Chocolate Covered Strawberry Ice Cream

I can't believe that summer is almost over.  Actually, for some kids, who are back in school already, summer IS over.  Weather-wise, at least here, summer has a ways to go.  BUT, I am aware it's not that way in other parts of the country, so I figured, I better post this recipe before it's too late.

If you follow Mary's blog, Barefeet in the Kitchen, you'll know she has been on an ice cream making frenzy this summer.  It was hard to keep up, I must admit.  There was at least one recipe, however, that stood out amoung the rest of them and it was this one - Chocolate covered strawberry ice cream.....    enough said, right??

The one thing I changed that I wished I had not was the chocolate chips.  I was lazy and just left them in as chips, but Mary melted them and had this chocolate swirl that went through the ice cream.  Next time, I will definitely take the extra time to do it.  Otherwise, the ice cream was some of the best I have had!!!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Ice Cream
Slightly adapted from Barefeet in the Kitchen
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of kosher salt
8 strawberries, washed and hulled
1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Combine the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, lemon juice, half and half, vanilla and salt in a blender.  Blend until smooth.  Add the strawberries and puree until smooth once again.  Pour into ice cream machine and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.  Add the chocolate chips in the last three minutes of churning.  Pour into freezer safe dishes and freeze overnight.  Let stand at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before scooping and serving.  Enjoy!

One Year Ago:  Old School BBQ Chicken
Two Years Ago:  White Chocolate Chip & Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream
Three Years Ago:  Parmesan Orzo with Salmon

Almost Famous Milkshakes

(Picture courtesy of The Food Network)

I had to borrow the photo you see from The Food Network.  I am not the best photographer of drinks... it could be that we don't have the best glasses or it could be that I just can't photograph liquids... either way, I made these two separate times and could not even get a remotely good looking photo.  ANYWAY... normally, I wouldn't post this recipe since I couldn't get a real picture of it, but it's just too darn good to not share with you.  Although these almost famous shakes are a copy-cat recipe from a restaurant called Friendly's and I had never been to a Friendly's before, I can safely say these are a must try!  To me, they tasted like McDonald's shakes... only better!!

Almost Famous Milkshakes
Recipe courtesy The Food Network
- Serves 2 -
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pints chocolate, vanilla or strawberry ice cream
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/3 cup vanilla flavored syrup

Directions:
Put the evaporated milk and vanilla syrup in a blender, then put the blender jar and 2 large glasses in the freezer; chill for at least 20 minutes.

When ready to serve, remove the ice cream and blender jar from the freezer.  Scoop in half the ice cream into the blender and blend on high until smooth.  Add the remaining ice cream and blend until smooth.  Remove the glasses from the freezer and fill with the shake; serve immediately.  Enjoy!

One Year Ago:  Basil-Mint Grilled Chicken
Two Years Ago:  Thai Shrimp & Chicken Stir Fry with Tomatoes and Basil
Three Years Ago:  Grilled Tilapia with Butter and Key Lime Juice

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

It's been a while since I've posted an ice cream recipe.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I have made ice cream since that last time, I just haven't  gotten a good picture of it or made anything different.  I thought it was about time to change that, though, especially since the rest of the country is starting to cool down.  I wanted to get this in before the summer is over for most of you.  Although we are in no danger of that happening any time soon around here.  The desert is still hot and dry and it doesn't feel like fall is around the corner at all!  Oh well.. that's why there is ice cream, right?  To help us forget (at least for a short time) how hot it really is!

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
Created by Jenn's Food Journey
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
4 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean
18-20 roughly chopped chocolate cream sandwich cookies (Oreos)

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix together the condensed milk, vanilla and heavy cream.  Slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrap out the seeds into the cream mixture.  Stir to combine.  Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Pour the mixture into a freezer bowl of an ice cream maker and follow manufacturers instructions.  Add cookies in last 5-10 minutes of cycle.  Move to freezable containers and store in freezer for up to 1 month.  Enjoy!

One Year Ago:  Chorizo Chipotle Pasta
Two Years Ago:  Beer Brined Pork Chops with Cheddar

White Chocolate Chip & Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream

The basic idea for this recipe came from Mary over at One Perfect Bite.  I loved the idea of her recipe, but wanted to simplify things a bit because.... well... I'm a bit lazy from time to time in the kitchen.... and I'm ok with admitting that!

