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THE LIKE-A-PRO ICE CREAM
With peanut butter, milk, heavy cream, sugar, and xanthan gum.
If you love peanut butter, get ready to fall head over heels for this homemade peanut butter ice cream! It’s ultra-creamy, irresistibly smooth, and bursting with rich peanut butter flavour. No icy bits, no grainy texture—just pure, velvety indulgence in every spoonful.
The secret? A perfectly balanced mix of whole milk, heavy cream, and just the right amount of peanut butter to give it a luxurious texture without overwhelming the flavour. Plus, a little trick to ensure it stays silky smooth (don’t skip the blending step!).
Ice Creams made with xanthan gum are our “Like-A-Pro” ice creams. With just one extra ingredient—xanthan gum—you can create an eggless ice cream that has a rich, full-bodied texture, churns smoothly, melts evenly when served, and stays fresh in the freezer for a long time. Just like the ice cream a professional pastry chef makes
More to explore:
Do not reduce or replace anything; everything is there for a reason.
When making ice cream, prefer to weigh all the ingredients, even the liquid ones. We also recommend – whenever possible – to weigh the liquid ingredients directly into the bowl/pan as you proceed with the recipe instead of transferring them from one bowl to another because this transfer causes a small -but unwanted- loss of quantity.
If you do not have a kitchen scale, follow these guidelines:
• 1 cup (US) = 237 ml | 1 tablespoons = 15 ml
• sugar: measuring sugar in tablespoons is more accurate than measuring it in cups. Use a 15 ml measuring tablespoon (not a regular one); this is 13 gr of sugar. To measure correctly, each time you scoop the sugar, level it with the flat side of a knife.
• milk and heavy cream: thoroughly scrape with a rubber spatula any residues left on the sides and bottom of the cup every time you measure something and empty it.
Note that the quantities in each measuring system (grams, ounces, and cups) in our recipes may not always be accurate conversions; any deviations in conversions you may notice do not affect the outcome.
Enhance the flavour of this peanut butter ice cream by swapping regular sugar for high-quality raw cane sugar, such as Demerara or Turbinado. These sugars have a subtle caramel-like taste that beautifully complements the peanut butter, adding depth to the overall flavour.
A flexible rubber spatula is good for:
-wiping the bottom of the saucepan when you cook dairy on the stovetop.
-scraping residues from bowls, saucepans etc.
If you do not have one, we strongly encourage you to buy one, preferably a flexible one.
The ice cream mixture needs to cool completely and hydrate before churning, so prepare it in advance (approx. 8 hours before) to give it time to chill in the refrigerator.
If your ice cream maker has a removable freezer bowl, put it in the freezer for the whole time indicated by the manufacturer before churning, usually 24 hours.
Heat the Milk and Sugar: In a medium saucepan, combine the whole milk (615 g / 21.7 oz) and sugar (210 g / 7.4 oz).
Prepare the Peanut Butter: Place the peanut butter (125 g / 4.4 oz) in a large bowl and set a whisk into the bowl.
Set up the Blender and have it ready to use, along with the xanthan gum; you’ll need to work quickly once the milk is hot.
Warm the Milk: Heat the milk over medium-high heat, stirring often with a rubber spatula, until the sugar dissolves and the milk is hot and steamy (about 70°C / 158°F). Avoid boiling, but do make sure it is very steamy.
Incorporate the Hot Milk: Pour the hot milk over the peanut butter, a little at a time, whisking to smooth. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with the rubber spatula to fully incorporate any peanut butter residue.
Add the Xanthan Gum: Pour the hot mixture into a blender, and with the blender on, sprinkle the xanthan gum (½ teaspoon) over the blending mixture; blend for 2 minutes – set a timer.
Incorporate the Cold Heavy Cream: Add the cold heavy cream (260 g / 9.2 oz) and blend again, pausing once to scrape with the rubber spatula on the sides and bottom of the blender for an even consistency.
Strain into the bowl: Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve and back into the bowl, scraping down any residues (you can use the same bowl as before; no need to rinse it). Give a last, thorough stirring to the ice cream mixture, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl.
Chill until completely cold: Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 3 days. Xanthan gum needs 6-8 hours in the refrigerator to fully develop.
