No Churn Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Ice Cream

No churn ice cream recipes have been hurtling their way around the internet for at least a few years now. I’ve been meaning to give the whole concept a try, preeetty much since I started blogging. Brilliant right? Homemade ice cream that doesn’t require special equipment, tons of advanced thought, chilling of bowls, custards, etc; but still has that awesome ice cream texture and flavors? Yes please!

But, I until now I haven’t managed to make any of this ice cream genius-ness. You might reasonably ask me: Why? Have. You. Been. So. Stupid?!? My pathetic excuse is that in prior years by the time the summer season has rolled around I’m always trying to eat healthier, calorie count, drop a few pounds, or whatever. So no ice cream for me. Or at least no ice cream in the freezer where I’m tempted to graze on it over the course of the entire day every time I walk by the freezer. What can I say? I’m an ice cream lovin’ gal thru and thru. But you know I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do so I  can maintain those cut washboard abs to show off in my itsey-bitsey teeny-weany yellow polka dot bikini  don’t end up with a rear end the size of Texas.

I kind of just made myself fall off my chair laughing. I am sooo not an itsey-bitesy bikini kind of girl, even back in the days when I would have looked good in one. Man, I’m funny.

But, I may be fooling myself. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure my rear end and Texas already have a lot in common. :::sigh::: Oh well.

This year friends, despite still trying to eat healthier as always, I decided to go for it. After all, taking the kids (and myself) out for a scoop of ice cream is one of my absolute favorite summer treats. How much more fun to actually make the ice cream with the boys? (And don’t worry I didn’t forget Tristan! Totally figured out how to make ice cream from coconut milk! Recipe will be posted in the near future.)

After perusing recipes online I decided to make my current ice cream love: Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Ice Cream.

So, believe it or not, I messed up my first attempt. You might wonder how that is even possible with such a simple technique. Pour, whip, freeze. Honestly I’m not 100% sure what happened…

My first try was based off of the assumption that if I basically did like Nigella, and dumped all my ingredients in one bowl, whipped em’ up, and then froze them I’d get some awesome ice cream. So I dumped my coco, cream, and condensed milk in and whipped, and whipped, and whipped, and whipped, and whipped…. you get the idea… but never achieved fluffy cream.

Now after the fact I realized I’d picked up ultra pasteurized cream instead of my usual plain old heavy cream. I did some quick googling and read around the inter-webs that many people think ultra pasteurized cream won’t whip at all. So maybe that was the problem? Though I swear I’ve made whipped cream out of ultra pasteurized just fine in the past so I’m not positive on this… Maybe it was the fact that I put all the ingredients together in the first place instead of whipping the cream first then folding in everything else? It works for Nigella’s coffee ice cream recipe though, so… like I said I honestly don’t know. 

Whatever the problem really was, the runny chocolate cream I ended up with didn’t allow for adding my peanut butter swirl. (It wouldn’t have heard it up.) But, I decided to toss the mess in the freezer and see what happened more or less for the heck of it. It actually ended up making some rather lovely chocolate ice cream. So that was kind of awesome. But, I really wanted that peanut butter swirl so I gave it another go. 

The second time I decided to base my recipe off of Martha’s. I whipped my cream, folded everything in, and had lovely cream thick enough to hold up a little bit (ok a lot) of peanut butter. I added my swirl, froze everything and the next day…. suspenseful music…. success! I had ice cream for breakfast!

No just kidding. But, everything did work out perfectly this time. And equally important and amazing (because this ice cream is flippin’ awesome) I have refrained from endlessly grazing on it and /or eating the entire batch by myself (so far). 

Dark chocolate. Peanut butter. In ice cream form. Come on, you know there isn’t a better combo then that. I kinda do want to eat it for breakfast. But don’t worry I’m resisting. (Think about Texas. Not Ice cream. Texas.) And it really is pretty darn easy to make (just make sure you don’t get ultra pasteurized cream, in case). Trust me, you’ll have a blast making it with your kids, and seriously impress whoever you serve it too.

Happy ice cream! 

No Churn Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Ice Cream– Yields about 1 and 1/2 quarts. Adapted from Martha Stewart’s No Churn Vanilla Ice Cream. 

• 1 (14oz) can sweeten condensed milk 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 unsweetened coco powder
• 2 cups ( 1 pint) heavy whipping cream*
• 3/4 cup peanut butter 
• 3.5oz dark chocolate bar

1. In a medium sized bowl mix together the condensed milk, vanilla extract, and coco powder until well combined. Set aside. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, or a stand mixer, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Meanwhile slightly melt the 3/4 cup of peanut butter  in the microwave (for about 15-30 seconds) enough to allow it pour easily. Set aside and allow to cool slightly before adding to the ice cream mixture. Take the chocolate bar and use your hands to crush/break it into small pieces. Put in a small bowl and set aside. 

2. Slowly pour the condensed milk mixture into the whipping cream, and gently fold in.

3. Transfer about 1/3 of the ice cream mixture into a loaf pan or plastic tupperware with lid. Don’t worry if the mixture isn’t flat and even in the pan, this makes the swirl even better! Test the peanut butter mixture to ensure it is not too hot (otherwise it will melt the ice cream mixture) then drizzle about half the peanut butter over the ice cream into the loaf pan, go for kind of a random pattern, but cover as much of the ice cream as possible. Sprinkle about 1/2 the crushed chocolate over the peanut butter. Transfer the second third of the ice cream mixture to the loaf pan covering the peanut butter. Drizzle the other half of the peanut butter over the ice cream mixture, again try cover as much of the ice cream mixture as possible. Sprinkle the second half of the crushed chocolate over the peanut butter. Top with the remaining third of the ice cream mixture. Use a rubber spatula to smooth out the top if needed. 

4. Cover the loaf pan with saran wrap or seal the tupperware. Place the pan in the freezer. Allow to freeze for a minimum of six hours, but preferably overnight. Serve in cones, with your favorite toppings, or as is right from the pan! 

*Note: Don’t get ultra pasteurized whipping cream.