There is something about white chocolate and raspberry that I just adore.  Whenever I go to The Cheesecake Factory, I will always order the white chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake.. it is DA BOMB!!!!  So, of course, when I saw a recipe for white chocolate and raspberry ice cream, I knew I had to try it.

The best part about this ice cream was the raspberry swirl... I have a feeling I could find many, many, MANY more uses for it!

White Chocolate Chip & Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream
Inspired/adapted from One Perfect Bite
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla
1 1/ cups half and half
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
Raspberry Puree -
6 oz fresh raspberries
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

Directions:
Combine sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, half and half, and heavy cream in a large bowl or measuring cup.  Whisk to combine.  Cover and chill for at least 4 hours.

Meanwhile, add the raspberries and sugar to a blender or food processor.  Process until smooth.  Strain seeds from puree.  Cover and refrigerate.

Pour the milk mixture into the bowl of your ice cream maker and process according to manufacturers instructions.  Add the white chocolate chips in the last 5-10 minutes of churning.  Spread 1/3 of the ice cream into a freezer safe dish with a lid.  Cover with 1/2 of the raspberry puree.  Add another 1/3 of the ice cream and top with remainder of the raspberry puree (I put 2 tablespoons aside so that I could drizzle it over the top when I served it).  Top with last of ice cream.  Cover and return to freezer to harden.  Enjoy!

One Year Ago:  Parmesan Orzo with Salmon

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

My absolute favorite candy in the whole wide world is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  There is just something about peanut butter and chocolate that I have always loved.  I love to savor every last bite of those delicious little cups.  It's probably the one candy that I eat ever so slowly.  I guess you could say that I have a love affair with the candy.  I could probably even be bought, bribed, conned, whatever, with them...    I'm just sayin'

So, when Chris requested peanut butter cup ice cream, who was I to deny him this little bowl of joy??

I didn't want to do the usual vanilla ice cream though, so I made up a little of the fudge sauce from the Simple Fudge Ripple Ice Cream recipe I politely stole borrowed from Jean at Delightful Repast and turned the every day vanilla into a deliciously light chocolate ice cream!  (when I say light, I mean in color, not in calories!!)  Add in little pieces of my all time favorite candy and... well... it's a large little bowl of heaven!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream
Created by Jenn's Food Journey
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups half and half
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 - 1/2 cup fudge sauce (depends on how chocolatey you want your ice cream), homemade or store bought
1 - 8oz bag of mini Reese's peanut butter cups (minus a few that I had to taste first.. just to make sure they were the real thing... you never know), chopped

Directions:
Combine sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, half and half, and cream in a large bowl or measuring cup (for easy pouring) and mix well.  Cover and chill for at least 3-4 hours.

Pour chilled mixture into the bowl of an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions.  Add the fudge sauce after 15 minutes.  Add the peanut butter cup pieces in the last 5 minutes of churning.  Scoop into a plastic container, seal tightly, and let set in refrigerator for a few hours before serving.  Enjoy!

One Year Ago:  Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Simple Fudge Ripple Ice Cream

The pictures do not do this ice cream justice.  Oh, they aren't BAD, but they aren't good either.  If you want to see an absolutely fantastic photo of this scrumptious ice cream, please visit Jean's site - Delightful Repast.  She takes much better photos then I do, trust me! :)

Despite my photo challenges, this ice cream was DELICIOUS!!! YUM - YUM and double YUM!  That's about all you can say.  The fudge sauce is homemade and the only chocolate it uses is cocoa powder, it uses everything I had in my pantry (YAY!)...that's why I could not pass this one up, I had everything on hand!

The only thing I did differently from Jean's original recipe was adding chocolate chips.  And, really, it didn't need them, I just had a small amount of them and thought I should use them.  Waste not want not...

Simple Fudge Ripple Ice Cream
Ever so slightly adapted from Jean at Delightful Repast
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
1 cup 2% milk
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup chocolate chips or chunks (optional)
For the fudge sauce -
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1/3 cup water
1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:
In a large bowl or 2 quart measuring cup, whisk together the milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt until the sugar is dissolved.  Stir in the heavy cream.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Meanwhile, at least 2 hours before making the ice cream, make the sauce.  In a medium sauce pan, whisk together sugar, cocoa, salt, and water.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil; continue cooking for 1 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter until butter is melted.  Let cook at room temperature, then chill for about 30 minutes before using.  If you chill it too long, you'll need to wait for it to warm up a bit because it needs to be thin enough to drizzle into "ripples".

