Homemade Crème Brûlée Ice Cream (2024)

This Homemade Crème Brûlée Ice Cream transforms the French Classic dessert into this tasty treat. Using a vanilla bean custard base, the ice cream is mixed with crunchy caramel pieces that give it the signature tastes of the burnt caramel we all know and love from a traditional crème brûlée dessert.

Another ice cream recipe for you in my summer series. I'm building an array of delicious frozen recipes that you can turn to when the heat strikes your part of the world. (Let's be honest though, ice cream is a year-round food group!)

My Pecan Praline Ice Cream and Strawberry Mascarpone Ice Cream are firm quick and easy favourites. For custard-based ice creams try my Chocolate Gelato or Toasted Marshmallow Ice Cream. For entertaining, however, then my Chocolate Hazelnut Semi Freddo is a show stopping centrepiece.

❓ What is Crème Brûlée?

Crème Brûlée is essentially a custard that's then baked to set. A layer of sugar is then sprinkled over the set custard and torched until it caramelises and hardens providing that signature crack when tapped with a spoon. It doesn't get more French than this!

How do you turn Crème Brûlée into Ice Cream?

With a French mum, I grew up loving Crème Brûlée and Crème Caramel. They were much-loved desserts in my home and I was wondering how I could incorporate that classic into ice cream. It's actually a fairly simple process as the two elements are the same.

For the ice cream, you still need to make a vanilla custard base, which is essentially the basis for traditional gelato and instead of baking the custard, it's churned in an ice cream machine until thick and creamy and frozen.

To get the torched caramel taste that is key to the crème brûlée flavour, we essentially make hard crack caramel by melting down sugar until it caramelises. Once hardened on a tray it can be broken into a million pieces and stirred through the custard base before freezing.

As the ice cream freezes, it softens the caramel brittle turning it into burnt sugar ribbons passing through the ice cream. If you are a die-hard crunch lover then sprinkle caramel brittle over the ice cream before serving. Regardless, the taste is unmistakenly a French classic dessert rolled into a frozen dessert. And it's pure bliss!

If you loved that toasted caramelized flavour then head to my San Sebastian Cheesecake. Even though there is no sugar that's been blow torched, the sugar and fats in the cream cheese scorch and impart this incredible caramelize flavour. You'll love it!

🧾 Ingredients Needed

With only five ingredients, milk, cream, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla bean, you'll have all that you need in your fridge or pantry. I've made a few notes on some of the ingredients below that are worth reading.

Vanilla Pod - I used a vanilla pod to get the maximum flavour into the ice cream. You can substitute with 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste. Vanilla extract (not essence) can also be used but you will miss out on the hundreds of little vanilla specks. Add 2 teaspoons if using extract.

Sugar - I use regular sugar for this recipe, but feel free to use golden granulated or caster or even light brown sugar which will give the ice cream base a more caramel flavour.

Eggs - 5 egg yolks are needed. Make sure they are at room temperature. If you forget to bring them to room temp before starting the recipe then pop the eggs in a bowl of warm water for ten minutes. It's actually easier to separate the yolks from the whites once they are at room temperature.

📖 Variations

• Coffee Crème Brûlée Ice Cream: Oooh now this is on my list of ice creams to try! Add 3 to 4 tablespoon of espresso coffee powder to the milk and cream when warming it up. That coffee taste will shine through like in my Coffee Oreo Ice Cream.
• Crème Brûlée Ice Cream with Cognac: A little boozy note running through the ice cream. Doesn't that sound lovely! Did you know that alcohol stops an ice cream from freezing solid as it inhibits sugar crystal formation? So, only add 1 or two tablespoons, otherwise, you'll be drinking your ice cream through a straw!
• Coconut Crème Brûlée: This would suit those long Summer evenings perfectly. Replace the milk with coconut milk for a tropical vibe.

👩🏻‍🍳 How to Make

There are two components to making this Crème Brûlée Ice Cream - firstly the custard base, and then the caramel brittle. Both are relatively simple to tackle but they do have a couple of pinch points that I'll go through.

*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*

Make the Vanilla Custard Base

STEP 1. Heat the milk and cream gently. Cut the vanilla pod in half and run the knife along the inside of both halves scraping the vanilla beans out(Image 1). Add the vanilla beans, pod, milk and cream into a heavy-based saucepan and set over low heat on the stovetop(Image 2).

Heat the mixture until it's steaming and you can see some bubbles appear around the edges of the saucepan. Whatever you do, don't boil it!!! Keep the heat on low and don't get impatient! Once warmed sufficiently then turn the stovetop off.

STEP 2. Whisk eggs and sugar. In a separate bowl add your egg yolks and sugar and whisk them together until thickened and pale (Images 3 & 4). This takes about a minute, a little longer if doing it by hand . Did you know that the sugar can dry out and 'burn' the egg yolks? So don't leave them in the bowl together for too long before whisking them.

STEP 3. Combine the two mixtures together. We're then going to temper the eggs now. What does that mean? The milk mixture is warm and if you add the eggs directly to that, it would basically scramble them. Disaster! So, we temper by adding a little of the milk mixture at a time to the eggs whilst continuously whisking which brings the temperature down of the milk and up for the eggs.

