advertisement

Salted Caramel and Cookie Dough Ice Cream Torte

Crust

20 chocolate sandwich cookies, ground into fine crumbs

¼ cup melted butter

1 jar (16 ounces) fudge ice cream topping, divided

Ice cream layers

1 pint chocolate ice cream, softened

1½ quarts vanilla ice cream, softened, divided

Cookie dough

6 tablespoons melted butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

6 tablespoons water

1½ cups flour

¾ cup mini chocolate chips, plus extra for garnish

Caramel

1½ cups sugar

¼ cup white corn syrup

1 cup heavy cream

5 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon fine fleur de sel, plus extra for sprinkling

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping

2 cups heavy cream

¼ cup powdered sugar

For the crust: Combine cookie crumbs and melted butter; mix well. Press into bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan.

Heat about 1 cup of fudge until pourable. Pour fudge as evenly as possible over crust, but do not try to spread, as it may disrupt crust. Place in freezer until firm, about 15 minutes.

With an offset spatula, spread softened chocolate ice cream over fudge as evenly as possible. Freezer until firm.

For cookie dough: In a large bowl, combine butter, sugars, vanilla, water, flour and chocolate chips and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Press into an 8½ disc on parchment or plastic wrap. Turn over onto chilled chocolate ice cream, press to form a complete layer, remove plastic wrap. Freezer until firm.

Remove about 1/3 of vanilla ice cream from container, and allow to soften slightly. Spread onto cookie dough with an offset spatula. Freezer until firm.

For the caramel: Spray bottom and sides of a 9-inch glass pan with cooking spray. Prepare caramel by combining sugar, corn syrup and ¼ cup water in large heavy sauce pan equipped with a candy thermometer; bring to a boil. Boil until mixture is golden in color being careful to not stir, but rather swirl the mixture in the pan. Watch carefully because it can burn easily.

In the meantime, in a small pan, bring the cream, butter and 1 teaspoon fleur de sel to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat, and set aside.

When sugar mixture is done, turn off heat and slowly add cream mixture. Be careful — it will bubble up violently. Stir in vanilla with wooden spoon and cook over medium-low heat until heated to 230 degrees on the candy thermometer. Carefully pour into prepared pan to cool to room temperature.

Once cooled, pour in an even layer over vanilla ice cream and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of additional fleur de sel. Freeze until firm.

Top caramel with another layer of vanilla ice cream. Freezer until firm.

Remove remaining fudge from jar and stir until smooth, but do not warm. Carefully spread over firm vanilla ice cream. Return to freezer.

For the topping: Place the sugar into the mixing bowl and add the whipping cream. Whisk just until the cream reaches stiff peaks. Spread or pipe (with a star tip) whipped cream over top of torte. Garnish with mini chocolate chips. Cover tightly with plastic wrap or foil and freeze at least one hour before serving.

To serve: Remove from freezer and allow to sit at room temperature about 10 minutes before slicing. Store leftovers in freezer with cut surfaces covered by plastic wrap, and replacing plastic and foil tightly over top.

Serves eight to 10.

Cooks note: Caramel and cookie layers may be prepared ahead of time which will shorten torte assembly time.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.