Peanut Butter Ice Cream!

We've been putting our ice cream maker to good use.  (I'm not sure it was a "wise" purchase, but it's been fun.)  We recently cranked out five flavors for a BBQ: rum ice cream, mango sorbet, chocolate, cinnamon-cayenne chocolate, and peanut butter.  That was a lot of ice cream.  Good thing we have a stand alone freezer.

I would say that Peanut Butter ice cream is our current favorite, though Joe is enjoying playing around with rum. This recipe is slightly modified from the one in the recipe booklet that came with the maker.  I like it topped with Sander's Swiss Dark Fudge topping, but it's yummy all on its own.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

1 cup peanut butter (after experimenting with several, including really high-quality gourmet ones, Jif Extra Crunchy gives the best results)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup whole milk

1 - 1/3 cups heavy cream

2 tsp vanilla extract (we use a generous teaspoon of Penzey's double-strength version, and by "generous" I mean that Joe kind of sloshes it in, so don't worry if you get a bit extra)

Combine the peanut butter and sugar until smooth. Add the milk. Blend on low speed until smooth and the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream and the vanilla (don't stir too much, just a few strokes until it's well mixed).

Place in your ice cream maker and let it run until it's as thick as it's going to get, then scrape it into a container. If you let it sit in a freezer overnight, it'll harden up and have the standard ice cream consistency you've come to know and love.

Comments

[Stefanie Noble]

That looks great... The mango sorbet is tempting as well. I have one of the Cuisinart models that you keep the bowl in the freezer. It works decently, although I'm sure yours produces a better texture. The two things I use my the most for are a chai tea sorbet (I use either homebrewed or two bottles of Honest Tea Kashmiri Chair) and frozen vanilla pudding (just dump homemade pudding into the machine and go), which is like a Pudding Pop in a bowl.

[Kitchen Chick]

Chai tea flavor sounds really good!

Not having tried the other models, I can't compare the texture. A vanilla batch we made had a somewhat odd texture when we served is as "soft serve", but I noticed that the texture improves if the batch gets to process long enough and then spends time hardening in the freezer.

[Kitchen Chick]

Oh, and another way to improve the texture of ice cream is to chill the batch in the refrigerator for 4 to 12 hours before processing it in the ice cream maker.

[Scott]

Interesting it doesn't use eggs. We made some PB ice cream last week- recipe was the same except with a couple eggs, and 2 cups cream. We used some fresh ground peanut butter, which gave it a very slightly sandy texture. Still ate it all though. I think you're right to use Jif.

I also tried making Thai Curry ice cream. Basically coconut ice cream with a bit of Thai curry paste, lime, and ginger. Interesting, but still needs some work. Then yesterday I thought Avocado and Chocolate would be worth a shot- kind of an ice cream version of an Indonesian avocado smoothie.

[Joe, Husband of Kitchen Chick]

Yes! I plan to try Thai Curry too! Also a variant of it with some peanut butter added (there's an ice cream place in Columbus OH where they do one like that).

Fresh ground peanut butter does indeed give it a sandy texture. That's why the Jif works better.

There are two types of ice cream bases -- ones with eggs, which are cooked into a thin custard ("French Style"), and ones without eggs ("Philadelphia Style" or sometimes "American Style"). The egg base is richer, but the Philadephia-style base seems to let more of the flavor of the other ingredients come through. It's also a lot less work, because you just combine the ingredients cold. (Though I've read advice that you should heat milk -- not cream -- for a while before using it in an ice cream base. It apparently helps the texture. I may try that.)

[Scott]

This wasn't a custard base, it was the standard base from the Ben & Jerry's book. Whip a couple eggs, add sugar, add cream and milk, and pop it into the ice cream maker. Probably a good idea to use the best eggs you can get since you're eating them raw.

[Kitchen Chick]

My understanding is that the major difference in the Philadelphia/American and the French/custard ice cream styles is the presence or absence of eggs. There are a lot of other terms for ice cream, but those are the catagories used by the FDA (along with ice milk, sherbert, and water ices for other frozen desserts). I'm using Cookwise as my reference.

[Joe, Husband of Kitchen Chick]

Sounds like Ben and Jerry's may have invented a variant, though. The base would be very different if the eggs weren't cooked.

Scott, how are the recipes in that book generally? Is it worth buying?

[Scott]

I think it's a good book, at least if you like Ben & Jerry's generally. I don't think the non-cooked egg base is anything they invented though. I'm just flipping through another ice cream book (Ice Cream for All Seasons), and most of its recipes use the same base. You got me curious about this, so I tried a little search. I found lots of articles that start out saying "there are two kinds of ice cream: custard and Philadelphia style." I also found lots of dire warnings about using uncooked eggs. Many of these articles mention uncooked egg recipes as being "old-fashioned," but apart from that I can't find anything authoritative about the history or derivation of each style. Who knows. (I've eaten several gallons of uncooked egg ice cream over the last five years and have never had a problem, but I only buy local free range eggs. I probably wouldn't eat a raw battery farmed egg.)

