Bourbon Butterscotch Ice Cream feels old-fashioned in the most nostalgic way. It recalls a time when desserts were made slowly and with care, rich with warmth and tradition. The bold, buttery notes and smooth finish bring a sense of comfort that’s both timeless and deeply satisfying.

Recipe information

• YieldMakes 1–1½ quarts

Ingredients

10g / 2 teaspoons butter

290g / 1½ cups cream

150g / ¾ cup dark brown sugar, tightly packed

20g / 2 Tablespoons bourbon

3g / ½ teaspoons kosher or sea salt

380g / 2 cups milk

50g / ¼ cup glucose syrup

100g / about 5 large egg yolks

texture agent of your choice (see below)

Preparation

Step 1

Prepare the bourbon butterscotch. Place the butter in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the butter melts, sizzles, and begins to take on a brown, nutty color. When it’s richly browned but not burnt, add the cream, brown sugar, bourbon, and salt. Cook the sauce, stirring occasionally to help dissolve the sugar, over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil. Transfer the sauce to a bowl and put it in the refrigerator to cool below 100°F, or body temperature.

Step 2

Prepare an ice bath. Fill a large bowl two-thirds of the way with very icy ice water and place it in the refrigerator. Boil the milk and glucose. Put the milk and glucose in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, and place it over medium high heat. Cook, whisking occasionally to discourage the milk from scorching, until the mixture comes to a full rolling boil, then remove the pot from heat.

Step 3

Temper the yolks and cook the custard. In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks. Add ½ cup of the hot dairy mixture to the yolks while whisking so the hot milk doesn’t scramble the yolks. Pour the tempered yolks back into the pot of hot milk while whisking. Place the pot over medium-low heat and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot constantly with a rubber spatula to avoid curdling.

Step 4

Chill. When you notice the custard thickening, or the temperature reaches 180°F on a kitchen thermometer, immediately pour the custard into a shallow metal or glass bowl. Nest the hot bowl into the ice bath, stirring occasionally until it cools down.

Step 5

Mix the butterscotch into the custard and strain. When the custard is cool to the touch (50°F or below), remove the bowl from the ice bath and add the chilled butterscotch sauce, whisking until evenly combined. Strain it through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any bits of egg yolk. (Straining is optional, but will help ensure the smoothest ice cream possible.)

Step 6

Cure. Transfer the cooled base to the refrigerator to cure for 4 hours, or preferably overnight. (This step is also optional, but the texture will be much improved with it.)

Step 7

Churn. Place the custard base into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The ice cream is ready when it thickens into the texture of soft-serve ice cream and holds its shape, typically 20 to 30 minutes.

Step 8

Harden. To freeze your custard ice cream in the American hard-pack style, immediately transfer it to a container with an airtight lid. Press plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream to prevent ice crystals from forming, cover, and store it in your freezer until it hardens completely, between 4 and 12 hours. Or, feel free to enjoy your ice cream immediately; the texture will be similar to soft-serve.

Notes

Brown sugar is rich in molasses, like the unrefined sugars of yore, but it is acidic and will curdle the milk if the two are cooked together. To combat this, cook the brown sugar, bourbon, and cream into a sauce that is added to the custard when both are cool. Cooking the bourbon with the sauce helps cook out the alcohol in the bourbon, too, which prevents the alcohol from depressing the freezing point of the ice cream and ultimately making it too soft to scoop. And if you’d like to leave out the bourbon entirely, I think you’ll find this flavor is quite delicious even without it.

Texture agents (choose one of the following):

For the best texture, use a commercial stabilizer: 3g / 1 teaspoon mixed with 15 g / 1 tablespoon of sugar and added to the milk, and remove 15 g / 1 tablespoon brown sugar from the recipe.

For the least icy texture, use guar or xanthan gum: 1 g / ¼ teaspoon whirled in a blender with the custard base after it is chilled in the ice bath.

For the easiest stabilizer, use tapioca starch: 5g / 2 teaspoons mixed with 20g / 2 tablespoons of cold milk, whisked into the custard base after it is finished cooking.

For the most accessible stabilizer, use cornstarch: 10g / 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon, mixed with 20g / 2 tablespoons of cold milk, whisked into the milk and glucose after they come to a boil, then cooled for 1 minute.