| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 9 hr 15 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Inactive: | 8 hr 30 min |
| Cook: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 8 to 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 cup grade B maple syrup
- 4 cups half-and-half
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
- 5 egg yolks
- 1/2 pound thick-cut bacon (about 6 slices)
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over moderate heat, reduce the maple syrup to 1/2 cup. Set aside.
- Over moderate heat in a medium saucepan, heat the half-and-half with 1/2 cup sugar until hot and just bubbling around the edges.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks with 1/2 cup sugar, then add 1 cup hot half-and-half mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Pour the whole egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture coats the back of the spoon and registers 170 degrees F on a thermometer. Do not let boil. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a medium bowl and whisk in the maple syrup. Cover with parchment paper letting the paper touch the surface of the mixture, to prevent a skin from forming. Chill the mixture until very cold, at least 6 hours and up to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Line a rimmed sheet pan with heavy foil. Place a baking rack over the lined sheet pan and arrange the bacon slices across the rack next to each other. Bake until crispy, about 15 minutes. When cool enough to handle, finely chop.
- Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside. Place the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a fork, until the sugar starts to melt. Stop stirring and cook until the sugar is a golden caramel color, about 10 minutes. Add the bacon and stir to coat. Pour onto prepared baking sheet and let harden. Chop the candied bacon into small pieces.
- Freeze the custard in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions, 20 to 30 minutes and at the last minute, add the candied bacon and let churn until just combined. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze.
- BYOC: Try adding some cayenne pepper to your chopped bacon before you stir it into the melted sugar.
- Special equipment: candy thermometer, ice cream maker.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 10 servings |
| Calories | 418 |
| Total Fat | 20 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Carbohydrates | 56 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Sugar | 53 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Cholesterol | 120 mg |
| Sodium | 162 mg |
Reviews
Good maple flavor, but far too sweet. I’d omit most of the sugar if I were to make it again. I’m not sold on the almost hard candy texture of the caramelized bacon- eager to try another approach.
Made this over the weekend. It has been a horrific day at work, and there were times when I was only able to keep going because I knew this ice cream was waiting for me at home.
I made this exactly as written but we found the texture of the bacon in the ice cream a little off putting. Chewing bacon after the ice cream was swallowed. The base is so ridiculously delicious that I made it again with crushed Health Bars. Perfect! Then I made mini ice cream sandwiches with Jaime’s Old Fashioned Ginger Crinkle Cookies, this maple ice cream and rolled the sides in crushed Heath Bars. My adult children just offered to have me come and live with them and I’m only 55 years old. My beautiful husband said no, she’s mine.
Wow. I make dessert for my family but don’t really have a sweet tooth myself. I do however have a bacon tooth and this ice cream was completely satisfying. Followed the recipe as stated. Glad I saw her show so I knew how quickly the bacon would set up in the browned sugar. We used extra candied bacon as a garnish. Next time I’ll try it with the caynenne on the bacon. Super yum.
In honor of July 15th national ice cream day I made an attempt on Maple Bacon Ice Cream…not sure if it worked out as it only made 1 quart. OH MY Gosh so creamy, almost like Foie Gras. I did substitute 1 cup fake sugar and low (not NO fat half & half…and my eggs were farm fresh jumbo yolks. Candied applewood smoked bacon. The one quart through me off, I expected it to expand. Any ideas or perhaps a woot woot…good job?
I made two variations and everyone LOVEd it! I have people ordering it for their parties,etc.
1. I made with coconut cream instead of half and half which I think adds another lovely complexity to the flavor and meshes so well with the maple and bacon.
2. Used no sugar. So many people said it was too sweet, plus I know so many people who do not eat refined sugar. I cooked the bacon with a maple glaze then just added a cup of grade A maple syrup. Maybe the sweetness of the coconut cream lent to the sweetness but it was not lacking at all.
Very delicious! Thanks for the inspiration!
I made a similar recipe and the only critique I would add is that you MUST get all the FAT off the bacon. After baking cooling and chopping the bacon, it seemed perfect – heavenly in fact. But what I didn’t notice was the solidified FAT remaining on the bacon. When I sat down to enjoy the dessert, the bacon fat left a gross film on the roof of my mouth. So other that that… sweet/salty yummy.
Good recipe, ice cream base was a little sweet for me but still edible once I got into eating it the saltiness and spicyness (I added the cayenne seemed to balance it out. I also added some freshly grated nutmeg into the ice cream base.
We couldn’t find grade B maple syrup so going under the assumption that reducing the grade B would make it sweeter, we opted to use non reduced grade A maple syrup. Other than that and an accidental extra slice or two of bacon we were fairly faithful to the recipe. We also made it in a traditional outdoors freezer. The verdict?
This never happened. There is no proof we ever made this ice cream since there is no ice cream left. I don’t want to talk about over indulgence and I don’t want lectures on moderation. You weren’t here! You don’t know the hardship this caused! Claire Robinson, I’ll get you for this!!!! Gosh it was so good.
This is one of the best ice cream flavors I’ve ever made. I love how the sweet and savory go together so perfectly together. Kudos Claire Robinson! This one is going in my permanent arsenal of things to make when you went to blow people’s minds.