Recipe Friday: Rice Krispie Treat Ice Cream

I have been busy busy making ice cream this month, and wanted to share with you a new one I made.

Honestly, it wasn't what I had hoped it to be, even after my second stab. It's still good but the Rice Krispies turn out a little soft. Maybe this is okay to those who like their cereal with milk, but I really don't like milk in my cereal for the very reason that it turns the cereal soft.

First off, I made Rice Krispie Treats ®. This was a bit dangerous because I was home alone that weekend and it was a great temptation to eat them all -- I didn't, but that's not to say I didn't eat a lot of them! If you are going to eat a lot of them like I did, be sure to reserve about 2-3 treats (out of the 12 they say it makes) to incorporate into your ice cream. (As a side note, when I went to get this recipe from the Rice Krispie ® site, I read a comment from a woman who incorporates bacon bits into her Rice Krispie treats...interesting...)

Then came the ice cream. I wanted to go for a marshmallow base. A Google search lead me to this one from the Blue Ridge Mountain Ice Cream Store. I made it, but personally, without any eggs, I found the recipe to be too much like frozen milk. That's not to say other people wouldn't like it -- I just prefer my custard based ice creams.

Then I tried altering a vanilla based ice cream with advice from Gail Damerow in Ice Cream!: The Whole Scoop. This created a lovely marshmallow flavored ice cream.

Here's the recipe:

Heat:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 (7 1/2 oz) jar of Marshmallow Fluff
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped

Stir occasionally, until the mixture is warm (not boiling though).

Whisk:
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Slowly add warm milk mixture to the whisked egg mixture, and whisk until mixed. Return entire mixture to the stove, and heat until the mixture begins to coat the back of the spoon. Do not bring to a boil or you will have scrambled eggs. Pour the mixture through a strainer into a clean bowl -- discard the solids that remain in the strainer. Chill overnight.

Pour chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and churn according to the ice cream maker's directions.

I then broke my reserved Rice Krispie Treats into bite sized pieces and added them to the ice cream maker during the last five minutes of churning.

The ice cream was good. Again, my only complaint is the sogginess of the Rice Krispies. Surprisingly I didn't find it too sweet.

My husband liked it, but he said it wasn't as good as the coconut. (See yesterday's post.) He also said it tasted like vanilla. When I asked about the Rice Krispies, he said he hardly noticed them -- well, then I guess they didn't bother him, anyway!


[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]

A Childhood Favorite...Peanut Butter & Fluff

Its been awhile and thankfully Bethany has graciously picked up my slack but I am back in ice cream business. It's birthday party week at the Snyder household so a what great excuse to make it an ice cream party. I have been busily cramming to get in as many flavors as possible for Saturday's festivities(and figuring out how to get a princess theme mixed in!). Since the main guests are a bunch of three years old it is only appropriate to serve Peanut Butter & Fluff.

In my favorite(& only) ice cream cookbook I found a fantastic recipe for the peanut butter base. After some research I chose creamy Jif as my peanut butter additive, as others said this gave the best results. It is extremely rich, creamy, and literally tastes like a jar of peanut butter. I do expect it to be too much for some but I give it the thumbs up. I'll let you know what everyone thinks after the party. Hey, the worst thing that could happen is that noone eats it and I have lots of leftovers...yum!

My first challenge in finalizing my ice cream...how does one get a jar of thick and gooey marshmallow to swirl? I was in Whole Foods and highly doubted they carried "Fluff" and luckily found the cutest tub of marshmallow. The brand is Tiny Trapeze Confections, creator of fantastic natural candy and marshmallows, and just the design of the tub alone made me want to buy it (side note I just found out they are in Hyde Park MA...right in our back yard). Once I could get myself to break it open I took Bethany's advice and added a couple tablespoons of milk to thin and voila...marshmallow swirl.

Now my second challenge, how do I get the marshmallow to be perfectly swirled in my ice cream? Well I really wasn't all that successful on this so I think practice will make perfect on this one. I have a KitchenAid ice cream attachment and its contruction does not allow ease of swirling, my biggest complaint. So I tried swirling by hand and gots lots of puddles and strings but although it might not be perfectly swirled I have a feeling it is going to be a hit.

So one day and counting for the verdict and I'll be sure to fill you in on the feedback. Other flavors on the menu...Oreo Cookie, Peanut Butter Cup(I doubled the base and it made tons), Peanut Butter & Fluff, Triple Chocolate, Confetti Cake Batter, Coffee, Mint Chocolate Chip, and I am hoping I can fit in one more kid-friendly flavor and of course all the fixins will be had too.

Oh and I found these cute little dishes to give as favors. Happy 3rd Birthday Holly!