Heavenly Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Why you need an ice cream maker, Reason #1:

Today on my way home from work , I stopped at the supermarket, headed straight for the ice cream aisle, and walked away with nothing. Not only was I disappointed with the boring selection (namely the lack of peanut butter chocolate chip), but I just can't believe how expensive ice cream is! Not worth my $5. So, I made a beeline for the dairy aisle, picked up some half and half and whole milk, and headed home to make my own.

It's hard to find a good solid (i.e. easy) recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip ice cream. Especially one that doesn't use eggs. Not that I'm against eggs, but making ice cream with eggs usually involves cooking a custard on the stove and I generally don't have the energy (or the patience) for cooking when I'm making ice cream.

Yes, you will need an ice cream maker to make this. However, my $50 Cuisinart Ice Cream Machine has been well worth the investment. There is nothing like homemade ice cream and the independence you have to make any combination of flavors and use your favorite all natural ingredients.

I found this recipe for Peanut Butter Ice Cream here. Made a few adjustments to make it a bit healthier and added chocolate chips to get me right back to where I started. I eat a lot of ice cream so I try to cut back the fat a bit by using milk instead of cream. You'll be surprised how you can't tell the difference! The result is a creamy, crunchy, peanut butter infused dream. And it comes out perfect from the freezer, not icy like some non-custard recipes. Yum!

Ingredients:
1 cup all natural (peanuts only) crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups whole milk
1/3 cup half & half (for creamier ice cream, use more half & half, less milk)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
half a bag of chocolate chips

Preparation:
Combine the peanut butter and sugar in a blender until smooth. Add the milk. Blend on low speed until smooth and the sugar is dissolved. Add the half & half and vanilla and pulse until blended. Pour into ice cream maker. When thick, mix in chocolate chips, scrape into freezer safe container or in small individually sized tupperware containers.