This Vegan Fat Elvis Ice Cream recipe features rich banana ice cream swirled with ribbons of fudge and peanut butter and peanut butter cup pieces.
Buying an Ice Cream Maker
I’ve been wanting an ice cream maker for a while. My husband, however, wasn’t convinced that it was a necessity. When the Steamy Kitchen store had a deal for $50 off of a $100 purchase, I figured it was a sign. It was the cosmos saying, “Kieeeeersten, buy yourself an ice cream maaaaker. Make delicious thiiiiiings.” Not being one to say no to the cosmos, I immediately bought myself a 1 1/2 quart Cuisinart ice cream maker. (I also bought a neon orange hand mixer, but that’s neither here nor there.)
So! The ice cream maker was bought. Then what? Well, I figured I would break it in by making Fat Elvis Ice Cream. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that my husband and I moved from Wisconsin to North Carolina a few months ago. One of the things we desperately miss about living in Madison is Chocolate Shoppe. Don’t let the name confuse you—Chocolate Shoppe is all about ice cream. Super rich, indulgent, once-in-a-while-special-treat ice cream. And, in my humble opinion (and my husband’s too), their best flavor is Fat Elvis.
Ice Cream Inspiration
Yes, this is the same Fat Elvis ice cream that was the inspiration for my Fat Elvis Pudding Pops. Chocolate Shoppe’s Fat Elvis ice cream has a banana ice cream base, a ribbon of peanut butter, and chocolate chips. My version has the first two, but also has a melt-in-your-mouth fudge swirl and pieces of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Yes, it is super rich! No, it is not an everyday ice cream! But it’s a pretty good recipe for breaking in an ice cream maker and convincing your husband it was a worthwhile purchase. (I think he’s convinced.)
Vegan Fat Elvis Ice Cream
Rich banana ice cream swirled with peanut butter and fudge ribbons and peanut butter cups. Inspired by Chocolate Shoppe’s Fat Elvis Ice Cream and adapted from Taste of Home’s Banana Ice Cream.
- Yield: 1 1/2 quarts (12 servings)
Ingredients
- 2 cups half-and-half
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 1/4 cups + 2 tbsp sugar, divided
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 6 oz evaporated milk, divided
- 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 3.5 oz dark chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup ripe bananas, pureed (about 2 bananas)
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/3 cup peanut butter cups, chopped
Instructions
- Heat half-and-half to 175°F in a large, heavy saucepan. Stir in the salt and 1 1/4 cups of the sugar and whisk until dissolved.
- Ladle a small amount of the half-and-half mixture into the eggs. Pour egg mixture into the pan, whisking constantly. Continue to cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 160°F and coats the back of a metal spoon.
- Remove from heat. Place pan in a bowl of ice water; stir for 2 minutes. (Alternately, you can fill your sink with an inch of cold water & ice cubes and use that instead of a bowl.) Stir in whipping cream, 2.5 oz of the evaporated milk, and vanilla. Press plastic wrap onto surface of custard and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
- After making the custard and at least 3 hours before starting the ice cream maker, make the fudge ribbon; heat remaining evaporated milk and sugar over low heat, whisking constantly. When mixture is heated, add chopped chocolate and heat until melted, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and allow mixture to come to room temperature.
- Remove custard from refrigerator and stir in the banana puree. Fill cylinder of ice cream maker with the banana custard mixture and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. (Depending on the size of your ice cream maker, you might need to make two batches.)
- When ice cream is frozen, transfer it to an airtight freezer container. Fold in fudge ribbon, peanut butter, and peanut butter cup pieces, careful not to overmix. Freeze for 2–4 hours before serving.
41 Comments
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell
January 16, 2012 at 9:15 amThis looks unbelievable!!! I’ll be at your house by the time you get home from work to have a bowl of it!
The Type A Housewife
January 16, 2012 at 5:30 pmMy husband was a hero and finished it off for me so I wouldn’t be tempted, so sadly, there is none left. 😉
Rachel R.
January 16, 2012 at 9:53 amThat looks so good, especially your first picture with the huge chunk of Reese’s peanut butter cup on top!
The Type A Housewife
January 16, 2012 at 5:29 pmThank you! It was SO good. Banana, peanut butter, and chocolate is the perfect combination of flavors. 🙂
Julie
January 16, 2012 at 11:21 amYou have my address right? If you could just package a little container of this ice cream up and send it my way, that would be fantastic….. 🙂
We have an ice cream maker and it might be my favorite kitchen tool. Do you have “The Perfect Scoop”? Its got GREAT recipes!
The Type A Housewife
January 16, 2012 at 5:28 pmWell, you know, the ice cream place in Madison that makes the original actually DOES sell it online and ship nationwide! Chris has been talking about ordering it, which is why I thought I’d try making it myself. 🙂
And no, I don’t have that book, but it’s on my birthday list! So if I don’t get it for my birthday, I’m just going to buy it.
Jennifer
January 16, 2012 at 12:40 pmoh my gosh this looks heavenly!
The Type A Housewife
January 16, 2012 at 5:27 pmThank you! It definitely is, although I worked out extra hard after eating it. 🙂
Virginia from That Bald Chick
January 16, 2012 at 6:01 pmOkay, any recipe that includes the name “Fat Elvis” is worth trying. LOL. Stumbing and pinning this one!
