"It's a serious, serious mothernucker." Nick Morgenstern, ice cream maker and owner of Morgenstern's Finest Ice Cream, isn't flexing his swearing muscles. He's referring to the Peanut Butter Mothernucker, a peanut butter ice cream and vanilla caramel creation at his New York shop. And he's about to show you how to make it like a pro at home (without a high-tech appliance in sight) so you can have sundae funday every day.
Let's get this out of the way: Morgenstern doesn't put eggs in his ice cream. Yes, an eggy base would be richer, but he also says it blocks quick flavor release, and you want the maximum punch from your peanut butter ice cream the second it hits your tongue.
Not to totally knock expensive at-home machines, but according to Morgenstern, most of them just don't make ice cream quickly enough. Instead, get yourself an old-fashioned electric hand-cranked ice cream maker ($40-50), which has a spinning cylinder in the center of a bucket of layered ice and salt. Churning will only take you about 12 minutes. Pour the chilled ice cream base you made into the center cylinder and let it run. Remember not to overspin; you want silky smooth when you put it into the freezer. Let it sit 4 to 6 hours.
Here's a major shortcut to making homemade ice cream: Make Morgenstern's vanilla caramel sauce instead. It's a one to one combination of roasted Picosos peanuts, aka Morgenstern's favorite, and a drippy vanilla bean caramel sauce (see the video above). And, drizzle it on... everything.