Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

It's rare that I come upon a recipe where words fail me.  This recipe though, I'm speechless.  Utterly speechless when it comes to describing this lush, velvety and somewhat indecent chocolatey ice cream.  I have never, ever had a dessert make me ooh and ahh at EVERY single bite.  Oh, the pleasure as spoonful upon spoonful passed my lips.  You just simply HAVE to make this.  

In all honesty, this is bar none, one of the easiest recipes I have for ice cream as it doesn't have a ton of fussy ingredients.  No tempering of egg custard, etc.  Just pretty straight forward - warm it, chill it, churn it.  I would describe it more but....I'm literally speechless.  That and I want to log off here to go get some more!  :)

Make it for yourself and see!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

from Jen @ My Tiny Oven

2 cups Half-and-half

2 cups Whipping Cream

½ cups Dutch Process Cocoa Powder, Unsweetened

1 cup Sugar

¼ teaspoons Salt

1 cup Smooth Peanut Butter

1 cup Peanut Butter Cups, Chopped

In a large sauce pan, combine the half and half and cream with the cocoa powder, sugar and a pinch of salt. Whisk to combine. Heat the mixture until it comes to a full boil, whisking all the time. When the mixture starts to foam, remove it from the heat and stir in the peanut butter, until fully incorporated. Cover and refrigerate until mixture is completely chilled, 8 hours or so.

Then put the chilled mixture into the canister of your ice cream maker. Finish in your ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Add the chopped peanut butter cups during the last 2 minutes or so of churning.

Serve right away for a soft serve texture or you can stash it in the freezer, in an air tight container, for a harder ice cream.

Pomegranate Blood Orange Sorbet

I've had some pretty bangin' desserts over my years but I've never yet had one of those truly orgasmic food experiences that makes your eyes roll back in your head, gives you tingles from head to toe and leaves you wondering "what do I need men for if desserts like this exist".  But...this is by far the sexiest sorbet I have ever had.  So tart and slightly sour, its icy texture just melts upon hitting your tongue and leaves this lusciously lingering chilling pop in your mouth of deep orange and bright pom flavors.  The pinky color is so cheerful & inviting, just beckoning you to scoop out one two more scoops into your bowl.  Its evil like that.

Luscious Lemon Ice Cream

Click to enlarge!

I wish I could say I was in the mood for Valentine's Day and have something chocolatey with sprinkles all over but alas, I am not in a lovey dovey mood.  However, I am so ready for spring and sunshine or at least warm rains, not this freezing cold stuff.  I am ready to hear the birds singing and squirrels prancing all over the yard.  I miss green grass and swaying tree branches, heavy with pretty glossy green leaves.  *sigh*  In keeping with that line of thought, lemon ice cream came to mind to add a bit of sparkley happiness to my rather dull, bland life as of late.  Lemon is always cheery and bright.   Just what I needed!

Decadent Valrhona Chocolate & Peppermint Candy Ice Cream

Were you left with copious amounts of peppermint candy canes?  I was...and I didn't want to toss them.  Its candy!  You can't pitch perfectly good candy!  I had considered making brownies and putting them on top of a creamy buttercream frosting but blah.  Everyone has done that.  Nah!  I made ice cream.  But not your normal run of the mill ice cream.  Boooooring!  I upped the ante BIG time and made a super zippy pink peppermint ice cream studded with dark chocolate Valrhona pearls.


A few weeks ago I spotted these Valrhona pearls sold bulk at my market.  They are small pellets of crunchy biscuit (think almost a shortbread or the middle of a Twix bar for comparison) covered in layers of shiny dark chocolate.  I didn't know what I'd exactly DO with them but I wanted them.  So they sat taunting me for near two weeks as I pondered what to do with them.  Putting them in a cookie seemed kinda redundant...in a brownie they would just get lost and not noticed....but ice cream seemed the perfect vehicle for my new chocolatey pearls of delight.  And in this recipe in particular they would just be awesome possum.  You'd get the crispy mint from the candy canes, the creamy custard ice cream base and then BOOM!  A crunchy chocolatey bite in every spoonful.  It was madness I tell you!  Madness!

