This butterscotch ripple ice cream features swirls of rich butterscotch in a creamy French vanilla ice cream base. A must make for butterscotch lovers everywhere!
In a medium-sized sauce pan, stir together the butter, dark brown sugar, and salt with the water.
Put the lid on and heat over medium heat until the butter melts.
Remove the lid and cook over medium-high heat until the butter browns and the sugar caramelizes. You'll know it's done when the mixture begins to smell like caramelized sugar.
Add the heavy cream all at once. Be careful, the mixture will bubble up.
Stir off the heat until the butterscotch is smooth. A whisk works better than a spoon for this.
Cook over medium heat until the mixture reaches 240F.
Pour into a heat-safe container and stir in the vanilla. Let cool to room temperature.
For the Vanilla Base
Using a hand mixer, whip the yolks and salt together until very light and creamy. Set aside.
Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan.
Bring to a boil and cook until the sugar reaches 240F.
With your hand mixer on, stream the hot sugar syrup into the yolks, whipping until very pale, thick, and billowy. This is your pate a bombe.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip together the heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla until thickened. The whisk will leave tracks in the base.
Scrape in all the pate a bombe and continue to whip until you get very soft peaks.
Add the whole milk and evaporated milk and whisk until well-combined. Mixture will thin out some.
To Layer the Two
You have two options. First, you can layer in about 1/3 of the base and let it freeze for about 45 minutes before adding 1/3 of the butterscotch.
Repeat with more base, sauce, base, and finish with the sauce, allowing 45 minutes to an hour of freezing between layers.
To speed things along a little bit, here's option 2:
Place the metal mixer bowl filled with ice cream base into the freezer. Whisk it every 45 minutes to incorporate the outer frozen parts with the rest of the base. After 3-4 rounds of this, you'll have an ice cream base that is about the texture of soft-serve ice cream.
Then you can layer the base and butterscotch all at once: 1/3 base, 1/3 butterscotch drizzled all over the base, etc, until you fill the pan.
In either case, press plastic wrap onto the surface of the ice cream and freeze at least 8 hours before serving.
You may need to let the ice cream sit out for 5 minutes or so before scooping.
For best flavor and texture, enjoy within about 10 days.
Notes
If the butterscotch sauce is too thick to drizzle, heat for just a very few seconds in the microwave and stir it well. Take extra care to let the layers freeze before adding more.You may double the swirl recipe if you like a ton of swirl!Store airtight for up to 10 days.Nutritional information is based on 8 servings. The majority of calories per serving comes from the heavy cream and butter.