Tin Roof Ice Cream

July is national ice cream month!  And I will, only somewhat shamefully,  admit to recently picking up a box of Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake bars, a childhood favorite.  (Have those gotten smaller or  have I just gotten bigger?)

But, I wish I would have celebrated ice cream month every single day with this ice cream.  Sadly, it didn’t last in our house anywhere near a month.  This ice cream is oh-so-good.  A delicious vanilla base that I already raved about, chocolate-covered peanuts, and an old school fudge ripple.  How could you possibly go wrong with that combination?  Really, the only way this could be even better in my opinion would be with the addition of a caramel ripple – which I may try next time.

I’ve never heard of tin roof ice cream, and what a travesty. Have I mentioned I really liked it? Yum.  It actually reminds me a bit of Dairy Queen’s peanut buster parfait, but it’s better, of course.  Despite being made of three components, this ice cream is still incredibly easy to put together.  The peanuts take no time and the fudge ripple comes together in just a few minutes.  Once everything is chilled, you are ready to go and then after that  you are ready to eat one of the best ice creams ever.

I honestly didn’t even realize I was only supposed to use half of the chocolate-covered peanuts, so I used them all.  I would definitely go this route again because otherwise, I don’t think it would be enough. I also used salted peanuts even though the recipe called for unsalted because I’m a big fan of salty-sweet combos.  Other than that, I made no changes to this recipe, because it doesn’t need changes.

Tin Roof Ice Cream

adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

3/4 cup whole milk
2/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1.5 cups heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
4 large egg yolks
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 batch of chocolate-covered peanuts (recipe follows)
1 batch fudge ripple (recipe follows)

Warm the milk, sugar, salt, and 1/2 cup cream in a medium saucepan.  With a sharp paring knife, scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add them, as well as the pod, to the hot milk mixture. Cover and remove from heat.  Steep at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Rewarm the milk mixture.  Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.  In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks.  Slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the yolks, whisking constantly.  Scrape back into the saucepan.  Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a spatula or wooden spoon, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.  Pour the custard through the mesh strainer and sit it into the cream to cool.  Add the vanilla bean back into the custard and stir the mixture until cool over an ice bath.  Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.

Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the mixture according to your ice cream manufacturer’s directions.  Fold the peanut pieces into the frozen ice cream as you remove it from the machine, and layer it with the fudge ripple.

Chocolate-Covered Peanuts
4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup roasted peanuts

Put the chocolate pieces into a dry heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water to melt the chocolate.  Stir until smooth.  In the meantime, stretch a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper over a plate.

Once the chocolate is melted, remove it from the heat and stir in the peanuts, coating them with the chocolate.  Spread the mixture onto the lined plate and chill.

Before mixing them into the ice cream, use a sharp knife to chop the chocolate-covered peanuts into bite-sized pieces.

Fudge Ripple
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
6 Tbsp. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Whisk together the sugar, corn syrup, water, and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan.  Heat over medium whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles at the edges.

Continue whisking until it gets to a low boil. Cook one minute, whisking frequently.  Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.  Let cool and then chill in the refrigerator before using.