How do you turn your favorite morning toast and jam into a delectable dessert? Start with a sweet custard ice cream base base, infused with actual toasted bread (trust me, it sounds weird but it’s actually amazing), and then swirl with a jammy hibiscus raspberry caramel sauce.
My thought process for this recipe was pretty convoluted, over the course of a few weeks I somehow went from a black sesame ice cream to this final toast and jam-inspired flavor. There was a peanut butter iteration in there somewhere too (think fancy PB&J) but ultimately I ended up here, with this toasted brioche ice cream and raspberry caramel ripple. Much like my Sourdough Ice Cream, the custard base of this unique flavor is infused with actual bread; toasted brioche, to be exact, though you can pretty much do this with any kind of bread (whatever your favorite bread is for toast? Use that). It’s always surprising to me how much flavor the bread imparts on the cream after a short 30 minute steep. I really didn’t think it would work the first time I tried it, and was simply floored when I snuck a spoonful of the freshly churned ice cream.
The jam ripple is actually a fruit-infused caramel. Think of it as somewhere in between a luscious caramel sauce and a tart raspberry jam. I added some dried hibiscus to amp up the raspberry flavor and deepen the rich fuchsia color, but you can certainly leave that part out. For swirl ice cream recipes like this one, you don’t actually swirl the fruit part into the ice cream base, rather you layer it in the container after churning and before the final freeze. I find a shallower loaf pan or rectangular ice cream container works the best for this, giving the most surface area for even distribution of the layers. That way, when you go to serve it, you have a lovely ribbon of raspberry caramel running through each and every scoop. I also like rectangular containers because it basically gives you a sugary runway for the perfect swoop and scoop.
The creaminess of homemade ice cream relies on freezing the ice cream base as quickly as possible. For that reason I suggest chilling your ice cream base overnight, even popping it in the freezer for 15 or 20 minutes before you freeze it, along with the container you will store your churned ice cream in. Also make sure your freezer is on the coldest setting, and that the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker is thoroughly frozen beforehand (48 hours ideally). Basically, if it’s going to touch your ice cream, freeze it ahead of time. I upgraded to a compressor machine a few years ago and haven’t looked back, despite the amount of space it’s taking up in our pantry. While I don’t eat a ton of ice cream, having this type of machine means I don’t have to pre-freeze any bowls beforehand, and I can also make multiple batches of ice cream on the same day (helpful for testing purposes). Although, I still think I could get it creamier, so next time I may try turning the machine on for 5 or 10 minutes before I add the ice cream base (if it’ll let me), just so it’s good and cold by the time I start churning.
Serve it with leftover raspberry caramel (if you have any that is, er, maybe double that part of the recipe?) or as an ice cream sandwich between two pieces of thick sliced brioche bread, toasted with salted butter and sprinkled with sugar. If you want a bit of crunch you could also make some caramelized brioche breadcrumbs using the technique outlined here (swap brioche for sourdough). I also think this ice cream would be lovely sprinkled with some bits of crunchy toffee or peanut brittle (back to that whole fancy PB&J idea…)
