We’re nearing the end of our 5th week in Waco, TX and it’s finally starting to feel like we have a routine. We’ve spent a lot of time together and it has been wonderful. I can say that I haven’t had this much fun in a long time. It has been hard to be away from our friends and family, though. It’s also been hard to forget our favorite things about The Buckeye State. I originally ordered Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home in April and after a few delays the book was delivered in June. I forgot all about it until I got it in the mail, and it couldn’t have been at a better time. I packed it up, and had plans on getting an ice cream maker as soon as we set foot in Texas, and I did. Jeni’s Ice Creams reminds us of home in the best way. We’ve spent a lot of time waiting in line outside a Jeni’s with our friends, and sharing flavors with each other. We are also limited on our cooking and baking adventures by our small hotel room. Jay and I live for creating delicious foods and we didn’t know a lot about making ice cream. Together we’ve learned a lot: like, if you let the corn starch cook too long the ice cream will have the texture of butter (not so yummy). We’ve also learned our favorite flavors to make (and eat!). Jay is head-over-heals for the Maple Ice Cream. I think the best flavor we’ve made so far is Peanut Butter. We made it once and I burned the chocolate in the microwave, so it wasn’t the true Buckeye State flavor. Take 2 and I’m determined to have a sweet and creamy ice cream with flecks of chocolate, like at Jeni’s shops.
The Buckeye State Ice Cream
For This recipe you will need:
2cups whole milk
1T + 1tsp cornstarch
3T cream cheese (softened)
1/2cup unsalted natural peanut butter (we used regular PB, just left out some of the salt both times)
1/2tsp fine sea salt (less if using salted PB)
1 1/4cups heavy cream
2/3cup granulated sugar
2T light corn syrup
2T honey
4ounces chocolate (55-70% cocoa)
Prep
- Mix slurry of 1T plus 1tsp cornstarch and 2T of milk.
- Combine 3T cream cheese with 1/2cup peanut butter and 1/2tsp salt (or less if using salted PB)
- Make an ice bath
- Prepare Ziploc bag, set up ice cream maker, etc.
Cook
- Combine 2cups minus 2T of milk, 1 1/4cups heavy cream, 2/3cup sugar, 2T corn syrup, and 2T honey in a 4-quart saucepan. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil over medium-high heat and boil for 4minutes.
- Remove the mixture from the heat and mix in the cornstarch slowly. Put the pot back on the heat and cook for about 1minute more until slightly thickened. (This step is really important. If you cook it too long it will have a super thick buttery texture. If you don’t cook it long enough, it won’t freeze as well and will melt very quickly. Follow your gut on this and stir it constantly so you can feel the mixture thicken, it happens REALLY fast.)
- Remove from the heat.
- Slowly add a little bit of the hot milk mixture to the cream cheese and peanut butter and whisk it until it’s smooth. Once you get a smooth texture, add the cream cheese/PB to the pot and stir until combined.
- Pour the ice cream into a Ziploc bag and cool in the ice bath for 30 minutes. (We’ve also learned that the colder the mixture is before you put in the ice cream maker, the better the texture. We usually put the ice bath and the bag in the fridge for the 30 minutes. I also like to mix the mixture around with my hands while it is in the bag every once in a while to make sure there aren’t any hot spots.)
Freeze
Turn on the ice cream maker and pour in the mixture. Let it freeze for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, melt 4ounces of chocolate over a double boiler (or in the microwave, but don’t burn it. This time I did 10 second intervals. At first, it doesn’t seem like it is melting, but by the last 10 seconds it will melt very quickly.)
Once the ice cream is almost completely frozen, drizzle in the chocolate slowly, so it creates small ribbons. I like the chocolate to be in small pieces that Jeni calls flecks. You can put it in containers (You should get 2 pint sized containers from this recipe.) in the freezer for 4 hours so it is completely frozen or until you can’t stand it anymore 🙂
This ice cream is really delicious because the peanut butter is very evident but not overwhelming. The honey adds the perfect, floral, sweetness that goes so well with peanut butter. Right at the end you get the slightly bitter chocolate. Most importantly you can still taste the milk and cream and the texture is to die for! I like an ice cream that has a little stretch to it, crunchy ice cream is so not tasty.
spoonfulofjemily 