chocolate peanut butter oreo ice cream
Ingredients
6 ounces solid dark chocolate (70-85% cocoa), chopped (This doesn't have to be super precise. Also, I don't use “baking” chocolate. I like to use bars of chocolate that I would enjoy eating!)
2 1/4 cups lactose free half and half (or 1 1/8 cup whole milk + 1 1/8 cups heavy cream)
18 grams (about 3 tablespoons) Dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup (if you would prefer not to use corn syrup, substitute granulated sugar)
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon vodka (optional)
About 1 cup peanut butter chips (Reese's brand is the best I've found!), melted just before using
About 12 Oreo cookies, roughly crushed
Instructions
Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and water. Place a medium mixing bowl fitted with a fine mesh strainer inside the ice bath.
Melt dark chocolate in a double boiler and set aside.
Add the half and half, cocoa powder, sugar, corn syrup, and salt to a medium sized sauce pan and heat over medium heat. Whisk together until the sugar is dissolved and cocoa powder is incorporated. The mixture should be steaming but should not come to a boil.
Remove pot from heat and stir in the melted chocolate.
Whisk egg yolks in a separate bowl. Slowly add 1 cup of heated chocolate mixture into egg yolks, whisking constantly.
Pour the egg yolk mixture into the cream mixture and return to stove.
Cook at medium low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 170 F on an instant-read thermometer). Do not allow custard to boil!
Remove custard from heat and immediately pour through fine mesh strainer into the bowl over the ice bath.
Add vanilla and vodka to custard and stir.
Allow custard to cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
Cover with a layer of plastic wrap pressed directly over the surface of your custard. Place custard in refrigerator and chill until cold (I leave mine overnight).
Make ice cream according to ice cream machine instructions. In the last few minutes of ice cream churning, drizzle the melted peanut butter chips into the ice cream machine.
Layer the ice cream and crushed Oreos in a freezer-friendly container, as follows: about 1/3 of the ice cream, followed by about 1/3 of the Oreos, continuing with alternating layers.
Freeze for a few hours before serving.
Yield: 1.5 quarts ice cream
About this recipe
The diner in my home town used to make these amazing milkshakes that you could fully customize, and at some point one of my friends clued me in to the best combination of all: chocolate ice cream + peanut butter + Oreo. I have never seen this offered anywhere as an ice cream flavor, which is honestly a travesty.
When I started making my own ice cream, I was excited to recreate this dream of my childhood and…it was really difficult to accomplish! Chocolate ice cream is trickier to make than vanilla-based flavors (the first time I tried, the chocolate wasn't quite as rich as I wanted and the ice cream was grainy; the second time the flavor was good but the texture wasn't quite right because my ice cream machine overflowed). And I spent HOURS puzzling over how to incorporate the peanut butter (my attempt at a peanut butter swirl was underwhelming, and adding small peanut butter chunks was wayyy too much work). But good news, friends—I finally cracked it.
The flavor is perfect, the texture is divine, and the process isn't overly fussy or messy. I hope you enjoy this ice cream as much as I do!
By the way, this is a great article to check out if you want to learn more about the method of adding the peanut butter and Oreo mix-ins!
