Milka Ice Cream

Ice cream might be one of my favorite foods. No. I think it is my favorite food. Unless you count popcorn. Popcorn might win out. Especially if it's the super buttery and salty stuff my husband makes. Yep. That just might win an ice cream vs. popcorn battle.

A few weeks ago we were making homemade chocolate ice cream for a dinner party we were throwing. A really rich chocolate ice cream and I followed David Liebovitz's recipe to an absolute T. I'm not sure if it was a the recipe, my technique, my recent watching of a Good Eats ice cream episode, or if some magical ice cream elves took over my kitchen, but it was the most amazing ice cream ever. I felt like I was eating frozen mousse. I mourned the day when it ran out.  So I decided to make up another batch. But this time, I looked at my stash of Milka bars and decided to use those instead of Ghiradelli baking chocolate like I did last time. Milka bars are delicious, so Milka bar ice cream would be equally delicious, right? Yep, it is.

Milka Alpenmilch Ice Cream
Adapted from a David Liebovitz recipe

INGREDIENTS
2 cups cream, divided
3 TBSP cocoa powder
1 1/2 Milka chocolate bars (about 5 oz)
5 egg yolks
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
pinch salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

DIRECTIONS
First, chop up about 1 1/2 Milka chocolate bars into relatively small bits. Set aside.

Then, separate 5 eggs and whisk the yolks together. You don't need the whites so you can discard them or save for later use (we make egg white omlets with them).

Get out the remaining ingredients and have them on the counter ready for your use. I find it's helpful to have them pre-measured, but that's really your call.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup of cream with the cocoa. Whisk together, and cook until it starts to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 30-60 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and add the chopped up chocolate. Whisk until combined and the chocolate is melted. Add the remaining cream and whisk. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, making sure to get as much out of the saucepan as you can. Have a mesh strainer at the ready.

In that same saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, and salt. Warm over medium-ish heat. Once it's warm, add just a bit of the warm milk mixture to the egg yolks and whisk together to temper the eggs (this sort of cooks them, so you don't get a scrambled egg consistency later). Add the tempered egg mixture back into the sauce pan and cook over medium high heat until it gets to a nappe consistency (this means that it will coat the back of a spoon and if you scrape your finger across the back of the spoon, the liquid won't run down into the newly-scraped part). Make sure you're stirring fairly constantly, and scraping the side and bottom of the pan.

Once the eggs reach the nappe consistency, pour the mixture through the mesh strainer into the chocolate mixture. Whisk together until combined and smooth. Add the vanilla and combine.

Get out a larger bowl and put ice on the bottom of it to create an ice bath for your custard. Put the bowl of the chocolate stuff in the ice bath and whisk.

Keep whisking. You want to cool this down as much as you can. You don't need to whisk constantly, but whisk it at least once every 10 minutes, for about 30-45 minutes. Once the mixture is about room temperature, transfer it to an air-tight container and store in the refrigerator until you're ready to freeze it.

Once you're ready to freeze it, follow the instructions on your ice cream maker.

Fudge

On Christmas Eve, I decided I wanted to be eating some fudge. I decided this knowing full well that I didn't have most of the ingredients for fudge. The grocery store was out - it was about the last place I wanted to be. I decided to brave Target, and if the parking lot was too scary, I'd just turn around and go back home and forget about the fudge I was so wanting to eat. 

It ended up being fine. Much less busy than I thought it would be. The amount of people there who seemed to be doing every last bit of their Christmas shopping (at about 4 pm on Christmas Eve) was a little shocking, but I guess some people don't really plan ahead.

I've made this fudge before and always have great results. I've tried other recipes and they never get quite as smooth as this one. 

Fudge

Recipe from Carnation

Total Prep & Cook Time - about 15 min

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 (5 oz) can evaporated milk (2/3 cup)

2 TBSP butter

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups mini marshmallows

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

1 tsp vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Line an 8x8 pan with foil. Set aside.

Combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly. Bring to a full rolling boil. Keep it boiling and keep stirring constantly for 4-5 minutes.

Remove from heat and add the marshmallows, chocolate chips, and vanilla. Stir until everything is melted and combined. This should take about a minute.

