Peanut Butter Honey Ice Cream Recipe

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Photograph: Robyn Lee

If you dig making ice cream at home, peanut butter is one of your best friends. Especially if you get lazy and don't want to deal much with tempering eggs and making custards but you still want an awesome, ice-free texture every time.

That's because peanut butter is just a big glob of fat, protein, and sugar; three things pretty much guaranteed to make any ice cream smoother and creamier. All the more so in this peanut honey ice cream, which adds a generous slurp of strongly flavored honey to the base, keeping the ice cream plenty smooth. The base takes all of five minutes to make, and it's one of the creamiest I've ever had.

That's a small amount of effort for a deliciously complex scoop that's nutty, floral, and even a little citrusy all at once. It's intense, so keep your scoops on the small side. While I'm happy to douse most of my peanut butter ice creams in hot fudge sauce, this one is best eaten plain.

Be bold with your choice of honey. Go for something dark, interesting, and flavorful like a single variety honey such as blueberry or, one of my favorites, chestnut, where the nutty notes just make good sense. A good robust wildflower honey will also do you right; just stay away from really dark varieties like buckwheat, which have an almost molasses-like flavor that would overpower the peanut butter.

As for the peanut butter, stick to a no-stir butter that's already emulsified. I'm partial to our own Lee Zalben's Peanut Butter & Company peanut butter, which is just as creamy as my childhood Skippy, but with the actual grown up taste of real peanuts.

Recipe Details

Peanut Butter Honey Ice Cream Recipe

Active 45 mins
Total 4 hrs
Serves 8 servings
Makes 1 quart

Ingredients

  • 2 cups half-and-half

  • 1 cup smooth peanut butter (see note)

  • 1/2 cup honey (see note)

  • 1/4 cup sugar

  • Kosher salt to taste (see note)

Directions

  1. In a blender or food processor, combine half and half, peanut butter, honey, and sugar. Blend until very smooth, about 30 seconds. Blend in salt 1/4 teaspoon at a time to taste. Move blender carafe to refrigerator and chill until mixture is very cold, about 3 hours.

  2. Churn chilled base in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to freezer to firm for 3 to 4 hours before serving.

Special equipment

Blender or food processor, ice cream maker

Notes

For best results, use a smooth peanut butter, preferably unsalted or lightly salted so that you can adjust seasoning to your taste. A more heavily salted peanut butter may not require additional salt. Start with 1/4 teaspoon and add more in small increments. A darker, full-flavored honey is best for this recipe, such as chestnut or wildflower. Stay away from very dark honey like buckwheat, which has an overpowering flavor.

This Recipe Appears In

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
353 Calories
22g Fat
34g Carbs
9g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8
Amount per serving
Calories 353
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 22g 29%
Saturated Fat 7g 37%
Cholesterol 21mg 7%
Sodium 231mg 10%
Total Carbohydrate 34g 12%
Dietary Fiber 2g 7%
Total Sugars 28g
Protein 9g
Vitamin C 1mg 3%
Calcium 84mg 6%
Iron 1mg 5%
Potassium 282mg 6%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)