Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

There are so many different recipes out there for truffles, I knew there had to be some for chocolate chip cookie dough truffles. And there are. But I didn't make any of them; I made my own. Because if there's one thing I know, it's chocolate chip cookies.



I may not know anything about power drills and car batteries. But cookies? I'm quite knowledgeable. If I took a class about cookies, I'd be at the head of the class.

I made up a basic chocolate chip cookie dough and used pasteurized eggs, good vanilla, and browned butter. I can't stop browning my butter. It seems like I use browned butter in everything! The nutty flavor of the butter goes well in this cookie dough.



After rolling the dough into balls, I froze the dough balls in the freezer for thirty minutes before dipping them into melted chocolate. Then you just let them dry before feasting.

These are so good! I love eating chocolate chip cookie dough, don't you? Now... can you imagine eating chocolate chip cookie dough dipped in chocolate? It's amazing!

I left a plate of these on a table at work. Literally two minutes later I walked back by the table and they were ALL gone! It was crazy! Nothing I've ever made and brought into work has gone that fast.



So yes, I strongly believe you should make these sometime soon. They're pretty easy to make, and people will love them!

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go watch another news story about Charlie Sheen.


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
Printable Recipe

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Davidson's Safest Choice Pasteurized Shell Egg Yolks
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups mini chocolate chips, divided use
4 teaspoons shortening

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat; continue to cook for 2 minutes, whisking constantly, until butter foams and turns light golden brown. Pour butter into large mixing bowl.

Add sugars, vanilla and salt to butter, and mix using a mixer on medium speed, until well combined - about 2 minutes. Beat in egg yolks until combined - about 1 minute. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour until well combined. Stir in 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips until combined.

Roll cookie dough into 24 balls. Freeze for 30 minutes.

In a medium bowl, melt remaining 1 1/4 cups mini chocolate chips and shortening in the microwave, stirring twice, until melted and smooth - about 1-2 minutes.

Dip cookie dough balls into chocolate and place on waxed paper to dry.

Makes 24 truffles

Anything Goes Cookies

Okay, so if you're not on the Vegan Banana Carob Chip Cookie bandwagon, I think I have something for you today.

The Anything Goes Cookie was invented last night when I wanted to empty out my little baking cupboard that I store ingredients in.

Does anyone use the word cupboard anymore? If we're not using it anymore, let me know. I don't think I've said or written it in years. I guess I'll continue to use "cupboard" because I can't think of another word for it. I think that's what happened to my grandma and the word davenport. No one ever told her that davenports are called couches and sofas now.



But anyway, I had a little bit of mini chocolate chips, a little bit of white chocolate chips, a handful of chopped walnuts, a couple of Oreos and two peanut butter cups leftover from baking projects. All of the ingredients would tumble out and fall on the counter when I opened it up. I decided to throw everything in a cookie recipe.

This recipe makes a small batch of cookies, and the yield depends on how many ingredients you add and how big you make them. I ended up with 12 big cookies and they were GOOD.



Oh, and I threw in some chopped up flat pretzels, too. Flat pretzels are my favorite snack; they go well with hummus. Or peanut butter and a glass of chocolate milk.

I figured the saltiness would go well with all of the sweet chocolate and sugar in the cookie. I used browned butter in these as well, because I use browned butter whenever I possibly can.



Well, I hope you have a good weekend and have fun with whatever you're doing.

Today I'm doing a bread baking experiment, then a dairy making experiment, and then I think I'll go stock up on some ingredients for my empty cupboard.

Wait, it's a cabinet, not a cupboard. I don't know why I called it that. I'm getting old.


Anything Goes Cookies
Printable Recipe

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cake flour
1/3 cup bread flour
Add-ins (chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter cups, Oreos, nuts, pretzels, etc.)

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook 1-2 minutes, whisking frequently, until butter foams and starts to brown. Pour butter into a large mixing bowl.

In large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until well combined - about 1 minute. Beat in egg until mixture is light and airy - about 2 minutes. Beat in oil, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and salt until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in cake flour and bread flour until just combined. Stir in the add-ins until combined. Chill dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes or until cold.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown around edges. Cool 1 minute before transferring cookies to wire racks to cool.

Makes about 1 dozen cookies

Vegan Banana Carob Chip Cookies

Hey everyone! Happy Top Chef Wednesday!

