Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana & Cookie Chunk Ice Cream

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana & Cookie Chunk Ice Cream | Once Upon a Recipe

Friends! Hello! How are you?

Please forgive me for my absence over the past few weeks. Things got a little hectic there for a while, I got a little tired, and this ol’ blog was forced to the back burner for a wee time. But, I spent the weekend in the kitchen and I have a batch of recipes to share with you, so let’s get to it!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana & Cookie Chunk Ice Cream | Once Upon a Recipe

http://www.onceuponarecipeblog.com/2013/12/the-great-food-blogger-cookie-swap-nutella-and-rolo-stuffed-double-chocolate-chip-cookies/

This ice cream. Oh, this ice cream.

I’m no purist when it comes to ice cream. I like my ice cream trashy. Full of different flavors and textures, especially big chunks of chewy cookie. I may or may not dig around in the container in search of the chunky bits. Except that I totally do. This ice cream has a creamy chocolate base that gets all trashed up with swirls of peanut butter and chunks of banana and chocolate cookies. I mean?!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana & Cookie Chunk Ice Cream | Once Upon a Recipe

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana & Cookie Chunk Ice Cream | Once Upon a Recipe

Let’s just say that after having my first taste of this ice cream, I promptly shared it with anyone who was willing to eat it, simply so that I wouldn’t devour the whole thing myself.

Despite the fact that we’re dealing with more cold temperatures and another round of snow, I know that Spring is around the corner somewhere. So I’m just going to keep making ice cream and margaritas and pretend that it’s already here. If we believe it, it will come!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana & Cookie Chunk Ice Cream

Chocolate ice cream base from The Kitchn, which was adapted from Jeni Britton. Makes just over 1 quart.

8 oz. good-quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
3 1/2 cups half and half
1 TBSP. plus 1 tsp. cornstarch
2 ounces cream cheese, softened (about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup sugar
pinch salt

Mix-ins: 1 banana (chopped small), 1/2 cup chocolate cookies* (chopped), and about 1/2 cup peanut butter

*I used these cookies (minus the centers) because I had some left over, but you can use any homemade or storebought chewy chocolate cookies.

In a small bowl, mix 2 TBSP. of the half and half with the cornstarch. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, combine the remaining half and half with the sugar. Bring the milk mixture to a boil and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat, and gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Return to heat, bring to a boil and cook over medium high heat until the mixture is slightly thickened, about 1 minute.

In a separate bowl, combine the chocolate and cream cheese. Pour just enough of the hot milk over the chopped chocolate and cream cheese to cover it. Whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Add the salt. Gradually add the remaining hot milk mixture and whisk well. Cover the mixture and chill completely, preferably overnight.

Pour the ice cream base into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Stir in the banana and cookie chunks. Layer in a container, along with spoonfuls of the peanut butter (I microwaved my peanut butter for about 20 seconds to make it thinner and easier to work with), then swirl with a knife. Freeze for an additional four hours (or more) in an airtight container. Scoop and serve!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana & Cookie Chunk Ice Cream | Once Upon a Recipe

Comments

  1. Hi, Amanda! I like to dig down into the ice cream for the bits, too, but do you know how many times I was disappointed as a child as they were so mean with the amounts they put in there? Much better to make your own and throw in as many as will fit! I love that this ice cream is made with cream cheese … I’ve never seen that before. Genius!

  2. sounds like such a delicious and rich combo!! need to try this x

  3. OH GOD YES, THIS!

  4. The bits are always the best part! I’ve used chevre for ice cream before but not cream cheese-must fix soon. So glad I stumbled upon you-off to find a treat.

  5. This ice cream looks beyond amazing – all. these. things. are amazing on their own, but thrown together into one? I can’t even take that! Beautiful pictures, too!

  6. This looks soooo good, I’ve never made my own ice cream before but now I am going to have to try. Pinned!

  7. Delicious! My favorite ice creams are chocolate with lots of chunks, just like this one 🙂

  8. Yum! I like trashy ice cream too. This looks sensational.

  9. I am all about trashed up ice cream and have definitely been known to dig up all the good bits too. It’s best not to share a pint with me. I love all of these flavors! Especially that peanut butter swirl!

  10. I love trashy ice cream! The more stuff the merrier!!!! Amanda, you have convinced me… I have waited long enough…. I just bought an ice cream maker!! Call it an ice cream craving and Amazon impulse purchase!

  11. I’m totally with you. The more I can cram into my ice cream, the better! Swirls, chunks, bits, chips–I don’t care. Gimme.

  12. You can never go wrong with chocolate and PB together! My mouth watered just reading your description: “swirls of peanut butter and chunks of banana and chocolate cookies” YUM!

  13. Amanda I missed you! This looks very good, but got so sad when I saw that you need an ice cream maker. It is still on my dream list 🙁

  14. Amanda, I like my ice cream just stuffed with naughty bits and this looks SO, SO good! Also, I just tired making ice cream at home for the first time and keep kicking myself for not doing so sooner, though it might be dangerous to be able to satisfy my ice cream cravings whenever I want. Can’t wait to give this chunky PB version a spin!

    • Thank you Amy! You’re so right – being able to make ice cream at home and pack it full of naughty things is a bit dangerous! Let me know what you think of this combo!

  15. This is getting me excited for summer and you’ve combined everything I love in an ice cream. You rock! Your photographs are just gorgeousss.

  16. So I usually don’t crave ice cream but right now all I want is a big cone of this! It looks amazing!

  17. Dang girl, Ice cream never looked so good!

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