Peanut Butter Cup Crunch Ice Cream
Peanut butter cups and peanut butter ice cream. Enough said.
Gather Your Ingredients
Key Equipment
Before You Begin
Peanut butter’s high fat content increases the proportion of fat to water in this recipe. This ice cream not only tastes richer than our other recipes but also doesn’t feel as cold because it has proportionally less water and less ice. We prefer a natural chunky peanut butter that contains just peanuts and salt for this recipe.
Nonfat dry milk powder supplies protein and lactose without added water. The protein helps prevent large ice crystals by binding up water. Lactose is only about 20 percent as sweet as sucrose (granulated sugar), but it depresses the freezing point to the same degree. By using a substantial amount of nonfat dry milk powder, we can make a smooth, creamy, scoopable ice cream without making it too sweet. Mixing the milk powder with the sugar in step 1 helps prevent the milk powder from clumping when it gets wet. We prefer Carnation Instant Nonfat Dry Milk for this recipe.
Heavy cream is our primary source of fat. This is a 14 percent fat ice cream mix, one of the most popular formulations for premium commercial ice cream. Corn syrup is about 30 percent as sweet as granulated sugar. It contains fragments of starch chains that increase the viscosity of the mix and help prevent ice crystals from growing larger and coarser during hardening and storage. Cornstarch binds up water, effectively decreasing the amount of freezable water in the mix. It also acts as a stabilizer, helping to slow the rate of ice crystal growth during hardening and storage. Jeni Britton Bauer uses cornstarch (and cream cheese) to great effect in her ice cream base recipe in Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream’s At Home (2011).
If using a canister-style ice cream maker, be sure to freeze the empty canister for at least 24 hours and preferably for 48 hours before churning. For self-refrigerating ice cream makers, prechill the canister by running the machine for 5 to 10 minutes before pouring in the custard.
Some ice cream base may stick to the bottom of the saucepan when pouring it into the bowl in step 3; simply scrape it into the bowl with the rest of the base and whisk until smooth. This ice cream can be stored for five days with little loss of quality.
Instructions
1.
In small bowl, whisk together milk powder, sugar, and salt. Whisk sugar mixture, 1 ¼ cups milk, cream, and corn syrup together in large saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until tiny bubbles form around edge of saucepan and mixture registers 190 degrees F/87.8 degrees C, whisking frequently to dissolve sugar and break up any clumps, about 5 to 7 minutes.
2.
Meanwhile, place peanut butter in large bowl. Whisk remaining ¼ cup milk and cornstarch together in small bowl.
3.
Reduce heat to medium. Whisk cornstarch mixture to recombine, then whisk into saucepan. Cook, constantly scraping bottom of saucepan with rubber spatula, until mixture thickens, about 30 seconds. Immediately pour ice cream base into large bowl with peanut butter and whisk to thoroughly combine. Let cool until no longer steaming, about 20 minutes. Cover bowl, transfer to refrigerator, and chill to 40 degrees F/ 4.4 degrees C, at least 6 hours or up to 8 hours. (Base can be chilled overnight. Alternatively, base can be chilled in about 90 minutes by placing it over ice bath of 6 cups ice, ½ cup water, and ⅓ cup salt.)
4.
Churn base in ice cream maker until mixture resembles thick soft-serve ice cream and registers 21 degrees F/-6.1 degrees C. With machine running, add peanut butter cups and continue to churn until incorporated, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Transfer to airtight container, cover, transfer to freezer, and freeze until hard, at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
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