Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

Edited 1/24/2012:
Today is National Peanut Butter Day!  I happened to notice today that I ALREADY have a peanut butter cup ice cream recipe posted on the blog!  I knew I made one previously because I tried to improve upon it for this edition, but I completely forgot that I posted that recipe.  If you're interested in the post from August 2010, please click HERE.  How do the two recipes compare?  Well I'm happy to report that the version below is the better of the two.  The problem we had with the first recipe was how hard it got after sitting in the freezer for a day or two.  I also thought the first version was too rich (though I was the only one who had this opinion).  This recipe fixes both issues by decreasing the amount of peanut butter and replacing the eggs with condensed milk, an ingredient that I have found helps with keeping the ice cream scoopable.

Peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in heaven.  This ice cream is nice and peanut buttery, full of peanut butter cups, and remains just soft enough to scoop without straining your wrists.  That is, IF you can manage to not eat all the peanut butter cups before making the ice cream. Buy extras just in case :)

Please note that even though the yield was 1.75 quarts, it barely fit into my 2-quart ice cream maker near the end.  If your ice cream maker is smaller than 2 quarts, I recommend freezing it in batches and/or stirring in the peanut butter cups by hand at the end.


Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream II
Yield: 1.75 quarts

3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 pint heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 cup chopped peanut butter cups (about 8)

Place chopped peanut butter cups in the freezer to firm up.  This step isn't vital, but it keeps them from getting completely smashed when they get mixed into the ice cream at the end.

In a large bowl (preferably with a spout), combine the peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla extract.  Gradually stir in the condensed milk until smooth.  Stir in cream and milk.  Place mixture in refrigerator for at least 2 hours (ice cream tends to churn better when it starts off as cold vs. cool room temp.).  Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions, adding peanut butter cups during the last 5 minutes of freezing.  Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until serving time.