Friday, January 20, 2012

Salted Caramel Pretzel Ice Cream

leaves and flours vegan ice cream

Ever since I laid eyes on my beautiful pistachio standing mixer, I knew that I would get an ice cream attachment. Last week I decided it was high time to purchase it already, and two days later the box was on my doorstep! I am not sure why I want to start experimenting with frozen treats in the winter, but maybe I will have a head start on all the best recipes once the summer heat sets in!
The first ice cream I wanted to try was a salted caramel pretzel recipe I saw on Chloe Coscarelli's website. After waiting for the freezer bowl to chill for 16 hours, I was so impatient! I couldn't figure out how to make the machine work, because I didn't realize there was an adapter ring attached that I didn't need for my specific standing mixer. Somehow in all the confusion and anxiousness, I forgot to add the agave nectar! I didn't taste the ice cream until after it was already frozen and too late to add the sugar. It was so disappointing. I haven't ever done that before, and I really hope to not leave sugar out of a dessert again.
I didn't love the intense coconut flavor of the ice cream or the texture (which was pretty icy). I'm not sure how much adding the agave nectar would have diluted the flavor or made the ice cream smoother. While I will give the recipe a fair chance sometime in the future, it might be with a few modifications. I didn't love the caramel sauce, and might try using a different one. I also wouldn't throw the chocolate covered pretzels in the ice cream unless you are planning on serving it immediately. By the next morning they had turned into a soggy goo that was totally unappealing.
At least with such a dreadful start, there is a lot of room for improvement. Next time I will stay calm and collected while adding ALL of the ingredients! How often do kitchen errors like these happen to you? I feel like most of the time I catch them before it is too late, but sometimes you need a mistake to remind you to slow down a little and think about what you are doing.

5 comments:

  1. This ice cream looks incredible! It's warm today in Fl and I could really dig into that bowl.

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  2. i like the idea of these flavors together. but i think i might get put off by too much coconut flavor too.. you can probably replace it with some other creamer.
    some days i forget to put salt in the bread.. actually in a lot of things.. i should keep a bunch of salt bottles in the kitchen:) everything else is fixable, but not the bread!

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  3. Pretzels are really tough to incorporate into ice cream without having them go soggy very quickly. Maybe if you embed them into toffee, that might help... But oh, I could use a break from ice cream at this point...!

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  4. this looks delecious!i love deserts with a salted edge..

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  5. My dreams just came true! I must try it sometime soon!! :)

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