Peach Tarte Tatin & Lemon Ice Cream

Recently I was struck by the fact that I have nearly missed out on peach season.  They are almost gone at the market and I have not made a thing with them.  That is until now.

Thumbing through some magazines I landed on a recipe for Peach Tarte Tatins.  What really got my interest was the fact that the recipe was so easy to put together and that they were made in individual servings.

These little desserts are a great alternative to a big pie.  The layers all come together for something tasty and unique.  The base is puff pastry, then it has a caramelized peach sitting atop of it. To create t those layers, the assembly is the opposite in a ramekin because the dessert is inverted onto a plate.

While they are satisfying enough by themselves, a dollop of ice cream makes them even better.  Vanilla a la mode may be tradition, but the dessert really pops with a homemade lemon ice cream topping.  The complimentary flavor blend really does make you question the traditional.

The equipment needed to make the complete dessert  is 8 ramekins that hold 3/4 cup and an ice cream maker. It is best to prepare the ice cream the day before, the recipe makes about 6 cups.

Lemon Ice Cream
adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients
8 egg yolks
5 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tbs lemon zest (packed)
1 cup whole milk
1 1/4 cup sugar (divided)
3 cups heavy whipping cream

Fill a large saucepan with 1 cup sugar, whipping cream, lemon zest and milk.  Place over medium heat and stir.  The mixture should come to a simmer and the sugar dissolve. One it reaches that point, remove from heat.

In a medium heatproof bowl add egg yolks, remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and lemon juice.  Whisk until blended.  Take the saucepan of warm cream mixture and pour a slow stream into the egg yolks and stir together.

Pour custard back into saucepan and place over medium heat.  Let mixture cook, while stirring constantly.  The custard should become thicker and reach a temperature of about 170 to 175 degrees. This process should take about 5 minutes.  Take caution to make sure the mixture does not boil.

Pour custard into a heat proof bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Chill in refrigerator for 3 hours. Then pour into a ice cream maker and follow manufacturers instructions.  Place ice cream in a bowl and cover and freeze until firm.

Peach Tarte Tatins
adapted from Bon Appetit
Ingredients
1 17.3  oz package of puff pastry (thawed)
1 cup sugar, plus 2 tbs
4 ripe peaches, peeled, halved and pitted
1/4 cup water
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp water for glaze
6 tbs butter

Put sugar and water in a saucepan and place over medium heat.  Stir mixture until all the sugar has dissolved.  Prepare a cup of water along with a pastry brush to occasionally wash down the sides of the mixture from the pan while it cooks.  Increase the heat and let mixture boil without stirring.  In about 7-10 minutes, it will turn a deep amber color.  Remove from heat and add the butter. Wait a few minutes for the butter to melt.

Place pan back on low heat and stir, making sure all the caramel chunks dissolve.  Once the correct consistency, pour caramel in equal increments into each of the 8 ramekins.  The place 1 peach half on top of the caramel, with cut side facing up. Complete the process until all peach halves are in the ramekins.  Set ramekins aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Then take out puff pastry and cut into 8 rounds that are the same diameter as the ramekins.  Put one round on top of each of the peach halves and tuck in the edges.

Brush the dough tops with egg glaze and sprinkle some sugar on top.  Place ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet, spacing evenly.  Put in oven and bake about 25 minutes.  Pastry should have a golden color when done. 

Remove pan from oven when done. Using oven mitts, invert each ramekin onto a dessert plate.  Let cool for about 10 minutes.  Then top with a scoop of ice cream and serve.
                         **LAST YEAR: Cranberry Invasion Cake**

Boozy Coconut Almond Ice Cream

Well I am so glad it is Friday.  I am off early to San Marcos for the weekend.  My mom, sis and I will be spending some fun time shopping at the huge outlet malls.  I do need to get me some new clothes between losing weight, torn hems and bad zippers-it is fine time for it.

So let me wish all a great St Patricks day and for those that do not celebrate this day, have a wonderful weekend.  Enjoy some time with family, friends and good food.

Now in reference to good food, as you can see I have a recipe here for some delicious ice cream. The actual booze you put in it is personal preference.  I used creme de cacao, which a white chocolate liqueur.  The recipe below is the one as stated in the book and it suggests creme brulee liqueur.  I did not have any and it is another obscure one that is not found at every liquor store.

This ice cream is one that had me wanting more.  It is delicious by itself , but the idea of topping it with chocolate sauce has me thinking of a frozen Almond Joy-yum!  I definitely need to go back and transfer it into little cups for individual servings for a pot luck. It will be hard to part with it. The recipe makes about 1 quart.
 
