Apple Tart

THIS is your new favorite apple pie recipe. Well, technically it is a tart because it only had a bottom crust and no top crust. But you don't need a top crust. It's just extra fuss and we all know the best part of a pie is the filling anyway. This tart recipe is fairly quick and easy, no-fuss, and looks pretty impressive. Oh, and did I mention it tastes really darn good? 

• Apple cinnamon tart
• All butter pastry crust
• Brown bread ice cream
• Spiced whipped cream
• Maple sauce

S'mores Ice Cream

How do you make s'mores ice cream, you ask? You begin with the vanilla ice cream, flavored with extra sugar for that 'marshmallowy' taste and texture. Then make some chocolate ice cream, flavor it with a little liquid smoke, and swirl it through. If you really want some more s'more flavor and texture - add some graham cracker pieces or crumbs. 

Zucchini Chocolate S'mores Cake

Here is a dessert special I made at the restaurant tonight. It is a moist, double chocolate zucchini cake with s'mores ice cream and chocolate sauce. Perfect for sharing!

When my brothers and I were little, my mom used to bake a chocolate zucchini cake quite often around this time of year when zucchinis were in abundance. But because we were more picky of eaters at the time, especially when it came to vegetables, she used to tell us it was 'green coconut' so we would eat it and not ask questions. I realize now that green coconut is not really a thing and that zucchini is delicious, especially when baked into a chocolate cake.

Brown Bread Ice Cream

Brown bread ice cream is an Irish thing - probably originating from the fact the Irish always seem to have leftover soda bread on hand and needed to come up with creative ways to use it. This way certainly is unique and quite tasty. You may be skeptical at first, but think of it as "Cinnamon Toast Crunch" ice cream, and it sounds a little better. Basically, that's what this is. It goes well with a variety of desserts and toppings too - sticky toffee pudding, strawberry shortcake, Eton mess, caramel sauce, banana splits, etc!

Caramelized Bread Crumbs
4 thick slices soda bread
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup salted butter, melted and browned slightly

For the Caramelized Bread Crumbs: Crumble the bread into a bowl. The crumbs should be no larger than a kernel of corn. Toss with the sugar and cinnamon, pour the butter over top and toss to coat.
Toast at 350◦F for 20-30 minutes, stirring every so often, until toasted and crisp. 

For the Brown Bread Ice Cream: Immediately after the ice cream comes out of the machine, fold in the bread crumbs until evenly distributed, then put ice cream in the freezer to firm up. You may do this in batches if required, and may not need all the crumbs. They can be saved for another time, used elsewhere, or snacked on.

Prepping Ahead: Ice cream base can be made a day in advance before churning.
Ice cream can be churned and will last in the freezer for at least a week. You can keep plain ice cream base on hand and stir in the crumbs when needed. You may need to soften the ice cream a bit prior to doing this.
Bread may be baked up to three days in advance before caramelizing.
Bread crumbs can be caramelized up to three days before being added to ice cream.

When freshly made, bread crumbs retain some of their crunch in the ice cream. They will soften over hours while the ice cream sits in the freezer. 

Ice Cream Base

This is a super easy, quick, and almost no-fail ice cream recipe to make. The base consists of only four ingredients, and you can have ice cream, from start to finish, in under 3 hours. The plain ice cream is tasty on its own, but the possibilities for flavorings are endless!

Ice Cream Base
2 cups milk
4 cups whipping cream (35%), divided
1 1/2 cups granulated (white) sugar, divided
12 large egg yolks

Place the milk, 2 cups cream, and 3/4 cup sugar in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool until just hot.
Beat the yolks and remaining 3/4 cup sugar in a large bowl until pale yellow in color.
Slowly temper in the hot milk mixture. Whisk in the remaining 2 cups of cold cream.
Chill mixture until cold, then process in an ice cream machine as directed by manufacturer. 

