Lunch: Salted Pecan-Maple Ice Cream

Recipe by livduran This is an utterly delicious ice cream recipe. The sea salt adds a perfect touch.

Ingredients

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup real maple syrup
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 drop maple-flavored extract, or to taste
3 cups half-and-half
1 pinch coarse sea salt, or to taste

Instructions

Place pecans into a heavy saucepan over medium heat and toast the nuts, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over pecans and stir constantly until the sugar melts to a light brown syrup and coats the pecans. Immediately pull the pan off the heat; sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon sea salt.
Turn hot pecans out onto a piece of parchment paper and cool thoroughly; break apart any large clumps. Set candied pecans aside.
Whisk 3/4 cup sugar, maple syrup, eggs, vanilla extract, and maple flavoring in a large bowl until smooth. Slowly whisk in half-and-half.
Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Mix the candied pecans into the softly-frozen ice cream. Sprinkle servings with a pinch of coarsely ground sea salt.