Peanut Butter Ice Cream

I grew up in a town of approximately 4,000 people. It was the 1980’s. Our ice cream choices were limited to two ice cream shops: Charlie’s Shake Shop, which was a cool place to hang out and play video games – it eventually turned into a video store – and then there was a smaller ice cream shop similar to a Baskin Robbins or 31 Flavors, the name of which I can’t remember. We visited this ice cream shop more often than Charlie’s Shake Shop, if memory serves me correctly.

My favorite flavors at the ice cream shop were blue moon (because the ice cream was blue, duh) and peanut butter. Blue moon must have been more popular because it was served more often than peanut butter. I remember that whenever they did serve peanut butter ice cream, I always had to have a scoop, as it was served so rarely.

I still have an enormous amount of egg yolk in my fridge. A good way to use up egg yolks (eight of them!) is to make homemade ice cream. And, like most times I’m making a dessert-type dish, my thoughts drifted to peanut butter. With this recipe I can have peanut butter ice cream whenever I want it.

ingredients.

• 2 c. whipping cream, divided
• 1 c. peanut butter
• 1 c. peanut butter chips
• 2 c. half and half
• 1 c. sugar
• 8 egg yolks
• 4 tsp. vanilla
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• peanut butter sauce

directions.

1. In a small saucepan place 1 cup whipping cream, peanut butter and peanut butter chips over medium-low heat, stirring until combined. Remove from heat; set aside. Simultaneously place half and half in a medium saucepan over medium heat and heat until very hot but not boiling, stirring often. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Place egg yolks in mixing bowl. Attach bowl and wire whip to mixer. Turn speed to 2 and gradually add sugar; mix until well blended and slightly thickened. Very gradually add peanut butter mixture and half-and-half; mix until well blended. Return the mixture to the medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until small bubbles form around the edge and mixture is steamy. Do not boil.
3. Transfer to a large bowl; stir in remaining whipping cream, vanilla and salt. Cover and chill thoroughly, at least 8 hours.
4. Assemble and engage freeze bowl, dasher and drive assembly as directed. Turn to STIR (speed 1). Using a container with a pour spout, pour mixture into freeze bowl. Stir for 10 to 15 minutes or until desired consistency is reached, adding peanut butter sauce during the last 1 to 2 minutes of freeze time, if desired. Immediately transfer ice cream into serving dishes or freeze in an airtight container.

I made a peanut butter sauce by melting the following approximate ingredients in a small pot on the stove: 1 cup of peanut butter, 3 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon corn syrup and 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Then I let it cool while I was mixing the ice cream.

I would recommend not adding the sauce during stirring and adding it yourself while eating or when you’re packing it into containers. I added it directly to the ice cream and noticed it mainly became incorporated into the ice cream except for a bunch of little flecks, so this took away from the smooth consistency of the ice cream.

This ice cream is possibly better than the peanut butter ice cream of my youth. I let it freeze all afternoon until it was a rich and creamy texture (not too hard!). Packed with a ton of peanut butter flavor, it will be sure to please any peanut butter lover like myself.

Yields 4 plus pints of ice cream.

Recipe rating: 