Adding Whiskey To Homemade Ice Cream? Here's The Best Flavor To Use

While there are loads of tasty ways to artfully incorporate alcohol into your desserts, infusing homemade ice cream with liquor seems like a natural pairing. The two have shared a common thread since the Prohibition era, when folks were forced to swap out their drinking habit for an ice cream habit. Now, brands like Tipsy Scoop are bringing the two beloved delights together and combining their mighty forces. If you're interested in dipping your spoon in the world of making boozy ice cream but aren't sure which flavor pairs best with whiskey, Tipsy Scoop founder and CEO Melissa Tavss gave Mashed the scoop in an exclusive interview.

"Our favorite flavor with whiskey is our dark chocolate whiskey and salted caramel ice cream," says Tavss, adding, "The bitterness of the dark chocolate balances really nicely with the sweet flavors in the whiskey, and the salted caramel really just brings everything together!" Although chocolate and whiskey may seem like they exist in entirely different wheelhouses at first glance, the two can work quite well together. Thanks to chemical changes that occur during the aging process, aged whiskeys are rather sweet, which works to complement bitter dark chocolate. If this particular flavor combo isn't your go-to, there are tons of tasty flavored whiskeys popping up, like this cookie dough-flavored whiskey that tastes like dessert in a glass, which would pair well with your favorite no-churn vanilla ice cream recipe.

Whiskey and chocolate are a killer combination, but the addition of salted caramel really seals the deal. Whiskey — often aged in oak barrels — tends to take on a distinctively caramelly taste thanks to a chemical present in the wood called lactones. By introducing salted caramel into the mix, it amplifies those rich caramel notes for an immensely deep flavor. If you're looking for something a little lighter and brighter, putting whiskey together with mint chocolate chip ice cream keeps that rich chocolatey complement while bringing in a fresh mint julep vibe.

Whether you use an ice cream machine or the manual method to make homemade ice cream, there are some things to consider when incorporating booze into the ice cream base. Because alcohol has such a low freezing point, it's imperative you don't add too much liquor, lest you be left with a sad, soupy mess. Experiment with adding just a few tablespoons to your favorite recipe, such as around 4 tablespoons of whiskey per 1½ quarts of ice cream base. If you'd rather not mess with making your own boozy ice cream, you can still incorporate whiskey into your ice cream with a whiskey-maple sauce topping, which is how the Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond puts a twist on a classic ice cream sundae.