PEANUT BUTTER SEMIFREDDO WITH CHOCOLATE FUDGE SAUCE

For Chocolate Fudge Sauce: In a small saucepan, combine cream and sugar. Bring to scalding point (just prior to a boil) over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Turn down to low and allow to simmer gently for four minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add the vanilla, chocolate, butter and salt and stir until the chocolate melts. Let the mixture cool to room temperature. If you don’t want to use the sauce immediately, cover the cooled sauce tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
For Peanut Praline: Spread the peanuts on parchment paper on an oven tray. In a saucepan, cook the sugar and water without introducing a spoon, until the caramel is golden brown. Swirl the saucepan, if necessary. Immediately spread a thin layer of the caramel over the nuts. Let cool completely. Break it up and put it in your food processor and pulse it just until the pieces are like coarse, gritty sand.
For Semifreddo: Line a 2 litre-capacity metal or Pyrex loaf tin with plastic wrap, leaving enough length to wrap over top of the dessert.
Place the egg yolks, vanilla, sugar and salt in a heatproof bowl. Place over a saucepan of just simmering water (a double boiler) and, using a hand-held electric mixer, whisk or beat for 8-10 minutes or until thick and pale (you want to read 160⁰F or 71⁰C to kill any bacteria in the eggs). Take off the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Add the peanut butter into the custard mixture and combine – using a fork is easiest. Let it cool completely.
Whisk the cream to just stiff peaks, but don’t overmix.
The custard/peanut butter mixture will have thickened, so you’ll need to lighten it up with a bit before adding all the cream. Fold about a third of the cream through – if it’s just too thick and difficult to combine, strain the mixture through a sieve (I did this and it worked a treat). Fold in the remainder of the cream until just combined.
Sprinkle some of the praline into the loaf tin to start (this will sit on top of the ice cream when it’s inverted). Then pour half the custard mixture into the loaf tin. Sprinkle over some more of the peanut praline, then pour over the remainder of the custard mixture. Alternatively, and especially if you are going to serve the ice cream in balls rather than slices, you could simply stir in some, or all, of the peanut praline into the main custard mixture before pouring.
Lightly cover the surface with the plastic wrap and then overwrap in foil. Freeze the dessert for 6 hours or overnight. Note: You can freeze the dessert for up to six weeks.
To serve, take it out of the freezer and transfer to the fridge about 15-20 minutes before serving so that it softens slightly and is easier to slice. Strip off the foil and plastic wrap, turn onto a platter, cut into slices and transfer to individual flat plates. Pour over the chocolate fudge sauce or, if you’d like it warm, heat it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, before pouring. If the sauce needs thinning, add a little more cream. Scatter a little of the extra praline over top of each slice for extra crunch. Alternatively, use an ice cream scoop and serve it in balls in a bowl or glass and drizzle chocolate and a scattering of praline over top.

PEANUT BUTTER SEMIFREDDO WITH CHOCOLATE FUDGE SAUCE

Equipment

Ingredients

For Semifreddo:

For Peanut Praline:

For Chocolate Fudge Sauce (makes about 2 cups):

Instructions

Nutrition

PEANUT BUTTER SEMIFREDDO WITH CHOCOLATE FUDGE SAUCE

Equipment

Ingredients 1x2x3x

For Semifreddo:

For Peanut Praline:

For Chocolate Fudge Sauce (makes about 2 cups):

Instructions

Nutrition

Ingredients