Homemade Ice Cream

I just love tasters. HEB and Central Market offer the most consistently satisfying ones, but you do get a little surprise every now and then at Whole Foods. You can practically make a meal out of all the little bites you are directly offered and you can get even more full off the unmanned taster stations (kidding…kind of). Anyway, last time I hit up the Central Market, a woman served me a taster of Jeni’s Ice Cream. What a luscious treat! The creamy base absolutely coats your mouth and depending on the flavor (I tasted 3: Brown Butter Almond Brittle, Riesling Poached Pear Sorbet, and Dark Chocolate), you get a second appreciation as the ice cream hugs every taste bud on your tongue. Considering it would cost a cool $9 to take home even a measly pint of this fancy-pants dessert, I just had to make some. I found the recipe for Jeni’s base in a Saveur magazine and chose the Tin Roof flavor for its promise of salty and sweet. Warning: this ice cream is rich, so share it…with at least one other person.

Jeni’s Tin Roof Ice Cream

For the ice cream:

2 cups milk

4 teaspoons cornstarch

1 ¼ cups heavy cream

2/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons cream cheese, softened

In a small bowl, whisk together ¼ cup milk and the cornstarch together to make a slurry. Set aside. In a medium sauce pan, whisk together the remainder of milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup. Boil for 4 minutes. Stir in the slurry, return to boil for about two minutes (until thickened, stir the whole time). Place cream cheese in a large bowl and pour ¼ cup of the hot milk mixture over it. Whisk to combine, then pour remainder of hot milk mixture in, again whisking to combine until smooth. Pour ice cream mixture into a plastic bag and submerge bag in a bowl of ice water until chilled. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s instructions. Fold in the chocolate covered peanuts while ice cream is still semi-soft.

For the chocolate covered peanuts:

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup salted peanuts

Melt the chocolate (in a double broiler or just your microwave) then toss with peanuts until they are well coated. Pour mixture onto parchment paper and spread it out into one even layer. Refrigerate until the chocolate sets (and then just keep it chilled until ready to use).

For the chocolate ripple:

½ cup sugar

1/3 cup light corn syrup

½ cup water

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk all ingredients (except the vanilla) together in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat, whisking continuously, until edges start to bubble. Continue to whisk until sauce comes to low boil then cook for about 1 minute. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla. Allow sauce to cool, then refrigerate until well chilled (also leave this in the fridge until ready to use).

To assemble:

In a freezer container (I used a 9x9 glass Tupperware), add a layer of fudge ripple then a layer of ice cream. Repeat, alternating between fudge ripple and ice cream layers with the remainder of each. Freeze until firm. When you use an ice cream scoop (AFTER it is firm…takes about 4 hours…hard to wait, I personally agree), dig down deep so you get all the layers. Savor the luxurious mouth-feel!