Steeping: For steeping flavors into the ice cream, add ingredients immediately after removing from heat, cover, and let sit for 30-60 minutes to steep.
Flavoring: Add ingredients along with second amount of cream.
Stir-ins: Fold into ice cream immediately after churning.

FLAVORING IDEAS

Steep: fresh gingerroot, fresh mint, coffee, tea, sesame seeds
Flavoring: vanilla beans, melted chocolate, cocoa powder, extracts, citrus zest, caramel, fruit purees, spices
Stir-Ins: bread crumbs, chocolate pieces, nuts, fruit pieces

Pineapple, Peanuts, Chocolate, Ice Cream & Kirsch

Sometimes I like to take a few random ingredients from around the house and make a concoction out of it. This time I chose fresh pineapple pieces, honey cinnamon roasted peanuts, milk chocolate candies, vanilla ice cream and kirsch cherry liquor. To tie all these ingredients together, I flambeed the pineapple in a little butter, brown sugar, and kirsch. I added the peanuts to some butter, honey, and oats to make a granola. I melted down the ice cream and melted some chocolate into half and made a quick caramel to add to the other half to make creme anglaise. So to compose the dish I had milk chocolate cinnamon and salted caramel creme anglaise with warm kirsch flambeed pineapple, and roasted peanut granola.

Ice Cream Birthday Cake

This was an ice cream friend we devoured recently to celebrate my roommate's birthday. It was M&M chocolate-coated candy flavored. It was very good. It consisted of the typical vanilla soft serve, chocolate ice cream, chocolate fudge crunch, whipped cream icing, chocolate drizzle, and piping gel. Sometimes, there's just nothing like a good classic ice cream cake.

Chritmas Dinner In August

Not too long ago at work we had an entire Christmas dinner in August. We had a feast with all the fixings and afterwards felt happy and stuffed. Our Christmas dinner consisted of Challah bread and butter, different pickles, chutneys, and preserves, honey thyme carrots, peas, creamy mashed potatoes, stuffing, a brined turkey breast with gravy, pumpkin pie, and homemade vanilla ice cream.

fresh Challah bread

mustard pickles, cranberry sauce, red pepper jelly, and pickled peppers

brined turkey breast

gravy

honey and thyme glazed carrots

creamy mashed potatoes

the entire feast

stuffing

Chocolate Banana Soft Serve

Chocolate Banana Soft Serve
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1+ Tablespoons hot water
2 frozen overripe bananas

Mix together the butter and cocoa. Stir in the vanilla, icing sugar, and coffee mixed with hot water. Stir in enough hot water to make a thick icing consistency. Blend together with the bananas until smooth. Cover and freeze until firm.

This is a super easy ice-cream like dessert. Simply chilled or semi-frozen it makes a good mousse dessert. It is by no means a real ice cream, but it is smooth, creamy, and refreshing. The trick is to begin with a base that is similar to a fudge frosting. It does not require an ice cream maker nor does it need to be stirred at all during the freezing process.

Nutella Sundaes

To finish up this year's World Nutella Day recipes, here is one more treat. I didn't actually make this one for World Nutella Day, but it is something I made recently, eyeing that full jar of nutella in my cupboard and the full container of vanilla ice cream in the freezer. It may be the middle of winter, but following a long, busy day of moving, I was warm, thirsty, and craving a cool, chocolaty treat. These are simple sundaes - mostly vanilla ice cream topped with nutella as a chocolate sauce. I find nutella spread is fairly thin in order to allow spreading on soft breads. On the contrary, nutella sold in countries such as Germany, France, and Spain is slightly more solid, since hard, crusty bread is more prevalent in these regions. The tastes are relatively the same. If desired, you can microwave the nutella briefly to thin it out a bit and make it more of a hot fudge sauce.

 This sundae also has some color from some sprinkles, creating the 'funfetti' effect. 
This bottom sundae is more my style - vanilla ice cream with a chocolate brownie with chocolate ganache, along with nutella piled on top of that. If only the ice cream was chocolate (or death by chocolate, or even nutella) as well...