Boozy Coconut Almond Ice Cream
adapted from Glorious Liqueurs

Ingredients
1/4 cup of Liqueur Brule (or your preferred liqueur)
2/3 cup of chopped and toasted almonds
approximately 2 cups of milk
6 egg yolks
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup of sugar
1 2/3 cups of flaked sweet coconut, divided

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line one baking sheet with parchment paper.  Spread one cup of coconut on baking sheet.  Toast coconut for a total of 5 minutes, but stir coconut ever 1 minute interval to keep from burning.  Remove pan and turn off oven.

Place a saucepan over medium heat and fill with milk and toasted coconut.  Stir and heat the mixture until it is scalding.  Remove and let cool for 30 minutes.  Then strain mixture through a sieve and discard the coconut.  Reserve only 1 cup of the remaining milk.  The recipe states that you may need to add some more milk to reach one cup, but I had to discard some.

Take the one cup of the cooled scalded milk and place it back in the saucepan.  Add sugar and cream.  Place it over medium heat and let come to a simmer and remove.  Set aside.

Whisk the egg yolks together in a large bowl until just blended.  Then whisk in 1/3 of the warm milk sugar mixture.  Then slowly pour it in with the rest of the simmered milk/sugar mixture.  Put saucepan back on low heat and whisk.

Continue to mix and whisk the mixture until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon.  It should be close to a pudding consistency.  Pour into a heat proof bowl and cover the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming.  Place in refrigerator to chill for about 4-5 hours, mixture should be cold before further use.

Remove custard from refrigerator and stir in the liqueur until blended.  Then fill your ice cream machine and follow manufacturers instructions.  Stir in the remaining coconut and the nuts during the last 5 minute interval.  Empty the ice cream into another container, cover and freeze to your desired consistency.  I like my ice cream pretty frozen, so the picture was taken after freezing overnight.
                        **LAST YEAR: Cajun Boudin**

Cupids Frozen Potion

You know, I thought that chocolate covered cherries were the favorite around Valentines.  However, since I had a hard time finding them, I am wondering if my thoughts are a little "old school"!  Anyhow, I consider them one of my favorites, so I went ahead and made this frozen treat.  Not only does it have chocolate covered cherries, the ice cream is laden with cherry brandy.   Also, I did not think that cupids potion would not look right with a plain cone, so I melted a king size Nestle crunch bar and dipped it!

I did start off with some props for this picture, but it did not come together as hoped. However, I have not given up, so they are bound to show up in another post.  This goes back to that picture in your mind vs actual-some day those two will come together identically, but not today.  Anyhow, the recipe is below and it is for 4 servings.

Cupids Frozen Potion
by flourtrader

Ingredients
2 egg yolks (room temp)
1 cup of whipping cream
1/3 cup of sugar
5 or more chocolate covered cherries
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs cherry brandy (I used Kirsch)
2 tbs water
pinch of salt
4 ice cream cones
2 king size Nestle crunch bars

Place your chocolate covered cherries in the freezer for about 2 hours.  You want them easy enough to chop but not runny.  Remove candies and chop.  Place in a small bowl, cover and put back in freezer.

Take your whipping cream and put in the freezer also for about 15 minutes or long enough to form an icy edge.  Remove from freezer and beat at low speed for 30 seconds.  Then cover and place in fridge.

In a medium size mixing bowl, stir together the sugar, salt, egg yolks, water and vanilla extract.  Place bowl over a pot of simmering water.  Beat the mixture as it cooks, scraping down sides occasionally. I used a hand mixer to beat. The mixture should thicken and become very pale.

Then take mixing bowl away from heat and beat until the mixture cools.  For this process I used my big Kitchenaid mixer.   Once cool, stir in about 1/3 of the whipping cream until blended.  Then fold in the rest of the whipped cream and brandy.

Pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and follow manufacturers instructions.  Empty ice cream into a container, cover and let freeze for 2 hours.  Then fold in the chocolate covered cherries, making sure they are evenly distributed.  Cover and return to freezer until desired consistency is met.  I froze mine overnight.

For the chocolate cones, chop the candy bars and melt in a double boiler.  Then  place a piece of wax paper on a baking sheet.  Also, clear off a place in the fridge for the sheet.  Once the candy bars are melted, dip and scoop up coating with the cone, coating the top edge.  Also make sure that you are not filling the inside.  Place upside down on wax paper and place in fridge for about 10 minutes.  To get a thick coating, you may have to dip the cones more than once. 
                           **LAST YEAR:Chocolate Cherry Fruitcake**

Timeline Ice Cream Stacks

This strawberry ice cream dessert has the makings of something an adult would eat.  However, its hue does bring me to a different timeline in my life, which is my childhood. To me, pink represents childhood.  When I think of this color my mind takes me back to when I was little and the world seemed large and filled with such wonder.  I remember the spinning pink tea cups at Disney World, fluffy cotton candy, my pink and white stuffed dog named "poochie" and pink puffy slippers.  Pink had a way of making me feel special and all girlie.

