For the salted caramel:

1. Melt butter in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Stir in sugar and continue cooking over medium heat, stirring regularly until golden brown (it should be a little darker than peanut butter). Remove from heat.
2. Stir in half of the cream (be careful–this can cause the caramel to bubble and sputter). Stir in the remaining cream, salt, and vanilla. Your caramel may have seized (mine did) and clumped up. Don’t panic, it’s still okay. If you have any lumps remaining, return pan to very low heat and stir until smooth. If there are any remaining small clumps, you can seive them out.
3. You should have about 1 1/4c caramel. Refrigerate until ready to use.

For the ice cream:

1. In a large saucepan, combine cream and sugar. Heat to a simmer over medium heat.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and salt. Whisk about 1/2c of the cream mixture into the egg mixture to temper the eggs. Continue whisking, and pour in the remaining cream mixture in small increments.
3. Pour the custard back into the large saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until thickened slightly. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely cooled.
4. When custard is chilled, pour into an ice cream mixer and process according to manufacturer’s directions (for my Cuisinart, I churned the ice cream for 30 minutes). Pour ice cream into a freezer-safe container and pour salted caramel over all. Swirl caramel into the ice cream with a butter knife. Cover and freeze at least 3 hours, or until firm.
5. Makes about 1 1/4 quarts.