guilty pleasure. In the summer we like to go walking in Coronado in the evenings. It just so happens that our route takes us by Moo Time, Coronado's ice-cream shop. They have some of the best ice-cream in San Diego. Makes you wonder, are we really trying to be healthy or is this just an excuse to mack out on ice-cream??? I suspect it's the later.

Serves 5 Yeild-about 4 cups

Ice-Cream Base
1 cup whole milk
4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream

Prepare and ice-bath by setting a 2 quart bowl over a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the smaller bowl.Heat the milk in a sauce pan over medium-low heat.In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow in color. Gradually pour the hot milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the same saucepan you used to warm the milk. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Strain the custard into the top bowl of the ice-bath to stop the cooking process. Add the heavy cream and stir over the ice bath until cool. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the frig.

Caramel

1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Heat the sugar in a dry heavy bottomed saucepan over medium/high heat, stirring with a fork to heat the sugar evenly, until it starts to melt. Stop stirring and swirl the pan so the sugar melts. Continue cooking until it is a dark amber color. Carefully add the heavy cream (the mixture will splatter) and cook,stirring until all the caramel has dissolved. Transfer to a heat proof bowl and stir in the sea salt and the vanilla. Set the caramel mixture over the ice-bath, until chilled to room temp. Combine the caramel with the ice-cream base and return to the frig over night. Freeze in an ice-cream machine according to manufacturer's instructions.