Top Chef All-Stars is getting good. Actually, it's been good all season and now it's getting, really, really good. It's hard to say who will be in the final three and who will win. I'm kind of a Richard fan, myself. It seems like everyone wants Carla to win... everyone I've talked to wants Carla or Dale to win. I'm thinking Antonia might surprise everyone and win the whole thing; she's been consistent throughout the whole competition.

I'm such a Top Chef nerd! I'm sorry about that. I don't know what I'll do when this season is over. Who's your favorite Top Chef? Or who do you think is going to win?



Last week the chefs competed in a cookie challenge and the winner won $5,000. Can you imagine? I love cookies and bake them all of the time, but to come up with a recipe that deserves $5,000? That would be difficult... I think I'd crack under the pressure.

Dale won with a pretzel-potato chip shortbread topped with chocolate ganache. That sounds pretty good to me. I'm a little wary of trying that recipe, though. It calls for a bag of potato chips and a bag of pretzels. A whole bag? It must make a ton of cookies.



Why did I bring up that cookie recipe? Now I bet you're all craving chocolate pretzel-potato-shortbread cookies, not my healthy Vegan Banana Carob Chip Cookies.

Oh well. They don't taste healthy. They just taste good... like banana, and oats... and nutty whole wheat flour and almond/cashew butter.



These cookies also contain carob chips. I'd never used or eaten carob until I baked these. I wandered into the health food store one day and bought a bag of carob chips. Then I spent another hour staring at the different types of rice.

Carob does taste similar to chocolate, but it's definitely not chocolate. Chocolate is better. But carob isn't that shabby either. It's like a nuttier chocolate. And it's vegan. Vegans are cool and deserve good cookie recipes.


Vegan Banana Carob Chip Cookies
Printable Recipe

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1 large ripe banana, mashed
3/4 cup finely ground toasted cashews or almonds
1/4 cup vegan margarine spread
3 tablespoons oil
2/3 cup raw sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sweetened carob chips

Coat cookie sheets with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt; whisk in oats until combined. In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together banana, ground nuts, margarine, oil, sugar, molasses and vanilla until well combined - about 2 minutes. Reduce mixer speed and beat in flour mixture until combined. Stir in carob chips until combined. Chill cookie dough in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Take heaping tablespoons of dough, roll into balls and place on cookie sheets; flatten to a 1/2-inch thickness. Bake 12-14 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Cool 1 minute before transferring cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 16-18 big cookies

Hot Chocolate Brownies

Hi there! Hope everyone is enjoying their President's Day! I'm spending mine by doing some recipe testing. I'm definitely going to have some interesting recipes and experiments for you in March. Probably less chocolate since I'm doing so much this month. :) Any recipe requests?



I have to tell you all something. I tried hot yoga for the first time. It was my first yoga class I've ever taken. I've done a yoga workout DVD several times, but not an actual class. I was very nervous, but excited; I'd heard a lot about hot yoga and was eager to try it.

I met some friends at the studio, and when we walked in, it was packed with people. Then class started, the door closed, and the heat came on - 105 degrees of heat. I was able to keep up and didn't feel too out of place, since I was a little familiar with yoga. I wasn't able to do all of the poses, but hopefully I'll get better.

Anyway, about five minutes into class, I was already sweating. I usually don't sweat that much when I work out (I know you're rolling your eyes at me, really, I don't!), but by the end of class (90 minutes later), I was drenched. All of my friends were drenched, too; it was like we had taken showers. I couldn't believe it.

I felt like I just had a facial when I left class... my skin felt really soft and smooth. Was it from all the sweating? And I had a lot of energy! So I think I'll be taking more hot yoga classes. Would you take a hot yoga class? Or do you think it's too nutty?

All of that hot yoga made me hungry. Hungry for Hot Chocolate Brownies.



I think you can make good brownies only using cocoa powder. I don't think you necessarily have to use melted chocolate in a brownie. And for these, I didn't - I used cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, salt, melted butter, sugar and salt. Just a nice, simple brownie recipe with a little pizzazz. The pizzazz comes from the milk and white chocolate chips I stirred into the batter, and the mini marshmallows I placed on top.



I love mini marshmallows. I think they're fun.

These brownies were delicious and did taste like a mug of hot cocoa. They were slightly chewy, firm, and fudgy.


Hot Chocolate Brownies
Printable Recipe

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, divided
3/4 cup mini marshmallows

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8-inch baking dish with foil; coat foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter, sugar and egg until well combined. Whisk in dry ingredients until just combined. Stir in white chocolate chips and 1/4 cup milk chocolate chips until combined. Scrape batter into prepared dish and top with additional 1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Bake 20-25 minutes or until set and crusty looking around the edges. Top with marshmallows; flatten marshmallows with the tips of your fingers. Dust additional cocoa powder on top, if desired.

