Ice cream? With carrots? Does it seem interesting or awkward to you? Well, buckle up because you are in for a magical experience with this caramelized carrot ice cream. It is so tasty and has so much of flavor which you definitely have not experienced before!
Savory or sweet, carrots are the best in both the worlds. Although carrots are used in savory dishes in most cases, because of its distinct natural sweetness, it is best for desserts too! And these carrots in ice cream make the best vegetable ice cream I have ever heard or tasted.
Carrots have played a major role in Indian cuisine. We use carrots in desserts too like gajar halwa and much more. But, have any of you thought about bringing ice cream and carrots together? To be honest even I did not actually think about it until I was forced to. But, this caramelized carrot ice cream is by far the best dessert I have come across.
This caramelized carrot ice cream is again for a collaboration, for which the theme is orange colored food. Because of this, i wanted to take orange or carrot. But, I did not want to stick with the usual recipes. Orange ice cream is common, but carrot ice cream is not! Also, caramelized carrot ice cream is definitely not!
I thought of making just carrot ice cream at first. But then, I love everything caramelized or roasted. Especially. carrots with its natural sweetness would taste heavenly when caramelized. That along with creamy ice cream is the best combo ever.
To get the best results, make sure you choose carrots that are sweet. Sometimes, what we get in the market is not really sweet as we think they are. Though we use brown sugar while caramelizing, this natural sweetness is what amplifies the taste of the ice cream.
Sometimes in life everything is not what we expect it to be. That is what happened to me with this caramelized carrot ice cream. I never thought it would be so tasty but yet, it was. The only thing I thought it would be but turned out the opposite was its color.
Caramelizing or roasting the carrots would always preserve their natural bright orange color. That is why caramelizing is important. But, what happened to me was, when I added purees caramelized carrots into heavy cream, it turned out yellow. Taste was amazing, everything was perfect except the color.
Not that the color mattered a lot, though I was expecting something bright and more orange to be the result, but instead it was somewhat a dull color. But, who cares! It tastes amazing! So, when you have your first mouthful, you will forget everything and enjoy how delicious it turned out to be!
Of late, I am in love with using brown sugar where ever possible. I love its texture and the taste that it lends to food. So, I have used just two tablespoons of brown sugar for caramelizing the carrot. My aim was to make sure the brown sugar does not over power the carrot’s taste or sweetness. So I made sure I added just a little bit to caramelize the carrots alone.
You can try adding honey or sugar too. I haven’t tried it yet. But, I will let you know if and when I try. Also, for the ice cream base, condensed milk always works so well. This is a no churn ice cream recipe. So all the creaminess and everything comes from of course the cream and condensed milk only. It adds so much of texture to the ice cream.
For this caramelized carrot ice cream, we won’t need condensed milk that much as other ice cream recipe demands for. As I already mentioned, carrots have their natural sweetness. So, add condensed milk to adjust the sweetness according to your taste.
I have caramelized the carrots in stove top. You can use an oven too for the same. Just make sure you do not burn the sugar. Also, I have used a combination of butter and olive oil to make sure it does not burn easily. While using butter alone, it will surely burn. So to balance that, I have used some oil too. Try using olive oil as it gives out a better flavor. If not then use flavorless oil.
Enjoy this caramelized carrot ice cream with some butterscotch sauce for absolute divineness. Share it with your loved ones too! Stay safe; stay healthy! Happy cooking and eating!
While you are here, do checkout my other ice cream recipes to indulge your taste buds! Try out my other dessert recipes too! Checkout my popsicles recipe to enjoy ice cream on a stick! Also, do checkout my Indian sweets recipes to pair along with your ice creams.
Has meal planning been a little bit difficult during this lockdown? Look through my No Veggies, 21-Day Lockdown Series for ideas on what to cook during this lockdown.
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Caramelized carrot ice cream
Ingredients
For caramelizing the carrots
- 400 grams carrot, peeled and cut in half vertically
- 1½ tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
For the ice cream
- pureed caramelized carrots
- 1½ cups heavy whipping cream
- ⅜ cup condensed milk
Instructions
Caramelizing the carrots
- In a pan, heat oil and butter.
- Trim the top and bottom of the carrots, peel and cut vertically into two. Add the carrots of the pan. Coat in the butter, cover and cook until fork tender.
- Add the brown sugar, mix well and let the carrots caramelize (about 3 minutes). Switch off the stove and let it cool down. Puree the carrots along with the leftover liquid.
To make the ice cream
- Beat heavy whipping cream until soft peaks.
- Add condensed milk and beat until stiff.
- Add the pureed carrots and beat until incorporated fully. Cover and freeze for 4 hours or until firm.
- Scoop and serve with butterscotch drizzled.
Notes
- While blending the carrots, do not add any water. The leftover liquid and the moisture in the carrots is enough to blend them.
- Do not let the carrots burn while caramelizing them.
- To caramelize the carrots ijn the oven, after adding brown sugar, mix everything well and spread onto a baking tray and bake for 3-5 minutes at 200°C. Do not let it burn.
- Add condensed milk according to the sweetness.
- If you are using dairy free whipping cream, then keep in mind that the cream is already sweetened..
- If you want or like small bits of carrots in your ice cream, the blend accordingly.
- if you want soft ice cream, then freeze for a lesser time and serve.
yummy
Thank you! Do try it! :))