While I still like pink today, I am not so encased in it like I was in my childhood. I sometimes wonder if there was no pink when I was growing up, how different I would be today.  I do believe color does influence your outlook and state of mind.

This dessert is made up of an oatmeal crust with 2 layers of strawberry almond ice cream.  In between the layers is chopped up almond chocolate bars.  You can form this dessert in two different ways and the recipe includes the options.  The servings will be 10 with the use of the three inch ring molds and 20 with the 9X13 pan.


Timeline Ice Cream Stacks
by flourtrader

Ingredients
One large 4.5 oz almond chocolate candy bar, chopped
One 8 oz package of oatmeal cookies, crushed
4 tbs butter melted
2 tbs almond extract
1/2 gallon strawberry ice cream

If using ring molds, line a cookie sheet with wax paper and place each mold on top, with one side edge face down.  Make sure the molds are evenly spaced.

Remove the ice cream from the carton and place in bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 1/2 an hour.

Mix the melted butter and the crushed oatmeal in a small bowl.  If using a 9X13 pan, press the butter/cookie blend into the bottom of the pan, making sure all is even.  For the ring molds, place 3 tbs of the blend inside each mold and press down, evening the crumb mixture. Place in freezer for 15 minutes. 

Take the ice cream out of the fridge and add the extract and beat for 3 minutes at medium speed.

Remove the molds or pan of cookie crumbs from the freezer.  For the pan, spoon 1/2 the ice cream over the top of the crumbs.  For the molds, spoon 1/4 cup of the ice cream into each.  Smooth the top of the ice cream and place in freezer for  another 15 minutes.

Remove and scatter 3/4 of the crushed candy bar pieces over the layer of ice cream, making sure all inside edges are covered.  This step is important for the ring molds because you want the chocolate pieces to show through on the outer edges.  Then spoon the remaining ice cream over the top of the candy bars and freeze for about 5 minutes.  Remove and scatter the remaining candy bar pieces over the top.  Freeze for at least 4 hours.

To serve, remove from freezer and let sit about 10 minutes before cutting from pan.  For molds, remove from freezer, wait 5 minutes and remove from the wax paper, push ice cream stack from the bottom out of the mold and shift the stack to a plate to serve.
                          **LAST YEAR: Alfajores**

Sweetheart Snow Bowls & A Shout Out

This dessert is definitely one you will want to share with someone, perhaps your beloved husband or child, because the dessert is way too big and indulgent for one.  However, if you want this to yourself, I won't tell anyone!

 The bowl is made of a chocolate cookie which is brushed with melted chocolate on the inside for sturdiness as well as flavor.  On the edge is sweetened whipped cream edges made to look like snow rather than a shapely piped design.  Then it is filled with strawberry vanilla ice cream.  I added a little touch by pouring some Godiva chocolate liqueur over the ice cream.

In researching ice creams, I have found that the standard homemade is best served after 30 minutes of freezing right after you are done making in your ice cream machine.  The longer it is stored in the fridge the harder and icier it gets, including the fruit. If you do store this, it is best to let get soft before serving.  Also, the smaller you chop your strawberries the less like you are to notice the iciness.  The sugar does ward off some of the freeze, but it will not help if you store for hours in the fridge.  The other option is to puree the fruit.

The bowls do require a mold, which was actually the bottom side of a mini ball cake pan. If you do not have a mold, you can cut squares and rectangles to make a box (kind of like gingerbread houses) and seal with chocolate to make the container.  Or you can just make the cookies and decoratively stick them into the ice cream prior to serving.

Now before I get to the recipe, I wanted to give a shout out of thanks to Stephanie over at  Cooking Cowgirl.  Recently she did her first give away and I won some goodies.  It was a hectic week so it did take me awhile to respond but she was very sweet and patient about it. Stephanie has been blogging for a little over a year now, but there is a lot of tasty variety on her site. She even has a tab for food gifting ideas.  I have latched on to her special recipe for some very flavorful blondies-black walnut, dark chocolate and toffee-yum!  So if you do not know her yet, pop on over there and introduce yourself!

Now on to the recipe, this makes 12 chocolate bowls and 1 quart of ice cream.

