Caramel Apple Pie Ice Cream Recipe

This is a sponsored post for my homemade caramel apple pie ice cream recipe.

The soft and creamy ice cream is infused with the coziest caramel apple tea flavor and churned with spiced apples, oat graham chunks and caramel sauce ribbons. 

It’s so stinkin’ good!

Ingredients for caramel apple pie ice cream

(Exact amounts and instructions are in the recipe card below. This is an at-a-glance shopping list to give you a quick idea of what you’ll need.)

• heavy whipping cream
• whole milk
• sugar
• salt
• egg yolks
• one Granny Smith apple
• unsalted butter
• brown sugar
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• Republic of Tea caramel apple tea or hot apple cider tea
• Torani caramel puremade sauce
• Nairns gluten-free stem ginger oat grahams (I used the stem ginger flavor but original would work just as well.)

How to make caramel apple pie ice cream

How to make a custard ice cream base 

A custard base makes especially smooth and creamy ice cream and although it takes a little more time and tending, it’s well worth it. Trust me. 

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix cream, milk, sugar and salt, stirring to dissolve sugar completely. It should take about 5 minutes. Remove pan from stove and set aside. 

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Continue to whisk while slowly pouring about a third of the hot cream in with the yolks to temper them. Add this back to the hot cream mixture in the pot, whisking continuously.

Cook this mixture over medium to low heat until the custard reads about 170 degrees on a food thermometer. (I use this clip-on thermometer.) 

Strain the ice cream mixture into a bowl.

Infusing ice cream with tea

Add tea bags to the hot custard and let it cool to room temperature. Then, remove the tea bags, cover the custard and let chill in the fridge until completely cold (3-4 hours or overnight).

Make spiced apples

You’ll only need one apple for this because we don’t want to overwhelm the ice cream with apple chunks, just enhance it.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, then add apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir as it cooks and when apples have tenderized, remove from stove and let cool.

I put it in a small bowl and refrigerate it alongside the custard. 

Churn the caramel apple ice cream in an ice cream maker.

Tip: Make sure that you’re starting with a completely cold freezer bowl. The bowl should chill in the freezer at least 24 hours before starting to make ice cream. I store mine in the freezer so I never have to worry about it.

Pour the chilled custard mixture into the freezer bowl and churn according to manufacturer directions. My Cuisinart takes about 25 minutes to churn a batch of ice cream.

Don’t forget the add-in toppings.

In the last 5 minutes of churning, add the caramel sauce, spoonfuls of apple mixture and then the crushed cookies. 

After churning, the cream will be soft, so scoop it into an ice cream storage container and let it chill in the freezer for a couple of hours before serving.

You can drizzle some extra Torani puremade caramel syrup over the top, if desired.

Oh my goodness, is this ice cream delicious!

Sponsored products used in this post are from The Republic of Tea, Torani, Dixie Crystals and Nairn’s.