Put child ice cream mixture into ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions.  Add the chocolate chips in the last few minutes of the processing.

Transfer a quarter of the soft ice cream to a freezer safe airtight container, drizzle on some of the sauce.  Repeat three more times (you will have sauce left over for drizzling on the ice cream when you are ready to serve it).  Place in freezer until ice cream is firm.  Drizzle with any remaining sauce.  Enjoy!

One Year Ago:  Chocolate Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Heath Bar Ice Cream

It's getting pretty warm here.  Summer is upon us and soon our evening/morning lows will only be about 90 degrees.  I'm serious, once it starts registering over 105 consistently, day after day, our nights and mornings will be as warm, if not warmer, then most of your daily highs.  Aaaahhhhh... it's the life of the city desert dweller, what can I say.

So, how do we beat the summer heat around here?  With ice cream of course!!

I won't lie to you, not only could I eat pasta every day, but I could eat ice cream every day too.  I can be bought with ice cream, by the way, just in case you are in need of something from me.

But, enough of me, let's talk ice cream.  One of our favorite ice creams so far has been the Vanilla Ice Cream I posted last year.  It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!  But this one... I have to say, this base ice cream, was really, really, REALLY good.  It gave the vanilla ice cream a run for it's money, that I can safely say.  Then again, this one did rank a little higher in my book because of the Heath Bar pieces.  I do love me some chocolate coated toffee in my vanilla ice cream.....put a little chocolate syrup on top and, well... I've said this before... BUT... Heaven!!!

Heath Bar Ice Cream
Adapted from Food.com
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)
2 Tablespoons vanilla
2 cups half and half
2 cups whipping cream
30 miniature Heath candy bars, chopped

Directions:
Combine sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, half and half, and cream in a large bowl and mix well.  Cover and chill for at least 2 hours.

Pour chilled cream mixture into a bowl of an ice cream maker and process according to manufactures directions.  Add the chopped Heath bars in the last 5 minutes of churning.  Scoop into plastic containers with a lid, seal, and freeze for a few hours before serving.  Enjoy!

One Year Ago:  Homemade Steak Sauce

Strawberry Ice Cream

I could not let national ice cream month pass without sharing at least one more ice cream recipe.  This is so, so simple.  I know I just posted a recipe for a strawberry cheesecake ice cream, but believe me, this is different.  First, it doesn't have cream cheese in it :)  Second, it actually only uses 4 ingredients...yep..that's right... FOUR.  And third, there is no cooking involved!!! YAY!!!!  Ok, well that's actually the same as the other recipe, but I think you see where I'm going here.  This ice cream has got the perfect strawberry flavor with the perfect creaminess....it's airy, it's ... well....it's outstanding!  This was actually going to be a raspberry ice cream, but when I got to the store I saw they had strawberries on sale for $1.90 and I just couldn't pass that up.   So I grabbed a container of them and walked away happy.  Strawberries are just one of those fruits that will forever remind me of summer, as does ice cream...so it seemed only fitting to create this recipe.  Now I have not tried other fruits in this ice cream, but I feel very confident that it would work with raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and even peaches.  You can use fresh or frozen, though I would suggest that if you have access to fresh fruit, use it!

Strawberry Ice Cream
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
1 16oz container of strawberries, hulled and quartered
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
In a blender or large food processor, add the strawberries, sugar, and salt.  Pulse for 30 seconds.  Add the cream and mix until well blended.  Add the vanilla and pulse until just blended.  Taste it at this point, make sure it doesn't need a tad bit more vanilla to even out the taste.  Let chill in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

Pour chilled cream mixture into a bowl of an ice cream mixer and process according to manufacturers instructions.  Scoop into plastic containers with air tight lids and let harder for a bit before serving.  Enjoy!!

Just out of the ice cream maker, it's always so soft serve-like, I love it!!

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

I swear that my camera has something against ice cream.  It just floors me that I have finally figured out the lighting issue I was having...but now...now I can't seem to figure out how to take a picture of ice cream... my beloved wonderful ice cream.  I took 30 pictures on two different nights and only TWO pictures came out in focus... talk about frustrating!  Guess that means I'm just going to have to make more ice cream so I can practice taking pictures :)

But I digress.....

