This Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream is for peanut butter lovers only! The ice cream is deliciously rich and creamy, with a strong peanut butter flavor, stuffed with peanut butter cups.
If you’ve ever walked into a frozen yogurt place, taken one look at the lever for peanut butter yogurt, wrinkled your nose, and thought, “WHO is the one person on the planet who is buying that peanut butter yogurt?” well…it’s me. Hi. Howdy. Sorry ‘bout it.
My friends are always making fun of my intense love for peanut butter frozen yogurt, but I am not ashamed. I reject their bullying. Peanut butter yogurt is delicious, and I’m not talking about that pitiful pretender, chocolate peanut butter yogurt, with its watered-down chocolate flavor. I mean the pure stuff, with a strong, bold peanut butter taste. Topped with crushed Oreos and chopped peanut butter cups, it’s my idea of heaven in a froyo cup.
I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to make my own peanut butter ice cream, but I finally got around to it this past week, and hoooo boy. This is a dangerous recipe for a peanutphile to have. The peanut butter ice cream is rich and creamy, and packed with miniature peanut butter cups. I also added thick swirls of peanut butter sauce and fudge sauce in the ice cream, so every bite is a mix of different textures and flavors.
A week or two ago I boldly proclaimed that I like—nay, require—egg yolks in my ice cream, and that only custard-based creams will do for this princess. Well, I’m a lying liar who lies, because I tried peanut butter ice cream with a custard base, and it was way too much. Too thick, too creamy, too gloopy in the mouth. The extra fat from the yolks, combined with all of the fat in the peanut butter, actually masked the taste of the peanuts and gave it this really rich texture that kind of coated the mouth. Have you seen videos of dogs eating peanut butter, where they smack their lips together over and over? That was me, eating my first trial batch of ice cream. I mean, it wasn’t bad (sugar+cream+peanut butter won’t ever be bad) but it wasn’t my dream ice cream, either.
So I took back everything I said about custards and yolks, and made a simple ice cream base with milk, cream, sugar, and peanut butter. All you have to do is heat it all together in a pan, whisking occasionally, until everything melts smoothly. No tempering yolks, no thermometer required. This method makes an ice cream that is still rich and creamy, but that has a strong, clean peanut butter flavor.
This is cream is perfect on its own, but I won’t object if you want to top it with a little more fudge sauce and some chopped-up peanut butter cups, either. And I’ve heard rumors that it’s great on top of brownies and chocolate cake, too.
Now true confession time: what’s your frozen yogurt/ice cream guilty pleasure?
I’ve included directions for making the ice cream just as I did, with peanut butter cups, fudge sauce, and peanut butter sauce. However, it’s also delicious as a plain peanut butter ice cream, so feel free to adjust or omit the mix-ins to suit your taste. You can use store-bought fudge sauce, or follow my recipe here, and my recipe for peanut butter sauce can be found below. Enjoy!
🥜 More Peanut Recipes You’ll Love
- Snickers Cupcakes
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshakes
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Cake
- Mega Stuffed Peanut Butter Cups
- Peanut Butter Pie
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake
- Peanut Butter Cup Fudge
- Peanut Butter Easter Eggs
Peanut Butter Cup Banana Cake
Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 16 oz heavy cream, 2 cups
- 8 oz milk, 1 cup
- 9.5 oz creamy peanut butter, 1 cup
- 3.75 oz brown sugar, 1/2 cup, lightly packed
- 3.5 oz granulated sugar, 1/2 cup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 oz mini peanut butter cups, 1 cup
- 1/3 cup fudge sauce, optional
- 1/3 cup peanut butter sauce, optional
Instructions
- Combine the cream, milk, peanut butter and both sugars in a medium saucepan. Place the pan over medium heat and warm the mixture, whisking frequently, until the sugars dissolve and the peanut butter melts into the cream. It doesn’t need to come to a boil—as soon as the mixture is smooth and homogenous, you can remove it from the heat. Whisk in the vanilla extract.
- Pour it into a bowl or plastic container, and place it in the refrigerator until chilled. If you want to speed this process up, place the bowl over an ice bath and whisk it as it cools down.
- Once the peanut butter mixture is chilled, pour it into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s directions, until it is the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. Stir in the miniature peanut butter cups by hand.
- If you want to add a fudge and/or peanut butter swirl, spread about a third of the peanut butter ice cream in the bottom of a 9×5-inch loaf pan. Drizzle the peanut butter sauce over the ice cream, then top it with half the remaining ice cream. Drizzle the fudge sauce over this, and finish by covering it with the rest of the ice cream. (If you’re omitting the swirls, simply spread all of the ice cream into the loaf pan.) Press a layer of cling wrap on top, and freeze the pan until the ice cream is firm, about 2 hours.