Sweetheart Snow Bowls
by flourtrader

Ingredients/ Chocolate Bowls
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup or 1 1/2 sticks of butter
2 squares of unsweetened chocolate
12 oz (or more) semi sweet chocolate chips

Prepare pan by greasing domes including around the bottom edge. In a double boiler, melt unsweetened chocolate.  Remove pan and let cool.

Sift together salt, baking powder and flour.  Set aside.  In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Then beat in vanilla and egg.  Pour in the cooled chocolate and beat again, making sure that all is well blended.

Fold the dry ingredients into the chocolate batter until no more dry streaks remain.  Cover dough and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place two sheets of wax paper on the counter.  Remove dough from the fridge and put in between wax paper and roll to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut into 4 3/4 or 5 inch circles.  Remove each piece and shape over the molds, smoothing and making sure there is a 3/4 inch gap between the mound and the flat part of the pan.  This isn't a perfect process, so you will have to work with the dough a bit.  Bake in oven 8-12 minutes or until done.  My baking time was 10 minutes.

Remove pan and quickly cut off any cookie parts that baked onto the flat of the pan, so all you have is a bowl shape which will be the top edge.  Let cookies cool about 3 minutes and carefully remove from mold. If you wait too long, the cookies will stick and crack when you try to remove them. Place on bowls cookie sheet, with the side you are going to fill face up, and put in freezer.

After all the cookies are baked and in the freezer, place chocolate chips in a double boiler over medium high heat. Let the chocolate melt, stirring occasionally.  Once melted, remove from heat. Take the cookie cups from the freezer and brush the inside with the melted chocolate.  Place back in freezer until you are ready to fill.

Ingredients/Ice Cream

2 cups finely chopped and hulled strawberries
1 tsp ground vanilla beans
2 eggs
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tbs fresh lemon juice

Mix together strawberries, 1/2 cup of sugar and lemon juice.  Cover and place in fridge for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. After an hour rolls by, mix ground vanilla beans with whipping cream.  Cover bowl and place in fridge for 1 hour.  Once the strawberries are completely chilled, strain out juice and put strawberries and juice in separate bowls.  Cover and put strawberries back in fridge.

Beat eggs in a small bowl until they have a light froth, about 2 minutes.  Add the remaining sugar in 3 increments of 1/4 cup, whisking after each addition.  Then whisk in vanilla/heavy cream mixture and milk.   Pour in the strawberry juice and mix to blend.

Pour ice cream batter into your ice cream machine and follow manufacturer's instruction.  On the last few minutes of the process, add in the strawberries.  Once finished, empty ice cream into a large bowl and freeze for 30 minutes.

Ingredients/Whipped Cream Border
1 cup whipping cream
3 tbs sugar

Place cream and sugar in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form.  Your cream is now ready to be used.

Assembly Instructions:
Take whipped cream and place in a piping bag with a large tip.  Remove cookie bowls from freezer and pipe cream around the top edge.  You can either make a pretty piping or be reckless and make it look more like a snow border.  Fill with scoops of ice cream.  Drizzle with your favorite topping, I poured some chocolate liqueur over mine.
                                      LAST YEAR: Asian Braised Short Ribs**

Penguin Eggs

I have had the idea of this frosty treat floating around in my head for awhile.  The whole thing that was causing the delay was how to assemble these.  I first tried to do them on cones which ended up kind of a mess.  In the end I did them as scoops. However, next time around I will try using a mini ball pan for a better shaped dessert.

You are probably wondering exactly what these are.  They are a scoop of vanilla cream cheese ice cream with a lemon curd center.  The shell is a mixture of dark chocolate and pecans.  The ice cream is not that far from cream cheese, so it does have a smoother consistency than regular ice cream.  I really like how well the flavors go together in this dish.  The creamy inside with a burst of tart lemon is wonderful enough, but add the rich nut studded chocolate coating and you really have the makings of an awesome treat.  This recipe makes 10 servings or half "eggs".

Penguin Eggs
by fhourtrader

Ingredients/Ice Cream
8 oz softened cream cheese
2 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbs vanilla extract or 1 1/2 tsp ground vanilla beans
3/4 cup lemon curd

Ingredients/Coating
1 12 oz bag semi sweet chocolate chips
1 tbs shortening
3/4 cup chopped toasted pecans

 For ice cream, prepare a baking sheet by lining with wax paper and placing in freezer.
Pour the heavy cream into  a medium size bowl and whip until soft peaks form and set aside.  In another bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar together.  Then add the cream cheese and vanilla extract, beating until all is blended.  Lastly, fold in the heavy cream until evenly distributed.  Place in ice cream machine and follow manufacturer's instructions.

