Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream!

Home made ice cream is so delicious!  And it can be made in such a way that it is suitable for breakfast, although I enjoy it as a high-energy snack mid-morning or mid-afternoon on a day when I have a lot of heavy work to do.

 

Our bodies convert good fats into energy very efficiently, and this recipe is loaded with good fats, in the raw cream from Jersey cows on pasture, egg yolks from hens on pasture, and in the organic coconut oil.  Try not to substitute these ingredients if at all humanly possible.  Great fats are one of the most critical missing ingredients in today's diets and worth the effort to source them.

 

Good fats won't make you fat.  Carbs will.  So this recipe is heavy on the fats and light on the carbs.  Enjoy without guilt or fear.

 

Make the ice cream first, then while it is churning, whip up the chocolate topping.  This topping will harden on the ice cream and will be reminiscent of the chocolate shell on a dipped cone, something I loved in my days of eating SAD (Standard American Diet) and still think longingly of now and then.  No more reminiscing!  This is so much better and has the same snap when bitten into.

 

 Chocolate topping

 

 I don't measure anything when I make ice cream.  I just go by general amounts and keep in mind the limits of my ice cream churn.  I'll try to approximate for you.  Remember, taste the batter and adjust before freezing it.  The flavors will be more intense in the unfrozen batter, so make the flavor on the strong side so it will be delicious when frozen.

 

Since I have my own hens and my girls are on pasture, I don't worry about eating raw eggs.  I choose very fresh and very clean eggs for this.  If you are using eggs from the store, please look up instructions for a cooked ice cream recipe, which is basically a custard, and prepare this mixture using those instructions.  Make it in advance and chill it for a few hours or overnight in the fridge before putting it in the churn.  You might try using just the milk and maybe a bit of the cream when cooking the eggs, and reserve some of the cream to add after the custard is chilled so you can have the benefits of the raw cream if it is available to you.

 

For the batter, I put a cup of milk (goat's milk from my lovely girls) in the blender with 5 egg yolks.  You can use 2-3 whole eggs if you are making a cooked custard.  I have plenty of eggs so I use just the yolks, the most nutritious part of the egg.  Also add a good dash of salt (Celtic, Real Salt, Himalayan pink salt, etc.), a glug of vanilla extract (one or two teaspoons) and a cup or more of organic peanut butter that is only peanuts and maybe salt.  I get unsalted so I can use the good salt.  Sweeten it lightly with raw wildflower honey or stevia extract (I use liquid stevia extract) to taste.  I used a couple of droppersful of the stevia.

 

Whirl it in the blender until well mixed, then add 3-5 cups of heavy cream and just give it a quick burst of blending so as to just mix the cream in and not make it into butter.

 

Pour this into your churn of choice and let the freezing begin.  I use this one and love it!

 

While it is churning, make the chocolate shell topping.  Either use a double boiler or simply put a stainless steel bowl on top of a small sauce pan of boiling water.  Add a cup of organic coconut oil, the kind that is unprocessed and still retains all the yummy coconut flavor.  Add organic cocoa powder to taste.  I put in four very heaping spoonfuls, not a measuring spoon, but rather, the teaspoons from my flatware set.  Add a dash of salt and whisk it until no cocoa powder remains visible.  Then sweeten it to taste.  I always add a bit of honey when sweetening chocolate, as stevia alone won't overcome the bitterness of the cocoa in my opinion.  I used a tablespoon or two (I poured it, no measuring!) and then a couple of squirts from the stevia dropper.  Add a teaspoon or more of vanilla and a tiny dash of salt and stir well, then taste.  I like my chocolate dark, but you can make it any level of dark or sweet that you like best.

 

This size batch will make enough for reasonable amounts of chocolate for two 1.5-2 quart batches of ice cream.  But who is reasonable with this stuff?  So if you want to spoon this on rather generously, make this amount for one batch of ice cream.  It also stores well in the fridge right in the stainless steel bowl, ready for tomorrow's batch of mint ice cream, or vanilla, or whatever you fancy.

 

Oh, my!

 

This was definitely a keeper and will be repeated.  As a matter of fact, the hubby just came in with a bag containing 6 jars of peanut butter.....I think that is a hint for me to make more!