Blue Cheese and Caramelized Shallots Ice Cream

Our final Ice Cream Sunday of the year. (I apologize to those of you playing along.) I was saying that next year we should try Delicious Ice Cream Flavors, but we just might do this again. We still have some recipes for unique ice creams that we didn't get to this year.

But, as for this one, I thought it was pretty good, although it does taste like what the name suggests. The original recipe is found here:

1/2 cup sugar (for custard)
2 tablespoons sugar (for shallots)
5 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
2 ounces mild blue cheese
3 small shallots, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon butter or oil

1. Fry shallots over medium-high heat with the butter, stirring constantly until the are golden.

2. Stir in the 2 tablespoons of sugar and continue to fry until the sugar has melted and the shallots have turned a dark golden brown. Spread on a tray to cool.

3. Beat the rest of the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow.

4. Bring the milk to a simmer.

5. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.

6. Pour the mixture back into the pan and place over low heat. stir continuously until the custard thickens slightly and just coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat. Allow to cool completely.

7. Chop the blue cheese and put in a blender with half of the custard – pulsing until smooth.

8. Stir the blue cheese/custard mix back into the rest of the custard, cover, return to the refrigerator and allow to sit for at least two hours.

9. Whip the cream until it has doubled in volume (you should have soft peaks – don’t over-whip). Fold the cream (gently stir) into the custard.

10. Freeze in your ice cream machine, adding the caramelized shallots when the ice cream is already quite solid. Transfer to a freezer-proof covered container, place it in the freezer, and continue to freeze until it is solid.