Makes 9 brownies

Smokey Havarti, Lobster & Bacon Macaroni and Cheese

Hey everyone! The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board asked me if I would like to create a recipe for their 30 Days 30 Ways with Macaroni & Cheese blog.

Of course I did! I'm crazy about macaroni and cheese, and they volunteered to pay for the ingredients. :) It's probably my favorite comfort food ever. I created the ultimate macaroni and cheese recipe for them - a Wisconsin havarti, lobster and bacon macaroni and cheese.

Myyy goodness, it was so good. You must go over to their blog and see the post/recipe I wrote for them! I'm proud of it! It was a lot of fun and I'd love to participate again next year.

Smokey Havarti, Lobster & Bacon Macaroni and Cheese
Printable Recipe

3/4 pound (12 ounces) cavatappi pasta
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups half and half
2 teaspoons hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces (about 2 cups) grated Wisconsin Havarti Cheese
4 ounces (about 1 cup) grated or chopped Wisconsin Smoked Cheddar Cheese
1 cup coarsely chopped lobster meat
1/2 cup finely chopped cooked bacon
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Heat oven to 400°F. Coat 10 ramekins with butter and place on a cookie sheet.

Cook pasta according to package instructions.

Melt 1/2 cup butter in a large saucepan, over medium heat; whisk in flour and cook 1 minute. Whisk in half and half, hot sauce, smoked paprika, salt and pepper and bring mixture to a simmer, whisking frequently. Reduce heat to low and whisk in Havarti and Smoked Cheddar Cheese until melted and smooth.

In a large pot, stir together pasta, cheese sauce, lobster and bacon until combined; divide evenly into ramekins. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter and drizzle on top of bread crumbs. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Makes 6-8 servings

White Chocolate-Strawberry Crème Brûlée

Did everyone have a good Valentine's Day? Hopefully you did! Nothing too exciting happened here... it was kind of a boring day.

I made sugar cookies and chocolate covered strawberries for Ericcakes.





I made up a sugar cookie and frosting recipe in my head. They're just your basic sugar cookies. Good flavor... not as soft as I like my sugar cookies. I'd probably stick with this recipe if you're going to make some.

I basically baked these just so I could make pink frosting and decorate the cookies with it and sprinkles. Sprinkles are awesome.

As for the chocolate covered strawberries, well, I liked those quite a bit. The strawberries were surprisingly good for this time of year.

Eric gave me a box of chocolates. Thank you!! A box of petit dessert chocolates! He knows me well. I'm having a hard time not digging in, but I must go easy on these. I'm going to be a bride...



...smaid. Bahaha. Got ya.

I'm going to be a bridesmaid in my friend's wedding in April, and I have to make sure I fit into the tiny orange-ruffly dress I have to wear!

Yup, it's bright metallic orange...

So anyway, I think I'll be taking it easy on the desserts for a while and giving a lot of them away.

This White Chocolate-Strawberry Crème Brûlée got devoured a week ago when I made it, and I think it was worth every calorie. I love crème brûlée; it definitely is in my list of top favorite desserts.

This is a simple recipe and it only has six ingredients - egg yolks, vanilla, cream, sugar, white chocolate and strawberries! This seems like a very romantic dessert. Too bad I'm a few days late posting the recipe. Perhaps you could make it for...
President's Day?

Maybe you could sub some cherries in place of the strawberries.
That George Washington-cherry tree story is lame. I never thought about that until now. It's just not much of a story, George.


White Chocolate-Strawberry Crème Brûlée
Printable Recipe

8 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 8 teaspoons
4 ounces chopped white chocolate
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced strawberries

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Place 8 (1 cup) ramekins in a large roasting pan; fill roasting pan with enough hot water to come halfway up sides of ramekins.

In a large bowl, whisk together yolks and vanilla until combined. In a large saucepan, over medium heat, bring cream and 3/4 cup sugar to a simmer, whisking frequently; remove pan from heat and gradually whisk hot cream into yolks until well combined. Whisk in white chocolate until melted and smooth. Divide strawberries into each ramekin; pour cream mixture on top.

Bake 40-45 minutes, or until just set. Transfer ramekins to a wire rack and cool 30 minutes before transferring to refrigerator to chill completely - about 2 hours.

