Trail Mix Butter, The New PB&J

A month ago the idea of making trail mix butter popped into my head and I put it out there. @maxfalkowitz caught it and we bounced a few interesting ideas back and forth. The one that resonated with me was ice cream. Pure genius.

Trail Mix Butter Ice Cream with Honeycomb Candy & Smoked Molasses

Ok. What is this trail mix butter you speak of? It's simply processing your favorite snack combo of nuts, dried fruits and candy coated chocolate into a spread. However, the result is far from simple. The butter is a harmonious marriage of all the ingredients that's freaking delicious. A complex flavor bomb best described as peanut butter and jelly on crack.

Trail Mix Butter on Rye

Now that I had the key ingredient for the ice cream, I needed some guidance. I posted Max who supplied a few killer peanut butter ice cream recipe options. I figured all I had to do was swap out PB for TMB. The resulting frozen delight was amazing. The base was infused with every single flavor component of the trail mix. The tiny bits of dried fruit, peanut and candy were wonderful flavor and texture pops. After an overnight freeze, it had a nice soft serve consistency. Thinking less sugar on the next run to harden it up a bit.

Trail Mix Butter Ice Cream Churning

Trail Mix Butter (TMB)

Ingredients

• 60g dried black mission figs
• 60g flame raisins
• 100g smoked dry roasted peanuts
• 48g candy coated chocolates
• 48g candy coated peanut butter pieces

Take all the above (or your favorite trail mix) and spin it in a food processor until you get a paste with tiny chunks. Reference the TMB on rye picture above. Yields more than the cup required for the ice cream.

Trail Mix Butter Ice Cream

• Start with Max's Serious Eats: Better Than Snickers Ice Cream Recipe
• Just use the peanut butter base steps (no need for caramel or chocolate here)
• Replace the PB with trail mix butter
• Cut the sugar to 1/2 cup (currently a guess to get it to set up harder)

As always, stay inspired and keep the ideas bouncing.