Salted Caramel Ice Cream with Chocolate Bacon Bark

Some days you have bad days. The type of day that makes you say "Why did I get out of bed?" Days were everything turns to mush. I mean everything you touch breaks, shatters, curses at you, bites, or just makes you question every decision you've ever made in your life. Those are the days I realize I need dessert. Unfortunately, I don't have many desserts just laying around. A salad is not going to cut it today.

Now, this is not an excuse to binge on a gallon of ice cream. You can have all things in moderation. Just make the scoop of ice cream slightly bigger on those days. It's August and it's New York. So yes, it's warm. This recipe is like 2 desserts in one. There is the ice cream. Then there is the bacon bark. The two play nicely together. It's sweet, savory, and salted all together. Salt really cuts the sweetness of both the caramel and the chocolate.

One last word on this recipe since it uses egg yolks: don't throw out the whites! Make a souffle or macarons with it. Eggs are too expensive to waste. College and a few dozen eggs both seem to require loans. Even if you add them to your morning breakfast, it's better than just wasting them.

Adapted from Sur La Table Cooking Class

Salted Caramel Ice Cream

1 ¾ cups granulated sugar, divided into 1 ½ cups and ¼ cups

½ cup of water

4 cups of whipping cream

6 eggs yolks (save the whites for breakfast or something else)

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste (or extract which ever is handy. Remember its a 1:1 ratio)

2 teaspoons of sea salt, more if you'd like

Directions

1. Place 1 ½ cups of sugar & water into a saucepan.

   

2. Heat until sugar dissolves.
3. Increase heat until syrup turns deep amber (12-15 minutes)
4. Remove from heat.
5. Add cream. It will bubble like a witches cauldron.
6. Stir over low heat until it's smooth.
7. Put it aside
8. In a separate bowl, mix egg yolks and ¼ cup sugar.
9. Add vanilla
10. Slowly add caramel  and mix continuously. You are not trying to cook the eggs.
11. Once you've added all the caramel to the eggs, pour mixture back into saucepan.
12. Heat over medium heat until mixture coats the back of a spoon (3-5 minutes)
13. Place mixture in refrigerator to cool (3-4 hours)
14. Taste and stir in 2 teaspoons of sea salt. More if you'd like.
15. Get ice cream machine out and follow the directions ( I have a kitchenaid attachment.)
16. Once it's soft set, place in freezer.
17. Enjoy!
18. Don't forget about those egg whites! Make big macarons and have an awesome ice cream sandwich

Bacon Bark (for eating by itself, courting a person you are romantically interested in or just as a garnish for ice cream)

So it's not diet food, but it can most certainly bring most people unspeakable joy.

3-4 ounces of good chocolate, semisweet is best (this is up to you, some have gotten into high % cocoa chocolate, but I'll leave this to your preferences. I'd skip the white chocolate on this one though)

4-6 slices of bacon or pancetta, cooked very crispy

1. Cook bacon until crisp.
2. Cool bacon.
3. Chop bacon finely, set aside 
4. In a double boiler, melt chocolate
5. Once chocolate is melted, pour melted chocolate onto a piece of parchment or silpat.
6. Make a thin layer of chocolate with a spatula
7. Sprinkle bacon over the thin layer of chocolate.
8. Let cool completely.
9. Break up the chocolate into different sized chunks.
10. Enjoy! With or without others.