Remove the vanilla pod from the cream - this can be discarded now. Whilst whisking continuously, pour the cream slowly(Image 5) into the eggs until fully added.

STEP 4. Thicken the custard. Then pour the combined mixture back into the saucepan (Image 6) and onto the stove at low heat. Carry on whisking whilst the custard heats and thickens . This can take about ten minutes. Don't be impatient and turn the heat up hoping for the thickening to happen soon. All you'll get is a split custard and bits of cooked egg.

Be patient and whisk constantly. The custard is ready when it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and you run a pass-through it that doesn't join (Image 7).

STEP 5. Sieve, cool and refrigerate. To guarantee a smooth custard, take the pan off the heat and pass the custard through a sieve into a bowl (Image 8). Sometimes the egg can catch on the bottom of the pan - definitely don't want those bits in your custard!

Cover the custard straight away with plastic wrap - but make sure the wrap sits touching and covering the surface of the custard (Image 9). This prevents a skin from forming.

Leave the bowl to cool for an hour and then refrigerate until cold - a minimum of 3 hours.

Make the Caramel Brittle

Whilst the custard is chilling, you can make the caramel brittle.

STEP 6. Make the caramel brittle. To get that real Crème Brûlée Ice cream flavour, we have to add that torched caramel flavour throughout the ice cream. Add the sugar into the saucepan on the stovetop (Images 10),and on low heat melt the sugar. Stir infrequently, simply jiggle the pan around.

It's an interesting process to watch sugar dissolve and caramelise. After a little while, it'll start to get lumpy and you may think that you' ha've done something wrong (Images 11). You haven't - keep the heat on low and those lumps will continue to dissolve away. The sugar will gradually turn liquid and golden brown (Image 12).

When there are no more lumps then pour it onto a parchment paper lined baking tray (Images 13) and smooth it thinly with an offset spatula (Images 14). Work quickly as it sets very quickly!! Let it cool completely then chop into pieces of varying sizes (Image 15).

Churn and Freeze the Ice Cream

STEP 7. Churn the ice cream. I hear you, churning the ice cream can feel like an extra step, getting out the machine, freezing the bowl beforehand. I know. It's an extra process. But really, nothing beats churned ice cream. You see, as it freezes the ice cream mixture, it also adds in air which ultimately makes the ice cream super smooth and creamy.

Back to the recipe! Once the custard base is cold, pour it into the ice cream machine and churn as per the manufactures instructions (Images 16 & 17).

STEP 8. Add the caramel brittle and freeze. Pour the churned custard ice cream into your favourite freezer-safe bowl/dish/container (!) and mix in the caramel pieces. I reserve some to sprinkle over the top (Images 18 & 19). Cover in plastic wrap and freeze for a minimum of four hours. I tend to make it the day before and let it freeze overnight.

And then scoop away when ready to enjoy!

💭 Recipe Pro Tips

1. Room temperature eggs. too much difference in temperature between the eggs and the milk mixture when you add them together will cause the eggs to cook as soon as they come into contact.
2. Be patient. The key to success when making custard is to take your time. Heat the milk and cream gently so as not to scald it. Once the egg yolks are added, keep the heat low to prevent the custard from catching and eggs from scrambling. When making the caramel brittle, don't rush the sugar caramelising otherwise it would melt evenly and you'll result in burnt sugar with unmelted sugar granules.
3. Chill the custard before churning. I recommend chilling it for no less than two hours. The longer you chill it, the creamier the texture of the ice cream. In truth, when making this for the photoshoot, I was impatient to get the custard into the ice cream machine. I definitely didn't chill it as long as I should have and noticed a difference with the frozen texture compared to during my recipe testing. It wasn't nearly as creamy! Lesson learnt- don't rush the process!

What should I do with leftover egg whites?

Use up those leftover egg whites and make a Black Forest Pavlova. Or Lingue di Gatto Cookies, also known as Cat's Tounge Cookies (!) are an easy-to-make option.

Can I use all cream and omit the milk?

Yes, you can but I feel the super high-fat content can leave that greasy feel on your lips which I'm personally not a fan of. But if you don't mind or notice that, then go with all cream.

Do I need a blow torch for this recipe?

No you don't. The caramel is made in a saucepan unlike with traditional Crème Brûlée where the sugar is torched directly on the set custard.

❄️ Freezer Instructions

Stored correctly in an airtight container, the Crème Brûlée Ice Cream stays fresh for about six weeks.

🍮 More Caramel Flavoured Recipes

Homemade Crème Brûlée Ice Cream Recipe

With a vanilla custard gelato base, this creamy ice cream is filled with caramel brittle creating a flavour to match the iconic French Dessert. Up your Summer Ice Cream Game with this beauty!

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 231kcal

All recipes are developed and tested in Metric grams. I strongly recommend that you bake using digital scales for a more accurate result. I have provided a conversion to US customary in the recipe but please note that I haven’t tested using this method.

Nutrition

Calories: 231kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 114mg | Sodium: 26mg | Potassium: 95mg | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 545IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 77mg | Iron: 1mg