Caramel Snow Ice Cream With Chocolate Sauce

Winter and snow are great fun - I always knew that...

but this winter became even better because I learned how to make delicious ice cream without a boring ice cream maker - pffffffffff everyone can do that - ok ok this one too... but it's certainly more fun and faster!

using just a few ingredients and the natural ice cream maker - SNOW - it freezes the other ingredients instantly and you'll have a yummy dessert in no time!

This recipe is my best attempt - I also tried chocolate, vanilla and coconut - all tasty but this one takes it to another level :)

It's march 14 today and we still have 1 meter snow... if you are that lucky too, go out and make some Ice cream! - or wait until next winter...

Step 1: Ingredients

4 servings:

For the caramel cream - the Ice cream itself:

1 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pinch of salt

for the chocolate sauce - for topping:

50ml water (1,7 oz)

50g sugar (1,7 oz)

20g cocoapowder (0,7 oz)

1 teaspoon vanillaextract

Step 2: Caramel Cream

dissolve the sugar with 1 teaspoon water in a sauce pan

put on medium heat and let it cook until the colour turns golden brown

- pour the heavy cream into your golden sugar and start stirr until the caramel dissolves and the cream is even

add a pinch of sea salt

- the vanilla extract comes a little later.

Step 3: Cooling the Cream and Serving Bowls

pour the hot carmel cream in a medium sized bowl and cool it down

- we're making this ice cream in winter, so place the bowl in a pile of snow - so energy efficient!

The cream should not freeze but cool down to fridge temperature ( 5 C)

Also put some bowls for serving in the snow - this way the Ice Cream will last longer.

Step 4: Chocolate Sauce

of course you could use store bought sauce ... but where's the challenge?

give homemade a try - it's so much better!

mix water and sugar in a sauce pan
stir until the sugar dissolves

cook for 5 minutes

add the cocoa powder and stir until it's evenly dissolved

cook about 2 more minutes

take the sauce from the heat and add the vanilla extract

the sauce will get thicker while cooling - if it gets to thick, simply add a little water.

You aim for a nice lean consistency.

Step 5: Gather Snow

one important thing is to find clean snow.
don't gather it near

- a town

- a road

- or anything else that could pollute the snow

if the snow is clean it's no risk at all to eat a small amount.

Aim for the new fallen fluffy stuff - and try to avoid yellow snow :D

You'll need about 5 to 7 times more snow than cream - so if you used 1 cup of cream you'll need 5 to 7 cups of clean, fluffy snow.

Step 6: Whipped Cream Isn't Whipped Cream at All If It Hasnt Been Whipped With Whips...

add around 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to your now very cold caramel cream.

and now: whip it!

- it takes only about a minute by hand - but you could cheat with a handmixer :)

It seems like magic to transform a liquid into something solid!

Step 7: Crystalize It!

Now carefully add the snow and scoop it gently under

- cup by cup until you get a nice creamy consistency

the snow freezes the cream almost instantly and the ice cream is done in just a few moments.

Step 8: Scooping and Toppings

scoop nice balls into your serving bowls.

top it with the chocolate sauce

as additional toppings I strongly recommend:

roasted and chopped hazelnuts

a few salt flakes

Step 9: Mouthwatering Pictures!