Homemade ice cream loaded with Nutter Butter cookies and swirls of real peanut butter. A classic creamy ice cream recipe perfect for summer, ice cream cones, and all Nutter Butter cookie and peanut butter lovers.

Are you a lover of those little peanut shaped cookies–Nutter Butters? This homemade ice cream recipe is for you!!! The rich, creamy ice cream filled with chunks of cookies and swirls of peanut butter is perfect for any summer party or summer treat. It’s really easy to make and freezes into a scoopable ice cream perfect for a cold ice cream cone treat.

We’ve been in an ice cream making frenzy over the past couple months. One of our favorite homemade ice cream recipes so far has been this Mint Oreo Homemade Ice Cream. Rich, creamy and loaded with Oreos!

If you love trying new homemade ice cream recipes, stay tuned! New flavors and recipes I’ll be sharing soon include:

• Caramel Toffee Nut Ice Cream – did a taste test with all these flavors and this flavor was hands-down everyone’s favorite–even the non-nut lovers!
• Easy Lemon Ice Cream – it tastes like a frozen lemon cream pie!
• Creamy Oreo Ice Cream – like the classic cookies n’ cream ice cream.

MAKING HOMEMADE NUTTER BUTTER ICE CREAM:

1. Compete custard method (if using regular raw eggs for this recipe–see recipe card for full directions)
2. Mix all ingredients (except cookies and peanut butter) in a bowl or ice cream maker tube
3. Place tube or bag with ice cream mixture inside larger container.
4. Fill larger container with ice and salt
5. Shake or churn as ice cream mixture freezes.
6. Once ice cream mixture reaches a solid state add Nutter Butter chunks (slightly crushed cookies) and warmed peanut butter. Fold in until mostly mixed in.
7. Pour into a freezer-safe pan or container. Freeze (deep freezer if available–see section below about how to make a creamier less icy ice cream) for at least 4 hours until hard.
8. Scoop and enjoy!

DO I NEED AN ELECTRIC ICE CREAM MAKER TO MAKE HOMEMADE ICE CREAM?

No, you don’t need an electric ice cream maker to make ice cream BUT… I would highly recommend it if homemade ice cream a favorite summer treat for you or your family.

You can make homemade ice cream using many different methods including:

• Ice Cream Maker–a hand-crank or electric machine that spins a canister packed in ice and salt. This electric ice cream maker is similar to the one I use (Nostalgia 4 Quart Ice Cream Maker).
• Bag Method–ice cream mixture is sealed in a bag then placed in a bigger bag with ice and salt. Shaken until firm. This method is fun with kids.
• Jar Method— similar to the bag method, place ice cream recipe in a jar then seal. Place the sealed jar in a larger bag with ice and salt. Shake until ice cream is firm.
• Frozen Ice Cream Bowl–mixers such as KitchenAid have an ice cream maker bowl attachment. The bowl is frozen then put in place of the regular mixing bowl. As the mixer mixes the homemade ice cream mixture, it freezes. No ice or salt required. Note though that the capacity of these is much less (usually only 2 quarts or a half gallon).

An electric ice cream maker makes it easier and faster to produce good, high-quality homemade ice cream with less effort on your part than the other methods. An electric ice cream maker can be purchased for $20 to $30 on Amazon or Walmart. You can check out the ice cream maker I have here.

For this delicious peanut butter ice cream recipe, I’d recommend making it in an ice cream maker or freezer mixing bowl due to the amount of ice cream this recipe makes. This method also helps the ice cream mixture freeze quicker which can have an impact on the creaminess of the ice cream. I’ll explain why below.

HOW DO I MAKE A CREAMY, LESS ICY HOMEMADE ICE CREAM?

There are a few things within this homemade ice cream recipe and method of churning/freezing that help offers a creamy texture with fewer ice crystals. Homemade ice cream can form more or larger ice crystals if these steps aren’t taken.

To help produce a smooth creamy texture, this Nutter Butter Ice Cream recipe has eggs in it. Eggs proved color, flavor and lessen the formation of ice crystals (which are all very good things).

I know, you’re probably thinking “Yikes! Eggs in ice cream?” Yes! Check out the section on eggs below to learn more about raw eggs in homemade ice cream.

Another thing that helps proved a smooth creamy texture to this homemade ice cream is the speed at which you can get the mixture to fully freeze. Using an electric ice cream maker such as this one will help speed up the freezing process. The faster the ice cream freezes, the less time ice crystals have to form.

