I prepare Nutterbuddies—small crispy peanut-butter-and-chocolate squares—as a confection for many of the restaurants I’ve worked for, in Seattle and Chicago, and they’ve garnered quite a cult following. This ice cream was created for the legions of Nutterbuddy fans, and has earned a few more fans of its own along the way.
When it comes to caramel ribbons in ice cream, I want the caramel to be soft enough to dissolve in my mouth, but chewy enough that I can feel it when I bite into a scoop. The ideal texture is found with corn syrup, which not only reduces the sweetness of the caramel but also helps keep it soft at frozen temperatures.
The most important part of making a caramel sauce is cooking it so the sugars darken into a rich amber, but not so dark that it becomes bitter. Watch the cooking sugar like a hawk, and add the butter to stop the cooking when the perfect color is achieved. Test the color with strips of white paper. (The pot will distort the color of the caramel.) And when making any caramel, keep a bowl of ice water nearby in case of burns. This caramel sauce recipe will keep in your freezer between batches for up to 3 months, and is as delicious warmed and drizzled over ice cream as it is folded into it.
This ice cream also has another special addition: melted milk chocolate and peanut butter coat crispy flakes and cacao nibs, making a salty, crunchy, peanut-buttery crunch.
The hardest ingredient to find for this recipe is feuilletine, which looks like crushed corn flakes, but has the flavor of an ice cream cone. Feuilletine stays crisp when added to confections, and it crackles between your teeth. You can substitute Rice Krispies, and I wouldn’t shame you, but you’ll be greatly rewarded if you special-order feuilletine from an internet supplier or harass a local pastry chef for some of the good stuff. Once your ingredients are in hand, I promise this comes together in a jiffy. When you finish making the peanut crunch, be sure to keep it frozen at all times; it will melt at room temperature.
For the best texture, choose commercial stabilizer, mixed with the sugar before it is added to the dairy. For the least icy ice cream, choose guar or xanthan gum, whirled in a blender with the custard base after it is chilled in the ice bath. For the easiest texture agent, go with tapioca starch, mixed with 2 Tbsp. cold milk and whisked into the custard base after it is finished cooking. For the most widely-available option, use cornstarch (mixed with 2 Tbsp. cold milk and whisked into the vanilla flavored dairy after it’s reheated, then cooked for 1 minute).
Recipe notes
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