Once the ice cream is thick enough to scoop (I did not have to freeze after using my machine, it set up pretty fast), take the baking sheet out of the freezer.  Then use an ice cream scoop and scoop the ice cream and smooth the top level with the edges of the scoop.  Take the end of a wooden spoon and make a big hole in the center of the ice cream, about 1/2 the depth of the scoop.  Then fill with the lemon curd.

Invert the scoop and place the mound of ice cream onto the baking sheet.  Continue with this process until all the ice cream has been placed in mounds.  Then put baking sheet back in freezer.

After the scoops have been in the freezer for an hour, you can make your topping. Place all topping ingredients in the top of double boiler and stir until all the chocolate is melted. Remove top pan from boiler.

Then remove baking sheet from the freezer and spoon chocolate topping on the mounds, covering completely.  Place back in the freezer for at least 3 hours.  To serve, peel mound off of wax paper and place on chilled plates.
                                    **LAST YEAR: Sugar Shuttle Cookies**

Dirty Flamingo Freeze

This does look like ice cream.  However, since it has such a zing of tart raspberries in its flavor and does not have a lot of dairy or egg, I hesitated to call it ice cream or custard.  Now, I have never tasted ice cream made with a berry puree, so maybe the tartness is acceptable and still labeled ice cream. To me this it is more like a frozen smoothie since the fruit stands out so much in the flavor.  It does have the texture of ice cream and is not icy.

The raspberry flavor is amped up with Chambord (black raspberry liqueur). When tasting this you get the smooth texture of the raspberry and the crunch of deep dark chocolate bits.  The flavors of tart and bitter sweet go very well together. This recipe makes 1 quart.

Fresh raspberries are recommended as well as a quality dark chocolate (72% or more cocoa). 

Dirty Flamingo Freeze 
by flourtrader

Ingredients
1 lb raspberries
1/2 cup Chambord or raspberry liqueur
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
1/8 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3.5 - 4 oz chopped bitter sweet chocolate

In a medium sauce pan add raspberries and liqueur.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.  Berries should be very soft at this point.  Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Once the mixture has cooled, add the heavy cream and puree in a food processor.  Then push mixture through a sieve to get all the seeds out.  This is a long process, but well worth it.

Pour the smooth raspberry mixture back into a clean food processor bowl. Add the sour cream, vanilla extract and the lemon juice.  Blend ingredients in processor for about 15-20 seconds. our mixture into a bowl and place in refrigerator for 6 hours.

After 6 hours, place in ice cream machine and follow manufacturers instructions. 5 minutes prior to the end of the churning time mix in the chocolate pieces.  Once the machine is done, you can serve at that time or freeze for additional hours until the preferred consistency is achieved.
                             **LAST YEAR: NY Cowgirl Cookies**

Bourbon Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Recently, I received an ice cream recipe book that was created by a girl that had her first ice cream shop when she was 23.  In reviewing the book, I noticed that some of the ingredients as well as methods were unique.  Mostly all of her recipes contain a little cream cheese and corn syrup.  In addition, she does a ice bath as an alternative to refrigerating all night prior to putting the mixture into an ice cream maker.

The ice bath just moves the chilling process to the end, so that was not much of a time saver.

The other unique part about the book is the flavors represented in frozen yogurt, sorbets and ice creams. With ice creams names like Queen city Cayenne and Bankok Peanut, it was hard to decide which one to make.  Since I never made any of her recipes before, I picked one recipe that was fairly tame to start.

The end result was a very creamy treat that had just the right amount of bourbon complimented with the roasted pecans.  This particular ice cream is one of their signature flavors and after tasting it, I can understand why.  This recipe makes about one quart of ice cream, but if you have guests or a big family-it won't last long.

Bourbon Butter Pecan Ice Cream
courtesy of Jenis Splendid Ice Cream at Home

Ingredients
3/4 cup halved or quartered pecans
1 tbs unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp fine sea salt (for roasting pecans)
1/4 cup bourbon
2 cups whole milk
2 tbs light corn syrup
1 1/2 oz or 3 tbs cream cheese (softened)
1 tbs plus 1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
big bag of crushed ice

First you will need to prepare the pecans.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a small bowl, mix together the pecans, melted butter and 1/2 tsp of salt.  Pour into a foil pan or onto a baking sheet and spread evenly.  Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes, turning at the halfway point.  The release of the aroma is a good indicator that they are finished toasting.  Remove pan and set aside to cool.  Turn off oven.

Take out two small prep bowls.  Out of the 2 cups of milk, measure out 2 tablespoons and place in one bowl.  Stir in cornstarch until smooth.  In another bowl, mix together 1/4 tsp of salt and cream cheese with a fork. Set both small bowls aside.

