Churro Ice Cream

Churro Ice Cream ~ Double the fun, double the dessert minus the guilt. Skipping the messiness and of a deep fryer, this Churro dessert is headed straight for the creamy custard churning of an ice cream maker. Running throughout the rich cinnamon and vanilla ice cream base is a melted Churro crumb swirling its way through for a deep authentic flavor.

How do you get the cinnamon and sugar taste of those beloved Churro sticks found at a state fair or amusement park without actually deep frying Churros and chopping them up for a final churn? You make a Churro crumb by combining yellow cake mix with a cinnamon and sugar streusel, then add it in  during the last churning stage. The little bit of dry cake mix gives it all the needed flavor, too much and you will have cake batter flavored ice cream.

A few notes:

• Have two sauce pans ready during the custard making part. This helps to cool down the Step 4 prior to moving on to the egg addition of the custard stage. This will help to prevent the eggs from curdling.
• Whatever you do, don’t get distracted or multi-task once the eggs are added. You will need to keep stirring the eggs, or they will begin to curdle faster than you can say, NOOOOO!
• Plan ahead. Some ice cream recipes like this one require a fully cooked custard due to the eggs. You will also need to cool the cooked custard for at least four hours before adding it to an ice cream maker to churn.

Churro Ice Cream

Makes 1 Quart

Ingredients:

Churro Mix:

• 1 cup flour
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• ¼ cup yellow cake mix, dry
• 11/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 11 tablespoons of butter. cold

Ice Cream:

• 2 cups cream, divided use
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 ½ cup churro crumb
• Pinch of slat
• 3  cinnamon sticks
• 5 large egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions:

To make the Churro mix:

1. 1. In a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, combine and mix flour, sugar, light brown sugar, cake mix and cinnamon. Add cold butter and mix on low until mixture is crumbly.

To make the ice cream:

1. Add 1 cup of cream, milk, sugar and salt into a saucepan of medium heat. Stir mixture until sugar dissolves and tiny bubbles appear around the edge of the pan, about 3-4 minutes. Add in cinnamon sticks and vanilla extract and stir to combine. Cover the pan and let aromatics steep for 1 hour. Steep longer for a stronger flavor.
2. Create an ice bath by filling a large roasting pan or casserole dish with ice water half way up. Pour remaining cup of cream into a medium size bowl and place the bowl into the ice bath and place a strainer on top of the bowl. Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl; set aside.
3. Reheat the steeping cream mixture over medium high heat until bubbles form along the edge once more, about 1-2 minutes. Pour reheated mixture into a new suace pan and set aside for 3 minutes to cool. Pour reheated (cooled slightly) cream mixture into the egg yolks and whisk constantly to prevent curdling. Place the combined egg and reheated cream mixture to a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the custard thickens (it should be thick enough to coat the back of a spatula and hold a line drawn through it) and temperature on an instant read thermometer reads 175 degrees F. Remove pan from heat and strain custard into the cold cream in the ice bath. Stir custard mixture to below 70 degrees over ice bath.
4. Transfer custard to refrigerator to chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Remove from refrigerator and transfer to your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions. Add churro crumb during the last 5 minutes of churning. Transfer churned ice cream to an airtight container and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.