Oatmeal Raisin Ice Cream

To prepare the Oatmeal Praline

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a sheet pan with foil and spread the oats evenly on the sheet. Bake the oats for about 10 minutes, stirring the oats occasionally, until lightly golden brown. Set aside.
3. Sprinkle the sugar into a medium, heavy bottomed saucepan, and heat over medium heat. Be sure to watch this – as soon as the sugar starts to liquefy and darken on the outer edges, use a heat-proof silicone spatula to carefully stir the mixture and start to melt the sugar in the center of the pan.
4. Tilt the pan as needed and stir until all of the sugar is melted and turns to a caramel color. As soon as the caramel begins to smoke, remove the pan from the heat and quickly pour in the oatmeal, stirring to coat with your spatula. (Do NOT touch this mixture – it is super hot and will stick to and burn your skin.)
5. Scrape the oatmeal-caramel mixture back onto the foil-lined baking sheet and using your spatula spread out as much as possible. Sprinkle with salt and allow to cool completely.
6. Once cool, break the praline into small bits – pulsing in a food processor is the easiest way, or place into a plastic bag and pound with a rolling pin to crush into small bits. Set aside.

To prepare the Raisins

1. In a small saucepan over low heat, heat the water and sugar, stirring until the sugar completely dissolves.
2. Add the raisins and simmer about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has absorbed into the raisins. (You’ll want about 2 tablespoons of liquid remaining in the bottom of the pan.)
3. Remove from the heat, stir in the bourbon and set aside to cool.

To prepare the Ice Cream

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Set aside.
2. In another medium bowl, whisk together the cream, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Set a fine mesh strainer on top of the bowl and set aside.
3. In a large shallow bowl, prepare an ice bath by filling with very cold water and ice cubes. Set aside.
4. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk, sugar and salt until the sugar completely dissolves. While whisking, very slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the egg yolks (make sure to whisk the whole time so that the eggs don’t turn into scrambled eggs). Pour the egg and milk mixture back into the saucepan.
5. Heat the saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan while you stir (a heat-proof, silicone spatula works well for this), until the mixture thickens and coats the back of spoon, about 4-5 minutes.
6. Remove from the heat and pour through the mesh strainer into the bowl with the cream mixture. Stir in the vanilla. Place the bowl in the prepared ice bath to chill, being careful not to allow any water from the ice bath to get into the cream mixture.
7. Once the custard has cooled in the ice bath, remove the bowl from the ice water and cover with plastic wrap, pushing the plastic down to touch the top of the custard. (This will prevent a skin from forming on the custard as it cools.) Refrigerate overnight.
8. Churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker according to your manufacturer’s instructions. A few minutes before the ice cream is done churning, add in the raisins (pour in all liquid as well) and the crumbled oatmeal praline. Freeze another 2 to 4 hours before serving.