Apple Pie Ice Cream

I was at the grocery store the other day, and I saw a Peach Cobbler Ice Cream made by Ben & Jerry's. I instantly wanted to make it, but then I realized fresh peaches aren't really in season until this summer, so I wanted to wait to make the Peach Cobbler Ice Cream until they were ripe and delicious. But, I thought I could make an Apple Pie Ice Cream that would be really similar to the ice cream I saw at the grocery store. It is a vanilla bean ice cream base with shortbread cookie crumble (that mimics the crust of a pie), spiced apples, and a light caramel sauce. It really does taste like a slice of apple pie with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top. So this is definitely a great alternative until I can make that Peach Cobbler Ice Cream that I've been itchin' to make. Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Shortbread Cookie Crumbles, Spiced Apples, and Caramel

For the Shortbread Cookies:

3 Sticks of Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature

1C Sugar

1t Vanilla

3 ½C AP Flour

¼t Salt

For the Spiced Apples:

2 Granny Smith Apples, Peeled & Cored & Cut into Cubes

3T Butter

2T Sugar

½C Brown Sugar

¼t Cornstarch 

1t Cinnamon

Pinch of Nutmeg

Pinch of Salt

For the Vanilla Bean Ice Cream:

1C Whole Milk

Pinch of Salt

¾C Sugar

1 Vanilla Bean, Split Lengthwise

2C Heavy Cream

6 Large Egg Yolks

1t Vanilla

Directions:

1. To Make the Cookies: Preheat the oven to 350. Then in an electric mixer, beat together the softened butter, sugar, and vanilla, then sift together the flour and salt and mix this into the butter. Beat until it just comes together, then pat the dough into a disc and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. After the dough has chilled, roll it out and using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into cookies. Place the cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Once the cookies have cooled, crumble them into bite size pieces and set aside.

2. To Make the Spiced Apples: To make the spiced apples, melt the butter and add in the cubed apples, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cornstarch and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook the apples over medium heat, stirring often, until the apples are tender, and a light caramel has formed (around 10 minutes). Let the apples cool and place them in the refrigerator to chill before adding them into the ice cream.

3. To Make the Vanilla Bean Ice Cream: Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, and then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour. Set up an ice bath by placing a small bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Reheat the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, and then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight. Freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. As the ice cream is almost frozen, add in the crumbled cookies and spiced apples with the caramel, so that it is swirled throughout. Once the ice cream is done churning and slightly frozen, scoop it into a container and freeze for at least 3 hours, but preferably overnight.

4. Serve ice cold and maybe with some hot caramel sauce on top (yum!)

source: vanilla bean ice cream. shortbread cookies. 


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