A home-churned frozen dessert is the most comforting of simple pleasures. Here, things get a healthy twist with peanut butter–flavored frozen yogurt. All you do is whisk together some plain yogurt, a bit of heavy cream for body, sugar, peanut butter, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Scrape it into the bowl of your ice cream maker and churn about 20 minutes. Like all frozen desserts you make yourself, you need to let this recipe set up or “cure” in the freezer, until it attains scoop texture. Instead of mixing in toasted peanuts as the mixture churns, you pack them on top, gelato-shop style, so each scoop gets a crunchy little bonus.

For more, check out our Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Rich Chocolate Ice Cream, and Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream.

  • Yield: About 1 quart
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Total: 40 mins, plus at least 6 hrs freezer time 
  • Active: 20 mins 

Ingredients (7)

  • 2 cups plain full-fat yogurt
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup coarsely chopped roasted peanuts

Instructions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, cream, peanut butter, vanilla, salt, and sugar. Whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved (when you pinch a little between your thumb and forefinger, it shouldn’t feel gritty).
  2. Scrape the yogurt mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions. Churn until the yogurt has thickened to the texture soft-serve ice cream or a thick milkshake, 17 to 20 minutes for most machines.
  3. Scoop the frozen yogurt into a container with a lot of surface area (a Pyrex loaf pan is perfect) and smooth the top. Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until hard, at least 6 hours.