This year our 2nd child requested a peanut butter cake for his birthday. When I heard that I knew I needed to try to make peanut butter ice cream to go with it. In the past I have made chocolate ice cream with peanut butter swirl. That was when I was still making custard, so I ended up with something that was really heavy. The custard itself was thick and rich on its own. The peanut butter just made it so much more heavy. I didn’t care for that one at all. I think it was the homemade ice cream that I liked least by a long shot.

Now I make Philadelphia Style Ice Cream and it is much lighter than custard. I figured the change of style would benefit this flavor, and I was right. This ice cream was light and creamy with a pleasant peanut butter flavor. The peanut butter was mixed in well so there were no frozen chunks to stick to your mouth.

For the recipe, I used only a half cup of peanut butter. I wanted a light peanut butter flavor. If you want more peanut butter you could certainly use more. I think the ice cream could easily take up to a cup and not have issues.

Print Recipe

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Ingredients

2 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, melt peanut butter over medium heat.
Add milk to the melted peanut butter. Heat milk and peanut butter to just under a simmer, whisking until the mixture is well-blended. Remove from heat.
Whisk the heavy cream into the peanut butter and milk mixture. Then whisk in the sugar until sugar is dissolved. Then stir in the vanilla extract.
Transfer mixture to a medium-size bowl and allow to cool at room temperature.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic is touching the top of the mixture to prevent a skin from forming. Place the bowl in the fridge overnight or at least 3 hours.
Churn according to your ice cream maker’s instructions and serve immediately for soft ice cream or freeze for 3 hours or more until the ice cream is your desired consistency.

For me the key is to get the peanut butter melted and mixed in well. That means there will not be chunks in the ice cream.

This ice cream was very good, it went well with the cake that Lynn made. I am already thinking of things I can mix into it next time. Maybe some Reese’s Pieces or Peanut Butter Cups. There are so many possibilities; it’s too bad we can’t eat ice cream all the time.