Stracciatella Sundae

Right now, the most difficult part of blogging for me is not lack of material or inspiration, but deciding where to begin. I probably have at least one hundred potential posts from my trip - but which one do I start with? Should I start with what is freshest in my memory, what was the very best (how do I choose?), start with the prettiest pictures, or do some kind of order such as alphabetical? Chronological order likely makes the most sense. Therefore, today I am starting near the beginning. Not the very beginning, but early on anyways. That isn't to say I will go in order from now on though, I prefer random orders with some of my own posts thrown in between. 

This is a stacciatella ice cream sundae I got on a hot day at an ice café. The story behind it is a little funny. Of course when traveling to different places, depending on where you are going, often you are surrounded by an unfamiliar language. I had a little experience with the language, but not a lot. Luckily though, being the foodie that I am, a big part of my vocabulary consisted of food-related words, so navigating menus was not too difficult. Also helpful were my traveling companions, who were fluent in the language and happy to decipher anything I couldn't on my own. 

Stracciatella is an Italian word used on menus in many different languages, so I did know that word (I wasn't in Italy). Referring to ice cream, stracciatella means vanilla ice cream with chocolate streaks in it. So my sundae consisted of scoops of this vanilla, chocolate flake ice cream with some chocolate sauce, extra chocolate flakes, and chocolate filigree decorations on top. What I did not know when I ordered, was that the sundae also contained chocoalte liquer, poured in along with the sauce. The waitress came out to check if this was okay, or if  I was of age, but of course I didn't understand a word she was saying so my accompaniments answered for me. That was the first time I (inadvertently) ordered myself a drink at a restaurant. I must say the addition of a little bit of chocolate liquer really did add to the flavor of the chocolate sauce and paired nicely with the ice cream without being too bitter or overpowering. This was definitely one of the best ice creams I had during my trip, and really got my trip off to a great start. 

Chocolate Banana Soft Serve

This is a great way to make homemade "ice cream" without an ice cream maker. It also doesn't require the old-fashioned way of placing cream in a bag in a bag of ice and shaking for hours. Technically speaking, this isn't ice cream, as it contains no milk ingredients. I guess it would be considered a sorbet. It certainly is reminiscent of ice cream, and a lot lighter and healthier. I could eat a lot of this. The bananas need to be ripe and frozen for the best flavor and texture in this dish. Without sugar, it takes like a banana dark chocolate ice cream, but if you aren't fond of dark chocolate, sweeten or serve with caramel or hot fudge sauce on top. This is quick and easy, and you'll be enjoying some homemade soft-serve in just a few hours! 

Chocolate Banana Soft Serve
3 overripe frozen bananas
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch salt
sugar, agave, honey to sweeten, as desired

Place all ingredients in a food processes and process until smooth. This should only take a few minutes. Then transfer to a shallow container and freeze overnight or until firm. 

Ice Cream Pumpkin

Here is the jack-o-lantern I carved for Halloween this year. Last year, I made a cupcake jack-o-lantern. It is a bit difficult to carve food into pumpkins, because it is tricky to think of a food that is easy to carve and will actually look like that food on a pumpkin. I have been thinking about what I could carve this year since last Halloween I finally settled on an ice cream cone. I have a triangular waffle cone at the bottom, two scoops of ice cream, and a cherry on top. I think I liked last year's cupcake better, but this doesn't look too bad. It is kind of neat all lit up. It isn't really scary, but not all jack-o-lanterns have to be. Let's just say that if I made an actual ice cream sundae, it would look much better than this one (and it would taste better too)!

