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If you don’t love bacon, I’m so sorry. Because this ice cream is all about the bacon.
And the maple. And the toffee crunch.
For my second installment of Ice Cream Week, I made Maple Bacon Cunch Ice Cream – without a machine.
I think it’s my most favorite ice cream – ever.
A few weeks ago we went to Palm Springs. Because it’s about a 9 hour drive from Sacramento and driving that long in the car with a 9 year old who asks “are we there yet” every five minutes makes me want to poke my eardrums out, we stopped for a night in Manhattan Beach.
Manhattan Beach is in ocean front Los Angeles. It’s got your usual: a pier, gorgeous beach, funky restaurants and shops, and an ice cream store. A truly happening ice cream store, as it turns out. The Manhattan Beach Creamery was so busy, probably because it was a bajillion degrees and they don’t just sell ice cream. They sell ice cream sandwiches (you pick the cookies and ice cream), candy, and they’ve been on Cupcake Wars.
Do you watch Cupcake Wars? I’m obsessed with it. Jordan is too. We have a season pass set to tape all new episodes. Lots of flavor combos I get come from that show. As soon as I saw logo stating they’d been on the show, I told my family we were going in for ice cream.
Jordan was predictable: Mint Chip, but she was mad it was white.
Mel was predicatble: non-fat fro-yo with no toppings.
I got Maple Bacon Crunch Ice Cream. I love bacon in dessert, but I’d never had it in ice cream before. I’m so glad I got that ice cream. It was really good, but I thought it was lacking in maple flavor. It tasted like bacon crunch vanilla to me. And when I order something maple, I want it to scream MAPLE.
So I came home and made my own version.
I used the easy ice cream method (again) for this recipe. Sweetened condensed milk and Cool Whip (or heavy whipping cream) get mixed to create a creamy ice cream without using an ice cream machine – It’s no churn Ice Cream!
This version has maple extract to give it the maple punch. I know, there’s no real maple in this. In my defense, maple syrup doesn’t give the maple flavor I’m looking for. I want MAPLE remember, not maple. Extract achieves that goal.
We normally eat turkey bacon, but I used regular bacon for this. I cooked the bacon until it was crisp, but not burnt. You want the bacon crisp so it doesn’t get soggy in the ice cream. Be sure to drain it well before you crumble it.
To add a crunch to the ice cream reminiscent of the version from the Manhattan Beach Creamery, I added toffee bits. You can find these in the baking aisle with the chocolate chips. I used the kind without chocolate, but you could totally use the kind with it. Or, chop up some Skor bars.
Because we all know that toffee and maple go with bacon, but we also know that chocolate goes with bacon. It goes so well, I made pull-apart bread out of it awhile back.
That’s why I drizzled homemade chocolate sauce over my ice cream. It’s like an explosion of flavors all in one place!
I’m not joking – this is one of my favorite ice cream flavors ever. And I’ve eaten and made a lot of ice cream. So I should know. 🙂
Check out my ice cream week recipes, and don’t forget to go check out Ashton’s Ice Cream Recipes this week for ice cream week!
For more ice cream recipes check out my Ice Cream Pinboard!
Maple Bacon Crunch Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 slices bacon
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- ½ teaspoon maple extract
- ½ cup (120g) toffee bits
Instructions
- Cook the bacon until crisp but not burnt. Drain and cool on paper towels. Crumble.
- Beat heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- Place the sweetened condensed milk in a large bowl. Stir in the maple extract and toffee bits. Fold in the whipped cream and the crumbled bacon.
- Place ice cream mixture in an airtight container. Freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Recipe Notes
- You can use regular or fat-free sweetened condensed milk
- If you want a lower fat ice cream, use 2 containers (8-ounces each) in place of the heavy whipping cream.
- Store in freezer for up to 1 month.
Recipe Nutrition
Chocolate Bacon Pull-Apart Bread
Coffee Nutella Swirl Ice Cream
Sweets from friends:
Bacon Maple Donuts by Baked by Rachel
Maple Bacon Cookies by Shugary Sweets
Glazed Maple Bacon by Wonky Wonderful
Last Updated on May 15, 2020
We are going to make this in the ditch oven cook off. It comes out awesome and really throws people that you can make ice cream in a Dutch oven. It takes about 2 hours to freeze and comes out great. Wish us luck!
Can you use an ice cream maker?
Can you say: Love at first sight?❤️ I am a total ice cream fiend and this, my dear, is one I must try.
Thank you Thank you!
Just omg. I had to come back and comment on this one because I’ve been dying over it all week! I swear it’s stalking me on Pinterest. Which means the universe wants me to make it right?
Thanks for doing Ice Cream week with me! It’s been so much fun!!!
Thank YOU! It’s been super fun. Let’s do it again – soon! xo
Words cannot describe how badly I want to try this!
How hard was it to find maple flavoring? I want to make this for a work brunch surprise tomorrow, but I’m worried about driving all over the place in search of it and tempted to just stir some candied bacon and maple syrup into store bought butter pecan ice cream.
I buy mine at the grocery store or Walmart. McCormick has an Imitation Maple Extract and Walmart has the McCormick plus another brand that’s cheaper. If you have a decent sized grocery store that has a baking aisle with all sorts of spices and extracts, they should have it! I tried to check on the McCormick website but I don’t think they have a locater. Here is the link: http://www.mccormick.com/Spices-and-Flavors/Extracts-and-Food-Colors/Extracts/Imitation-Maple-Flavor
Thanks! I found it right away and, while I don’t eat bacon or anything maple flavored adding this do some pecan french toast at my work brunch BLEW EVERYONE AWAY! I decided to candy the pieces of bacon (dredged them through some smoky pork seasoning and brown sugar and baked on a rack and the crunch really took it up a notch. thanks so much for the recipe!!
Wow, this sounds wonderful. I don’t suppose this would travel well so you could bring me some??? lol
THAT sound fabulous! LOVE ice cream so much. Cannot wait to try out this recipe. EVERYTHING must be better when you add bacon.
come to momma! what an ice cream combo, and your trip looked beyond fabulous, looking forward to seeing you in Oregon
bacon and sweetened condensed milk together in a recipe?!!! I am so on this recipe!
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