The last step you can take to ensure the best, most creamy homemade peanut butter ice cream–use a deep freezer during the last freezing step. If you have access to a deep freezer use it. If not, your regular freezer is fine but the faster you can freeze your homemade ice cream the fewer ice crystals it will form. A deep freezer typically maintains a colder temperature than a regular refrigerator freezer. A deep freezer can freeze your ice cream much quicker.

PRO TIP: To make a more smooth, creamy homemade ice cream use:

1. eggs,
2. an electric ice cream maker to churn and begin the freezing process,
3. a deep freezer to finish the freezing process and lessen the time for ice crystals to form (freezes the ice cream faster).

RAW EGGS IN HOMEMADE ICE CREAM RECIPE?

Did you know eggs in ice cream is a standard? Most homemade ice cream recipes, including this Nutter Butter Ice Cream recipe, calls for raw eggs. There’s a good reason why.

I know what you’re thinking… raw eggs though. We add eggs to homemade ice cream recipes because eggs offer color, flavor AND help ice crystals from forming (giving the ice cream a smoother more creamy texture). All of these things are good qualities to have in homemade ice cream. You can still have pretty good ice cream without the eggs but it’s more likely to contain a higher amount of ice crystals and be less scoopable. If you read the ingredients list on most premium ice creams in the store, they have eggs too.

SAFE FOOD HANDLING:

As far as safe food practices go there are a couple of things you should know about using eggs in ice cream. I suppose you could go with straight up, regular eggs from the store but you run the risk of salmonella or other food-borne Bactria contaminating your homemade ice cream. Not what we’re going for here. It’s recommended, when making homemade ice cream, to use a custard method or pasteurized eggs to ensure all bacteria are killed before freezing.

Using Pasteurized Eggs vs Custard Method

I find the easiest method for this homemade peanut butter ice cream is to find pasteurized eggs. These eggs have been treated with low heat to kill any bacteria and are safe to use in homemade ice cream without cooking or heating. They are a little more expensive than regular eggs but are a time-saving convenience when making this recipe.

If you don’t want to splurge or can’t find pasteurized eggs in your local grocery store (they can be hard to find), you can still make this recipe using the custard method (heat the milk and eggs to 160°F, cool then add the rest of the ingredients and freeze). This method takes longer but will still give you a delicious high-quality ice cream filled with peanut butter and Nutter Butters. I’ll leave a note on the recipe card if you choose to use the custard method when you make this homemade ice cream recipe.

PRO TIP: For time-saving convenience, use pasteurized raw eggs to make homemade ice cream recipes.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO MAKE THIS HOMEMADE ICE CREAM?

Making homemade ice cream is fun and inexpensive. Make a premium homemade Nutter Butter Ice Cream for cheaper than you can buy it in the store… if you could find that flavor. 😉 Let me break it down to show you how much this homemade ice cream cost me to make.

Prices for supplies may vary depending on location and store you purchase groceries from.  I try to shop bulk food stores, use coupons, watch ads and shop sales (like case lot), buy supplies in bulk to save money in the long run and use homegrown produce and herbs when available. These are a great way to stay within my grocery budget without sacrificing flavor or nutrition.

HERE’S MY INGREDIENTS LIST AND COSTS:

• Heavy whipping cream (Winco in Utah sells a quart for this price) – $3.38
• Whole milk – $0.26
• Eggs – $0.48
• Sugar – $0.30
• Nutter Butter cookies – $1.89
• Peanut butter – $0.81
• Salt – $0.01

This ice cream recipe makes about a gallon of homemade ice cream. The total cost for me to make this premium Nutter Butter Ice Cream at home was about $7.13. That’s about 64 ounces of premium ice cream made at home for less than $7.25. Compare that to the $3.99 per 16-ounce tub of premium peanut butter flavored ice cream from Target–no one makes a Nutter Butter Ice Cream that I could find. If I were to buy similar flavored ice cream from the store it would cost about $16 for the same amount. BLAH!

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE FLAVOR OF HOMEMADE ICE CREAM?

I’m so excited for you to try this ice cream recipe. I hope you like it as much as we did… in a cup, on a cone or with a couple extra Nutter Butters! 😉

If you’re looking for another awesome Nutter Butter recipe, check out my friend at NoBiggie.net. She has an amazing Homemade Nutter Butter Cookies recipe you should try too!

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