Alright, let’s talk about putting together that Moose Tracks flavor. It’s something I’ve fiddled with a bit to get it right in my own kitchen.
Getting Started: The Base
First thing, I always start with the vanilla base. It’s gotta be good quality, you know? None of that airy cheap stuff. I went with a pretty standard approach:
- Heavy cream
- Whole milk
- Sugar (not too much, remember the other sweet stuff coming)
- A few egg yolks for richness
- Good vanilla extract, the real deal
I just whisked the sugar and yolks together first. Then warmed up the cream and milk, slowly poured it into the yolks while whisking like mad so they don’t scramble. Cooked it gently on the stove till it coated the back of my spoon. Then, chilled it way down. Like, fridge cold. Overnight is best, honestly.
The Fun Bits: Fudge and Cups
Now for the signature parts. That fudge swirl needs to be thick but still soft when frozen. Took me a couple tries in the past to get this right.
For the fudge swirl, I gathered:
- Some decent dark chocolate, chopped up
- A knob of butter
- Sweetened condensed milk (this helps keep it soft)
- A tiny splash of milk or cream if it looked too stiff
Melted that all together real slow over low heat, stirring constantly. Let it cool down quite a bit. You don’t want hot fudge hitting your cold ice cream base, makes a mess.
Then, the peanut butter cups. Simple stuff. I just grabbed a bag of the mini ones. Chopped ’em up roughly. You want noticeable pieces, not dust.
Putting It All Together
Once the vanilla base was churned in my ice cream maker and looked like soft-serve, I got ready to assemble. I pulled the container out of the machine.
I layered it. Spooned in some vanilla ice cream into my freezer container. Drizzled a good amount of that cooled fudge sauce over it. Sprinkled a handful of the chopped peanut butter cups.
Repeated those layers. Vanilla, fudge, cups. Vanilla, fudge, cups. Didn’t really stir it much, just gentle layering to get those distinct ribbons and chunks throughout. You don’t want it all muddy.
The Final Step: Freezing Solid
Put a lid on it, or some plastic wrap pressed right onto the surface. Stuck it deep in the freezer. You gotta let it harden up properly, at least 4-6 hours, but really, letting it sit overnight makes a world of difference. That’s basically my process when I make it. Pretty straightforward, just needs a bit of patience, especially waiting for it to freeze.
