Homemade Dulce De Leche Ice Cream (Eggless!)

Photo: ChefPriyanka

Ingredients

1 cup heavy cream (yes I know, not healthy but this is the fattiest portion of the dish, and it makes about 3-

1 cup milk (I used skim plus)

1 cup fatfree half& half (I used Land-o-Lakes Brand)

4 tablespoons sugar

1 cup Homemade Dulce de Leche (Recipe BELOW)

Dulce de Leche:

2 cups milk (I used skim plus)

2 cups fatfree half& half (I used Land-o-Lakes Brand)

1 vanilla bean- split with the seeds scraped out

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preparation

In a heavy, large sauce pan heat together the heavy cream, milk and half & half over medium heat. Whisk int he sugar to dissolve. Once the mixture comes to a boil, remove from the heat and stir in 3/4 of the Dulce de Leche.

Cool COMPLETELY in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Don’t make the mistake of cooling over an ice bath and popping it into the ice cream maker- it won’t churn properly! (Trust me I’ve done it before).

Once cooled, prepare in your ice cream maker as the instructions state in the manual.Towards the end, right before the ice cream is thick enough to your desired texture, drizzle in remaining dulce de leche to create swirls.

Dulce de Leche:

In a large heavy pot pour the milk, half & half, sugar and vanilla bean & seeds and heat over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. You do NOT want to BOIL the mixture!

Once the sugar is dissolved add the baking soda and stir. Lower heat to LOW and cook stirring occasionally. You want the mixture to be BARELY simmering. This is a slow process, so some patience is required. Cook for 1 HOUR.

After 1 hour, remove the vanilla bean and cook stirring occasionally for another 2 hours until you’ve achieved a medium-dark caramel color. It should reduce to about 1-1 1/2 cups.

Once you’ve achieve the color and thick texture (be careful it splatters a bit while you stir, and you don’t want to be burnt by HOT sugar!), remove the mixture from the stove. Over a heat proof bowl with a fine write mesh strainer, strain the dulce de leche. Cover with a lid/plastic wrap and store in the fridge until ready to use.