Measuring Tips
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?
Nutrition
Peanut Butter Sauce
Ingredients
- 6 fl oz heavy cream
- 3.5 oz peanut butter chips, (1/2 cup)
- 3.25 oz peanut butter, (1/3 cup), not “natural” variety
- 1.5 fl oz light corn syrup, (3 tbsp)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients together in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Heat, whisking frequently, until the peanut butter chips melt and all of the ingredients come together in a smooth sauce. It will be very thin at first.
- As the sauce cools to room temperature, it will thicken up. If it gets too thick, simply return it to the heat and whisk until it loosens up. To store, pour it into a bowl or airtight container and press a layer of plastic wrap on top. Keep the peanut butter sauce in the refrigerator.
- To reheat after chilling, gently microwave it in 20-second increments until warm and flowing. If it has separated, continue to whisk until it comes back together.
Measuring Tips
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?
Wow. I have a friend who loves ice cream with all her heart, like, I don’t know if she ever goes a day without it. And, you know what else she loves? Peanut butter and chocolate. I think I just found her birthday present right here!
Looks FANTASTIC!
Um, homemade ice cream might be the best birthday gift I’ve ever heard of. I’m jealous of your friend! My bday is in December, cough, just so you know…
This ice cream looks irresistible! I think I wouldn’t be able to stop eating it 😀
Thanks Medeja! We kind of couldn’t stop eating it either. 🙂
Well you, m’dear, are a girl after my own peanut butter-loving heart! We basically have the same tastebuds.
Oh hello, dessert soul mate! Let’s talk about how we’re twinners over a big bowl of pb ice cream.
Just a quick note to let you know that I made you ice cream this weekend, it was a big hit!
Awesome, Mindy, so glad that you enjoyed it! Thanks for the feedback.
OK, unlurking (is that a word?) here after years of LOVING your blog! Have you seen David Lebovitz’s peanut butter ice cream recipe? It’s amazing and has you simply blend half-and-half, sugar, and creamy peanut butter (+salt and vanilla). I felt it was important for you to know about this because: no heating=less time to wait for peanut butter ice cream! I love your idea of brown sugar; I’ll definitely try that next time. Also, your blog is the awesomest (also a word?). Your recipes, your food art, your sense of humour… love it all!!!! And The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Where the Wild Things Are are pillars of English literature 🙂 I’m way overdue in in saying thanks for taking the time to share so much with all of us on the other side of the Intertubes 😉
Hi Eleanore, thank you so much for the sweet comment! Seriously, you made my night. Blogging can sometimes be a weirdly one-sided experience where I forget that there’s more to life than just me and a computer screen…so thank you very much for your lovely words. I am so grateful that you read my blog. 🙂
Thanks also for the Lebovitz intel! I actually considered just blending all the ingredients together, but I wasn’t sure if the sugar would be gritty, or if the PB would blend right. So glad to know it works–next time I’ll just skip a step. 🙂 Take care!
YES! I recently bought an ice cream maker and needed some good recipes! Reese’s peanut butter cups are one of my favorites so this is perfect! Thanks for sharing!
Oh, awesome, Janette! I hope you love it! Let me know how it goes. 🙂
I will try this ice cream recipe, Ive been using ice cream maker eversince, and I havent tried the traditional one like your preparation. You try it some time, other working mom will love how much time they are saving.
I add vanilla whenever I made ice cream…and my kids are delighted.
So I just tried this recipe and it was a total fail. I followed your directions to the letter, was very excited to churn today and it was a no-go. Something happened to the flavor between when I mixed and heated the ingredients to after I chilled them. It came out of the fridge with a very off-putting flavor. I know what your thinking and yes my milk products were fresh and the peanut butter was brand new Peter Pan brand. When I put it in my machine I thought it might have been too much, and I should have gone with my instincts. I use my trusty Cuisenart and that little guy who never lets me down, but this was too much for him. Even if I had gotten it to churn properly I would have had to pitch it because of the flavor. I thought I’d leave a comment because it looks like everyone just commented on how good it looks. If you have a regular machine I would cut the recipe in half (or skip it, like I am, and find a different recipe). I think the heating of the peanut butter might be the issue. Sorry to be a debby-downer!
I’m drooling. If there is anyone in the world who loves the combination of peanut butter and chocolate more than me it’s my mom. I am totally going to make this for her. Thank you so much for sharing!
This was absolutely delicious! Smooth and creamy, no artificial stuff in there. Thanks!
Yay I am so glad to hear it! Thank you!