Brown Bread Ice Cream

Brown bread ice cream is an Irish thing - probably originating from the fact the Irish always seem to have leftover soda bread on hand and needed to come up with creative ways to use it. This way certainly is unique and quite tasty. You may be skeptical at first, but think of it as "Cinnamon Toast Crunch" ice cream, and it sounds a little better. Basically, that's what this is. It goes well with a variety of desserts and toppings too - sticky toffee pudding, strawberry shortcake, Eton mess, caramel sauce, banana splits, etc!

Caramelized Bread Crumbs
4 thick slices soda bread
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup salted butter, melted and browned slightly

For the Caramelized Bread Crumbs: Crumble the bread into a bowl. The crumbs should be no larger than a kernel of corn. Toss with the sugar and cinnamon, pour the butter over top and toss to coat.
Toast at 350◦F for 20-30 minutes, stirring every so often, until toasted and crisp. 

For the Brown Bread Ice Cream: Immediately after the ice cream comes out of the machine, fold in the bread crumbs until evenly distributed, then put ice cream in the freezer to firm up. You may do this in batches if required, and may not need all the crumbs. They can be saved for another time, used elsewhere, or snacked on.

Prepping Ahead: Ice cream base can be made a day in advance before churning.
Ice cream can be churned and will last in the freezer for at least a week. You can keep plain ice cream base on hand and stir in the crumbs when needed. You may need to soften the ice cream a bit prior to doing this.
Bread may be baked up to three days in advance before caramelizing.
Bread crumbs can be caramelized up to three days before being added to ice cream.

When freshly made, bread crumbs retain some of their crunch in the ice cream. They will soften over hours while the ice cream sits in the freezer.