Did you know that July is national Ice Cream month???  YAY!!  I love ice cream month!!!!  Of course, I could not let the month slip by without making a scrumptious new ice cream.  And this... this was beyond scrumptious... this was decadently luscious.  This ice cream was rich and creamy and cheesecakey good.  It would have been perfectly fine by itself, but I wanted to at least add something else, so I added some marinated and slightly smashed strawberries.  Every bite is filled with a small frozen bits of strawberry.  It's refreshing and wonderful!  Did I mention the cheesecake part?  OMG!!!  There really isn't anything else to say.......well, besides...mmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Adapted from David Lebovitz's, The Perfect Scoop
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
8 oz. cream cheese
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup half & half
2/3 cup sugar, plus 1 teaspoon for the strawberries
pinch of salt
1 cup diced strawberries

Directions:
Cut the cream cheese into small pieces and place in blender or food processor.  Add the lemon zest, sour cream, half & half, 2/3 cup sugar, and salt to the machine and puree until smooth.  Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

While the mixture is chilling, add the strawberries and remaining 1 teaspoon of sugar to a small bowl.  Mix to combine.  Place in refrigerator until ready to use.

Once mixture is chilled, pour into ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions.  About 5 minutes before the ice cream is done, take the strawberries out, mash them slightly with a fork and pour them into the machine to mix into ice cream.  When done, pour into plastic containers, seal, and allow to harden up...then prepare yourself for one of the best ice cream experiences of your life!!!  YUM!!!
 

 
 

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

For some reason, my camera does not love my ice cream as much as I do!  I swear, I took 50 pictures and only these 3 came out clear.  Every other one was a blurry mess.  I had the same problem with the 2 other ice cream pictures I've posted.  They aren't bad pictures, mind you, I was just expressing some frustrations with my photographic abilities, that's all.....now on to the ice cream....... :)

This ice cream was fantastic!  I just love chocolate, but you knew that right?  The one problem I had with it, is it became a bit grainy once it started to freeze.  I BELIEVE it is because I did not blend the chocolate mixture in a blender before putting it into the refrigerator to cool.  The recipe I found said "if the chocolate does not melt completely, you might want to run it through a blender until smooth."  Well, my chocolate melted perfectly, or so I thought, and I skipped this step.  But I believe that by skipping that step, I did not have the chocolate nice and smooth as it should have been, hence the tiny chocolate pieces just hardened up as soon as it started to cool.  That's my theory at least.  Now this did not make the ice cream inedible, oh no, I would not post it if that was the case, I'm only telling you, so hopefully you'll have a smoother ice cream texture then we did.  This ice cream was not too sweet, but very rich and very chocolaty.  It was chocolate heaven in a bowl!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup heavy cream or half & half

6 Tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

pinch of salt

6oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips (you could honestly leave these out if you just want plain old chocolate ice cream, it will still be SO good!!)

Directions:

In a large saucepan, whisk the cream, cocoa powder, sugar and salt together.  Whisking frequently, heat until the mixture comes to a full, rolling boil.  Remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped chocolate.  Whisk until the chocolate melts completely, then add the milk and vanilla.  Carefully transfer the mixture to a blender and blend for 30 seconds, or until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly and then churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufactures instructions.  Add the chocolate chips in the last few minutes of the churning.  If you don't have an ice cream maker, check out David's site for directions on just how to do it without one!  Enjoy! 

Vanilla Ice Cream

I was contemplating on whether or not to purchase Madagascar vanilla beans from my local spice store when, as luck would have it, I won a kick ass giveaway from Michelle (All Home Cooking. All Year Long) and it included not just one but THREE of those exact vanilla beans.  My contemplation behind me, I got one killer idea.  Why not use one of those beans and make vanilla ice cream!!!  YAY!  What a great idea Jenn...you are a genius!  And it doesn't stop there...I not only got to use this wonderful vanilla bean but I also got to use some amazingly good vanilla extract:  Michelle's very own, homemade pure vanilla extract!!

Anyway...so with these two fantastic ingredients, I knew right away I was going to make a batch of vanilla ice cream.  This recipe is simple.  That's all you need to know.  There are no eggs involved, so the process is quick.  There are 5 ingredients.  Uhmm...yea... simple, see.  I will admit to you, though, this was the first time I've ever actually had to use a real vanilla bean.  I was worried about scraping out the little seeds, but it really wasn't that tough.  I would suggest putting the bean on top of some wax paper, though.  That way you can drop the little amounts of the seeds on there and then just transfer right to the pot.  They tend to stick a bit to your fingers and you don't want to loose anything...that's good stuff you'd have to wash down the sink!!  Also, don't throw away that precious pod either.  Put it in a jar with an air tight lid and cover with sugar for homemade vanilla sugar.  Place the pod in your coffee container to add a bit of a vanilla flavor to your morning blend.  The point is, don't let them go to waste!