The Type A Housewife
January 16, 2012 at 8:46 pmYeah, you KNOW it’s going to be delicious and you KNOW it’s going to be bad for you. Thanks for the stumble and pin–I appreciate it!
Laura @ Gluten Free Pantry
January 16, 2012 at 6:41 pmWOW! Chocolate + Peanut Butter + Banana = Heaven!
The Type A Housewife
January 16, 2012 at 8:45 pmPretty much! You can’t go wrong with those ingredients. 🙂
BusyWorkingMama
January 16, 2012 at 7:28 pmOh my, this looks delish!! I have never used an ice cream maker.
The Type A Housewife
January 16, 2012 at 8:45 pmIt is so fun! My family had an ice cream maker back in the 90s (I think it was a hand-crank one!) and it didn’t work very well, so I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. But it was SO good, much creamier than the store-bought kind. Now that I broke it in with something extremely fattening, I’m working on some healthy sorbet recipes. 🙂
All Natural Katie
January 16, 2012 at 10:04 pmCongrats on the new ice cream maker! I would probably gain 50 pounds if I had one at home, but I would be pretty happy from all of the delicious ice cream.
The Type A Housewife
January 17, 2012 at 11:24 amYeah, I’m planning on doing sorbets often and ice cream once in a while–having ice cream on hand all the time would be a BAD thing for me!
Kelly
January 16, 2012 at 11:16 pmSee the ice cream maker was worthwhile! And yum that sounds so good!
The Type A Housewife
January 17, 2012 at 11:25 amI think it will save us money too! I like to have sorbets for dessert because they’re pretty low cal, but they’re so expensive–now I can make them myself.
Brenda Williams
January 16, 2012 at 11:33 pmWOW…I want some! That looks so good. I agree you needed a ice cream machine!
Carol
January 16, 2012 at 11:33 pmEnjoy the ice cream maker. That is one fantastic ice cream recipe!
Orangeheromama
January 17, 2012 at 12:00 pmseriously girl! i did NOT need to read this!!!
NOW I WANT TO MAKE IT!!!
🙂
The Type A Housewife
January 17, 2012 at 4:15 pmDon’t resist the urge–MAKE IT! It is so good! 😀
Val
January 17, 2012 at 12:12 pmMinus the bananas (allergic) that looks fantastic. I want to try making it now…. damn it. As if I needed another thing to spend money on!!! 🙂
P.S. Orange is my favvvorite color!
The Type A Housewife
January 17, 2012 at 4:14 pmThis is seriously the best ice cream flavor of all time. I bet it would be good with a chocolate base instead of banana!
Audrey
January 17, 2012 at 7:05 pmMy daughter owns an ice cream maker. She’s made several varieties now. It’s so much fun 🙂
The Type A Housewife
January 18, 2012 at 3:00 pmIt’s really fun–I think I spent the entire 20 minutes it was churning peering into the machine in amazement. I’m easily amused like that. 🙂
Dawn C
January 18, 2012 at 11:26 amWow does that look good!
Beeb Ashcroft
January 18, 2012 at 2:26 pmThat looks sooooooooo good!
CulinarilyCourtney
January 18, 2012 at 9:16 pmOh my goodness. This looks to me to be the perfect ice cream. I just want to take a spoon and dig in!
The Type A Housewife
January 19, 2012 at 6:28 amThank you! It’s definitely my favorite flavor of ice cream–or, at least, it’s pretty high on the list. 🙂
Toni @ A Daily Dose
January 19, 2012 at 6:40 amThis looks so yummy!!!
Lucy
January 20, 2012 at 7:09 amThat looks sooooo good! My idea of heaven in a bowl!
Wish I had an icecream maker.
Pam
January 30, 2012 at 11:39 pmLooks so good! And we love Elvis in this house. lol
Pam
The Type A Housewife
January 31, 2012 at 2:44 pmThank you! I’m glad the name of the ice cream didn’t offend you since you’re an Elvis fan–I was worried about that. 😉
Mellisa
April 29, 2012 at 10:16 pmOh my goodness I want to eat my computer screen 🙂 This looks amazing as soon as I’m off my diet I am going to make this as a reward. YUMMY!
Kiersten
April 30, 2012 at 8:09 amI’m on Weight Watchers, but I let myself have one treat a week, so this was my treat. And then my husband had a LOT of leftover ice cream to eat. 😉
Dawn Lopez
May 2, 2012 at 8:02 pmOh wow, that looks completely delish! Just found your site through StumbleUpon, glad to have found it 😉
Kiersten
May 3, 2012 at 9:14 amThanks for stopping by! And yes, this is definitely one of my favorite ice creams–so good!
Skylor (@SproutLifestyle)
October 8, 2012 at 2:18 pmYou have this dessert thing DOWN my friend!
Melissa
April 11, 2015 at 6:29 pmTHANK YOU! We also moved away from Madison a few years ago, and Fat Elvis was one of my favorite flavors (in addition to Zanzibar Chocolate). In fact, my birthday after we moved my husband shipped Chocolate Shoppe ice cream to our house in Kansas–very expensive but worth it! We will be making this soon!
Kiersten Frase
April 13, 2015 at 4:45 pmWe’ve now moved from North Carolina to the Chicago area and my husband wants to drive up to Madison for his birthday next month, in part so he can get some Fat Elvis ice cream. 🙂 It really is the best!