Ingredients

For The Caramelized Apples

• 1 pound apples (3 large or 4 medium)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons bourbon whiskey
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar (3 ½ ounces)
• ¾ teaspoon cinnamon

For The Crumble

• ½ cup all-purpose flour (2 ½ ounces)
• ⅓ cup quick (baby)oats (1 ¼ ounces)
• ⅓ cup light brown sugar (3 ½ ounces)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced and slightly softened (2 ounces)
• ⅓ cup pecans, finely chopped (1 ¼ ounces)

For the Ice Cream Base

• Glucose syrup (5%) 50g | ¼ cup
• Brown Sugar (15%) 150g | ¾ cup
• Cream (30%) 300g | 1 ½ cups
• Milk (40%) 400g | 2 cups
• Egg yolks (10%) 100g | about 5 large yolks
• Cornstarch 10g | 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon, mixed with 40g | 4 tablespoons of cold milk
• Creme Fraîche 100 g
• Vanilla paste 1 Tbsp
• Apple Cinnamon Hot Toddy Mix 15g | 1 Tbsp
• Dark Rum 45g | 3 Tbsp

Instructions

For The Caramelized Apples

1. Peel the apples, cut their flesh off the core, and into ⅛ slices and then cut each slice into three pieces.
2. Place them in a heavy cookware (I use a porcelain lined cast iron pan), and and add the 3 tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons bourbon, ½  cup brown sugar and ¾  teaspoon cinnamon.
3. Cook the apples until very tender on the stove top at medium to medium-high heat. You want to cook them until there is very little liquid left in the purée and they have broken down into a thick, chunky sauce, 45-60 minutes, stirring and mashing them a few times throughout the baking time. (A potato masher works well here.)
4. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and set aside.

For The Crumble

1. Meanwhile, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add the butter pieces and work with your fingertips until the mixture forms large clumps. Work in the pecans until evenly distributed. The mixture should resemble gravel.
2. Dump the crumble mixture onto a small, rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and spread it evenly. When the apples are done baking, reduce the oven temperature to 350º
3. Bake the crumble until golden all over and crisp throughout, 15-20 minutes, giving it a gentle stir halfway through the baking time to help it cook evenly.
4. Let the crumble cool completely.
5. Place the crumble it in the freezer; this will get layered into the ice cream.

For the Ice Cream

1. Prepare an ice bath. Fill a large bowl two-thirds of the way with very icy ice water and place it in the refrigerator.
2. Boil the dairy and sugars. Put the cream, milk, glucose, and brown sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, and place it over medium-high heat. Cook, whisking occasionally to discourage the milk from scorching, until the mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Whisk into the simmering dairy the cornstarch mixture and then cook for 1 minute.  Then remove the pot from heat.
3. Temper the yolks and cook the custard. In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks. Add ½ cup of the hot dairy mixture to the yolks while whisking so the hot milk doesn’t scramble the yolks. Pour the tempered yolks back into the pot of hot milk while whisking. Place the pot over medium-low heat and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot constantly with a rubber spatula to avoid curdling.
4. Chill. When you notice the custard thickening, or the temperature reaches 180°F on a kitchen thermometer, immediately pour the custard into a shallow metal or glass bowl. Nest the hot bowl into the ice bath, stirring occasionally until it cools down.
5. Strain. When the custard is cool to the touch (50°F or below) strain it through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any bits of egg yolk into the bowl containing the caramelized apple purée. Then add the creme fraîche and the vanilla paste. Using an immersion blender at a normal speed of 3 or 4, blend the apple purée, creme fraîche and the vanilla paste with the custard base until it is throughly integrated.
6. Cure. Transfer the cooled base to the refrigerator to cure for 4 hours, or preferably overnight.
7. Whisk. Prior to churning the ice cream base, stir in the Apple & Cinnamon Hot Toddy mix and the dark rum. Taste and adjust accordingly.
8. Churn. Place the base into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The ice cream is ready when it thickens into the texture of soft-serve ice cream and holds its shape, typically 20 to 30 minutes.
9. Layer With The Crumble. After 20 minutes or so, when the ice cream is firm but not too frozen, turn off the ice cream maker. Layer the ice cream with the frozen crumble to create a multi-layered ice cream with layers of crumbles in the container.
10. Harden. To freeze your custard ice cream in the American hard-pack style, after you have finished layering the ice cream with the crumbles cover the container with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream to prevent ice crystals from forming, cover with an air tight cover, and store it in your freezer until it hardens completely, between 4 and 12 hours. Or, feel free to enjoy your ice cream immediately; the texture will be similar to soft-serve.