Last week I made some vanilla ice cream with my new ice cream maker. This was gorgeous but was really just practise. Ive been determined to actually make real ice cream, like the stuff I want to sell in my ice cream van next summer and one flavour I’ve wanted to ‘invent’ for a while is PBJ

PBJ for those of you who don’t know is a peanut butter and Jelly (Jam) sandwich traditionally made with smooth peanut butter, white bread and Grape Jelly, and is a staple of American childhood memories.

In my case this is one of my favourite memories of my youth – crunchy, somehow sweet yet savoury, peanut butter smothered on hot buttered toast then anointed with sweet silky fruit filled Jam. It was one of the guilty pleasures I shared with my nan late at night when the others went to bed – and we enjoyed it alongside hot chocolate, so this one has special meaning to me.

But this isn’t that toast – this is ice cream so I’ve had to make some compromises to make this work

• For this ice cream to work I have to bow to the originators and go for smooth peanut butter, at least in the custard base for the ice cream.
• Im very much a Jam rather than Jelly person – I like the idea of tangy blackcurrant whole-fruit jam rather than the smooth jelly. This really cuts through the smoothness of the ice cream.  This is also going to be a ripple – as I feel mixing the jam in would create something a little too sweet.
• and lastly – I want crunchy! I did think about swirling some crunchy peanut butter into the ice cream but I did a little try and it never quite worked. So I settled for adding bashed up  honey roasted peanuts to the the mix about ten minutes before it finished churning which added yet another flavour depth.

What I ended up with was a sweet, tangy, salty dessert which truly hit a spot!! so here is the recipe…

Ingredients (makes just over a litre)

• 200 ml semi skimmed milk
• 400 ml double cream
• 4 egg yolks
• 180g sugar
• Tsp vanilla essence (or a pod if you have one)
• 8 tbs smooth peanut butter
• 4 tbs blackcurrant whole-fruit jam (I used no added sugar)
• handful of honey roasted peanuts bashed!

Method

• Gently heat the milk, cream, vanilla and half the sugar in a pan until it almost boils
• Meanwhile whisk together the rest of the sugar and the egg yolks until thick and creamy
• Take the milk off the heat and gradually add to the egg yolk mix, returning to the saucepan.
• put back on a gentle heat and for the next 5 mins whisk the mix in the pan – do not allow this to boil!!
• Gradually add the peanut butter whisking vigorously to combine fully and continue to whisk for another 5 mins.
• Once the custard thickens to the point that you can coat the back of a spoon take off the heat and allow to cool before chilling for at least 2 hours. (an ice bath helps here)
• Turn on your machine and follow its instructions to make your ice cream. my machine took about 50 minutes to give me a nice thick but not hard ice cream.
• So lets talk about nuts – 2 options here.  You can either add the crushed peanuts into the mix towards the end if your machine allows or leave till you serve.
• Transfer this to a plastic container and swirl in your blackcurrant jam (you can do this in the machine if its simpler and you are using straight away but I like a larger tub to really swirl things.
• Next freeze until needed or if like me you just cant wait  scoop into a bowl and serve sprinkled with crushed salty nuts!!