Peanut Butter and Bourbon Frozen Custard

Homemade frozen custard — or ice cream or gelato, for that matter — tends to form ice crystals when going in and out of the freezer, so to best enjoy this sweet and salty, smooth and crunchy, and just-a-bit boozy treat, serve it at a gathering where it can be devoured all at once.

FROZEN CUSTARD

3 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

½ cup light-brown sugar

½ teaspoon sea salt

5 egg yolks

½ cup white sugar

½ cup creamy peanut butter (just peanuts and salt; no additives)

2 tablespoons good bourbon (or 1 teaspoon Mexican vanilla)

FOR SERVING

Chopped dry roasted peanuts

Chocolate shavings

Ice cream cones (I like the salted pretzel cones from The Cone Guys; coneguys.com)

Instructions: Prepare the custard base: Combine the milk, heavy cream, brown sugar and salt in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until no sugar crystals remain and the mixture begins to steam (but not bubble). Turn off the burner.

Combine the egg yolks and white sugar in a stand mixer and mix on medium-high until pale and uniform in color. Reduce speed to medium-low and pour in half of the hot-milk mixture in a thin, steady stream. Add this mixture to the remaining milk mixture and stir continuously over medium-high heat until the mixture coats the back of a spoon (160 degrees on a candy thermometer). Remove from heat.

Briskly stir the peanut butter and bourbon together in a small bowl until uniform in texture, then add the mixture to the custard, stirring to blend completely. Transfer to a glass or plastic container, lay a sheet of plastic film on the surface to prevent a skin from forming, cover tightly and chill in the refrigerator overnight.

Churn the frozen custard: The next day, scrape into an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions. Store in a tightly sealed plastic container in the freezer for at least 4 hours to ripen.

To serve, scoop into ice cream cones and top with chopped peanuts and chocolate shavings.

Makes about 1 quart

From Susan L. Ebert