TheKitchn had a post about peanut butter snacks for the weekend and peanut butter ice cream was included. It was not very hard to convince Mike that we needed to make peanut butter ice cream.
We adapted a David Lebovitz recipe that we’ve used before and followed his instructions for how to make ice cream without an ice cream machine. I stumbled across the post last summer but never tried it until a few months ago. I have no idea why I waited so long. Homemade ice cream = Awesome :)
Peanut Butter Ice Cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
- 2 cups cream
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
- Heat the milk, sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Beat the egg yolks in a bowl. Once the milk mixture is warm, gradually add small quantities to the egg yolks, stirring constantly. When the yolks are warmed add back to the saucepan. Add the vanilla extract.
- Lower the heat and cook until the mixture thickens and can coat a spoon. Make sure to scrap the bottom of the saucepan. Stir in the peanut butter.
- Pour the cream into a mixing bowl. When the peanut butter is incorporated, pour the custard into the cream.
- Chill thoroughly.
- Pour the mixture into a baking dish or bowl. Put in the freezer. (Or if you’re one of those lucky souls with an ice cream maker, pour into the ice cream maker.)
- After 45 minutes, check on the mixture. If it’s started to solidify around the edges stir that into the liquid. Refreeze.
- Thereafter, check every 30 minutes and give the mixture a good stirring. The point is to break up the ice crystals. When the mixture gets to milkshake-thickness add in the chocolate chips. Ice cream should be ready in a few hours.
Yields ~1 quart
We used regular sized chocolate chips, but I think mini chips would work better if you have them.
The more you can spread out the ice cream mixture (e.g. having a container with a larger base), the faster the solidifying process should go.
sounds like a frozen custard to me.
Yeah, yeah, if you’re going to be a stickler about such things. :P
I’ve tried making ice cream with the freezer method before and I guess I just didn’t have enough patience. I’m going to try it again. I don’t think there can be anything much better than peanut butter ice cream!
Thanks!
Hey Ashleigh, hope you give it a try. As I mention above, try using a container with a wide base so that it doesn’t take all day.
I just found your blog, and I, too, am a gluten-free vegetarian. I am definitely adding you to my Google Reader :) And I love the idea of making ice cream without an ice cream maker. I am inspired!
Hi CinnamonQuill, I’ll definitely have to stop by.
And I think just about everyone is happy to learn they can make ice cream without an ice cream maker.
I think this is a wonderful and easy idea if you just can’t have and really don’t need an ice cream maker. Thanks for the ideas! I didn’t think I would be able to stay vegetarian when I found out I couldn’t have gluten. I was trying to find anyway to keep my same diet, then I realized there are a lot of people just like me that can’t eat everything they want to eat. Unless they find a website like yours of course! I plan to spread the news of your website.
Hi Katherine,
It definitely took some time for us to adjust. Mike went vegetarian then found out he had to eat gluten-free within 4-5 months of each other. I started the blog as a way to document and share what I was trying. I promise it will get easier with time.