Photo by ArtsySF and used with her permission.

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Thursday, July 1, 2010

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.

  4. 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.
  5. 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.

1 comment:

mr. make-ice-cream.com said...

Jelly Ice Cream is awesome!
I kind of wonder why more recipes don't use jelly as a sugar base. Recently I churned up a raspberry jelly (and red wine!) ice cream that came out really good