Humphry Slocombe, a treasured San Francisco scoop shop, has made a name for itself with its uncommon ice cream offerings, like Peanut Butter Curry, Secret Breakfast (with bourbon and cornflakes), even proscuitto and foie gras —but the real story is how delicious all their flavors are. Even their more pedestrian options are exceptional, like the intensely fragrant, malt-kissed Tahitian V*n!ll@ in this sundae, which will be featured at Clusterfest this June. Hot fudge is a perennial sundae topping (for good reason), but the unexpected addition of salty, crunchy potato chips and pretzels, plus sweet frosted peanuts, elevates this one higher. You’ll devour it in no time, even if you don’t have the munchies.

Instead of buying jarred hot fudge, get our Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce recipe. If you want to experiment with adding even more flavors, get our Marshmallow Sauce recipe too.

  • Yield: 1 sundae
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Total: 2 hr 30 min
  • Active: 30 min

Ingredients (13)

For the Sweet & Salty 420 Sundae:

  • 2 scoops Tahitian V*n!ll@ ice cream
  • 1 oz. potato chips, crushed
  • 1 oz. frosted peanuts
  • 1 oz. pretzel sticks, crushed
  • 1 oz. hot fudge

For the Tahitian V*n!ll@ ice cream:

  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 Tahitian vanilla bean
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons malt powder
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

For the Tahitian Vanilla ice cream:

  1. Fill a large bowl or pan with ice and water. Place a large, clean bowl in the ice bath and fit the bowl with a fine-mesh strainer.
  2. In a large, heavy-bottomed, nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream, milk, and salt and cook, stirring occasionally until hot but not boiling.
  3. Meanwhile, split the vanilla bean lengthwise. Using the tip of a small, sharp knife, scrape out the insides into a medium bowl. Add the sugar and malt powder and rub it all together with your fingers to incorporate and evenly distribute the vanilla seeds. Get all the last bits from the bean (save the pod). Your hands will smell nice. Whisk in the egg yolks and vanilla extract.
  4. Remove the cream mixture from the heat. Slowly pour about half of the hot cream mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Transfer the yolk mixture back to the saucepan with the remaining cream mixture and return it to medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula and being sure to scrape the bottom of the saucepan so it doesn’t scorch, until the liquid begins to steam and you can feel the spatula scrape against the bottom of the pan, 2 to 3 minutes.
  5. Remove the custard from the heat and immediately pour it through the strainer into the clean bowl you set up in the ice bath. Tuck the vanilla bean pod back into the custard. Let cool completely, stirring occasionally.
  6. When the custard has totally cooled, cover the bowl and let steep and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or preferably overnight. When you are ready to freeze the custard, remove the vanilla bean pod, transfer the custard to an ice cream maker, and spin according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Eat immediately, or transfer to an airtight container, cover, and freeze for up to 1 week.

For the Sweet & Salty 420 Sundae:

  1. Scoop that Tahitian V*n!ll@ into your favorite bowl. Pour on that hot fudge (don’t wanna get your toppings soggy now, do you?), and top with crushed potato chips, frosted peanuts, and pretzel sticks.