Chocolate Ice Cream and Salted Chocolate Dipped Caramels

Another ice cream recipe by David Lebovitz- this one is for chocolate ice cream. When choosing between vanilla and chocolate I always go for vanilla. Chocolate isn't as refreshing to me and I rarely eat chocolate ice cream, but for some reason I was craving it. There was a false start- I was stupidly trying to do dishes at the same time and my custard turned into scrambled eggs. Always make sure you pay attention! I need to relearn how to uni-task. The final product? It's good. Like crazy good. It's smooth, creamy and not overly sweet.

I made a smore of sorts- chocolate ice cream, crushed graham crackers and a toasted marshmallow.



I have a big list of things I want to make and one of the things on the list is caramels. I found this recipe for Salted, chocolate dipped caramels from the NY Times. I'm very scared of heating sugar- I've read and heard a lot of stories about sugar burns and I'm already much aware of hot oil and pan burns. I was extra careful- aprons, glasses and oven mitts at all times! In the end, I was probably overprepared. Just make sure to use a very large pan- much bigger than you think you'll need because it bubbles and grows. And a candy thermometer is indispensable for this recipe.


Also, unless you are making wedding favors or plan on eating 10 caramels every day for a month, make half or even a quarter of the recipe. I made this a month ago and I STILL have a tupperware container full of caramels in my fridge (not complaining that much actually...). Just be aware it makes a LOT and caramel is not a stagnant object. My thermometer says I hit all the right temps, but that caramel oozes. I had to refrigerate portions at a time and work at a crazy speed to dip and salt them and then get it back into the fridge. It didn't help that it was a very hot day. In the end it was worth it. I had dozens and dozens of small (and large and oddly shaped) caramels. They taste exactly like the caramel bar from Huckleberry (minus the cookie crust), which is what started my obsession in the first place. They are salty/sweet/chewy/buttery and oh so melty.