Scoop #6: Creamy Peanut Butter, and his cousin Crunchy Peanut Butter

two for one, and here's how they came about:

i took yesterday off to venture south with matt on a field trip to cabela's. the plan was to stop at his parents place to visit and have dinner on our way home. at his sister's request, we brought along the ice cream maker. but car problems always know how to wreck a well-laid plan. not too far from his parent's place, the thermostat housing blew up and the engine overheated, spewing pink smoke all over the place. we managed to drive it in legs, resting every half mile or so to cool the engine, for 2 more miles to get it to a shop, which promptly informed us that they wouldn't be able to get the part until 9am the next day (today).

making the best of it, we decided to stay the night with the family (having no clothes or even a toothbrush), and the weather was perfect for sleeping out under the stars. the girls were elated at the idea of staying up late to stargaze.

and that is how Creamy Peanut Butter was born. except that we forgot the blade that mixes the ice cream, and tried to do it by hand using a rubber spatula while the canister spun inside. that didn't work, and it took us way too long to figure that out, so matt's mom busted out her old dolly madison ice cream maker, a wedding gift, and we did it the "old fashioned" way. sooo good.

around lunchtime today, mom decided she was up for more peanut butter ice cream, so i mixed up the batter using crunchy peanut butter instead. also really good.

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Creamy and/or Crunchy Peanut Butter Ice Cream

This is made identically to the Fluffer Nutter Ice Cream, but omitting the "fluffer", and keeping the vanilla from the standard vanilla base.

3 1/2c some combination of Half & Half, Whole or 2% Milk
3/4c sugar
1tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1c peanut butter.

Combine milk, sugar and vanilla in a pour-friendly container. Mix well with whisk.

In a small sauce pan, over medium heat, melt peanut butter.

As it softens, stir in a little of the base at a time, until it's smooth and a bit pourable. Turn off the heat, and keep mixing in more base until it's fairly runny. Ideally, you want to add enough to bring the warm, melty peanut butter, back to a cooler temperature so that it will easily mix into the rest of the base without curdling the milk.

Pour the peanut butter into the base. Add the base to your ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

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oh, and the car is better now - thanks for asking. we braced ourselves for serious expense, and got out just shy of $250 - relieved. too bad it took an extra day out of our week - didn't get home until 7:30pm tonight. *exhausted*