Pour into the pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hrs. When firm, take them out of the pan and remove foil. Cut them into small slices to serve.

The Best Chocolate Cheesecake. Ever.

Like the title says, this is the best chocolate cheesecake. Ever. I first made it when I had to make dessert to bring to dinner at my in-laws about a year and a half ago. But that time, I sort of cheated and bought a pre-made crust. I've made it several times that way and it's always delicious. However, when I decided to make a cheesecake for dinner with my mother-in-law recently, I decided to stop cheating and make it in an actual springform pan.

I was quite pleased with the results, even though the only chocolate wafer cookies or graham crackers I could find happened to be teddy grahams. But the teddy graham crust was my little secret.

You'll really love this cheesecake. Give it a try - you won't regret it.


Chocolate Cheesecake
Recipe by Emeril Lagasse
Serves 12-ish

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
1 cup plus 3 TBSP sugar
3 TBSP butter, melted
2 1/2 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped from inside of pod and reserved
3 TBSP all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
8 oz melted semisweet chocolate, cooled slightly
Fresh strawberries or raspberries, for garnish

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch spring-form pan. In a mixing bowl, combine the chocolate wafer crumbs, 3 TBSP of the sugar, and the butter and mix well. Press onto the bottom of springform pan and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, remaining cup of sugar, vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds and beat until light and creamy, but do not over-beat.

Add the flour to the cream cheese mixture and beat until smooth. Add the melted chocolate and sour cream and mix well, but do not over-beat.

Add the eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition until just blended. Again, make sure you do not over-beat the mixture.

Meanwhile, prepare a water bath by making a water-tight seal around the spring form pan with aluminum foil.

Pour the batter into prepared pan. Place the pan in a large roaster and place warm water in the roaster about 1/2 way up the springform pan. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes, until the center is almost set. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake remain in the oven for about 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven and run a sharp knife around the rim of the pan and allow cake to cool on a wire rack before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight before serving.

Banana Bread

I don't really like bananas. It's a texture thing. I'm alright with them when they're almost ripe; still a little tiny bit green. But the second that peel is completely yellow or a tiny bit brown, my banana eating is over.

I do, however, really like a good banana bread. I came across an interesting banana bread recipe in my google reader a few weeks ago, and knew I had to try it. Despite my husband being upset with me that I put chocolate chips in it, I'm very happy with how it turned out and will make it again for sure.



Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Recipe from Good Things Catered
Makes 1 loaf

INGREDIENTS
3 large extra-ripe bananas
1 3/4 cups flour, plus 2 TBSP
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 pkg. instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup chocolate chips (I used about 2/3 cup)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening (I used butter flavor crisco sticks)
2 eggs
2 TBSP milk
1 TBSP vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mash bananas and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine 1 3/4 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pudding mix. Whisk together and set aside.

In a ziplock bag, toss chocolate chips with 2 TBSP flour. Set aside.

Cream together shortening and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly combined.

Add milk, vanilla, and banana to the mixture and combine well.

Turn mixer to low and add the flour/pudding mixture and beat until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes then remove from the pan to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Brownies

I love brownies. Really love them. Not much can beat a nice, fudgy brownie. Well.... except a peanut butter brownie. I've made a few recipes for peanut butter brownies over the past year and have been generally satisfied with each recipe I've tried. Given my recent desire for peanut butter brownies, but lack of any real desire to bake, I decided to get creative and utilize what was, until about a year ago, my arch nemesis: the boxed brownie mix.

I almost feel like I shouldn't blog about these. However, notice I said almost. In the end, I've decided that these are worthy of a blog post because they're so good and so easy.


Peanut Butter Brownies

INGREDIENTS
1 box brownie mix (we like Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies)
2/3 cup peanut butter

DIRECTIONS
Prepare brownie batter according to directions and pour into a 9 x 13 pan (or 8 x 8 if you like them really thick).

Meanwhile, melt the peanut butter over medium-low heat.

Once peanut butter is melted, pour it on top of the brownie batter and use a knife or rubber scraper to swirl the peanut butter around the top and give it a nice marble look.

