
I don’t know why I made this ice cream the first time. Maybe I always wanted to learn how to make dulce de leche or maybe I was so mesmerized by this recipe that I didn’t care that it would be more work. I guess it really doesn’t matter because all I know now is that this ice cream is the best I’ve ever had. I love is so much that I’ve made it multiple times and would be more than happy to eat nothing, but this ice cream for the rest of my life. Brown sugar toffee ice cream by itself sounds really good, but having the gooey, delicious dulce de leche swirled throughout this ice cold custard from heaven makes it almost orgasmic.
If you’ve been dying to buy that fancy shmancy ice cream maker, then this should be your reason to go for it. Just the thought of living without this ice cream seems almost pointless. You must make it! Okay, that’s a bit overdramatic, but seriously, you get the idea. This ice cream is pretty damn good. Make it already!
Brown Sugar Toffee Ice Cream with Dulce de Leche Swirl
(Recipe from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy)
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1 vanilla bean, split with the seeds scraped out
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Toffee bits (as many as you want)
- 1 cup dulce de leche (recipe below)
- Heat the milk, 1 cup heavy cream, salt, and both sugars in a saucepan. Add the vanilla bean seeds and pod to the mixture. Cover the saucepan and let steep for 30 minutes.
- Pour the remaining heavy cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks, then slowly pour in the warm milk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the contents back into the pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a heat-resistant spatula until the custard thickens. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Put the vanilla bean back into the custard and chill thoroughly.
- When chilled, remove the vanilla bean and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions.
- During the last few minutes add the toffee bits to the ice cream so that they are evenly distributed.
- Whisk the dulce de leche. When the ice cream is finished churning, pour it into a freezable container, alternating between scoops of ice cream and scoops of dulce de leche. Freeze to desire consistency.

I’m a total newbie when it comes to making dulce de leche. I’m sure there are plenty of other ways to make it, maybe even ones from scratch that taste better, but until I can find a store that sells it, then this one will work for me. It’s really simple and the only hard part is adding more water to the pot when it starts to get low. Also, there is a very helpful video here that you can watch.
Dulce de Leche
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- Remove label from can. With a can opener or even a nail and hammer, poke a few holes into the top of the can so that it can’t explode.
- Fill a saucepan with water and place can inside. You’ll want enough water so that 2/3 of the can is submerged. Adding too much will cause the water to splash onto the top of the can and go inside your holes.
- Boil the water for 3-5 hours depending on the thickness desired. (I usually cook mine for 4 hours and it ends up pretty thick). Be sure to refill the water every now and then as well.
- Once you think it’s ready, remove the can from the water and carefully open it up. Pour all of the contents into a bowl and whisk to get the clumps out. Enjoy!
Note: When you open up the can do not be alarmed if the top of it still looks really liquidy. The bottom cooks the most so although you may have really thick dulce de leche at the bottom, you may still have a light color liquid at the top. I panicked and thought mine wasn’t done, but it will be.

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Oh man, that title alone renders me powerless! Toffee & brown sugar & dulce de leche?! BRING IT ON!
oh god that looks good! I am definitely going to have to make this.
David Lebovitz has a good dulce de leche recipe – same thing basically only you bake it in a water bath in the oven, not in the can. I get sketched out about boiling in the can lol.
Awesome pics btw, I want to eat my computer screen!
Yum, this ice cream looks AMAZING. I just got an ice cream maker, so I’ll have to try it!
How amazing. I have just purchsed an ice cream maker and was wondering about incorporating dulce de leche as I love it and up this pops on Food gawker. It looks lovely . Can’t wait to try now. Thank you :)
Oh my, this looks wonderful! I LOVE Dulce de Leche and toffee. I’ve made Dulce de Leche ice cream before, so now I’ll have to try this. When I make Dulce de Leche, I use David Lebovitz’s method, mentioned by Jayme. It’s super easy and worry free!
The 4 hour cook time for dulce de leche is a little frightening, but this ice cream looks like it is well worth it!
This looks amazing! I love dulce de leche!
[...] seen in my previous post, Brown Sugar Toffee Ice Cream with a Dulce de Leche Swirl is my current ice cream obsession so it [...]
I made this ice cream for a family gathering today for my husband’s birthday. It is so good and everyone loved it. Thank you for a great recipe :)
That ice cream looks so good!
As soon as you said ice cream I was convinced that I need this ice cream in my life. But I’m lazy and hate waiting. I want that now, where do you live? I’ll be right over with some waffle bowls and plastic spoons.
~ingrid
Wow! That looks amazing!!