Cinnamon Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

This homemade Cinnamon Dulce de Leche Ice Cream is filled with homemade cinnamon crunch bits and swirled with dulce de leche! It’s like eating a churro in ice cream form. Cinco de Mayo dessert has never tasted this good. 😉 High-fives all around!

This Cinnamon Ice Cream is filled with sweet dulce de leche and crunchy cinnamon sugar pieces that almost makes this homemade ice cream recipe taste like a churro ice cream!

One summer back in college, I worked at a summer camp in the mountains. I worked mainly with the junior highers at their “convenience store,” which was a cabin in the center of their camp filled with the camp essentials: Jones soda, ice cream sandwiches, potato chips, and candy–lots and lots of candy.

During their free time, the kids would come in, spend obscene amounts of money on all the sugar, and tell me alllll about their day over a soda or an ice cream sandwich.

One girl even asked to borrow my clothes because hers, and I quote, “went missing.”

So. Many. Questions. (Like, where do I even begin??)

Junior highers are funny (and sometimes strange) kids.

But, they’re pretty lovable, especially when they were explaining how they “took down the Adventure Mountain Sundae.”

The Adventure Mountain Sundae was this monstrosity of an ice cream sundae that the snack shop sold. It had something like 12 scoops of ice cream, which were huge, whipped cream everywhere, chocolate syrup, and giant chocolate chip cookies pressed to the outside of the ice cream. Like I said, a monstrosity.

It was a big deal to the boys; almost like a rite of passage.

Now, the thought of downing that much ice cream kind of makes me feel sick, but the boys? Oh, they were a different story. They would come back to the store complaining about how full they felt all the while purchasing more soda, candy, and chips.

The metabolisms of boys are astounding.

Even though I can’t take down a 12-scoop sundae, I can definitely–definitely–take down a few scoops of this churro inspired ice cream.

It’s the perfect Cinco de Mayo dessert! Or anytime dessert, really. It’s cinnamon ice cream with cinnamon crunch bits and swirls of dulce de leche.

It’s unreal. And the cinnamon crunch bits taste just like the outside of a churro! No kidding.

Cinnamon Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Recipe Tips & Tricks:

• This homemade ice cream recipe does require an ice cream maker. It’s my pride and joy (the ice cream maker, not this ice cream) and it was one of my favorite “fun” kitchen tool splurges!
• The cinnamon sugar bits are sweet! But, that’s what makes them sooo delish. Plus, they really do taste like the outside of a churro (which, while this might be slightly blasphemous, is my favorite part of the churro ).
• This cinnamon ice cream recipe calls for both half & half and heavy cream. If you are out of half & half, you can make it yourself (it’s half milk, half cream).

I’ll take that scoop with a side of two more scoops.

Print

Cinnamon Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

Prep Time

4 hrs 20 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

4 hrs 35 mins

 

This homemade Cinnamon Dulce de Leche Ice Cream is filled with homemade cinnamon crunch bits and swirled with dulce de leche! It's like eating a churro in ice cream form. Cinco de Mayo dessert has never tasted this good. High-fives all around!

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Cinnamon Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

Servings: 1 Quart (about)

Author: Michelle

Ingredients

Cinnamon Crunch Bits

• 1 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar plus 2 Tbsp
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Ice Cream

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup half & half
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1/4-1/2 cup dulce de leche

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter together. Spread the mixture on a parchment-lined baking sheet in a thin, even layer and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until crisp. Set aside and allow to cool. Once cooled, break into bite-sized pieces.
2. In a bowl, mix heavy cream, half and half, brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt together. Pour into a chilled ice cream maker, and follow the directions of your ice cream maker.
3. Once the ice cream has thickened and is almost finished (for my ice cream maker it was about 20 minutes), drizzle in 1/4 to 1/2 cup dulce de leche, depending upon your preference. Next, add in cinnamon sugar pieces.
4. If you like your ice cream soft-serve, eat it right away, or store in an airtight container for 3-4 hours in the freezer.
5. Enjoy!

Here are some other ice cream recipes I love:

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

No Churn Brownie Batter Ice Cream