This peanut buster parfait dessert is absolutely amazing! If I got a good report card in junior high, I would walk over to the Blue Bell dairy after school and celebrate with a peanut buster before I even showed my grades to my mom and dad! Peanut Buster parfaits bring back such happy memories for me!
Years later, I married my high school beau and found out, by her own admission, that his mom took no joy in cooking! To her, cooking was simply a chore; despite that, she did a great job of keeping them fed.
She adored her boys and loved spoiling them with special treats. It turns out my father-in-law loved peanut busters, too, and this old recipe is from her somewhat skimpy recipe box!! This grainy photo is from the early fifties, and that cute little cowboy is my husband, "Papa" Steve.
When I decided to share this favorite old peanut buster parfait recipe, I researched peanut busters and discovered that Dairy Queen supposedly "invented" them in 1971! Ha!! Surely, peanut busters were around before that? I started to doubt my math and memory, so I contacted my savvy old friend Candi from high school.
Candi is a truly remarkable wealth of information on the history of our hometown, and her memory is like a steel trap! (Unlike mine, which is more of a steel sieve!)
Candi scanned digital copies in the local newspaper's archives and came up with a delightful 1936 ad that proves peanut busters were around long before DQ was founded in 1940. Take a look at these prices!
There are legitimate reasons this dessert beats what you buy at your local Dairy Queen. Reason one is there's no waiting in line! Most importantly, though, DQ soft serve can't be called ice cream because the amount of butterfat is too low.
Let's hear it for butterfat! This peanut buster parfait dessert can be made with rich premium ice creams, such as Kemps, Ben and Jerry's, Blue Bunny, or Häagen-Dazs. Yes, please!
It's easy to make ahead, even weeks ahead, and keep it in the freezer until you are ready to serve it. It cuts into tidy squares, and a pan can easily serve 16 people!
Begin by crushing a regular-size package of chocolate sandwich cookies. Melt 1/4 cup of butter, mix it with the cookie crumbs, press them into a 13" by 9" pan, and freeze until firm. A food processor makes this very easy, but you can also do it in a zipper food storage bag with a rolling pin.
Next, scoop a half-gallon of vanilla ice cream onto the cookie crust and GENTLY spread it out to the edges. Work carefully and slowly so you don't pull up crumbs from the crust.
I found it easy to use my nifty ice cream scoop, which has a nice smooth surface. Its handle is liquid-filled and conducts heat from my hand into the scoop, so it cuts through hard ice cream easily and smooths out the ice cream quite nicely in this dessert. It cannot be put in the dishwasher, but that is no big deal!
Now put the pan with the ice cream in the freezer and let it get frozen hard again!
To make the fudgy topping, melt the butter with the chocolate chips in a medium saucepan over low heat until it is well blended and the chips melt completely.
Add the evaporated milk and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Then add the powdered sugar and whisk until it dissolves completely. Turn the heat up to medium and continue cooking, whisking until smooth. Bring to a boil and cook for 90 seconds, whisking constantly.
Remove from the heat and let it cool COMPLETELY. Did you hear that word completely? You can put the topping in the refrigerator to hurry the cooling process, but please don't rush this step. The topping will thicken considerably as it cools.
If the topping is even a little bit warm, the top of the ice cream will melt and come up through the chocolate layer, and end up looking like this when I hurried (like usual).
And not pretty like this, when my daughter took her time and let the topping cool completely. The topping will get nice and thick as it cools. Pour the cooled topping on the ice cream layer and add peanuts. We like our peanuts whole; chop them if you'd like it better that way
This peanut buster dessert qualifies as a parfait even though the presentation is simpler. Why? Because the definition of the French word parfait is, literally, something perfect! We all think so, and we hope you love it too!
You will love this homemade version of the ever-popular peanut buster. Easy to make ahead and freeze for when you need it.
We love ice cream desserts in the summer and any cool, creamy dessert we can make ahead! Here are some of our favorites: chocolate cream puff dessert, no-bake 4-layer lemon dessert, and light and luscious pistachio dessert! What are some of your favorite summer desserts?
If you liked this recipe, you are my people! Please share it on your social media accounts, such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter! It would sure tickle me, and I would be ever so grateful!
If you haven't already, please look for me on Facebook and Pinterest. I share easy, delicious, family-friendly recipes there every week!
Love, GB (Betty Streff)
Sign up for my newsletter and receive a free gift! A printable sign that would look great in your kitchen, framed above your sink, or just placed anywhere to remind us how lucky we are to have dirty dishes!
Sign up now!