Check if the Ice Cream Mixture is Cold before churning it: below 12ºC / 54ºF / it feels fridge-cold when you place your (clean) finger into it.
Prepare the Ice Cream Maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Blitz: Give the ice cream mixture a nice, thorough stirring, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl, then give it a quick blitz with the immersion blender. Do not skip blending, it
Churn: With the machine running, pour the ice cream mixture through the canister and into the ice cream maker. Leave to churn until fluffed up and creamy; depending on your ice cream maker, this can take anywhere from 30-70 minutes.
This ice cream will expand and fluff up during churning. It is ready when it looks creamy and wavy, with the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. The total churning time depends on your ice cream maker and could be anywhere from 30-70 minutes.
To evaluate if it is ready, lift a spoonful; it should be thick enough to stand on the spoon, but it will still be soft like soft-serve ice cream. If it looks watery or starts to melt the moment you spoon it, leave it to churn for longer.
In any case, if you feel doubts about the consistency, leave it to churn for ten minutes more. But beware: at this stage, do not expect it to be like store-bought carton ice cream; for now, it should be more like soft-serve ice cream. It will firm up and become like store-bought ice cream only after it sets in the freezer.
So, stop the ice cream maker when thick and creamy, as described above. If you leave to churn it for much longer, it will start turning grainy.
Warning: some ice cream makers are programmed to stop after a specific time, which doesn’t make sense because the ice cream may need to churn for more to reach its fullest potential. So, if you notice that your ice cream maker stops on its own and upon checking the ice cream, you find that it is sloppy instead of fluffy, try to turn the machine on again and leave it to churn until it reaches the desired texture.
Put in the freezer to set: before serving the ice cream or moving it to a container for storing, you have to put it in the freezer to set. To do so, turn off the ice cream maker and:
· remove the removable freezer bowl (still filled with the ice cream) from the ice cream machine
· remove the paddle, scraping any ice cream attached to it back into the ice cream bowl
· place it in the freezer, uncovered
Setting time depends on many factors; see notes below for indicative times.
Serve or store: when it sets, you can serve it directly from the removable freezer bowl or transfer it to an airtight container for longer storage.
The time it takes for ice cream to set depends on the type of ice cream maker you are using. Here are the approximate setting times:
– 3-5 hours for removable freezer bowls (these are the bowls that need to be pre-frozen before churning)
– 1-2 hours for aluminum bowls (these are the bowls from compressor ice cream makers)
Please note that these times are approximate and can vary based on different factors. You should check the ice cream occasionally, approximately every 1-2 hours or as needed, while it is in the freezer. The ice cream is ready when it reaches an internal temperature of -11°C / 12°F. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can check if the ice cream has set by inserting a round tip knife into it all the way to the bottom:
– When the ice cream is ready, it should feel firm as you go down, but also soft enough to insert the knife.
– If it’s not ready, it may feel hard on the top and softer as you go down.
– If it’s been in the freezer for too long, it will be too hard to insert the knife and likely too hard to scoop out of the ice cream bowl. In this case, you can find out how to make it scoopable again by clicking on the next section.
If the ice cream stays in the removable freezer bowl for too long, it will become too hard to remove or serve.
To make it scoopable again, leave it in the refrigerator to soften. That can take:
(Note: the time given is indicative, time may vary depending on many factors, so do check it occasionally as it sits in the refrigerator.)
When the ice cream is soft enough to scoop (or it has an internal temperature of approx. -11°C /12°F if you have a thermometer), you can transfer it to another container and store it in the freezer or serve it directly from the freezer bowl.
Straight after churning, the ice cream has a soft-serve ice cream consistency and melts immediately upon contact with anything. So it is too messy to serve or transfer to another container.
Putting it in the freezer after churning sets it and brings it to the right consistency: scoopable and easy to serve or transfer to another container to store it.
Storing: In the freezer for one month, cover it well to protect it from absorbing the freezer’s smells.
Scooping: Like all artisanal ice cream, this ice cream freezes hard in the long term. You can make it perfectly scoopable again by putting it in the refrigerator for 45-60 minutes until soft or until its internal temperature reads -11°C / 12°F.