This Dulce de Leche Ice Cream is homemade version of the Latin American favorite! Creamy, smooth, sweet, and full of caramel…lots and lots of caramel!

When I was a child, I wanted to own and drive an ice cream truck.

On top of wanting to be a teacher, a cake decorator, a princess, and an unfortunately uncoordinated Olympic gymnast, my deepest desire was to drive around my neighborhood every summer, 8-bit circus music blaring all the way, and cater ice cream cones and popsicles to anyone who flagged me down with some quarters in their pockets.

Of course, a few quarters won’t get you jack squat from those super-rare ice cream trucks nowadays, so I’ve had to improvise.

Check another box off the culinary bucket list (which i really need to write up one of these days), because I finally made my own darn ice cream.

And not the kind where you fold whipped cream in to condensed milk (even though those kinds are deeelicioussss.) No, not just any ice cream. Dulce de Leche Ice Cream. Say it with me folks. CARAMEL. This amazing stuff is loaded with it, and for my first batch of homemade ice cream, I managed to impress myself.

This Dulce de Leche Ice Cream is pure heaven.

It’s no secret that I’m slightly obsessed with in love with caramel. That sweet, sticky, almost-burned sugar syrup has my heart, and it ranks right up there on my list of favorite things.

Though it will never topple chocolate from the number one spot, it’s still totally up there.

My appreciation for caramel was magnified when I started dating Mr. Crumby way back when. I was a strict chocoholic, but he opened my eyes to the beauty of ice cream’s second favorite topping. When our collective sweet tooth would kick in, we would buy a sleeve of these great coconut cookies, a can of whipped cream, and a bottle of the squeezy caramel sauce, and build these over-the-top bruschetta looking snacks. And then proceed to eat them until we both reached tummyache status.

Ah, young love. It should come with a warning label: Caution, may cause diabetes, tooth pain, and/or severe weight gain.

There are moments where I miss our simple desserts, but as we’ve gotten older, I’ve found much fancier but equally satisfying ways of working caramel in to the recipes I create – or recreate, in this case.

One of the best ice creams I’ve ever had, and buy quite often, is a dulce de leche variety, and I knew my first from-the-ice-cream-maker concoction had to be that one. It’s a simple, no frills dessert that will hit your caramel-lovin’ spot every time.

There’s just something so satisfying about taking ordinary ingredients, cooking them up, churning them for thirty minutes, and ending up with something as lovely and delicious and absolutely perfect as this ice cream.

It’s a real shame that ice cream trucks are endangered.

How to make Dulce de Leche Ice Cream:

1. 1. Warm cream, milk and 1 cup of dulce de leche in a saucepan, stirring constantly until the mixture is blended and steam begins to rise from the surface.
2. 2. In a large heatproof or metal mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar vanilla, and salt.
3. 3. Slowly add the hot cream mixture, whisking constantly until fully incorporated.
4. 4. Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan set over medium-low heat. Cook without allowing to boil, stirring slowly and continuously with a wooden spoon or spatula, until the mixture thickens to a custard-like consistency.
5. 5. Pour the mixture though a fine-mesh sieve set over a clean bowl. Set the bowl in a larger one filled halfway with ice and water and cool the custard to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Refrigerate 1 hours until chilled.
6. 6. Transfer the custard mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. At the end of the freezing stage, add the remaining dulce de leche into the churning ice cream until it is swirled throughout.
7. 7. Transfer the ice cream to a freezable container (like a loaf pan), cover and freeze until firm, 3 to 4 hours.

Love ice cream? Try these frozen treats next!

• No Churn Mocha Toffee Cheesecake Ice Cream
• Strawberry Pina Colada Popsicles
• Caramel Peach Crisp Ice Cream Pops
• Bacones (Bacon Ice Cream Cones!)

PIN THIS DULCE DE LECHE ICE CREAM FOR LATER!