Put the rest of the milk, corn syrup, sugar and cream in a large saucepan.  Place pan over medium high heat.  When the mixture reaches a rolling boil, set timer for 4 minutes and continue to boil. Once timer goes off, remove from heat. Take the small bowl of cornstarch mixture and stir for one last time and then slowly pour it into the saucepan.

Put saucepan back on stovetop to cook again.  Bring the mixture to a boil while stirring. Boil for one minute. It should thicken a little bit in this time. Remove from heat.

Using a spatula, take your cream cheese mixture and empty it into a large bowl.  Set it aside.

Take a large heat proof cup or deep small bowl and place a gallon size plastic freezer bag inside(I used Ziploc brand).  Leave the top gaping open.  Also, fill your sink with some water and then pour in the bag of ice.  Place the bagged cup or bowl close by the sink.

Pour 1/2 cup of the milk mixture into the bowl of cream cheese and whisk until smooth.  Slowly add the rest of the liquid, continuing to whisk.  Once the cream cheese is no longer visible in the mixture, pour in the bourbon and stir to finalize making the ice cream batter.

Acting quickly, pour all of the batter into the bag and seal top. Then immerse bag in ice bath.  When I first read about this process, I had a picture of a melted plastic bag and ice cream running everywhere.  Surprisingly, that did not happen, so there was no need to worry.

Set the timer for 30 minutes and leave the bag immersed so the batter can get cold. After that, pour it into ice cream maker and follow manufacturers instructions.  Add The pecans to the ice cream a few minutes before churn completion time.

Lastly, empty ice cream into a container with a lid and cover ice cream with parchment paper.  Then place lid on top and freeze for at least 4 hours, or more depending on how frozen you like your ice cream.  It was 8 pm when the 4 hours passed, but I just left mine to freeze overnight.  Now, enjoy this frosty treat!

S'more Ice Cream

I have actually been thinking of making this for quite some time.  I had used marshmallow creme in a recipe several months ago and then found out that there is actually "toasted" marshmallow creme out on the market.  At that time, I decided that if I used any more marshmallow creme-it would have to be the toasted version.  I was able to find the toasted version at the local grocery store.

The ice cream base has the marshmallow creme in it and the add ins are chunks of frozen graham cracker crumbs coated with milk chocolate.  I decided to use graham crumbs instead of graham crackers for fear that those pieces would somehow get soggy.

For those that feel that this ice cream is too over indulgent, you can leave out the add ins.  The toasted marshmallow ice cream is tasty enough to stand alone. 

My husband (who was not interested in the last ice cream I made) tasted a little of this and then got a big scoop of it.  I guess it met with his approval! This recipe makes about 4 or 5 servings, now here it is.....

S'more Ice Cream
by flourtrader


Ingredients/ Crust
5 tbs melted butter
1 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup of sugar
5 Hershey milk chocolate bars

Ingredients/Ice Cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-7oz container of  toasted marshmallow creme
5 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups skim milk
1/2 cup sugar

To make the crust, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix butter, graham cracker crumbs and sugar
in a medium size bowl until all is blended evenly.  Then take out a 9 inch square pan and press mixture evenly on the bottom and up the sides.  Don't worry too much about the look of the sides, the crumbs are only going there for baking purposes-not for the final product.  Place pan in oven and bake for six to eight minutes.

Once crust is done, remove pan from oven.  With a knife, knock down the crumb sides to the the crumb bottom and smooth it the best you can.  Then unwrap the Hershey bars and place on the crumb bottom, in one layer. You will need to break up some to make them fit and completely cover the bottom.  There will be some chocolate left over, set it aside for now.

Place the pan back in the oven for two minutes.  Then take it out and smooth the chocolate with a knife, making sure all crumbs are covered.  If the thicker areas of graham crumbs give you problems, just use the extra chocolate on those areas.  Place the pan back in the oven for another couple of minutes, remove and smooth again.  Then place pan in freezer and turn off oven.

After about 15-20 minutes, the crust and chocolate should be frozen.  Remove and chop with an ice pick or the point of a knife.  Pour the pieces in a freezer bag and place back in freezer.

To make the ice cream, place the marshmallow creme in a food processor and set aside.

Then take out a saucepan and place over medium heat.  Pour the milk into the pan and add the vanilla extract.  Stir the mixture constantly and let come to a light simmer.  It should reach a point where it is steaming, but not boiling.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Place egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk together until it becomes a light yellow color. This should take about 3-5 minutes.  Continue to stir and slowly add 1/4 cup of the milk solution.  Then add another 1/4 cup of the milk solution and stir again.

