Peanut Butter and Jelly Ice Cream, Take 2

Last time this I made peanut butter and jelly ice cream I used a peanut butter ice cream base and added small jelly sandwiches. As we found out, the peanut butter makes the ice cream very hard. After researching and consulting with some ice cream experts, no one has a good solution for this problem. So how do we capture the flavor PB&J without the excessive hardness?

The answer is quite simple and comes via a suggestion by Mrs. Fellow; namely to make a reverse version of the ice cream - jelly ice cream with peanut butter sandwiches. Our refrigerator was filled with strawberries and raspberries on the verge of being too old. They made the perfect base flavoring for the ice cream.

This recipe is almost identical to my basic strawberry ice cream, but with increased egg content. The eggs may take something away from the fruit, but the debate over Philly style vs. custard will have to wait for another day. Although it is called "jelly" ice cream, it is nothing more than a simple fruit base. When combined with peanut butter, it tastes like jelly. You may choose a different fruit or fruit combination. As with all fruit ice creams, the amount of sugar has to be adjusted for the ripeness of the fruit. You may even want to adjust the quantity of fruit puree based on your tastes and the type of fruit used.

The tasters who have had both versions were unanimous that the peanut butter ice cream based version was better, but everyone who ate this one loved it.

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For the berry puree:

This recipe probably makes more puree than you will need, but with all living things, the quality depends on the grower, the season, etc. You may need extra puree to get the right taste. The 1.5 cups that I used worked for me, but you may want more (or less) fruit flavor. Mix it any way you want, that is part of the fun of making ice cream, but remember to start with less than you actually need. You can always add more, but you can't take any out.

12 oz fresh raspberries
12 oz fresh strawberries
1/3 cup of sugar

1. If you are using fresh berries, hull them and halve them (quarter the big ones). Toss them with 1/3 cup of sugar and let them sit for a while. The sugar will bring out the natural sweetness in the berries.


2. Cook the berries with the lemon juice and a pinch of salt over medium heat stirring frequently. You can do this over lower heat, you have to wait longer, but the berries will not require as much attention. When they reach the consistency of loose preserves they are done.


3. Puree the berries in a blender then strain to remove the seeds.

Make sure to adjust the sweetness of the berries. If they need more sugar, add it here. It is important to perfect the flavor of the puree before adding to the milk. This way, it is easier to get the right amount of sweetness. Otherwise, you have to try to add sugar to your cooked custard. This can be problematic because if you don't adequately incorporate the sugar the final product can become grainy. On the other hand, by adding the extra sugar in this step, you can rewarm the puree to ensure it is incorporated properly.

4. Set aside.

For the peanut butter sandwiches

Peanut butter
6 slices of bread

1. Spread the peanut butter on the bread and create sandwiches.


2. Using a heavy-bottomed saucepan, frying pan, or baking sheet press firmly to flatten the sandwiches.


3. Wrap the sandwiches in aluminum foil and freeze for at least one hour.

For the jelly ice cream:

6 Egg yolks
½ cup (or more as needed)
1 1/3 cup of cream
2/3 cup of milk
1/8 tsp. Salt
1 ½ cups of strawberry-raspberry puree
1 tsp. lemon juice

1. Pour the milk and cream and half of the sugar into a pot and bring to a slight simmer stirring occasionally.


2. As the milk and cream are heating, place the egg yolks into a bowl with the sugar (and salt if using) and beat until it is a pale, frothy liquid.


3. Once the milk/cream mixture is simmering, remove it from the heat and temper the egg mixture by adding a small amount of the hot milk/cream and stirring thoroughly. Repeat this process a couple of more times to ensure that the eggs have warmed up. You should use about 1/3 of a cup of hot cream mixture in total. Then pour the complete egg mixture into the cream pot.


4. Return the pot to the heat and stir constantly until the custard reaches 175 degrees Fahrenheit.


5. Remove the pot from the heat. Strain into a bowl and combine with the fruit puree.


6. Cool the custard to room temperature and then refrigerate overnight.


7. Freeze in your ice cream machine.


8. During the freezing process, remove the sandwiches from the freezer, cut into squares no bigger than 0.5 inches by 0.5 inches. You may want to remove the crusts. Add the peanut butter sandwiches during the last minute of freezing.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Ice Cream

I was really excited when you picked this to be the next recipe. Peanut butter is a very versatile flavor that is easy to make into a bunch of different tasty teats. Chocolate, bananas, marshmallow, granola, honey, and jelly are some of the best add-ins. I was originally going to make a peanut butter ice cream sandwich. Fortunately for you, a dessert I was supposed to make last weekend that never materialized left me with 4 pints of strawberries. So my plan was to make some sort of peanut butter and jelly flavor. Yesterday morning in the shower I was lamenting that I if made the PB&J flavor I wouldn’t be able to make ice cream sandwiches. Then it hit me, why not put the sandwich inside of the ice cream? Mrs. Fellow loved the flavor idea and immediately began directing my effort. So today’s flavor is peanut butter ice cream with jam sandwich pieces. Ben and Jerry would be proud. I am happy to report that this flavor will knock your socks off. You won’t believe that something so mundane as a PB&J can be transformed into this masterpiece.

