Apple Butter Oatmeal Crisp Ice Cream

 

I’m one a’ those folks who never wants summer to end.  Yeah, one a’ those.

“Babe, but doesn’t everyone love fall?”  Mike asked of me as I was lamenting impending cold weather. 

“Sure, lots of folks love fall and that’s great but I’m not one of them.”  Getting all fatalistic I continued, “that means winter is next and hyper-commercialism and then just cold, gray gloomy slush.”

Yeah, we didn’t say much after that. 

Hey, what can I say, as a perma-cold human I much prefer warmer temps. 

In my effort to somewhat embrace fall (aka Apple Season, the more acceptable terminology) yet (maybe desperately in some eyes) hang onto summer, I made this Apple Butter Oatmeal Crisp Ice Cream.  

Whooooo, tasty.

As I’ve blathered many a time before, ice cream is not a seasonal thing for us, we delight in it all year.  As one should.  

But I thought this recipe from Baked by Rachel would be a nice bridge between seasons.  Or heh whatever, who am I kidding, it’s really just an excuse to make something with apple butter and eat ice cream, truth be told.    

Taking the shortcut by buying it at the store is my preferred method of apple butter procurement.  Try to find one without high fructose corn syrup like Musselman’s or if you’re lucky and live near an orchard, local would be faboo!

Get yourself set up by measuring out your ingredients, that mise en place thing.  It makes life much easier.

I wasn’t quite sure how this was going to turn out but it did appear too good to pass up.  My main fear was the crisp would be chewy unbaked oats or become soggy in the ice cream.  Turns out neither came true.  Whew.

Truth be told, honestly?, sigh, crisps are not my jam (haha, crisp, jam, almost pun), and likely because I haven’t had the right one. 

Eons ago I made a crisp and remember complaining about it to my mom.  The oats were not cooked, the apples not done enough, and overall it, bleech.  Others I’ve tasted since suffered the same fate, hence my concern with the crisp here.

A crispy collage!

Further recipe concern:  after turning off the ice cream machine,* I tasted the freshly churned ice cream because uh, baker’s prerogative, the ice cream tasted smoky rather than apple buttery. 

But!  I would not be here and waste your valuable time if this was not a winner.  In fact, I found the essential base of this ice cream to be one of the best I’ve had in a long time, super creamy, with flawless mouth-feel, and minimal ice crystals. 

“Mmmph,” I hear from the other end of the couch, “this is good.  It tastes like apple cider.  Mmmmmm.”  There’s Mike’s stamp of approval for you.  Thanks, babe!

I did rework the steps mainly because I have a preferred method and I lowered the egg count as I find an ice cream recipe with more than two to three eggs to be excessive and wholly unnecessary.  Ice cream is rich, it should be rich, but it should not be (in my humble opinion) so rich that it becomes whoa, stop it rich.  It’s a fine balance to find, and the result should be a fine balance. 

Start the ice cream base first as your crisp will cool in no time.   Set up an ice bath, set a bowl in there, pour most of the cream in the bowl.  Next you’ll heat the remainder of cream, the milk, and salt and let it come to a barely noticeable simmer, mostly steamy.

Whisk* up the eggs and sugar into that super pretty pale yellow color which you’ll then temper with the heated creamy milk.

I’ll never grow weary of this pale yellow egg-sugar color.

Pour all that back into the saucepan* and stir stir stir until a spoon, or in my case here, a spatula* is coated thickly and nicely.  Mmmmm, yes.

Yeah ok, I didn’t drag my finger through it but it’s ready.

All that goes into the reserved cream along with the vanilla, let that cool.  A neat trick I discovered recently is if you can find some fridge space, put the whole ice bath in there, or outside if it’s cold enough.  It really speeds up the cooling.

I was very much enjoying the colors and swirls, heh.  I’m a dork.

The crisp is next which is simply just mix, spread, bake, cool, tada done.  Simple, yeah?

Wait, Becky, what about the apple butter?  You’ll add your apple butter to the ice cream base when it’s cool, just before churning.  So then it’s churn time, woot!

Sadly the better swirly photos adding the apple butter were blurry, dammit.  Sorry!  Add the apple butter, stir.  Heh.

Oh!  Yes!  Riiiiiight?!?!  Wow, super creamy ice cream heaven is correct, ding ding ding!  It makes a load of ice cream too.  I’m bad at figuring total quantities, so it’s uh, a load.

Ok!  Once the ice cream has churned, grab a freezer-safe container and start layering up….ice cream, crisp, more ice cream, more crisp.  I was judicious with the crisp as it seemed like a lot so I had leftovers.  Feel free to sprinkle that on top when you serve it, if you end up with extra.  Or eat it as you go, up to you.

Layers away!

And voila!  Grab a spoon, a cozy blankie, toasty slippers and enjoy the newly invented season called Summer Fall!

Ready for the freezer!  Or a biiiig giant spoon.

If you’re looking for more apple-related recipes, I’ve got some here!  Oh yes!  And be sure to click on “recipes” up at the top menu in general to find your next baking adventure!  Better yet, subscribe to my emails so you don’t miss a beat!

Note:  This content originally appeared on Flaky Bakers.

*The apple butter, whisks, saucepans, spatulas, and ice cream makers are an Amazon affiliate link.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.