A visual, in case my description of the technique was confusing...

Bake for the amount of time indicated on the brownie mix box (mine was about 25 min).

Gelato

I love gelato. I developed the obsession about 9 years ago on my first trip to Italy (and then subsequently re-affirmed the obsession on the second, third, and fourth trips). In fact, I'd go back to Venice just to eat gelato at our favorite gelateria, Boutique del Gelato. Since flying to Venice every time we get a craving isn't feasible, and the store-bought stuff just tastes like glorified ice cream, we decided to try our hand at making it at home for the Fourth of July. It was rather tasty, if we do say so. In fact, after a trip to the grocery store today, we're going to be making a second batch.


Chocolate Gelato
Makes about 3 cups
Recipe from Mangia Bene

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup sugar
2 TBSP cornstarch
pinch of salt
2 cups whole milk, divided
5 oz semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped*
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

DIRECTIONS
In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, & salt. Gradually whisk in 1/4 cup of milk to dissolve the cornstarch.

Gradually stir in the rest of the milk.

Cook over medium heat until it thickens and begins to boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Add chocolate and allow to sit for 1 minute. Whisk together until the mixture is smooth. Add cream and vanilla and whisk.

Refridgerate for at least 2 hrs. Transfer to an ice cream maker and prepare according to manufacturer's directions.


*Use the best chocolate available to you. If you use cheap American chocolate, your gelato will taste like just slightly better than your average American chocolate ice cream.

Chocolate Cupcakes

I've been searching for a rich, dedadent chocolate cake for a while. I like my family cake recipe, but it's not nearly rich enough for my liking. A few weeks ago, I made Giada's Mascarpone Cupcakes with Strawberry Glaze and noticed that the mascarpone cheese made the cake much richer than traditional white cake. So, I decided to try it out with a chocolate cake mix. The results were pretty good. It was richer and better tasting than your average chocolate cake, but still not quite rich enough. Thus, my search continues.


Cupcakes
8 ounces mascarpone cheese (about 1 cup), softened
2 egg whites
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 cup water
Chocolate Frosting (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the muffins tins with paper liners.

In a large bowl combine the mascarpone cheese, egg whites and vegetable oil. Using a hand mixer, beat the ingredients until combined and creamy. Add the cake mix and water and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Fill the cups to just below the rim and bake until puffed and golden, about 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly in the tin then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack.

After cooled, frost with chocolate frosting.

Frosting
Recipe from my mom

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix together sugars & cream over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, keep boiling and stir for exactly one minute.

Remove from heat, add chocolate chips, and cover. Do not stir yet.

Wait approximately 20 minutes, and then remove lid and stir. Keep uncovered.

Keep stirring at approximately 20-minute intervals until the frosting thickens to your desired consistency (this usually takes about 40 minutes).

Brownies, anyone?

I've taken a brief break from blogging, but I haven't taken a break from cooking. I hadn't baked in a while, so I decided to make brownies. Now, if I'm going to eat a brownie, I'd much rather it be a really good, full fat one than a low or non-fat one that tastes like preservatives (I'm talking to you Trader Joe's No-Pudge!!). I really hate to brag, but I think my brownies are the best. They're rich and fudgy and pretty much just melt in your mouth.


Brownies
Family recipe - original source unknown

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter, melted (must be butter)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp vanilla

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325.

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour into 9x13 inch brownie pan and bake 30-40 min or unti toothpick comes out clean.

Let brownies cool and then with chocolate frosting (recipe below).

Frosting

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cream (substitutes do not work)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

Mix together cream and sugars. Bring to a boil & boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.

Add chocolate chips, cover, and walk away. In about 20 minutes, uncover and stir. Keep uncovered. Walk away again.

Let stand to thicken, stirring occasionally.

Frost brownies when the frosting has reached your desired thickness.

*Shameless plug for my brownie pan... I got a Calphalon brownie pan for a bridal shower and I swear my brownies taste better when I make them in that pan than when I make them in a regular 9 x 13 pan. If you're into brownies, you should check out the pan.

