TWD: Burnt sugar ice cream (sandwiches)

I usually only eat ice cream a couple of times a year, when I'm visiting Toronto. That's the home of Greg's, where you can find fabulous flavours such as cardamom, roasted marshmallow, and sweet cream. Sweet cream is my favourite: it's so fresh-tasting, and is like vanilla without the vanilla. Anyway, even though I'm not a big ice cream fan, I was excited about this recipe. I have an ice cream maker I bought when I was a teenager (I was weird like that), and I haven't used it since I moved away from Toronto in 2006. In fact, I've probably only used it a dozen times in all the years I've had it. The last ice cream I made was corn, with the freshest corn from my aunt and uncle's farm. And, yes, it was delicious.

This ice cream was simple in flavour, with no Dorie mix-ins, which I really liked. It was just sugar, caramelized, eggs yolks, milk, cream and vanilla. The custard tasted fantastic, with a slightly bitter undertone from the burnt sugar, so I knew the ice cream would be good. I decided to sandwich it in between some graham crackers, mostly because I loved the graham crackers I made in January, and was looking for a reason to make them again. They have a slight burnt sugar taste of their own, from all the honey and brown sugar, so I thought they'd go nicely together. Oh, and while I may never go for a bowl of ice cream at home, I can't resist those cheap ice cream sandwiches. There's always a box in the freezer at my brother's, at least when I get there, if not when I leave.

This week's pick was chosen by Becky of Project Domestication, so she'll have the recipe for the ice cream posted. You can find the graham cracker recipe here. I wouldn't advise using the pastry flour, as the dough is soft and sticky with all-purpose. Oh, and they certainly don't take 25 minutes to bake in my oven. 10-15 is more like it, especially as I didn't want them too crisp.

UPDATE: The graham crackers got a bit soft and cakey after being in the freezer overnight--perfect! Oh, and how did I make them? After churning the ice cream, I froze some of it in a shallow pan lined with plastic wrap. I used the same cutters to cut the ice cream, then I just sandwiched it between 2 frozen graham crackers and wrapped them with some waxed paper and origami paper. I froze them between each step, but this ice cream melts really quickly, and it was a warm day. They were at their best after at least 24 hours in the freezer, as they were impossible to eat before the crackers softened a bit. Once they did, though, they were perfect--very caramelly!