Cinnamon Toast Ice Cream

I have a few minutes to spare this morning before I walk my dog, so I thought I would share this delicious recipe with you! We are getting some amazing September weather here in Vancouver, better than we've had most of the summer. So what do you make when the weather is great? Well, ice cream of course! I found this recipe on one of my favorite blogs - Tracey's Culinary Adventures. I'm always amazed at the delicious things Tracey makes, but this ice cream sounded unbelievably good! I finished my ice cream with salted caramel sauce, but honestly, its not necessary - this ice cream is an amazing stand alone flavour.

Cinnamon Toast Ice Cream
Recipe from Tracey's Culinary Adventures

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks
• 5 slices firm, white sandwich bread
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tbsp packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp molasses
• 1 cup heavy cream

Method:

1. Combine milk and cinnamon sticks in a medium saucepan. Bring milk to a boil, then remove from heat and cover the pan. Allow to steep for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 300F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
3. Cut 3 slices of the bread into 1/4 inch cubes and transfer to a medium bowl. Pulse remaining two slices of bread in your food processor to make bread crumbs. Whisk melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Drizzle 3/4 of the mixture over the bread cubes and toss to coat. Transfer to one of the prepared baking sheets and spread in a single layer. Add the bread crumbs to the remaining mixture and stir well.  Spread on the other prepared baking sheet. 
4. Bake the bread cubes and crumbs for about 25 minutes or until they are golden brown. Stir occasionally and rotate the pans halfway through baking. Let the pans cool completely, then transfer the bread crumbs to a medium heatproof bowl. 
5. Bring the milk back to a boil, then pour it over the bread crumbs. Let stand for 10 minutes, then pour the milk through a fine mesh strainer into the saucepan. Press the solids to remove as much liquid as possible (I had to repeat this process twice to get all the crumbs out of the liquid). Discard the solids.
6. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, molasses and a pinch of salt together. Bring the milk to a boil once again. Slowly add the hot milk to the egg mixture, whisking constantly to ensure the yolks don't scramble. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. 
7. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the heavy cream. Strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a heatproof bowl. Cover and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator. Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Fold in the bread cubes once churned. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze at least two hours before serving. 

Whew!! Sounds like a lot of work and a lot of steps, but its pretty delicious ice cream, so I would definitely make it again. :) Hope you have a fantastic weekend and that the weather is nice where you live too.

Happy Baking my Friends!