Peanut Butter Ice Cream

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that I am a huge fan of peanut butter desserts.  I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream already, but I really wanted to try a version of peanut butter ice cream to see how it would stand up on its own.  I’ve never had ice cream with peanut butter as the dominant flavor so I don’t have anything to compare this to, but I can tell you that this version is fabulous!  It was so easy to make- you simply puree all the ingredients in a blender, chill, and then freeze in the ice cream maker.  Can it get any easier than that?  The peanut butter flavor came through very well, and the texture was so creamy.  I couldn’t resist adding some chocolate covered peanuts at the end, since I loved them so much in the Tin Roof Ice Cream.  I love what the peanuts add to the ice cream- that crunch makes it even better!  If you really want to increase the chocolate flavor, I think this would be great with hot fudge sauce, but I also really enjoyed letting the peanut butter flavor stand out even more.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Source: The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

¾ cup smooth peanut butter

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2 2/3 cups half-and-half

Pinch of salt

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Covered Peanuts (recipe follows)

Puree the peanut butter, sugar, half-and-half, salt, and vanilla in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  After churning, stir in Chocolate Covered Peanuts.

Chocolate-Covered Peanuts

4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts

Put the pieces of chocolate in an absolutely dry heat proof bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water to melt the chocolate, stirring until smooth. In the meantime, stretch a piece of plastic wrap over a dinner plate.

Once the chocolate is melted, remove it from the heat and stir in the peanuts, coating them with the chocolate. Spread the mixture on the plastic-lined plate and chill.