Eating peanut butter from the spoon is one of the less awesome skills I learned from my Dad. We’re both huge peanut butter fiends. Add to that a request from Lauren for something peanut buttery for when Lindy and her visit and the stakes are high. I could have just bought 4 jars of peanut butter and polished the cutlery, and we would have all been happy. However, as I was putting the finishing touches on the maple pecan frozen yoghurt in the desert section of my upcoming book, it hit me. Peanut butter ice cream.
Trawling through folders and notebooks full of ideas I knew I’d made something like this before. It ended up being a bit from a few of my favourite ice cream, gelato and frozen yoghurt recipes.
This recipe is perfect for desert. I’ve used casein, yoghurt and milk which are all slow digesting protein source along with good fats (peanut butter) making it ideal for helping muscles grow and recover while it sleeps. I’ve chosen to use fat free organic dairy products to keep the overall calories from being monstrous, but you could just as easily use full fat if that’s the way you go.
Peanut butter Toffee Crunch Ice Cream
Serves 6, makes 1.5 Litres/Quarts- 1 litre (4 cups) fat free milk
- 9g (~1 Tbsp) agar agar powder
- 2 Tbsp granular stevia (or other sweetener)
- 100g (5 Tbsp) natural crunchy peanut butter
- 150g (heaped ½ cup) fat free yoghurt
- 120g (4 scoops) vanilla casein protein powder
- 2 Tbsp maple flavoured syrup (sugar free)
- 4 drops yellow food colouring (optional)
- 6 sugar-free Wether’s originals, crushed
- Warm the milk in a small saucepan, over medium heat. Whisk in the agar agar powder, sweetener and peanut butter until the agar is desolved. Remove from heat.
- Mix the yoghurt and casein to form a smooth paste. Gradually whisk in the milk slowly to avoid clumping. Continue whisking and add in the agar and milk mixture. Stir in the maple flavoured syrup and food colouring (if using).
- Leave to sit for 20 minutes before churning in an ice cream maker.
- Fold through the crushed candies and freeze in an air-tight container for up to 3 months.
SUBSTITUTES & VARIATIONS
- If you don’t have an ice-cream maker, place the mixture in a metal baking tray, cover with plastic wrap and freezer for 3 hours. After 3 hours scrape the mixture into a freezer-safe container and freeze for another 2 hours
- WPC or WPI protein powder could also be used but the texture may not be as creamy..
- Protein powder can be replaced with skim milk powder. However, the recipe will be lower in protein.
- agar agar powder is a flavourless, colourless, fibre rich jelling agent made from seaweed. It’s available in some independent supermarkets and most Asian grocers. You can also use gelatine powder, Because agar agar sets at room temperature and gelatine sets at cooler temperatures, the mixture will require refrigerating for a few hours, before freezing, to allow it to thicken.
