Homemade Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

So a few weeks ago Adam worked late at the office and I drank a really big glass of wine and then ordered an ice cream maker. It just sort of…happened. We had eaten so much great ice cream in Europe and I was having a difficult time readjusting to the land of bland fat free frozen creations that seem to take up our supermarket’s frozen aisle. I mean, come on. Eating fat free ice cream is sort of like licking a wall. Not to mention all the weird artificial ingredients. I’ll pass.

Soon enough, I was churning out delicious homemade ice cream in my wine-induced purchase. Probably one of the better online shopping purchases I’ve made, if I do say so myself {in case you’re wondering, this is the one I ordered}. When it arrived at my door, I was like a racehorse just let out of the post. I couldn’t wait to get churnin’. I already had a few bases made and waiting in the fridge, and immediately threw the bowl in the freezer for a few hours.

My first ice cream was a salted whiskey vanilla gelato, which I promptly brought over to a friend’s barbecue to go with the blueberry crisp. Oh my, was it ever delicious and went down way too quick. Too quick for photos. My next batch was this peanut cup ice cream. I don’t know a single person that can say no to peanut butter cups and, in my opinion, this is the best way to enjoy them….chopped up and stirred in homemade vanilla bean ice cream.

These peanut butter cups hail from Trader Joe’s and I swear, they are my kryptonite. I was gladly popping one in my mouth every time I opened the fridge last week, thinking they MUST be healthy since they are ORGANIC and all, until they all fell into Dexter’s water bowl one evening when I happened to open the fridge with just a tad too much force. Then, I cried. The end.

Anyway, in this recipe, the more peanut butter cups the better! Next time I make this, I’ll probably use more. You can never have too much.

I think what really makes good ice cream is the quality of the milk and eggs you use. We are lucky enough here to get our dairy sourced from a local farm, but if that’s not the case for you just use whatever looks best at the store.

Six egg yolks, heavy cream and whole milk might seem excessive but hey, it’s ice cream. I’ve been reading lately how whole milk dairy products are actually better for you than low fat or nonfat since they are much less processed {and contain much less sugar and additives}. Makes sense to me. Fat free cream tends to scare me, anyway. We aren’t big milk drinkers in this house, but I have started buying whole fat Greek yogurt and am loving it. Speaking of Greek yogurt, I have a feeling it will be the star of my next ice cream experiment.

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

makes about 1 quart ice cream

Print this Recipe!

Ingredients:

6 egg yolks

2 cups whole milk, preferably organic

1 1/4 cup heavy cream, preferably organic

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste OR seeds from 1 vanilla bean OR 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup roughly chopped peanut butter cups

special equipment: ice cream maker

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow. Set aside.

Combine the whole milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepot. Turn the heat to medium and heat until small bubbles appear all around the sides of the pot. Turn down heat to low. Carefully, ladle one cup of milk and slowly stream it into the egg yolks, whisking while you stream. Follow with one more cup of hot milk, slowly streaming into the yolks {slow is key here}. Whisk until well combined then slowly drizzle this hot egg yolk/milk mixture into the mixture on the stove. Stir well to combine.

Turn up the heat slightly {more to a medium/low now} and start slowly stirring the mixture with a spoon. It’s best to use a large wooden spoon here if you have one. Keep slowly stirring the pot continuously for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture thickens. You’ll feel it thicken when you stir and it’s done when it coats the back of your spoon. A great way to test this is to bring the spoon up from the mixture and swipe your finger down it. If the swiped finger line stays, it’s done. Immediately remove the pot from the stove but don’t stop stirring for another three minutes.

Pour this mixture into tupperware and place in the fridge for four hours to cool down. You need it to be cold to make the ice cream!

When the base has cooled thoroughly, start your ice cream maker. The bowl of the ice cream maker should be frozen. I keep mine in the freezer at all times when I’m not using it. With the motor running, slowly pour in the ice cream base. Add the salt. Let the ice cream churn for about 25 minutes until thick. Add the chopped peanut butter cups at the end when the ice cream is very thick.

Scoop ice cream back into tupperware and place back in the freezer for an hour to harden up. Alternatively, you can eat it right away but it will be more like soft serve {which I prefer, actually}.

Time:

active time ~ 30 minutes

total time ~ 5 hours {a good Saturday afternoon activity}