buckeye state ice cream

More ice cream success using Jeni's cookbook. This time a peanut butter-based ice cream with specks of crunchy dark chocolate. I thought the combination would be too sweet for me, but using natural peanut butter instead of the sugar-loaded kind and dark chocolate rather than milk resulted in a perfectly balanced ice cream. 

adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams At Home

2 C whole milk

1 tbsp + 1 tsp tapioca starch

3 tbsp) cream cheese 

1/2 C natural peanut butter 

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/4 C whipping cream

2/3 C sugar

2 tbsp corn syrup

2 tbsp honey

4 oz dark chocolate, chopped (I used Lindt 50% dark chocolate)

1. Mix 2 tablespoons of the milk with the tapioca starch in a small bowl and set aside.

2. Whisk cream cheese, peanut butter, and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. 

3. Combine remaining milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup, and honey in a pot and bring to a rolling boil on medium-high heat. Boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in cornstarch slurry.

4. Place the pot back on the heat and bring back to a boil and cook, stirring with a spatula, until slightly thickened (about 1 minute). 

5. Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the peanut butter mixture until smooth. Place plastic wrap directly over the mixture to avoid a skin from forming and refrigerate until cold (the cookbook says to place the mixture in a freezer bag and submerge it in a bowl of ice water until chilled which would be faster, but I can be bothered to make ice cubes). 

6. Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and churn for about 30 minutes or until ice cream is thick and pulls away from the sides of the canister.

7. While the ice cream is churning, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Set aside until cool, but still pourable.

8. When the ice cream is almost done, drizzle the melted chocolate through the opening of the ice cream maker and allow it to solidify and break up in the ice cream (about 2 minutes). 

9. Pour ice cream into a container and freeze for at least 4 hours or until firm.