There’s an ice cream shop in town near me that runs a very exclusive business. Every Thursday night, they do a “drop,” where a couple hundred pints of ice cream in 1-3 flavors go on sale, and usually sell out in minutes. You pick from their list of pickup window time slots to pick up your pint that weekend, and there’s usually a line down the block when you arrive. They’re called A to Z Creamery, and they do flavors truly from A to Z. I’d love to know what their revenue vs. profit specs and business model breakdown are. It seems like a pretty slick way to do business with a small team and just a little window as your storefront! Everyone paid in advance, open for 30 minute windows at a time, never repeating flavors, a dedicated following… It’s brilliant!

Since they’re a bit pricey, and I can make ice cream at home, I only go for their flavors that I truly couldn’t do myself. One of my favorites they did had “gushers goo swirl and fruit roll-up layers” and it was really really good. I never would have thought it would work as ice cream! They also had an almond croissant flavor that nailed the marzipan ice cream flavor amazingly well. Around the state fair, they also had a pickle flavored ice cream that was pretty amazing, even if you weren’t a pickle person.

All this to say – I go for their pints when they do something particularly crazy or hard to do. Recently, I got a pint of quiche ice cream, because… quiche ice cream?! I had to try it. But their theme that week was breakfast, and when I told my family that I had passed up on the Reese’s Puffs flavor in lieu of quiche ice cream, they thought I was nuts. When I told them it was because I felt I could make my own Reese’s Puffs Ice Cream, they said: “Well then, do it!”

So here we are! My hubris got me to this point, as it usually does. Luckily, I am able to back it up some of the time, and I think I did pretty well on this. I did work for Milk Bar for two years, after all. I can do cereal. This is an adaptation of the classic cornflake cereal milk ice cream and crunch, but with Reese’s Puffs instead.

I get why Milk Bar uses cornflakes for their ice cream – it’s a quintessential cereal, and since that corn flavor underlies a lot of other cereals, it’s reminiscent of cereal in general. It’s also unobtrusive enough to serve as a base for all of their shakes and blizzard creations – including the birthday cake ones. It makes sense logistically! But clearly there’s a whole world of options out there for cereal ice creams…

Reese’s Puffs Ice Cream

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star No reviews

Author: Audrey
Array: Array
Total Time: 0 hours

Description

Adapted from Milk Bar’s famous Cereal Milk Ice Cream

Ingredients

For Caramelized Reese’s Puffs:

6.5 oz Reese’s Puffs
1 oz nonfat dry milk powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

For Cereal Milk:

1 1/2 cups whole milk
5 oz Reese’s Puffs

For Cereal Milk Ice Cream:

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup cereal milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large egg yolks
Caramelized Reese’s Puffs

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

To prepare the caramelized Reese’s Puffs:, preheat your oven to 275 F (140 C). Put the cornflakes in a large mixing bowl and crush them with your hands a few times. Combine milk powder, sugar and salt in another bowl, give it a stir and set aside. Add the melted butter to the cornflakes and then the sugar mixture and toss to combine. Spread out on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper and bake in the preheated oven until they caramelize, for approximately 35 minutes. Remove and let cool to room temperature.
To prepare the cereal milk, combine 5 oz Reese’s Puffs and milk in a large mixing bowl and let steep for an hour. Strain the milk with the help of a fine-mesh sieve (make sure to press on the cornflakes with a spatula to extract as much liquid as possible), strain once again (through a finer sieve or cheesecloth this time), pour it in a container and set aside.
To prepare the cereal milk ice cream, pour the heavy cream in a medium bowl and place it in the fridge until needed. Combine cereal milk, sugar, salt and vanilla extract in a small pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.
In the meantime, in a medium pot, whisk together egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the yolks while whisking constantly. Place over medium heat and stir until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon.
Pour the custard through a strainer into the chilled heavy cream and stir to combine.
Chill the mixture overnight, then freeze it in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Serve with the remaining caramelized cornflakes.