Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

Last weekend I wanted to try my hand at Homemade Dulce de Leche. I was a little bit intimidated by the stove top method. Making Dulce de leche on the stove consisted of cooking the cans in a pan of hot water for several hours.

 
This made me a bit nervous because I kept thinking the cans would get to hot and burst. And then I would have sweetened condensed milk all over my kitchen. I'm sure this process works,  but it just wasn't for me. Instead I chose a slow cooker method which I found on A Year of Slow cooking. 

Making homemade Dulce de leche out of sweetened condensed milk is genius! I'm so glad that I finally got around to trying the slow cooker method, because it really was easy. I know you can purchase canned Dulce de Leche in the grocery store, but wheres the fun in that?

The whole process is pretty straight forward and the hardest part of the whole thing is waiting for those cans to cool down so you can open them. Of course when I did open up a can of the Dulce de Leche and got my first taste It was pure heaven. All that creamy yummy caramel goodness I was hooked.
 

After tasting the DIY version the next thought that popped into my mind was I gotta make something spectacular with this stuff! The kids wanted to use it for apple dipping, but I wanted to use it to make Homemade Dulce de Leche Ice Cream. I have been wanting for the perfect opportunity to make this recipe, so I thought today would be only fitting.

I found a recipe on Smitten Kitchen  and adapted the recipe to accommodate my 4 quart ice cream maker. I increased the whole milk and the whipping cream but I also added half and half to the recipe.

If you want the original recipe which make 1 1/2 quarts click on the link at the end of the post. Now keep in mind this recipe is not diet friendly with all the cream added and top it off by adding dulce de leche and that's a deadly combination. I toasted some pecans and added it to the ice cream and it was so good. 

Well, actually out of this world great. I cant wait to make this ice cream again. I have included the directions on how you can make your own homemade Dulce de leche along with the recipe at the end of this post. I hope you'll give both of these recipes a try,because they're definitely keepers!

Step by step photos of how to make dulce de leche in your crock pot. (recipe below)

To make the ice cream bring the milk and cream just to a boil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, then remove from heat and whisk in Dulce de leche until dissolved. Whisk in vanilla and transfer to a metal bowl. I left mine in the same pot and did the quick chill. 

Quick-chill by putting bowl or pot in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and stirring occasionally until cold, 15 to 20 minutes. Add the mixture to your ice cream canister, then add enough milk until the mixture hits the fill line on the canister. Proceed with you manufacturer directions for making ice cream.

 

Inspired by: Smitten Kitchen