Ice Cream Sundaes

Since summer seems to have come to an end, and fall is in full swing, I thought I would feature a few homemade, spur-of-the-moment, ice cream sundaes that were made in this house this summer. They all start with a few scoops of classic vanilla ice cream. From there, you may see a banana split, or a chocolate chip eruption, with some candy-coated chocolates, and toffee chocolates galore! They are nothing special or fancy, just a quick ice cream and chocolate fix. There weren't even any sauces or sprinkles or anything added. Just whatever was found in the cupboard. 
Here is #1: Vanilla ice cream with some semisweet chocolate chips on the side (it's beginning to melt).

Voila #2: A very basic banana split.

#3: Chocolate galore with chocolate chips and candy-coated chocolates:

A little taste of summer for you!! It's getting a bit too chilly to enjoy ice cream now!

Fudge Brownie Pie

Here is a very simple and quick but excellent dessert. It can easily be whipped up in a flash with ingredients on hand, and can be served as is, or dressed up in a number of ways for a fancier dessert. It is also delicious, and a popular dessert for chocolate lovers.

Try serving it with ice cream and a cherry, whipped cream and chocolate swirls, or hot fudge sauce. Even if you serve it plain, it will be divine!

Fudge Brownie Pie

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or hard margarine, melted

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350◦F. Lightly grease an 8-inch pie plate.

Beat eggs in medium bowl; blend in sugar and butter. Stir together flour, cocoa and salt; add to butter mixture. Stir in vanilla and nuts, if desired. Pour into prepared pie plate.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until almost set. (Pie will not test done in center.) Cool; cut into wedges. 

West Side Publishing. "Fudge Brownie Pie." Recipe. Hershey's Classic Recipes, Lincolnwood Illinois: Publications International, Limited, 2009. 331.

Giant Cookie On A Skillet

Yesterday I went to one of my favorite restaurants for lunch. Since that is the restaurant I visit the most often, I am quite familiar with the menu, and have already tried many of the items on the menu. I had a delicious panzerotti for lunch, which is basically an enclosed pizza. This is a pizza restaurant, and actually it is my favorite pizza aside from homemade. I wanted a little something different, so I opted for the panzerotti. Of course the panzerotti was delicious, with a perfect sauce, a nice crust, and an excellent filling (you can choose your filling ingredients).  However, the restaurant recently introduced a new dessert, and that is what I was looking forward to the most. For awhile now, this restaurant has always had a dessert called the "Brownie Skillet", which I thought was one of the best dessert inventions ever. Basically, you take a chocolate brownie, cook it on a skillet, then top it with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. It gets delivered to the table, right on the skillet, piping hot. Sounds simple, but it is so genius. Now they have come up with a new creation: a cookie skillet. It is a giant (and I mean GIANT) chocolate chip and chunk cookie, the biggest I have ever seen, cooked on a skillet, then topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. It is absolute heaven. And totally worth it (it's actually very reasonably priced in my opinion). The only complaint I have, is I would have preferred no whipped cream (not a huge fan), and double (or triple) the chocolate sauce (a huge chocolate fan). Other than that though, it was absolutely delicious, and I would definitely get it again. The menu states it as being "Delightfully Craveable" and the caption sums it all up very nicely, "Where have you been all my life?" Who knows, I might even try making it at home myself some day, and experiment with different kinds of cookies! Also: this divine dessert is waaaayy better than it looks. I don't think any picture could ever do it enough justice. You will just have to experience it for yourself!

PHOTO CREDIT:"PD2012_Web Dessert Menu (1)" http://www.pizzadelight.com/5-desserts-menu.html.Pizza Delight, n.d. Tuesday, May 22, 2012.

