Peanut butter and jelly toast ice cream

A recipe for this divine ice cream and the best books for ice cream inspiration and. guidance

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Ice cream’s been on my mind since since immersing myself in the sweet joy of Beyond Gelato, Ruby Tandoh’s exhaustive, leave-no-cone-unturned deep dive into the capital’s ice cream offerings, published last week on Vittles.

The piece involved three months of licking more than 343 frozen sweet confections, and the result was more than just a list of fave scoop spots. Tandoh delivered an iced dessert masterclass, explaining the finer points of less familiar (at least to me) ice creams, alongside her scorecard.

There was bastani sonnati, widely known as Persian ice cream, an Iranian treat made from milk, eggs, sugar, rose water, saffron, vanilla, and pistachios; bingsu, a shaved ice dessert from Korea with sweet toppings like chopped fruit, condensed milk, fruit syrup, and red beans; kulfis, paletas, helados and geladinhos; and sheeryakh (the best ice cream being made in London, Tandoh wagers).

The piece inspired me to dust off the ice cream machine and get it whirring again. I made some incredible peach and fig leaf sorbet during my recent stay in Avignon (nicking fig leaves from the neighbour’s garden, buying mountains of delicious peaches from the market)). But since I got back I’ve hankered for properly sensuous, decadent and creamy scoops.

There are only three cooks books I really turn to for ice cream inspiration and guidance on technique. Ice Creams, Sorbets and Gelati by Caroline and Robin Weir is joyfully exhaustive, covering history, the differences between confections (gelato versus sherbet for example), equipment, master recipes and and a glorious A to Z of recipes. This really is the definitive book for those of us who love to experiment with flavour, as it offers templates, or jumping off points for your own creations.

Ice-cream doyenne Kitty Travers’s La Grotta Ices (named after her east London ice cream businesses) is where I go for blissful and unexpected flavour combinations. Chocolate treacle, sea salt rosemary and pine nut, pistachio, and fig leaf and raspberry are among my favourites. They’re extraordinary.

Pastry chef extraordinaire Anna Higham’s The Last Bite is a paean to desserts made with seasonal ingredients, including frozen desserts. I urge you to make her little brown butter cakes, or her almond and fig cake, and serve them warm with a generous scoop of her fig leaf ice cream.

The recipe below is one of my favourites - I developed it during lockdown when I was baking lots of sourdough bread. I’m making it again because my grown up kids, both at university, are home again for the summer. I’m overjoyed to have them back. The dishwasher might need emptying five times a day, we’re constantly shopping and there’s often often a queue for the bathroom. But the empty-nest is buzzing again, the dinner table full of banter and chatter, and there are other people to help me eat this. Otherwise, there would be a very good chance I would demolish an entire batch on my own.

Peanut butter and jelly toast ice cream 

A note on the intensity of the peanut butter flavour - the first two times I made this I used the Skippy brand of smooth peanut butter, and the third time I used a pricier organic no-sugar-added version by Whole Earth. For some reason - maybe the sugar, maybe flavour enhancers - the peanut butter flavour was more intense the first two times. If you’re after more intensity try the cheap and cheerful peanut route or add another tablespoon or so of the no-sugar-added organic stuff. I’d be interested to know how you get on. You will need an ice cream maker for this recipe.

Makes about 1 .2 litres

For the ice cream 

• 100g egg yolks (about 6 medium) 

• 150g caster sugar 

• 130g peanut butter 

• 250ml full fat milk 

• 500ml double cream 

For the toast 

• 75g sourdough (ideally a bit stale) 

• 30g butter 

• 30g soft light brown sugar 

• ½ teaspoon cinnamon 

• A pinch of salt 

• 150g seedless jam of your choice 

• A squeeze of lemon juice 

1. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and peanut butter until lovely and creamy. 

2. Gently heat the cream and milk until just before boiling point. Pull the pan off the heat for five minutes to cool a little.  

3. Pour one-third of the cooled milk mixture into the egg and peanut butter mixture and whisk until well combined. Pour this mixture back into the pan with the rest of the milk and whisk together. 

4. Half fill the sink with and have some ice on standby. 

5. Return the pan to a low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the temperature reaches 82C on a confectionary thermometer – this will ensure the mixture is free of nasty bugs. Remove from the heat. 

6. Add the ice to the water in the sink and place the pan in the water. Leave to cool to room temperature. 

7. Pour into a bowl or container, cover and chill overnight. 

8. Meanwhile, make the toast. Preheat the oven to 160C and line a baking tray with baking paper.  

9. Blitz the bread in a food processer to rough crumbs and transfer to a bowl. 

10. Place the butter and sugar in a pan and cook gently until the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved. 

11. Pour the melted butter mixture over the breadcrumbs, add the cinnamon and salt and stir to combine and the crumbs are covered in butter. Spread out in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until golden – about 8 minutes, but much will depend on your oven – tossing the crumbs halfway through. Leave to cool , then blitz or chop if the pieces have stuck together. 

12. Vigorously stir the jam and lemon juice together until runny. 

13. Make the ice cream according to the machine instructions, until smooth and creamy. 

14.  Pour one third of the ice cream into a lidded container or loaf tin, drizzle over one-third of the jam and one third of the crumbs. Repeat twice until you have three layers of ice cream and finish with a layer of jam and crumbs. Swirl the top lightly with a knife. Cover and freeze until firm enough to scoop.