Salted Peanut Stracciatella Ice Cream

If a peanut butter cup was an ice cream flavor, it would be this salted peanut stracciatella ice cream (which can easily be made dairy-free).

This peanut butter ice cream is kinda like a deconstructed peanut butter cup: salted peanut butter custard ice cream with flecks of bitter dark chocolate. And yes, you read that right: bitter dark chocolate; it balances out the other sweet elements in the ice cream perfectly. It’s a phenomenal ice cream flavor!

Salted Peanut Stracciatella Ice Cream Ingredients

• Roasted, unsalted peanuts: Roasted unsalted peanuts give you complete control over the amount of salt going into this ice cream. If you can only find salted peanuts, omit the 3/4 tsp of kosher salt, only adding extra salt if needed once the peanut butter is whisked in at the end.
• Egg yolks: The egg yolks in this recipe serve to not only stabilize the ice cream but also give it a super rich and creamy mouthfeel that you just can’t replicate with anything else. Standard large eggs yield ~18g of yolk; however, if you’re using smaller eggs or eggs from the farmer’s market, the yield will vary. So if you really want to get granular, I highly recommend weighing your yolks.
• Heavy cream and milk OR homemade nut milk: This recipe works with both dairy and non-dairy milk/cream. I’ve left two non-dairy options below. If you’re using regular dairy, you’ll need heavy cream and milk.
• Honey: I firmly believe that honey, cardamom, and pistachio is a flavor pairing made in heaven. Feel free to swap the honey out for granulated sugar.   
• Ground vanilla or vanilla bean paste: Love the ground vanilla from Beyond Good.
• Vanilla extract: This base is a double vanilla custard, which uses both ground vanilla and vanilla extract. I like to add the vanilla extract at the tail end of the custard making process, once it’s been chilled; heat tends to inhibit vanilla extract flavor.
• Kosher salt: Specifically, Diamond Crystal kosher salt. If you’re using Morton kosher salt, reduce the salt by half. Morton is much saltier and denser than Diamond Crystal kosher salt.

Dairy-Free Alternatives

Leaving two dairy-free swaps for this ice cream base — the homemade nut milk alternative is my favorite. 

• Make the homemade nut milk by blending 4 cups (910 g) of water with 1 1/2  cups (215 g) of raw, unsalted cashews and 1 cup (140 g) of raw, unsalted almonds on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds or until super creamy and smooth. It’ll yield 760g of milk, which is how much you’ll need to make this recipe. Strain in a nut milk bag and store in a glass jar. It’ll keep well for 5-6 days, so feel free to make this ahead of time.
• Alternatively, swap the heavy cream and milk for equal parts of a store-bought dairy-free heavy cream and milk. Califia heavy cream is my go-to non-dairy heavy cream. For milk, any creamy cashew milk or coconut milk works — such as Elmhurst’s cashew milk, Califia’s coconut milk, or even my homemade house blend milk. 

Method 

Day One

Peanut Butter

Add the peanut to a food processor (used the Cuisinart 14-cup food processor). Turn the processor on and let it run. The peanut butter will go through 3 phases before it starts forming butter. It’ll go from a flour-like consistency to a wet sand texture, and then it’ll start to clump into a large ball. At this point, stop the processor, scrape it down, and let it run again. Let the butter continue to run – it’ll form a paste and eventually form a smooth but stiff paste after 5ish minutes. Scrape into a jar and set aside. 

NOTE: You won’t need the entirety of the butter for this recipe, but you can save leftovers in a jar in the pantry for up to 3 months.

Custard Base

Whisk the egg yolks in a small bowl and set aside.

Add the milk and cream (or homemade nut milk) to a pot, along with the honey, vanilla, and salt. Heat over medium heat until hot to the touch or 120°F.

Scoop about 1/2 cup of the milk mixture out, and, whisking constantly, stream it into the bowl of egg yolks. Repeat this twice more to temper the eggs. Then, whisking the milk mixture constantly, stream in the tempered eggs. Switch to a rubber spatula/large wooden spoon, and stir constantly (I typically stir the mixture every 10 seconds) until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon — temperature should be ~178°F. 

Remove the custard from the heat and whisk in 110g of peanut butter (you’ll need to aggressively whisk to incorporate the butter). 

Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl or pitcher to catch any gritty peanut bits. Then place the custard base in an ice bath, stirring constantly until cool. Once cool, whisk in the vanilla extract. Cover the base with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Day Two

Churn & Freeze

Melt the cacao wafers and set aside to cool slightly — I like to transfer the melted chocolate to a small measuring pitcher to easily stream it into the ice cream.

Churn the ice cream as normal, but once it starts to crystallize (about 15 minutes in), start streaming in the chocolate. Keep the chocolate stream thin. Once the chocolate is streamed in, let the ice cream continue to churn for a few more minutes or until done, to break up the chocolate bits further. Typically, I let the ice cream churn an additional 5-8 minutes. Pop the ice cream into your container, cover with a square of parchment paper (this helps prevent crystallization on the top) and let it chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.

Notes

• This recipe is a great base if you want to make other nut-based recipes. You can swap the peanuts out for almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, etc. And infuse the milk with other spices or flavor agents beyond vanilla.

So excited for you to make this recipe – it’s phenomenal! Please leave a starred rating and review; I love hearing your feedback.

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