This post is a “two-fer”. You get an ice cream recipe and a brownie recipe.
Last year Mike and I were out in Michigan to celebrate the wedding of one of his close friends.
The night before the wedding, the groom hosted a cookout at his house and I offered to bring a dessert. I figured anything with chocolate and peanut butter would go over well. I found this brownie recipe online and made it.
At one point after dinner, I was standing in the garage with my husband and a large group of his friends. The bride came out with one of the brownies in her hand and said, “Who made these?!? They are so good! These brownies are so addicting… they’re like crack brownies!!” Before I knew what happened, a flash of testerterone whizzed by me as the garage vacated and the guys ran into the house.
That 9×13 pan was gone in 5 minutes.
Totally gone.
Think about the scene in “A Christmas Story” when the dad holds up the measly bone after the Bumpus hounds devour the holiday turkey. That kind of gone.
I had people asking me for the recipe days after the wedding. The name “crack brownies” stuck.
And yes, they are that addicting.
Needless to say that recipe got copied to a recipe card and put in my recipe box. (It’s got to be really good for me to sit down and handwrite out a whole recipe card. For those of you wanting to remind me that we live in a world of printers, I love the nostalgia of a recipe box and often imagined it stuffed with various sized cards when I’m old.)
For this ice cream, I just deconstructed the elements and folded them into some stellar vanilla ice cream.
If you’re going for the wife/fiancée/girlfriend of the year award, make the brownie recipe and serve the brownie ice cream on the side. You’ll win. Promise. After I got done taking the final photos of the ice cream, my husband devoured the entire bowl.
{Crack Brownie Ice Cream}
Makes 1 Quart
Inspired by Taste of Home
Ingredients
Makes 1 Quart
Inspired by Taste of Home
Ingredients
- 2 c. half & half
- 2 tsp. cornstarch
- 1 1/2 c. cream
- 3/4 c. sugar
- 1 tbsp. corn syrup
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1 c. brownie pieces
- 1/3 c. chopped peanuts
- 12 mini peanut butter cups, chopped
- 1 c. chocolate rubble *see below*
- Combine 1/2 c. half & half with the cornstarch in a small bowl and set aside. Place cream cheese in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a large saucepan combine the remaining half & half, cream, sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla. Heat over medium heat until it simmers.
- Let simmer 4-5 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and simmer for 2-3 minutes until thickened.
- Remove 1/2 c. of the warm liquid and whisk into the cream cheese.
- Add the cream cheese mixture back to the saucepan and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Take a gallon size ziploc bag and line a bowl or food storage container with it. This will help keep structure to the bag. Pour the hot liquid into the bag and seal; trying to eliminate as much as from inside the bag as you can.
- Remove the bag from the container and set in an ice bath for 20-30 minutes to chill the mixture.
- Once cooled, pour the ice cream base into your ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Scoop ice cream into a bowl and fold in the remaining ingredients.
- Transfer to a container and freeze until firm.
{Chocolate Rubble}
This is the name I’ve given to the awesome chocolate, crispy rice topping on the original brownie recipe. After making it, freezing it, and breaking it up, it resembles chocolate rubble.
Ingredients
- 4 oz. chocolate chips
- 2/3 c. peanut butter
- 2 tsp. butter
- 2/3 c. crispy rice cereal
- Melt the chips, peanut butter, and butter in a bowl either over a double broiler or in the microwave.
- When ingredients are all melted together, fold in the cereal, and transfer to an 8×8 baking dish.
- Spread the mixture out and freeze until set. Using a butter knife, scrape and cut the chocolate until you have lots of small pieces.
I was at that party and will attest to the speed with which those brownies disappeared! And just a small correction. I have these in my recipe box labeled “Molly’s Crack Brownies.” You gotta get credit for these! They’re insane!
Becky T.