The B&J book has this to say about eggs:

"Most homemade ice cream has eggs or egg yolks that act as an emulsifying agent suspending the butterfat particles... Eggs also add texture to ice cream and improve its whipping ability. All in all, they help make a richer, creamier ice cream that holds up better in storage."

[Joe, Husband of Kitchen Chick]

I think we need that book.

We only buy local free-range eggs too, so it's probably a reasonable risk unless we're serving it to little kids or elderly people.

That said, the eggs might dilute the flavor a bit even if they're raw. My first rum ice cream batch had eggs, the second didn't, and the second seemed to have a cleaner rum flavor.

[Pamela]

I adore anything with peanut butter and this just sounds heavenly to me!!

[s'kat]

hey there!

i have bookmarked your ice cream recipe since it posted! My husband's birthday was right around the corner, and he is a HUGE fan of peanut butter. It's almost embarrasing, really, so I knew it would be the perfect treat for his birthday.

Here is the posting: http://hrblogs.typepad.com/skat_and_the_food/2006/06/with_a_little_h.html

So, thanks for making it so good. He keeps praising me on the ice cream, and doesn't quite understand when I'm telling him it's all due to kitchen chick. ;)

THANKS!

[Jim]

Did you look at the Peanut Butter Topping http://www.superiornutstore.com/pebupr.html

[Joe, Husband of Kitchen Chick]

Whoa! I NEED some of that! Thanks!

(I tried mixing up my own with peanut butter and [evil] corn syrup, but it worked poorly...)

[paula]

I was told many years ago that sugar kills salmonella in raw eggs. So churn on!

[Alex]

Sorry to have missed you at the Heartland Gathering -- I needed to back out at the last minute. To console myself I made a 1.5-quart batch of your pb ice cream yesterday, adding a 100g bar of Lindt 70% bittersweet chocolate, chopped. Wow. Out of morbid curiosity I did a calorie count: about 6400 for the batch. It's so dense and rich, though, that it'll easily provide 25 or so servings. I'm bringing it to a party tonight, so I guess I'll find out.

[Joe]

How did the chocolate work out? I tried Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips, and they froze so hard I couldn't taste them.

[Alex]

Yes, it was a different experience from eating room temperature chocolate. I took my time and savored each spoonful, though, giving the chocolate a chance to warm up a bit in my mouth.

[Gigi]

Hi! Found your site through supereggplant.com... We are in a small condo now, but I can't wait to get a bigger place and get an ice cream maker (no room for even an extra pot right now)...

Thanks for the site. If you'd like to check mine out, it's called, "What's for Dinner?" Thanks, I'll be reading for sure! :)

[Mel]

Well, I just found this site. I have been getting really into making ice cream and I LOVE peanut butter, so I am very excited about this. :)

I have been finding out that many different ice cream recipies call for different kinds of cream, and I was wondering what kind of heavy cream you use? In the U.S. the creams are:

· Half and half (10.5–18% fat)

· Light, coffee, or table cream (18–30% fat)

· Medium cream (25% fat)

· Whipping or light whipping cream (30–36% fat)

· Heavy whipping cream (36% or more)

· Extra-heavy or manufacturer's cream (38–40% or more), generally not available at retail.

And it is different for U.K. recipies too. My ice cream maker came with U.K. recipies that I am getting a headace trying to convert. (which is why I found this site in the first place)

Does heavier cream just produce a thicker ice cream?

Anyways, thanks for any information you can provide me with. :)

[Kitchen Chick]

Mel, we use unpasteurized heavy whipping cream.

I've never seen medium cream for sale.

[jackal]

Made this yesterday but replaced the 1 - 1/3 cups heavy cream with whole milk and used Jif Creamy.

Results were excellent using the Lello Gelato Pro Ice Cream Maker Model 4090.

[marcy]

Have been looking for a recipe for coffee ice cream, using prepared coffee. Can this be done? Or does the coffee have to be in a fine granular state?

[Joe, Kitchen Chick's Husband]

It can be done; essentially what you do is to brew some very strong coffee first and then mix it in to a sweet cream base. You don't want granular, you want liquid, as concentrated as possible.

I'll see if I can dig up a recipe. I haven't tried it myself.

[Matthew]

I am a student at the hotel school of Lausanne, Switzerland. I want to make peanut butter ice cream, but using eggs (the European way) and also to eat with a banana flambe. what do you guys think? It is for a gastronomic restaurant.