Have you ever thought about what your last meal would be? It’s a tough question for me, there are so many foods that I love and bring me comfort. Sushi is my favorite thing to eat if we are going out to eat or ordering takeout, but I also make a beeline for my favorite Chicago-style deep dish pizza when we’re in the Midwest. I’m a sucker for a high-end mac and cheese too, the kind with aged white cheddar and bacon or pork belly or something equally delicious. And I’ll never turn down a pile of nachos with a margarita (or two) on the side. But when it comes to what dessert would be at this last meal, there’s no doubt in my mind that it would be ice cream.
This past year for Christmas, I was lucky enough to receive an ice cream maker. I know you can make no-churn ice cream that is pretty delicious, but owning an ice cream maker has been a game changer. A little bit of prep work and you can have amazing, creamy, decadent homemade ice cream just 20 minutes later. After these first 20 minutes the consistency is similar to soft-serve, but you can also transfer the ice cream to a container to freeze until it’s more like traditional ice cream. Either way, it’s absolutely delicious. This ice cream maker is currently one of my favorite appliances ever and I know we’ll be eating homemade ice cream all summer long.
If you follow along on social media or read my last blog post, you know that I’m expecting baby number three! And if you didn’t know, this ice cream recipe may indicate it because of all the fixings I decided to stuff into it. Maybe it sounds crazy to have crushed pretzels, salted caramel, and chocolate chips in ice cream, but I assure you that it is delicious and now one of my favorite ice cream flavors. I used store-bought salted caramel sauce but you can certainly make your own if you’re feeling adventurous!
I love getting ice cream from ice cream shops and don’t even mind buying it from the grocery store, but something about homemade ice cream is just pure creamy deliciousness. The base is simple: heavy cream, whole milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and just a little salt. So easy! All you need to do is whisk that together and refrigerate for two hours before transferring to your ice cream maker. That means that as long as you can remember to freeze your ice cream bowl until it’s solid, you can have homemade ice cream just about anytime you want.
I’m so excited to bring you yummy ice cream flavors all summer long. What’s your favorite flavor? What do you want to see here? Let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to deliver!
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 cup crushed pretzels
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- ½ cup salted caramel sauce
- Ensure freezer bowl for ice cream maker is frozen solid. Leave in freezer until ready for use.
- Whisk together cream, milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.
- Place cream mixture in ice cream maker and mix according to ice cream maker instructions. For my ice cream maker, listed in the notes above, this takes 20 minutes.
- Fold in pretzels and chocolate chips. You may need to do this in a separate bowl depending on your ice cream maker capacity.
- Fold in salted caramel sauce.
- For a soft serve type consistency, you can enjoy this ice cream right away. For a more solid ice cream, transfer to a container and freeze until ready to serve. Let sit at room temperature for 5 minutes before scooping.
Salted caramel pretzels and chip ice cream? That combo sounds like a calorie explosion but honestly, I’d eat it just to taste the crunch.
Sometimes we just need a treat! And this one is definitely a good one!