Baked Alaska

Since we had company coming, some more ice cream to use up, and a hot day, I decided to attempt Baked Alaska. For those who don't know, Baked Alaska is a dessert with a cake or brownie base, piled high with ice cream, covered in meringue, and baked at a high temperature for a few minutes, just until the meringue browns. Baked Alaska can be round, square, rectangular, or individual servings. The base layer holds everything together, the ice cream just begins to melt, and the meringue makes a crisp outer layer. This dessert feeds a large crowd and must be eaten right away, but it is quite light, so you can enjoy it even after a heavy meal. Here is how I made mine:

1. I had a leftover 8 inch round chocolate cake with only a few pieces out of it. I cut it up and used it to line a foil lined 9x5 inch loaf pan. I froze it briefly.
2. I took some hoofprints ice cream out of the freezer to soften for 10 minutes, then spread it on top of the frozen cake layer, all the way to the top of the pan. I froze this overnight.
3. I beat three egg whites and 1/4 tsp. cream of tarter until soft peaks formed, then added 3/4 cup sugar gradually until stiff peaks formed. I took the cake and ice cream out of the pan, put it on foil on a cookie sheet, and spread the meringue evenly over top, covering all of it. I popped this into a freezer while we ate the meal.
4. I baked it at 450◦F for about 5 minutes until the meringue browned.
5. I cut it into thin slices with a sharp knife and served immediately.

Baked Alaska is actually quite simple and quick to make, it just requires some prep work. It is even faster if you happen to have a spare cake layer in the freezer. It is incredibly delicious and unique, and can be very versatile. Possible bases include any flavour of cake, brownie, cookie, or square; ice cream can be any flavour, a combination of complementing flavours, frozen yogurt, or sorbet; and the meringue can be thin, thick, flavoured, or sprinkled with nuts. Don't be afraid to attempt this stunning dessert!

Chocolate Ice Cream Roll

Today I made a Chocolate Ice Cream Roll. Well, actually I made it yesterday but it had to freeze overnight, so I did not get to enjoy it until today. I made a chocolate cake roll using my jelly roll pan, and allowed it to cool. Then I filled it with Hoofprints ice cream, rolled it back up, wrapped it, and froze it. Today, it was solid enough to cut easily, but soft enough to eat without breaking any teeth. The ice cream roll turned out great! Chocolatey and refreshing. It was reminiscent of ice cream cake, except with actual cake!

You know those GINORMOUS tubs of ice cream that organizations sell to fundraise? Well, we bought one of course, and since there was a lack of hot, sunny days this past week, no one was in the mood for any ice cream. So I decided to use some of it up in a dessert. There is still a ton left, but maybe I'll find another ice cream recipe!

Ice Cream Flavours

In honour of summer, I decided to take part in a little challenge. I am going to see how many different ice cream flavours I can name in five minutes. I promise not to search the internet or the freezer or anything if I get stuck, this is entirely on my own. I am going to time myself for five minutes. Before you read any further, you should try this yourself and see if you can beat me. Okay, here goes. Starting...........now!

• Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, Hoofprints, Death By Chocolate
• Tiger, Bubblegum, Cotton Candy, Orange Pineapple, Moon Mist
• Udderly Divine, Heavenly Hash, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
• Grasshopper, Blueberry, Caramel Cups, Peanut Butter
• Butterscotch Ripple, Cappuchino, Coffee, Fudge Crackle
• Chocolate Crunch, Chocolate Caramel, Cherry, Black Forest
• Strawberry Banana,Caramel Chocolate Swirl, Wowie Cowie
• Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Eruption
• Birthday Cake, Gooey Mooey, Funky Monkey, Half-baked
• Cherry Garcia, If I Had 1000 Flavours, Maple Walnut, Butter Pecan
• Almond Crunch, Chocolate Almond, Nutty Crunch,Cookies and Cream
• New York Cheesecake, Cherry Cheesecake, Banana Split, Hawaiian
• Tropical Treat, Butterfinger, Reese, Smartie, Oreo, Pina Colada
• Key Lime, Lemon Meringue Pie, Banana Cream, Coconut Extreme

Whew, I've got 56 in five minutes. Can you beat that?

PHOTO CREDIT:"Ice Cream!" http://forums.allkpop.com/threads/ice-cream.49158/ .allkpops, n.d. Saturday, July 30, 2011.