I’ve done quite a few ice cream recipes over the last few months, so I’m not really sure why I waited this long to unleash this popcorn ice cream. But wait, that’s not really true. I do know why. Because when it comes to ice cream, I can’t help myself. I need that stuff. Whatever time of year, whatever weather outside, give me some ice cream, popsicles, sorbets (check out all the frozen dessert recipes that I’ve shared over the years for evidence!) I always make my own ice cream, or just buy vanilla ice cream and then dress it up any way I want to. I wish I could tell you that this is the last ice cream post for the summer, but why even bother making promises that I know I am unlikely to keep?
Popcorn ice cream
As much as I would LOVE to have popcorn at the movies, I can’t eat too much of it, because it seems to be on permanently bad terms with my stomach. Instead I usually go for some chocolate or an ice cream at the movies (this hokey pokey ice cream was one of my favourites when I used to live in New Zealand). When I saw Momofukus popcorn cake and how they infused popcorn in their milk, I knew I had to have it some day! But that was MANY years ago, and I’m yet to realize that dream. But I have made and shared this cereal milk ice cream, which uses a similar technique to infuse cereal flavour and I absolutely love it!). I’ve been wanting to make popcorn ice cream for a while now. And kettle corn being my favourite, I decided to infuse that salty-sweet flavour in this ice cream along with the popcorn flavour!
How to make salted caramel popcorn ice cream
Here I use 1/2 cup of unpopped popcorn kernels (that’s about 6 cups of popped popcorn). It may sound like a lot, but I wasn’t messing around here. I REALLY wanted a bold popcorn flavour to come through. And remember popcorn shrinks a lot when they are soaked, so even though it may sound like a lot, it actually isn’t. While kettle corn is usually covered in lightly caramelized sugar, that’s never going to translate to a decent caramel flavour in the ice cream, because it will get diluted in that creamy base. So here I heated the sugar until most of it melts and caramelizes and achieves a nice dark golden/amber colour. The final result will only have a slight caramel colour (just like kettle corn), but that beautiful caramel flavour will be very prominent in this popcorn ice cream. So that’s why you need to caramelize the sugar longer (for a darker colour) than you would for regular kettle corn. And of course it needs a little bit of salt in there too. That’s what kettle corn is all about after all. That awesome salty sweet flavour profile. If you’re not a big fan of the salty aspect of it though, you’re welcome to reduce the amount of salt you add. But you do need at least a pinch of it though. Salt gives life to the sweetness in desserts, especially with flavours like chocolate and caramel.
Recipe highlights
So what’s the verdict? Maaaaan! Where do I even begin?!? 😀 This stuff is seriously addictive. It’s insanely creamy.
The starch in the popcorn contributes to the thickening of the custard, so it makes this ice cream even creamier. The popcorn flavour is pronounced but not at all overwhelming. And the subtle caramel flavour brilliantly complements it. You also get that lovely salty edge in this ice cream, so rest assured that there’s going to be a lot of delicious flavours swirling around in your mouth when you eat this.
I cannot tell you just how much I wanted to get my face in there and just clean it up. The hubs stood in my way unfortunately!
Recipe variations
You can reduce the amount of salt in this recipe and make it a caramel popcorn ice cream. Or not caramelize the sugar at all for regular popcorn flavoured ice cream. And if you like butter popcorn, consider adding 4 tbsp of butter into the milk when you make the custard.
How to serve this popcorn ice cream
How about some caramel popcorn for crunch and some hot chocolate fudge sauce on top? Or maybe some M&Ms or any other kind of candy you like swirled through the ice cream? Either way, I cannot think of a better snack for movie night! Oh wait! Yes I can. Yes I can indeed! And it’s this peanut butter swirled fudgy chocolate brownie ice cream sandwich that uses this kettle corn ice cream! 🙂