When ready to serve, sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over each custard, brûlée using a torch, and serve.

Makes 8 servings

Peanut Butter Cup-Chocolate Mousse Pie

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you're having a good one. Does anyone have any special plans?

I don't have any plans, but I'm not a Valentine's Day hater. I think it's a fun holiday. I even made some special treats for my family and Eric. Cake balls, cookies, chocolate covered strawberries...

I think a lot of people celebrated this weekend. The restaurant I work at was packed on Saturday night; we had over an hour wait all night. I nearly had a heart attack when I was waiting tables. It was very, very stressful and I almost started crying.

I'd much rather have a baking job over a serving job. I would be in heaven.
Maybe someday. Hopefully soon... cause I'm going crazy. Anyway, let's talk dessert.

I have another chocolate dessert for you today. This is one you need to bake soon, or if you can't bake it soon, remember it for the future! Peanut Butter Cup-Chocolate Mousse Pie!



I have a Twitter miracle to tell you about. Well, okay, I had the idea for this pie, and I wanted the filling to be the chocolate mousse I blogged about the other day mixed with peanut butter. I wanted to make this pie for my dad's birthday.

The problem was I couldn't serve a pie with raw egg in it to my family. I didn't want to give my dad Salmonella poisoning on his birthday.

I knew that pasteurized shell eggs existed, so I looked at every grocery store in the area, but I couldn't find them. I got on Twitter and tweeted to my Springfield followers if they knew where I could find pasteurized shell eggs and no one replied.

So I gave up and decided to bake something else. A few days later, my Twitter egg angel came to my rescue.



Somebody at Safest Choice give Chantel a raise - she's the social media coordinator for Davidson's Safest Choice Pasteurized Shell Eggs. Somehow she found my tweet about not being able to find Safe Eggs, and offered to send me some because they were fans of my blog.

Thank you Chantel and Safest Choice! I'm looking forward to when we get our Hyvee grocery store in Springfield in the next year, because I hear they sell Safe Eggs!




A little Safe Egg information for ya!

-Where to find Safest Choice Pasteurized Shell Eggs
-How eggs are pasteurized
-Raw egg danger
-Why to make the Safest Choice




P tattoo. Maybe I'll get one of these one day when I'm going through a midlife crisis.

I felt good about making the pie now that I had pasteurized shell eggs and went ahead with it.

First I combined Oreo cookie crumbs and melted butter to form a crust. Then I made chocolate mousse with melted chocolate, whipped eggs, whipped cream, and chunky peanut butter (creamy would work too).



I topped the pie with whipped cream and chopped peanut butter cups.



It was the pie of my dreams. It was SO good! But oh-so-rich - I could barely finish a slice, and that's never the case with me and desserts.

This would be in the top ten pies I've ever made.


Peanut Butter Cup-Chocolate Mousse Pie
Printable Recipe

15 Oreos, finely ground
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream, divided use
2 Davidson's Safest Choice Pasteurized Shell Eggs
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, divided use
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
6 Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, coarsely chopped

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together cookie crumbs and butter until well combined; pat into bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie dish. Bake for 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on high speed, beat 1/2 cup cream until stiff peaks form - about 2 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on high speed, beat egg whites (reserving egg yolks) and cream of tartar until very foamy - about 3 minutes. Beat in yolks, melted chocolate, peanut butter, 3/4 teaspoon vanilla and salt until well combined. Beat in whipped cream until combined. Place peanut butter-chocolate mousse into pie shell.

In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on high speed, beat remaining 3/4 cup cream, remaining 1/4 teaspoon vanilla and sugar together until stiff peaks form - about 2 minutes. Spread whipped cream over pie. Sprinkle with chocolate peanut butter cups. Chill pie for at least 1 hour before serving.

Makes 9 servings

Cookies 'n Cream Kiss Cookies

I'm not sure if most schools are having their Valentines Day parties today or Monday. It seems like they would have them on Monday, since it's the actual day, but maybe not.

Anyway, I thought these cookies would be a good item to bring into your kid's party at school. Or you could just make them for your kids. Or your family and friends. It doesn't matter to me!



I made these for Eric because I was testing out recipes for his geology bake sale. Yes, you read that correctly. He's involved in some sort of bake sale with the geology club he's in, and he wanted to know if I wanted to bake something to donate.

So I came up with this creation - Cookies 'n Cream Kiss Cookies. He told me the cookies look like the mineral gneiss and that seems appropriate for a geology bake sale, don't you think?

