This recipe started as peanut butter caramel ice cream, but thanks to David Lebovitz and his butterscotch ice cream recipe (punk), it took a turn toward a previously unimagined awesomeness. Swap out the white sugar for dark brown and GO! Seriously, this is a fantastic warm weather treat. Who are we kidding? This is a fantastic year-round treat, but it does take the edge off of those torturously humid days.
The peanut butter makes this so rich, but feel free to use almond or cashew butter if that’s more to your taste, or even the crunchy stuff if you want more texture. You can also crumble your favorite cookies or biscotti into this mix before it goes into freezer.
We added a little dark rum to keep the finished product from getting too firm in the freezer. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. Stop judging.
- 4 tbsp. butter (½ stick)
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 ¾ cup whole milk
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp. dark rum (optional, but this lends great flavor to the ice cream and helps prevent it from freezing solid)
- Optional (but highly recommended) mix-in: 8 - 10 chocolate sandwich cookies, finely crushed and yielding approximately ½ cup of cookie crumbs.
- In a medium pot, cook butter, brown sugar, and salt over medium heat until bubbly, about 3 - 5 minutes. Add peanut butter and stir until combined. Add milk and cook until mixture begins to steam. Place egg yolks in large bowl. Gradually stream milk mixture into yolks, stirring constantly. Return mixture to pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 - 7 minutes.
- Remove from heat, and pour mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl set over an ice bath. Add heavy cream, vanilla, and dark rum (if using) and stir to chill. Churn mixture according to ice cream maker’s instructions, and add cookie crumbs (if using) during the last minute of churning. Scoop mixture into a container with lid and freeze until firm, about 1 - 2 hours.
Leave a Reply