Buttered popcorn ice cream with caramel sauce

In a recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine there was a recipe for "Buttered Popcorn Ice Cream Sunday."  Intrigued?  So was I! I've been on a sweet and salty kick lately and this recipe just screamed "MAKE ME!" Who was I to disagree with a poor innocent dessert.  It was everything I hoped for and then some.  I made some changes based on the ingredients I had on hand, but kept as close to the recipe as possible.  It really does taste like buttered popcorn and the caramel sauce just takes it over the top!

Buttered-Popcorn Ice Cream Sundae
8 Servings
adapted from a Recipe by Elizabeth Falkner
Ingredients

Caramel Sauce
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Buttered-Popcorn Ice Cream
2 cups popped popcorn  (I don't recommend using microwave popcorn!) I air popped mine.
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

1 1/2 cups 2% milk  (using 2 cups whole milk would have produced a creamier texture but I added another     1/2 cup of cream to compensate for the lower percentage milk)

2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
5 tablespoons sugar, divided
8 large egg yolks

Directions:
Caramel Sauce
Combine sugar, corn syrup, cream of tartar, and 1/4 cup water in a medium saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and cook without stirring, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until dark amber in color, about 7 minutes.

Remove from heat; immediately add butter and stir until melted. Slowly add cream (mixture will bubble vigorously). Add vanilla and salt; whisk until smooth. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 month ahead. Let cool completely. Cover sauce and chill. Rewarm slightly before using.

Buttered-Popcorn Ice Cream
Set a strainer over a large bowl; set aside. Place popcorn in another large bowl. Drizzle butter over and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. salt; toss to coat. Add milk and cream; cover and let steep for 10 minutes. Stir in corn syrup and 1 Tbsp. sugar.  Purée popcorn mixture in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a large saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

Using an electric mixer, beat yolks, remaining 4 Tbsp. sugar, and remaining 1/2 tsp. salt in a large bowl until thick ribbons form. Gradually whisk hot popcorn mixture into yolk mixture. Return to saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard is slightly thickened and an instant-read thermometer registers 175°.  Pour through strainer (important step, don't skip!) Cover and chill overnight.
Process in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to a container, cover, and freeze. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep frozen.

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/10/buttered-popcorn-ice-cream-sundae#ixzz1fjBxsCVy

August 2011 Daring Bakers' Challenge: Candylicious!

This month were were given the challenge to make two types of candy...gooey, melt in your mouth candy. One of the candies was to be made with tempered chocolate and the other could be our choice. I actually made three types of candy: hard candy, homemade rolo candies and milky way bars. 

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks athttp://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

Tempering chocolate is rather easy; it just seems intimidating.  I'll get into the "how to" of tempering in another post, right now I'll share how I made the three candies

 Rolo Candies

Caramel filling:

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup margarine

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Chocolate coating:

1 pound dark chocolate,  tempered and ready to use

Directions:Combine sugar, corn syrup, milk and margarine in a saucepan.  Stir an heat to 248 degrees F.  Remove from heat, add vanilla and pour onto a well butter cookie sheet.  Set aside to cool.  At this point you can score into sections the size you desire. I took sections and rolled them into small marble size pieces and covered with chocolate .
Using your chocolate mold, coat the bottoms and sides of the mold with chocolate.  Turn it over and let the excess flow off.
When chocolate has hardened, fill with the caramel pieces and top with additional chocolate.

You will need to use a heavy duty mixer to make these! I gave my Kitchen Aid mixer 

a real work out!

Homemade Milky Way Bars
3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 egg whites
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted


Directions
In large saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar,corn syrup, water and salt.  Heat, while stirring constantly, until mixture begins to boil.  Continue cooking, stirring periodically, until temperature of candy thermometer reaches 270 degrees F. or soft crack stage.
Using a non-plastic bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Once the sugar mixture reaches 270 degrees F., remove from heat and carefully pour in thin streams over the egg whites, blending completely with mixer set on low speed.Continue to cook until mixture becomes thick like dough. I had to hold my machine down during this process because my mixer was taking a bit of a beating! The entire beating process took me close to twenty minutes!

Once mixture has thickened and become the consistency of dough, add the melted chocolate chips. After the melted chips have been blended through, press mixture into greased 9-inch square pan. I like to line the bottom and sides with plastic wrap, then grease. Having the plastic wraps makes it easier to remove.
Refrigerate until firm. Remove from pan and cut into desired bar sizes. I made 18 pieces.


At this point the candy is ready to be dipped in chocolate and you would have a candy like the 3 Musketeers.  I still had some of the caramel left over so I topped the nougat with a layer of the caramel before dipping into the chocolate.

Using tempered chocolate, dip your candy into the chocolate and coat completely  place on wax paper.
Cool at room temperature. 






Hard Candy
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoonful candy flavoring  (I used sour apple)
1/2 teaspoon liquid food coloring

Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in 2-qt saucepan.  Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves.  Bring mixture to a boil without stirring. When syrup temperature reaches 260 degrees F, add color.  Do not stir; boiling action will incorporate color into syrup.  Remove from heat at 300 degrees F.  Stir in flavoring.  Pour syrup into lightly oiled candy molds or onto greased cookie sheet and score with knife to form bite-size pieces.  When cool, break into pieces and dust with powdered sugar to prevent sticking.