Off subject, but, I can't believe Eric made fun of me the other day for competing in a history bowl when I was in high school, and he's in a college geology club. Just saying.

Just kidding Ericcakes!



The cookies are really soft and buttery... soft because the batter contains cream cheese. The cookies taste like a soft vanilla sugar cookie with chopped up Oreos. I even used real Oreos and not Twist 'n Shouts. After a quick chill the batter is spooned onto cookie sheets and baked. Right after taking the cookies out of the oven I pressed Cookies 'n Cream Kisses into the centers.



Ohhh yes. Cookies 'n Cream Kisses. I love these things!



I received high reviews from these cookies by my critics. So I approve these cookies for baking.
Have a good weekend!


Cookies 'n Cream Kiss Cookies
Printable Recipe

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup coarsely chopped Oreo cookies
24 cookies 'n cream kisses

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat cookie sheets with cooking spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese until softened. Beat in butter until creamy. Beat in sugar until well combined. Beat in egg, vanilla and almond extract until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined; stir in Oreos until combined.

Chill cookie dough in the freezer or refrigerator until cold. Place rounded tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheets. Bake 12 minutes or until puffed and light golden brown around edges.

Remove pans from oven; press a kiss in the center of each cookie. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

Makes 2 dozen cookies

Salted Caramel Ice Cream

In all my three years and four months of writing this blog, I've never ran out of recipes to post.

For the longest time I worried about being able to create enough recipes to post regularly. Sometimes I still worry.

But nope, I've never ran out. I always have about ten recipes saved in my blog drafts. I wanted to bake today, but I held myself back because I already have too many (good!) desserts to blog about.

I imagine someday I'll struggle with coming up with recipes, but for now, it's not a concern. :)



This little baby was delivered to me a few weeks ago. I'm now a proud ice cream maker owner! Whoop whoop! It's not anything super fancy, but it's nice enough for me.

This past summer was rough on me because it was the first that I hadn't been able to make homemade ice cream. When I moved out the ice cream maker stayed with my parents. It was a sad day.

But now I'm happy and ready for summer and some ice cream makin'. Fresh strawberry ice cream anyone? Blueberry? Peach?



I made something richer for my dad's birthday: Salted Caramel Ice Cream.

And was it ever rich! Wowza. I think I may have made everyone's stomachs hurt after we ate dessert. I served this salted caramel ice cream over my Black Magic Cake.

It wasn't too rich for me though... the richer the better, ha. I am invincible to rich desserts. BRING IT ON. I once was in an ice cream sundae eating contest.



This ice cream is fun to make and not really that difficult. You cook sugar on the stove until it turns golden brown in color before whisking in cream, butter and flaky sea salt. After dissolving the sugar, you whisk in vanilla and set the mixture to the side.

Then you make the custard by heating cream, milk and sugar on the stovetop before whisking the hot mixture into eggs and whisking it all back into the saucepan to cook until the custard thickens up. You then combine the caramel with the custard and chill the cream completely before placing in your ice cream maker to freeze.

Chilling the cream down completely is very, very important to good ice cream. I have a good vanilla ice cream recipe coming your way soon, too!

I guess that's all from me today. I'm going to try and post some more Valentine's Day desserts/treats before the big day.


Salted Caramel Ice Cream
Printable Recipe

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided use
2 1/4 cups heavy cream, divided use
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 - to 3/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt (depending on how salty your sea salt is)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk

Heat 1 cup sugar in a dutch oven over medium heat until sugar starts to melt. Reduce heat to medium-medium low and constantly whisk sugar until it turns deep golden brown. Whisk in 1 1/4 cups heavy cream and butter, and contiue to whisk until well combined, sugar is dissolved, and deep golden brown in color. Remove pot from heat and whisk in salt and vanilla until combined. Pour caramel sauce in a large mixing bowl.

Whisk eggs together in a large mixing bowl.

In a large saucepan, over medium heat, whisk together remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1 cup heavy cream and milk; bring mixture to a simmer, whisking frequently. Gradually whisk half of hot cream mixture into eggs until well combined. Whisk egg-cream mixture back into saucepan containing remaining cream. Cook, whisking constantly, until custard reaches 170 degrees F, or coats the back of a spoon.

Whisk custard mixture into bowl with caramel sauce until well combined. Cover and chill overnight.

Freeze caramel custard in an ice cream maker according to manufacturers' instructions.

Makes 8 servings