I am of the mind that home made ice cream is best left to those with ice cream machines. I’ve eaten my fair share of pathetic home-made crystallised ice-creamery in the past and I’m not really interested in making something that I can buy fairly cheaply that tastes a lot better than anything I can make.
But then, one sunny afternoon, I was having Sunday lunch in a pub down in Rye. It was manned by one family, and lunch was cooked by one very passionate cook, the dad and owner. He served up a most delicious array of roast meats accompanied by roast leeks and cheese sauce, cauliflower cheese, steamed stems of brocollini, along with enormous Yorkshire puds, crispy potatoes and pumpkin. This man knew what he was doing. I trusted his judgement and so when it came time for pudding – where I normally would have faltered – I went ahead an ordered with confidence. We ordered a treacle tart, which incidentally had been made by a lovely local lass who was sitting near by. We also ordered peanut butter and chocolate ice cream, which he made himself. It was one of the best ice creams I’ve ever tasted. When I asked him for the recipe he graciously shared it with me and now I shall do the same.
Knowing me you should know by now that I’m not interested in fussy recipes. Simpler is usually better in my mind…mainly because I haven’t got time for much else. So when I heard how easy this recipe for ice cream was I was so unbelieving that I had to test it out. And wouldn’t you know, it is easy and it does taste good. The result is a strange ‘ice cream’ that isn’t traditionally what you would call ice cream….maybe semi-fredo is more appropriate. It isn’t exactly ice cold, it is a little bit hard, but nothing twenty seconds in the microwave can’t fix. Most importantly it’s delicious. It’s light in flavour and the chocolate freezes to become dark crispy ribbons throughout.
I’ll tell you the recipe the way he told it to me, but feel free to play with the proportions to your own taste. I found my last batch might have needed a little more cream, to lighten the intensity a little. So keep that in mind when you make and eat your ice cream.
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients:
1 jar of smooth peanut butter (generic is fine)
1 tin of condensed milk
half a block of dark chocolate
300ml double cream (or whipping cream)
Method:
In a mixer, combine the condensed milk and peanut butter. Remove to another bowl.
In the mixer, whip the cream until it has swelled but not whipped….sort of half whipped, and light as air.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave (medium power, 20 second intervals, good stir in between) until it’s glossy and pourable.
Now, put the peanut butter mix back in with the cream and mix gently till combined (you don’t want to knock all the air out of the cream).
In the last turns of the paddle, pour in the chocolate. Don’t mix to combine. Let it remain a big swirl of dark brown amongst the mixture.
Pour it into a plastic container and freeze. It takes a few hours to set.