Put the saucepan back on the stove and then add the yolk mixture. Stir  gently and constantly.  As you are doing this, the ice cream base should go back to the steaming-not boiling point.  It will also thicken.  This process will take about 3-5 minutes. Once it reaches the texture of heavy cream, remove from heat and vigorously stir for about 3 minutes.

Then pour the ice cream base into the food processor with the marshmallow creme.  Run the processor for about 2 minutes.  Then add the heavy cream and run the processor for another 30 seconds.

Pour mixture in a bowl and refrigerate for at least 8 hours  or leave it to chill overnight.

Once completely chilled, take out ice cream base from fridge and mix with a wooden spoon.  Then pour it into the ice cream maker and follow the manufacturers instructions.  On the last 3 minutes, add the chocolate coated graham crumbs and complete the churning process.

Then pour ice cream into a container and freeze for at least 2 hours.  This is for the flavors to meld.  Any additional time can be added, depending on your preferred consistency.

Then sit back and enjoy one of the great things about summer-ice cream!

Triple Quake Bars

Have you ever realized that ice cream desserts have gotten smaller as the years have passed?  Maybe its because you have grown up, but some things just are not what they used to be.  I remember an ice cream treat from Dairy Queen called Buster Bars.

These treats were shaped like a big upside down Dixie cup.  It was all covered in chocolate and inside was stacked layers: one of ice cream, one of fudge and one of salted caramel peanuts.  The bottom was bigger around than the inside of a standard coffee cup and the top was the size of a full roll of scotch tape.

Well, I have not had a Buster Bar in quite a while.  Probably because the last time I got one the size was a little disappointing.  I am not even sure they make them anymore.

Anyhow, I thought I would make some sort of ice cream treat with layers.  This one is sure to please-it is a rich chocolate brownie with pecans topped with one layer of vanilla bean ice cream.  If that was not enough, there is a third layer on top of rich, chocolate fudge.  It would satisfy any ravenous chocoholic and, of course, you can choose to cut whatever size piece you want.

Triple Quake Bars
by flourtrader

Ingredients/ Brownie Cake layer
1 cup chopped, toasted pecans
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup cocoa (I used Hersheys special dark)
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
3/4 cup butter

Ingredients/Ice Cream layer
1quart vanilla bean or homemade vanilla ice cream -softened

Ingredients/Fudge Layer
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) and 2 tbs butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup cocoa
2 oz (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate
2 cups confectioners sugar

To make the cake layer, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter the inside of a 9X13 inch pan and dust with flour.

Using a medium size saucepan, melt butter over low heat.  Then whisk in sugar and cocoa until smooth.  Remove from heat and empty into a mixing bowl.   Add each egg to the sugar batter, beating about 30 seconds before adding the next egg.  Once all four eggs are blended into the batter, stir in the vanilla extract.  Then set aside.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and salt.  Fold these dry ingredients into the chocolate batter until no dry flour spots remain.  Then stir in the pecans.

Place pan in oven and bake for about 35 minutes or until tester indicates done. Then remove cake from the oven and place pan on a cooling rack.  Once pan is cool to the touch, place it in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.

Take out the softened ice cream. It should have the consistency of soft serve ice cream.  You do not want it too watery because it will soak into the cake.  Remove the cake from the freezer and spread the ice cream evenly on top.  Place back in freezer.

Now to make the top layer, you will need another saucepan.  Place it over low heat and put in the butter and the chocolate squares.  Stir constantly until all is melted and blended to a smooth consistency.  Add the cocoa and continue to stir.  Then pour in the heavy cream and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated into batter.  Remove from heat and transfer batter to a mixing bowl.

Sift confectioners sugar into the chocolate batter and beat with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes.  Fudge batter should be shiny and smooth.  Set aside to cool for about 1 hour.

Once fudge batter is cool, take out cake and put 1/2 of fudge on top.  If  ice cream shows through, do not worry, the second layer will cover.  Place cake in the freezer for 30-45 minutes.  Remove and smooth on 2nd layer of fudge and place back in freezer until top is no longer sticky.  About 1 hour.

You can serve after the hour is up or leave cake in freezer for another time.  Should it be frozen for a long time, soften at room temp for 20-30 minutes or more before serving.  Cut into squares with a sharp knife and place each on a plate and serve.

Ice Cream:Chocolate or Chocolate Malt ?

The original recipe is used for this ice cream is actually a recipe for white chocolate malt ice cream.  I decided to use dark chocolate instead. For the malt powder, I chose the vanilla over the chocolate.

