Earlier this year I posted My Five Favorite Summer Essentials, and one of the things on my list was a homemade ice cream maker. After sharing that our family's favorite is homemade Butterfinger ice cream, I had several requests for the recipe. With a holiday weekend and family gatherings right around the corner, I thought it would be the perfect time to share that with you today.
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You'll just need a few simple ingredients-
1 cup peanut butter
3 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sugar (I usually decrease to about 3/4 cup)
2 tablespoons flour
whole milk (about 8 cups)
Ice Cream Salt (rock salt)
This recipe is for a standard 4 quart ice cream maker. This is the one we have used for years and it gets the job done.
Start by whisking the eggs and peanut butter together. I've found that this is an important first step to incorporate the peanut butter well and get it smoothly mixed in with the rest of the ingredients. Then add in each of the other ingredients (except the whole milk, butterfinger and rock salt), whisking together well after each addition. This is my mixture before adding the milk.
Fill the rest of the container with whole milk, up to fill line marked on the side of the canister. It should be about 8 cups. I usually make the ice cream up to this point earlier in the day, then just store the canister in the fridge until we're ready to freeze it.
Meanwhile, crush up some Butterfinger candy bars. I use about 12 fun size bars, or 4 regular size bars but use your own judgement here! It helps to freeze them before hand so the chocolate doesn't stick to the wrapper. I like mine to be a little more chunky instead of pulverized so I just give the bar one whack with a mallet and that's sufficient. Set your pieces aside in a bowl to add later.
It will take about 30 minutes for the freezer to do it's job, so plan accordingly. After loading the canister in place, surround it with ice and rock salt. We add a layer of ice then sprinkle with rock salt, then repeat until the bucket is full so that the salt gets distributed through the ice (the salt helps keep the ice get stay cold and freeze better). Keep an eye on it and add more ice and salt as necessary as the ice melts down (and stop motor and drain water as necessary, too.).
After about 20 minutes start paying attention and listen for when the motor seems to be slowing down a bit. This means the ice cream is getting thicker. At this point we stop it, remove the lid, and add in the Butterfinger pieces. Put the lid and motor back on and let it continue until it's finished. (Sometimes you have to give the canister a little help getting started again.)
When the motor stops, it's ready! Remove the lid and paddle and stir a bit, it will be thicker and more frozen at the bottom. Scoop out and serve!
When our extended family is together we have about 15 people and this makes a good amount to serve everyone. Any extra left over doesn't really freeze well, so it's best to share this right away with lots of friends!
By the way, if you omit the peanut butter and Butterfinger, this is a good plain vanilla recipe. Be creative and add your own toppings!
Do you have plans for Labor Day? We were just discussing ours last night... we'll stay in town but are trying to decide on a few fun things to do. Just having no schedule and a few days together is the best part (or virtually together, I know the kids will be wanting to spend time with their friends)!
