Caramel Ice Cream with Buttery Apricots
Homemade ice-cream is rich and creamy and always a luscious treat. This one, served with hot apricots, is no exception.
Ingredients
Serves: 4
- 1 cup full-cream milk
- 3 egg yolks
- ⅔ cup caster sugar
- 100 ml cream
- Buttery apricots
- 25 g unsalted butter
- 16 dried apricots, halved
- 1½ tablespoons caster sugar
- juice of ½ lemon
Directions
Preparation:4hours10min ›
Cook:15min ›
Ready in:4hours25min
- Heat the milk in a saucepan over a low heat until almost boiling, then remove from the heat, cover and set aside. Whisk the egg yolks with ¼ cup of the sugar in a large bowl until the mixture is pale and frothy.
- In another saucepan, dissolve the remaining sugar in ¼ cup of water over a low heat. Bring to the boil, then cook over a high heat for 2–3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the syrup looks a deep golden colour. Remove from the heat and carefully stir in the cream.
- Pour the caramel cream into the hot milk, then gradually whisk this into the egg yolks. Return to the pan and cook gently, without letting it boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the custard coats the spoon. Remove the pan from the heat and plunge the base into a bowl of cold water to cool. Churn in an ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer's directions. Freeze for 3–4 hours.
- Just before serving, melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the apricots and sprinkle with the sugar. Heat gently for 5 minutes, turning halfway through, until the apricots are glazed with the buttery syrup. Pour in the lemon juice.
- Scoop the ice-cream into serving dishes and spoon over some of the warm apricots and syrup.
cook's tips
• If you don't have an ice-cream machine, pour the cool custard into a plastic container at the end of step 3. Place the container in the freezer. After 2 hours, remove from the freezer and whisk the mixture. Refreeze, then repeat the whisking a second time. Freeze again until completely frozen.
• For an impressive garnish, decorate with toffee. Put a heavy-based saucepan over a moderate heat and gradually sprinkle in a layer of caster sugar, sprinkling with more as it melts – you'll need about 1 cup. Stir to melt any lumps. When it is golden, remove the pan from the heat and put in a sink of cold water. Drizzle the caramel into patterns on a well oiled baking tray, reheating the caramel gently if necessary.
