Salted Caramel No Churn Ice Cream

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Our oven broke this weekend. Without any warning. I went to put in a batch of cinnamon rolls, and opened the oven to realise that there was zero heat in there. NOT ideal when you spend your life using the oven, but also not surprising that it kicked it seeing as how hard I work it. This is the second time it's broken this year, so I am secretly hoping the landlord offers to replace it, in which case I have a load of links ready to send him with my requests. Dreams are free. Luckily we have a little convection oven at the studio which Rich popped over and picked up (he went willingly, the man does love cinnamon rolls), so we were still able to have cinnamon rolls, and the oven got fixed today. All is well.

Ice cream is the perfect "my oven is broken" food. Ticks all the boxes. And as much as I love my Ice Cream maker, there is something extra awesome about no-churn Ice cream. I was totally blown away the first time that I made it - apart from being a bit more melty than regular ice cream, the texture and taste is pretty spot on when you compare it to a churned ice cream. It's a teeny bit sweeter, but just as easy (if not easier) to customise than churned ice cream, and definitely much less effort - you can have a batch whipped up in 5 minutes, and it will be ready to go as soon as it has frozen! 

I kept it pretty simple this time around and added in a salted caramel drizzle between the layers of the ice cream. The Caramel is a super simple recipe - sugar is cooked until it is a lovely toasty amber colour, which you then deglaze with butter, before stirring in some cream, and a healthy dose of salt. I also added a little special ingredient at the end - some bakers grind by Pepper and Me. Pepper and Me is a New Zealand company run by my friend the lovely Cherie - she originally started her company to produce products which help with milk production in breastfeeding Mums, but is slowly taking over the spice scene in NZ with epic seasonings, sauces, pastes and flavoured salts. If you are in NZ make sure that you get your hands on some of this baker's grind - It's a Vanilla baked Salt and Sugar blend, mixed with some cinnamon, star anise and cardamom. The result is a grinder full of happiness that goes well in baked goods, or in this case, caramel. If you aren't New Zealand based, the caramel tastes just as delicious without the spices - I have added an adaptation in the recipe!

A few wee notes:

• The recipe I have included for the caramel makes much more than you need, but in my opinion, if you are going to go to the effort to make caramel, you might as well make a good sized batch - it keeps for a really long time, and is so good on everything!
• You don't need a stand mixer for this recipe - electric beaters work just as well, or a whisk if you are feeling energetic!
• Have everything ready to go when you make the caramel, as things can move quite quickly!
• Watch the sugar for the caramel very very carefully as it can turn very quickly
• The Salted Caramel needs time to cool fully before you use it, so make sure you account for this.
• Remaining salted caramel can be stored in the fridge - just allow it to stand at room temperature to soften slightly before using, otherwise you can microwave it in 15 second bursts to soften.

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