Peanut Butter. Chocolate. Ice cream. Do I have your attention yet?



Scooping it up! YUM!

The other day I set out to make a favourite of mine: Peanut butter chocolate ice cream.  Dave Lebovitz is full of wonderful ice cream recipes, but when I did a quick google search for what I thought was the easiest ice cream recipe ever, I found another recipe, that's even easier, and I dare say better.

Inspired by and mostly copied this recipe right here:  http://dinneranddessert.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/peanut-butter-ice-cream/

PEANUT BUTTER ICE CREAM
with chocolate sauce and chocolate covered peanuts



INGREDIENTS:

Base:
3/4 C whipping cream
1 3/4C 1% milk

2/3 C granulated sugar

2/3 C smooth peanut butter
pinch of salt


1/4 t vanilla

1 capfull of vanilla vodka

Peanuts:
1/3 C dry roasted peanuts roughly chopped

1.5 oz semisweet/bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Other:

Your favourite chocolate sauce, about 1/4 C. (Homemade or store bought)

A 1L capacity non-reactive bowl (for freezing)

a knife or skewer

METHOD:


Blend it up (use a bigger cup or
bowl than I did...)



For the base, Combine all ingredients except the vodka, and blend.  (use a blender or combine ingredients in a large bowl and use immersion blender, as I did)

Chill mixture in refrigerator for several hours.



Meanwhile, work on the peanuts:

In a microwave safe bowl melt the chocolate.  I like to do this about 10-15 seconds at a time until melted. 

Add peanuts, stir to coat.

Place peanuts on parchment or saran lined plate, try and separate them a bit, freeze until firm.

Remove from freezer and chop up to small pieces.  Freeze in dish until ready to use.


Getting the peanuts ready



Churning and rippling:
Setup your ice cream maker and get it ready to churn.
Add your base mix and the vodka and churn for about 15 minutes or until it's ready (should be the consistency of soft serve or a thick milkshake). Add the chopped peanuts the last 2 minutes of churning time to incorporate.
Add approximately 1/3 of the ice cream to your bowl, add a good dollop of sauce, and skewer it around, stir it a bit to get it rippled in there.  Repeat with the ice cream and sauce until done.


When they're ready they break apart...
kind of like brittle



Freeze for a few hours, and you're good to go.  Hopefully you can wait that long!

Cooks notes:  I used the sauce because I didn't have that many peanuts.  I think I would use more chocolate covered peanuts.  Things like your favourite peanut butter chocolate bar or candies chopped up would be excellent in this dish.
This is one of the very best ice creams I have ever made, and probably the simplest ice cream I have ever made.  This one will get made again, and again, and again I'm certain.  This base has so much potential.   The reason for the vodka is simple:  It helps keep the mixture scoopable.  I probably could have used even a bit more but I did not want to compromise the taste, of course you can use plain vodka or other flavours to complement your ice cream (raspberry vodka in a berry based ice cream for instance)