Salted Cashew with Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

Ken and I recently had a conversation about homemade ice cream. He made it as a kid at his step-grandparents, and my family always made it on the Fourth of July. 


Last month we took a weekend trip to Door County, Wisconsin with some friends, and we stopped at the most wonderful dairy farm where they make their own ice cream. I tried the Salted Cashew and Caramel Ice Cream, and it was the best thing my mouth has ever tasted. The contrast between the sweet and salty flavors created a virtual party in my mouth.


That got me thinking about how much fun it would be to make our own ice cream. The lady at the shop refused to give me the recipe, but I figured we could come pretty close by experimenting.

So for Father's Day, Jack and I gave Ken a homemade ice cream maker. The maker came with a recipe book, but Ken and I decided to be adventurous and try to replicate the Salted Cashew and Caramel recipe. We started with a basic ice cream recipe and guessed on the rest. It turned out so delicious! Even our two-year-old son loves it. It was really good the second day, too. Here's the recipe we used. If you try it, let us know how you like it!

Salted Cashew with Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup salted cashews
• 1/4 cup caramel sauce or Dulce de Leche sauce

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed (or a whisk) to mix the milk, sugar, and salt until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours, or overnight.

2. Put the mixture into your ice cream maker, and let mix until thickened. (Mine only took about 20 minutes but each maker is different.)

3. Five minutes before it is done, add the cashews.


4. About two minutes before it's done, add the sweet sauce. I used Dulce de Leche because that's what we had on hand, but caramel would also be good.


5. Remove from mixer and enjoy!