Sea Salt Caramel Ice Cream

Make the Custard
Place a medium saucepan on the stove on medium-low heat. Add 1 ¹⁄₂ cup heavy cream and 1 ¹⁄₂ cup half & half. Split the vanilla bean open with a small knife and remove the seeds. Add the vanilla seeds and the pod to the saucepan. Continue to warm the mixture until you see steam. Remove the saucepan from the stove and allow the mixture to rest. Place your egg yolks in a medium-size mixing bowl and whisk until they become a light-yellow color – approximately 5 minutes. Gradually add the sugar and whisk to combine. Temper the cream mixture into the egg yolks by gradually pouring 2 cups of the cream into the mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan. Place the saucepan on the stove on medium-low heat and begin to warm until the custard thickens slightly, about 5-10 minutes. Be careful not to boil the custard. Remove the custard from the heat and allow it to cool while you make the caramel.

Make the Caramel
Place a small saucepan on the stove on medium-high heat. Add 1/3 cup of granulated sugar to the saucepan. After about 5 minutes the sugar will begin to melt. Continue to cook the sugar until it is fully melted and reaches a dark amber color – about 3-5 minutes depending on your heat source. [Be careful not to burn yourself when adding the butter and cream during the final steps. You may want to take a step back from the stove because the sugar will begin to sizzle and splatter.] Once the desired color is reached, whisk in 1 tbsp of butter. Continue whisking while you drizzle in 1/3 cup heavy cream. Remove from the heat. Add the salt crystals.

Combine and Rest
Remove the vanilla bean pod from the custard. Add the caramel to the custard and stir to combine. Cool mixture for an additional 20 minutes. Cover the saucepan, then place it in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours or overnight if you are making the ice cream the next day.

Churning the Ice Cream
Remove your custard from the refrigerator and pour it into the ice cream maker. Follow the directions from your ice cream maker to assemble and churn the ice cream. Usually it should take approximately 20 minutes for your custard to become frozen into ice cream. Add the chocolate chips to your ice cream during the last 5 minutes of churning. The ice cream will be similar to soft serve when done. Place the ice cream in a container and place it in the freezer. The ice cream will begin to harden after several hours. The ice cream will stay fresh in the freezer for about two weeks.