Truffles

One of my best friends is getting married in a couple weeks and I’m her Matron of Honor. My fellow bridesmaids and I threw her bachelorette party last weekend and had a little pre-party shower for her. I made oreo truffles and chocolate covered strawberries. Everyone went NUTS over the truffles. I didn't let on how easy they are to make. Below is a picture of our food table.

Oreo Truffles

Recipe from http://www.kraftfoods.com/

1 package Oreo cookies (regular, mint, or peanut butter)
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
2 pkg (8 oz each) semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted

Crush 9 cookies (you only need about 3 cookies, so do 3 and save remaining 6 for eating) in food processor or in a big bag with a rolling pin. Set aside.

Crush remaining 36 cookies in similar fashion. Place in medium bowl. Add cream cheese and mix until well-blended. (this is best done with your hands).

Roll cookies into small balls, about 1-inch in diameter.

Dip balls into chocolate; Place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.

Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Hello, again

I've taken a brief hiatus from blogging (and any meaningful cooking, really). My late summer/early fall has been crazy! We've had something going on every single weekend since mid-August and it won't stop til mid-October. EEK! Anyway, I've made a few goodies since my last blog and finally downloaded the pictures off my camera, so I figured it was about time I start blogging about them. So, here goes:

We went to my husband's parents house for dinner a couple weeks ago and I decided to bring dessert. I let my husband pick out what he wanted to eat, and he picked out peanut butter fudge brownies. They were wonderful - I think my father-in-law ate about 5 of them and my mother-in-law wanted the recipe. ;)




Peanut Butter Fudge Brownies
Original Recipe taken from cooks.com, but I adapted it just a tiny bit.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
2/3 cup cocoa
½ tsp baking powder
¾ cup creamy peanut butter

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Blend melted butter, sugar and vanilla in large bowl. Add eggs and mix well with spoon.

Combine flour, cocoa and baking powder. Blend into egg mixture.

Spread into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.

Meanwhile, melt the peanut butter over low heat. Drizzle over the top of the brownies and cut into the batter.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes until brownies begin to pull from edges.

* The original recipe called for 1 (18 oz) jar of creamy peanut butter, and said to frost the brownies with the peanut butter while still warm. Once the brownies cool, frost them with your favorite fudge frosting recipe. I'm sure that would've been good too, but I didn't want to bother. *

Cookie Time

I honestly think I make the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. Now, I know people tend to favor whatever cookie recipe they make, but I think that's just cause they haven't tried this recipe yet. It's pretty basic, but I haven't found a recipe I like better.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
INGREDIENTS
1 cup unsalted butter softened (I usually use crisco sticks)
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed (I like to use the light colored kind)
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs (These should be at room temperature, or at least not "right from the fridge" cold)
1 tsp real vanilla
1/2 tsp water
2-1/2+ cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
Chocolate Chips (usually about 1/2 bag)

DIRECTIONS
Mix together butter, brown sugar, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and water. (Sometimes I cream together the butter & sugars first but I don't think it makes that much difference)

Add one cup flour, and the salt and baking soda and mix together.

Add one more cup flour. Mix together

Add 1/2 cup flour, mix together (you'll probably have to do this by hand - even my kitchenaid doesn't like this part)

Depending on how the dough feels, add more flour. If you use crisco sticks, 2-1/2 cups should be about right. If you use butter, you'll want closer to 3 cups. I usually judge by how the dough feels - if there's not enough flour, the dough will be very wet and stick to your fingers. If there's enough flour, it won't.

Add chocolate chips and stir in. I don't measure - just add and mix till it looks about right. You can adjust to your liking of chippy-ness.

Spoon onto cookie sheets.

Bake at 350. I usually start them out on the second rack from the bottom. Bake them there until the dough spreads out and takes cookie form, but haven't really started to brown. Then, move them up to the second to the top shelf in the oven and bake until just before your desired done-ness (you take them out just before they're done because they will continue to bake for 3 minutes once they're out of the oven - leaving them in til they look done will cause the cookies to be overdone). Let cool on a cooling rack.

Enjoy! And be sure to eat a few when they're warm - they're magical right out of the oven.