Amy's Vegan Day: Glory and Achievement

My husband is a very smart man. I could brag all day about how clever and intelligent he is but what he truly excels at is creating ice cream flavors. The notion that "hard work pays off" isn't new to the ice cream world, because indeed the most complicated flavors to make are by far the tastiest. A couple months ago Aaron came up with "salted caramel ice cream with chocolate covered pretzels." Genius. After that he requested "salted peanut butter ice cream with chocolate covered pretzels." Again, genius. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out what happened next. A word of advice, Salty Stix pretzels are by far the best. World Market has them, or you can order them in bulk from Amazon, which you should do because once you taste this ice cream you will never want to eat anything else again.

Glory and Achievement (aka Salted Caramel Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Pretzels)

2 cups non-dairy creamer
1 cup non-dairy milk, divided
2 Tbls. arrowroot powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
3/4-1 tsp. sea salt
Splash of vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups pretzel sticks

To make the ice cream batter, start by whisking together 1/2 cup of the non-dairy milk with the arrowroot powder and set aside.

Pour the granulated sugar into a large pot and shake it gently so the sugar settles evenly. Melt the sugar over medium heat, watching constantly so it doesn't burn.

While the sugar is caramelizing, heat the creamer and the remaining 1/2 cup of milk together in a medium pot.

Once the sugar looks like this:

Quickly whisk in the hot milk. Keep whisking over heat until any caramel clumps have dissolved. If you have an electric whisk, use it.

Then whisk in the peanut butter and brown sugar.

Bring to a boil, lower slightly, and whisk in the arrowroot mixture until thickened.

Let cool for a bit, then whisk in 3/4 tsp. sea salt and the vanilla. Taste for saltiness and add more gradually if desired. Refrigerate until cool and make according to your ice cream maker's directions.

While the ice cream batter is cooling, it's time for the chocolate covered pretzels! Before you begin, make sure you have a large flat space available in your freezer. Prepare your pretzel-prepping station by getting a medium tray or plate, several layers of parchment paper, and a plastic bag big enough to fit the tray.

Start by melting your chocolate chips in a large bowl in the microwave.

Gradually stir in the pretzel sticks so they are evenly coated with chocolate.

Cover your tray with parchment paper. Spoon a single layer of pretzels, top with parchment paper, and repeat until you had used all your pretzels. It's kind of hard to arrange them in a single layer, but do the best you can.

Cover the pretzels with a final layer of parchment paper, put the whole thing in the plastic bag, and freeze until hard (this doesn't take that long).

When you're making the ice cream, get the pretzels out of the freezer. Remove the tray. Wrap the bag in a towel and step on it to crush the pretzels. Over a garbage can or sink, carefully remove the parchment paper, leaving the pretzels in the bag. If your ice cream is still being made, pop the pretzels back in the freezer to stay cold.