Apple Crumble Bars w/ Vanilla Bean Bourbon Ice Cream & Caramel Sauce

That title is just about long isn't it?  Certainly is a mouthful in any event!  *whew*  This dessert was featured at my Thanksgiving table this past week and I'm quite sure it will be hitting the Christmas table as well if my husband has any say about it.  I wanted something completely different from pumpkin pie yet fun, funky and still "autumn" themed.  I already had planned the apple bars with the caramel sauce from last week I posted with the cheesecake.  Remember that?  But what could take that over the top and make it holiday table worthy?  Ala mode!  Yeah, no.  Boring.  But sitting there flipping through my Bon Appetit was a recipe for Bourbon Ice Cream with Apple Fritters.  The light bulb went off!  If its good paired with apple fritters, why not apple bars?  So Thanksgiving Day, I have to admit, I rushed through dinner just in complete anticipation of this dessert combo.  My husband was literally sitting there going "ice ceam, ice ceam" like a little kid as I put the whole thing together.  He was a wee excited.

When you first think bourbon ice cream, you really can't marry the two together in your head.  It just sounds "off".  But if you've ever had hard sauce (whiskey sauce) over bread pudding or pies, take that flavor and freeze it.  Its essentially the same flavor but cooked into a thick, eggy custard and chilled before freezing.  And let me tell you, it was ~ MARVELOUS ~ to the n'th degree.  It added such a depth of flavor and sophistication to what would be a boring old vanilla bean ice cream.  It was pure enjoyment in every bite.  It really did send the layered flavors of this dessert to a whole new level.  I'm VERY happy with the gamble I took this Thanksgiving having never even trial run made this or tasted it before.  Happy bellies all around though!

In case you didn't see the caramel sauce recipe, find it here on my blog or visit the lovely Sally over at My Homemade Life who created it.  Below you'll find the next two components to this devilish dessert!  The only thing I've done differently from the Bon Appetit version of this ice cream, is that I added the seeds from one vanilla bean to boost the vanilla flavor and give it some visual appeal.  (I love the black specks as contrast on the creamy white though you can't see it well in my picture - its there, trust me!)  And the only thing I've changed to the apple crumble bars is I've doubled the apple filling to equal the dough to apple ratio and added some nutmeg to bump up flavor.  All together, these made one heck of a dessert combo! 

Bourbon Ice Cream

as featured in Bon Appetit, tweaked by me

2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups half and half
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
5 tablespoons bourbon
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped for the seeds/pulp
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Bring first 3 ingredients to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until milk powder dissolves completely. Remove from heat. 

Combine egg yolks, sugar, brown sugar, and coarse salt in large bowl; whisk until thick and blended. Gradually whisk hot cream mixture into yolk mixture. Return mixture to same saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until custard thickens enough to leave path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across and temperature registers 175°F to 178°F, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix in bourbon, vanilla extract and vanilla seeds stirring well to distribute seeds throughout. Refrigerate custard uncovered until cold, stirring occasionally, at least 3 hours. DO AHEAD Custard can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated. 

Process custard in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to container. Cover and freeze until solid, at least 6 hours and up to 2 days.

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Apple Crumble Bars

adapted from Very Culinary on Tasty Kitchen

3 cups All-purpose Flour
¾ cups Packed Brown Sugar
¼ cups Granulated Sugar

3 teaspoons Cinnamon

1 teaspoon Nutmeg
¼ teaspoons Of Salt
1 cup (2 Sticks) Cold Unsalted Butter, Cut Into Small Pieces
1 Egg, beaten lightly

Apple Filling:

1 cup Granulated Sugar

4 teaspoons Cornstarch

8 Medium-sized Apples Peeled, Cored, And Grated  (I used Honey Crisp but choose what you like)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 375F. Grease or spray a 9 x 13 pan; set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Work in the butter and egg with a pastry blender, two forks or a food processor until pea-sized clumps form and all the flour is incorporated.  (If you need a bit more butter, add a small pat at a time.)  Press half of mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

For the apple mixture, in another bowl, stir together the granulated sugar and cornstarch and set aside. Grate your apples into another bowl.  Sprinkle with the lemon juice and stir to coat.  Using your hands, squeeze hard and "wring out" the excess juice from the apples.  Add the squeezed apples to the sugar and cornstarch mixture and stir well to combine.   Sprinkle the apple mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble the remaining half of the the dough over the top of the apples.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the top is slightly golden. Cool completely before cutting into squares.