Happy Friday!!! I hope you are looking to enjoy this Long Holiday Weekend as much as I am planning to! It’s our anniversary on Monday and we have lots of fun dinners and activities planned with friends and family, along with some yard and house projects. What are you up to? Camping? Grilling? Gardening? I love long weekends…

And I think every long weekend deserves ice cream!! I just couldn’t resist making this. Strangely enough I am actually not the biggest ice cream fan. The only time in my life I have been a serious “ice cream person” is when I was pregnant. Then, serious was an understatement. (Pete used to go to the store and buy all of this obscene stuff and make me things like oreo cookie milkshakes with peanut butter- no wonder I gained 60 pounds….)

Anyways, I am not sure if it is just the nice weather? Or some kind of Hormonal imbalance? But I have just totally been craving a big fat ice cream cone. With all of my food allergies, I was thinking that the craving was in “Fat Chance” territory. But the lure of my old favorite Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream was too strong….

I made the base several times and it was good, but I couldn’t get the peanut butter to stay in chunks, the soft peanut butter kept mixing in all the way in the churning process. It was a nice flavor, but I wanted chunks!!! Finally, freezing it ahead of time solved the problem and then I added extra chocolate and then the light, crispy and salty pretzels- this turns out incredible!! Sweet and salty to the max, and with huge chunks of creamy peanut butter. All of the textures are just wonderful.

Coco and I ate huge (HUGE) ice cream cones the other night and I got a little carried away, and gave myself a tummy ache from too much- but SO good. Maybe you are up for a batch of homemade ice cream this weekend??

On a small sheetpan or baking dish lined with wax or parchment paper, spread 1 cup of peanut butter into a rectangle about ½ inch thick. Place it in the freezer for at least an hour.(I will do this even the day before).

In a medium sauce pan over medium heat combine the cream, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla and kosher salt. Whisk over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the cocoa is completely mixed into the coconut cream.
In a small Tupperware or mason jar, combine the coconut milk and corn starch and shake really well. Pour the cornstarch combination into the sauce pan while stirring over medium heat. Continue to cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Take the mixture off of the stove top and pour it into a bowl. Let it cool until it is room temperature and then refrigerate for at least an hour.

Pour into a prepared ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturers directions (this will usually take about 15-20 minutes). When there are just a few minutes of churning left, take the peanut butter out and with a sharp knife, cut it into bite sized chunks. Add it to the ice cream along with the chocolate chips and the pretzel sticks. Churn another minute and then stop the ice cream maker.

Transfer the ice cream (which should be like soft serve texture) to a freezer proof container and freeze at least 2 hours. Scoop and serve!