English Brown Bread Ice Cream

This ice cream is tastier than it might sound. After a long stay working in England, I brought back the recipe, handwritten in an elegantly spidery backhand by an English friend. What I did not realize is how old the idea is, dating back more than a century.

Toasting the bread crumbs and brown sugar (the original recipe calls for coarse Demerara sugar) in a hot oven until caramelized is what gives the ice cream its spectacular flavor. The toasted crunch holds up even after freezing—