Apple pie ice cream with crunchy crumbs and caramel sauce

What's more American than apple pie?

How about a wedge of apple pie-inspired ice cream, topped with pie crust crumbs and drizzled with caramel sauce? This is a complete sugar-fest, but Thanksgiving only comes once a year. To take it even further OTT, add a dollop of whipped cream to make it ‘apple pie ice cream a la mode’. Go ahead, make my day...

Tip: This recipe makes more caramel sauce than you will use for this dessert, but it keeps well in the fridge and I'm sure it won't go to waste.

The ice cream

3	Apples, washed and cored (Main)
1	Lemon, juice only
¼ cup	Water
½ tin	Sweetened condensed milk (Main)
2 Tbsp	Brandy
2 tsp	Ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp	Brown sugar
¼ tsp	Salt
300 ml	Cream (Main)

The pie crust crumbs

2 Tbsp	Softened butter
2 Tbsp	Caster sugar
1 pinch	Salt
1 pinch	Ground cinnamon
½ cup	Plain flour

The caramel sauce

¾ cup	Caster sugar
¼ cup	Hot water
¼ tsp	Salt
½ cup	Cream

Directions

1. Start by making the ice cream: Put the apples, lemon juice and water in a small pot. Cover and cook over medium heat until very soft - about 10 minutes. Scrape off and discard the skins and crush with a fork until smooth. Set aside to cool completely (you can do this in advance, just cover and chill the apple until ready to use).
2. Mix together the condensed milk, brandy, cinnamon, brown sugar and salt. Set aside.
3. Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Fold in the condensed milk mixture, followed by the apple. Pour into a plastic container or a foil-lined standard size loaf tin. Cover and freeze for six hours.
4. Make the pie crust crumbs and caramel sauce while the ice cream is freezing.
5. For the crumbs, heat the oven to 180C. Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in the salt, cinnamon and flour to form a pastry-like dough. Press the dough until about 1/2cm thick onto a piece of baking paper - you can use your hands for this, it doesn't have to be perfectly shaped. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, until pale gold and starting to crisp up at the edges. Set aside until cool, then break into pieces.
6. For the caramel sauce, put thesugar and water in a small pot set over medium heat. Stir well to dissolve sugar, then simmer until it turns dark golden brown (don't wander away, it will burn!). Remove from the heat and carefully pour in the cream. Stir until smooth, then pour into a jar and leave to cool. Store in the fridge, but bring to room temperature before using.
7. To assemble the dessert, cut the ice cream into wedges and arrange on a serving plate. Crumble the pie crust on top and drizzle with caramel sauce.