It is now day 2 and I still cannot taste any of the malt.  Perhaps I should have used milk chocolate or used chocolate malt powder.  The chocolate flavor has over powered the malt.

While not malty, I do find this to still be a tasty and rich chocolate ice cream. Also, I really liked the fact it set up fast. The ice cream ended up being a very hard, and creamy indulgence.  I have had problems in the past with ice cream being too soft or becoming icy upon freezing. One bite of the dairy goodness made me forget the 90 degree heat that we had yesterday.

Anyhow, due to my issues above, I have posted the original recipe without my changes.  However, I encourage you to experiment based on your tastes.  What chocolate you use and if you use malt at all is up to you.  In addition, you may want to put in other things such as 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, chopped toasted nuts, cookies or candy.  Those additions would need to be stirred in right before the ice cream is transferred from the ice cream maker to another bowl for freezing. This recipe makes 1 1/2 quarts.

White Chocolate Malt Ice Cream
adapted from Live, Love, Eat Cookbook by Wolfgang Puck

Ingredients
10 oz white chocolate (broken into small chunks)
1/2 cup malt powder
2 cups whole milk
8 egg yolks (room temp)
2 cups heavy cream
1 small bag of crushed ice

Pour the milk and cream into a large saucepan and place on medium high heat.  Let mixture come to a boil and then remove.  Set mixture aside.

Put the egg yolks in a large stainless steel bowl.  Whisk the yolks until well blended.  Then slowly add the hot milk mixture while continuing to whisk.  This may take two people or you may need to spoon the hot milk into the egg yolks with a ladle and whisk after every spoonful.

Once all the milk is blended into the yolks, pour back in the saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring once in a while with a wooden spoon.  The ice cream batter is done cooking when it does not drip off the spoon and leaves a coating on the back. This should take about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat.

At this point, you will need to melt the chocolate.  I did mine in a double boiler, but Wolfgang's instructions are to use a microwave, so I will include his method.

Take chocolate and place in microwaveable bowl.  Cover with a paper towel and cook for 30 seconds in the microwave and stir. This microwave/stir process should be repeated more than once and up to 3 times.  When you stir the mixture, you will be able to determine when it is all melted and smooth. Pour melted chocolate into ice cream batter and whisk until blended.  

Pour 1 cup of ice cream batter from the saucepan into a heatproof bowl.  Add the malted milk powder to the 1 cup of ice cream batter and stir until all is dissolved.  Return the malt mixture back into the saucepan and stir with a wooden spoon.

Then drain the mixture through a sieve into another heatproof bowl.  Once the saucepan is empty, grab a large bowl (big enough for the heatproof bowl to fit inside) and fill it with the ice.  Then place the bowl of ice cream batter inside the ice bowl and let cool.  After the mixture is completely cold, transfer to a ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions.

Frangelico Ice Cream

I consider hazelnuts a member of the higher society.  It is not as commonly used as pecans or peanuts and its flavor is portrayed as something rare and exotic, as seen on the Ferrero Roche commercials.   The same goes with the liqueur of the same flavor, Frangelico.

Based on that, pull out this recipe when you want to impress or make someone feel special.  Also, while great on its own, you can indulge even more by topping with fudge and a sprinkling of roasted hazelnuts.  This recipe makes 1 quart.

Frangelico Ice Cream
adapted from Bon Appetit 

Ingredients
5 tbs of Frangelico
1/4 cup of sugar
1 1/2 cups of whole milk (no low fat)
1/4 cup honey
5 egg yolks (room temp)
1 1/2 cups whipping cream

First, prepare your ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions.  I have a Doniver in which you have to have the center piece frozen before you are able to freeze any ice cream.

Pull out a saucepan and set the stove top burner to medium heat.  Place your dairy (milk & cream) in the saucepan along with the sugars (honey, white sugar).  Put on burner and stir until it starts to simmer and the sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat all 5 egg yolks until combined.  Then take your cooled sugar mixture and distribute a steady small stream of it into the egg yolks by using a whisk.  You may need to use a stand mixer or the help of someone else.

Transfer mixture back into saucepan and place over medium heat.  Constantly stir for about 2 minutes and make sure it does not boil.  The ice cream is done cooking when it is thick enough to leave a path on the back of a spoon when you draw your finger across it.  Remove from heat and strain into another bowl.

Whisk Frangelico into ice cream mixture and place in freezer for about 4 hours or until cold.  Once completed, the mixture goes into the ice cream maker.  Then proceed as stated in the instructions that came with the ice cream machine.  After that, place the ice cream in a container and freeze until firm, about 2 hours.