We may be halfway through the month of January, but this week we’re going back to the holidays. Everyone has their favorite holiday baked goods, and it seems as though every year there are more and more varieties on the cookie plate. This year, my sister-in-law turned me onto mini pretzels topped with melted down rolos. She pressed whole pecans into some of these snackers after the melt down, and others she left plain. However I ate it, I liked it. These flavors are not re-inventing the wheel, but they certainly make for irresistible snacking. And when I say irresistible, what I mean is, uncontrollable. And so, I wanted to deconstruct these little snackers and put them into our ice cream. Let’s get started with this week’s flavor – Caramel with Salt Candied Pretzel and Chocolate Syrup.
I decided that I wanted to make a caramel ice cream base, which is something that we’ve never executed before. Now seems like the perfect time, and making the caramel base is really no different than our process of making caramel itself. First, sugar and a very small amount of water are brought to a boil. The sugar is boiled until it starts to caramelize and turn a nice deep amber color. At this point, our cream is whisked in, and we add the caramel cream to the remaining portion of our ice cream base, which is heated through; emulating the pasteuriztion process. The result is a golden ice cream base ready for the churn.
Pretzels! Who doesn’t like pretzels? Ok, if you don’t like them, I can guarantee that you’re going to love these pretzels. They are an adaptation of Christina Tossi’s (of Momofuku Milk Bar fame) pretzel crunch. We are essentially making a pie crust or other type crumb to make these pretzels. The pretzels are broken up into small pieces, and baked with sugar, malted milk powder, salt and butter. Look out, cause these alone can make for a hella snackathon. They are tossed into the ice cream at the end of the churn.
And finally, our chocolate syrup. Here we make a simple syrup, by boiling organic cane sugar and water together, and then add our Valrhona cocoa powder. It’s the bomb chocolate syrup, and we layer it into the pints during packaging.
Bang! Caramel with Salt Candied Pretzel and Chocolate Syrup. It’s January, but we’re still serving up some holiday-inspired snackers frozbroz style.
Like to try some? You can be one of two lucky winners of this fabulous, scratch made craft ice cream in our weekly pint giveaway. Enter your name in the comments section here, or on our facebook page under the posted contest. Two winners will be drawn randomly on Friday 1/17/14 at 4pm. Winners must be able to pick up locally. Prizes must be claimed by email within one week or we will redistribute. 🙂 Good luck!
Don’t forget, our first pint sale is coming up this Saturday, January 18th. Click here for details.