The ice cream came out perfect!  This was by far our favorite ice cream so far!!  It's pure decadence.  Creamy and rich.  It's almost sinful.  ALMOST!!

Vanilla Ice Cream
Recipe courtesy The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
Ingredients:
3 cups heavy cream (or 2 cups heavy cream and 1 cup whole milk)
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Pour 1 cup of cream into a medium saucepan and add sugar and salt.  Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the saucepan and add the pod to the pot.  Warm over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved.

Remove from heat and add the remaining 2 cups cream and vanilla extract.  Chill the mixture in the refrigerator thoroughly (I let mine sit in there for over 4 hours).  When ready to churn, remove the vanilla bean, rinsing and reserving for another use.  Mix ice cream in an ice cream maker according to the manufactures instructions.  Enjoy....oh and you will!!!

This is what it looked like right from the ice cream maker.....perfect!!

 YUM!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Summer is almost here!!  Well, it is here in the desert...but summer is almost here in the rest of the country too ... ALMOST!!  I love ice cream anytime of the year, but in the summer is when I crave it and/or want it the most.  My goal is to make a new ice cream every month this summer.  Let me remind you that summer lasts from pretty much April to October here in the Valley of the Sun....so be prepared!

Like my Peanut Butter Ice Cream post from last week...this was amazingly good!  What I love the most about this recipe and the last one, is that you don't have to use any eggs!  My first attempt at making ice cream about 14 years ago, I didn't temper the egg and it scrambled in my pot...icky!  Ever since then, I have been a bit scared of making homemade ice cream, even though I know what I did wrong.  So when I found these recipes by David Lebovitz, I was ecstatic!!  Also, I learned from my lack of patience last week and this batch turned out incredible.  Chris said it even had the texture and look of mass produced ice cream.  I loved that because I love mass produced ice cream :)  Ok, I love the truly homemade ice cream that my grandma use to make, but let's not go there it will just make me crave something I cannot have!

Anyway...I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!!!!!  Woo Hoo!

Oh.. and in case you don't have an ice cream maker and you still want to make your own...check out David Lebovitz's site for his instructions on how!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz by way of Tracey's Culinary Adventures
Ingredients:
2 cups half and half
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

Directions:
Whisk together the half and half, cocoa powder, sugar and salt in a large sauce pan. Heat the mixture, whisking frequently, until it comes to a full, rolling boil (it will start to foam up). Remove from the heat and whisk in the peanut butter, stirring until thoroughly blended.

Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Makes about 1 quart. 

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

After a pretty near disaster, I finally got this ice cream to turn out.  It was well worth what I went through.  Obviously, if you are not a fan of peanut butter (or ice cream for that matter) you are not going to like this...BUT...if you enjoy peanut butter as much as the next guy, you gotta try this!  It is SOOOOOOOOOOO yummy!  I could have eaten the entire thing the first night I made it, but since I no longer live alone and am worried Chris would think I had an eating disorder, or worse yet, that I was a pig, I restrained myself.....but BARELY!  This ice cream has the flavor of Reese's peanut butter.  Pour a little chocolate sauce over it and it's like a frozen Reese's.

Something I learned with this recipe.  Chill the ice cream mixture for as long as you can before you put it into the ice cream maker.  And by all means, make sure the bowl of your ice cream maker has been in the freezer for at least 24 hours.  If it's not frozen solid, this ice cream will not set.  I put it in the ice cream maker and let it go for almost an hour and the ice cream still wasn't setting.  I had to put the bowl of the maker in the freezer for a few hours, the put it back on the machine before it finally set for me.  So be patient with this PLEASE!!  You will not be sorry :)

One thing before I give you the recipe....Michelle over at All Home Cooking. All Year Long. is giving away a few really cool kitchen necessities.  I get extra entry points for talking about her here on my blog (I really want that bench scraper!!)...so go check her out.  I love her blog, she makes as much as she can from scratch...even her own vanilla extract!  While you're there.. enter for a chance to win one of her giveaway prizes!  Thanks Michelle...Happy Cooking/Baking!

Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Recipe courtesy of David Lebovitz by way of Smellslikehome.com
Ingredients:
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (I used Jiff)
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
2 2/3 cup half and half
pinch of salt
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Purée the peanut butter, sugar, half and half, salt, and vanilla in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.