Sorry about not having a picture in this post; life has been crazy and I decided it was better to post without pictures than not to post at all.  🙂

This ice cream is more rich than sweet (though it is still sweet!); it’s good with just peanut butter, but even better when you add the chocolate, too.  This is the first time I’ve used locust bean gum in homemade ice cream — the recipe works fine without it, but it freezes and softens more quickly and more smoothly with it, so it’s definitely worth adding if you keep the stuff around.

I think I’ve eaten this ice cream every few days for a week.  Which, really, makes it more fortunate than usual that it’s sugar-free.  🙂

Sugar-Free Peanut Butter (and Chocolate) Ice Cream

Yield:  2-4 servings, depending on size

Ingredients:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 tsp liquid stevia extract
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup sugar-free peanut butter (I recommend Teddie’s)
• 1 tsp locust bean gum, optional
• 1 1/2 T cocoa powder, optional
• 1 1/2 T carob powder, optional

Directions:

1.  In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together all the ingredients except the peanut butter — so, the heavy cream, half-and-half, vanilla, stevia, egg, and (if you’re using them) locust bean gum, cocoa powder, and carob powder.

2.  Measure the peanut butter into a large mixing bowl.  Add the cream mixture to the peanut butter a little at a time, whisking after each addition, until the cream mixture is fully incorporated into the peanut butter.  (Mixing the cream into the peanut butter, instead of the peanut butter into the cream, makes it much, MUCH easier to avoid stubborn clumps of peanut butter that won’t dissolve.)

3.  Add the mixture to an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s specifications; then, you can eat it right away or put it in the freezer for later.  Enjoy!