I made my own strawberry jam for this recipe. Make your own jam with your favorite fruit flavor. Store bought jam will also work, but you do have to thicken it more. Simmer it on the stove to reduce its volume. It should be so thick that you have trouble removing the cooled jam from the container. This helps concentrate the flavors. More importantly, it allows you to really pile on the jam in the sandwiches without it oozing out of the sides during pressing.

As for the bread, plain supermarket white bread is what is best to use. Sunbeam, Pepperidge Farm, and Sara Lee brands are good choices. Avoid bread that is too crusty because it makes it more difficult to press the sandwiches. I recommend leaving a small gap between the jam and the edge of the bread. This will help avoid the sticky mess if the jam oozes out when the sandwich is pressed. I also recommend removing the crusts when cutting the sandwiches into bite sized pieces because jam coverage is not uniform at the edges. Besides, isn’t it mandatory to remove the crusts from your PB&J?

Lastly, I tested this recipe three ways – untoasted bread, toasted bread, no bread. All three were outstanding, but none of the tasters could differentiate between the toasted and untoasted bread versions. The thick jam made a difference. It is nearly chewy when frozen and was a nice textural compliment to the ice cream.

May 1, 2008 UPDATE: After being in my freezer for a few days, this ice cream has become very hard. I don't think I have ever made one that is this difficult to scoop. You may want to thaw it for a few minutes on the counter before serving it.

Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam Sandwich Ice Cream:

For the Jam:
4 pints of strawberries
3 cups sugar
1 generous tablespoon lemon juice

1. Wash and hull the strawberries. If any berries are too large, cut them into smaller pieces.
2. Put the berries, sugar, and lemon juice into a saucepan. Stir frequently until the sugar becomes liquid.
3. Simmer this stuff for about 30 minutes. The temperature should eventually get to more than 24o F.
4. Remove from the heat and cool.

This makes about 2.5 cups of super concentrated jam. Extra jam can be frozen or canned.


The sandwiches:
6 slices white bread
Jam

1. If the jam has totally cooled, briefly warm it in the microwave to loosen it a bit; it should be still be thick, but easier to spread.
2. Make sandwiches using generous amounts of jam. Be sure to leave ¼ inch border on the bread.
3. Put the sandwiches in aluminum foil and cover loosely. Using a heavy bottomed skillet or saucepan press the sandwiches to reduce their thickness.
4. Cover tightly and place the sandwiches in the freezer for at least 4 hours.
5. Remove the sandwiches from the freezer and cut off the discard the crusts. Cut the remaining sandwiches into ¼ - ½ inch squares. Return the pieces to the freezer for another hour or two.

For the ice cream:
2 cups whole milk
2 cups cream
6 egg yolks
¾ cup of sugar
½ teaspoon of vanilla
¾ cup peanut butter
1/8 teaspoon of salt (optional)

1. Pour the milk and cream and half of the sugar into a pot and bring to a slight simmer stirring occasionally.
2. As the milk and cream are heating, place the egg yolks into a bowl with the sugar (and salt if using) and beat until it is a pale, frothy liquid.
3. Once the milk/cream mixture is simmering, remove them from the heat and temper the egg mixture by adding a small amount of the hot milk/cream and stirring thoroughly. Repeat this process a couple of more times to ensure that the eggs have warmed up. You should use about 1/3 of a cup of hot cream mixture in total. 4. Then pour the complete egg mixture into the cream pot.
5. Return the pot to the heat and stir constantly until the custard reaches 175F.
6. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the vanilla and peanut butter.
7. Cool the custard to room temperature and then refrigerate overnight.
8. Freeze in your ice cream machine. Add sandwich pieces in the last minute of the freezing process. If you opt to skip the bread and instead use just the jam, than create small blobs of jam and put them into the ice cream after it comes out of the ice cream machine. This is when the ice cream is still in its soft serve stage. If it gets too hard, do not worry, you can put some ice cream in a freezer container, put down a layer of jam, then more ice cream, then more jam, then more ice cream. This will create a ripple effect when the ice cream is scooped.