i scream, you scream, we all scream for…

Posted in gluten free, ice cream by

One thing you should know about me before we get too far into our blog/reader relationship: I love ice cream.  I mean I love ice cream.  I love it so much I have been known to eat it twice a day and yes, maybe even three times a day during a particularly hot summer.  (Don’t judge.)  In fact, my first job was at a soft serve joint and fifteen years later I still say it was still the best job I ever had… Ice cream just makes people happy.

A few years ago I started making ice cream with my mom’s Kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment and discovered that much like everything else in life, ice cream is even better when it’s homemade.  And what’s better still– my mom gave me the ice cream maker attachment because I was the only one using it.  Suh-weet.

This batch starts with espresso beans.  Espresso beans and a meat tenderizer.

After showing those espresso beans who’s boss you put them in a pot with whole milk.

Next you beat egg yolks and sugar until light yellow and fluffy:

Meanwhile you strain the espresso beans and return the espresso-flavored milk to the pot over low heat and then add the egg yolk/sugar mixture in parts while stirring constantly until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.  It is very important to stir constantly otherwise you might wind up cooking the eggs… Not good.  I’ve done that before.  No one wants cooked egg bites in their ice cream cone.

It is important to completely cool mixture before adding to ice cream maker so you can either refrigerate it for an hour or so or put in a mixing bowl that is submerged in a larger mixing bowl that is filled with ice to cool.  This is also the stage in the game where you add heavy cream and instant espresso.  Once cool, you stand back and let an ice cream maker do the work.

Another great way to enjoy this ice cream?  Well, do you remember those Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies from earlier in the week?  You might be thinking  “Oh no you didn’t…”  Oh yes I did.

Espresso Gelato (from www.marthastewart.com)

  • 1/3cup espresso beans
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 5 large egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons instant espresso

Place espresso beans on a cutting board, and gently crush them using a heavy saucepan or a hammer (be careful not to pulverize the beans). In a medium saucepan, heat milk and coffee beans. Bring to a gentle boil, cover, and remove from heat. Allow to steep for 30 minutes. Strain mixture, and reserve milk; discard solids.

Combine egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat at medium-high speed until very thick and pale yellow, 3 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile, return milk to heat, and bring to a simmer.

Add half the milk to egg-yolk mixture, and whisk until blended. Stir into remaining milk, and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Remove from heat, and immediately stir in cream. Pass mixture through a strainer into a medium mixing bowl set in an ice bath until chilled, stirring from time to time. Stir in instant espresso, then freeze in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. (Note: I added chocolate chips 2/3 of the way through the churning process in my ice cream maker but it would be great without them or with other mix-ins.  Oreos?  Genius.) Transfer to an airtight plastic container and store up to 2 weeks.  (I read somewhere that it’s a good idea to cover the top of the ice cream with plastic wrap before putting the lid on the container to prevent ice crystals from forming.  Not sure if this is always true, but so far so good for me.)

twist on a classic

Posted in cookie by

This may look like your standard, run-of-the-mill chocolate chip cookie but it is not.  Oh no.  In a belated nod to Cinco de Mayo I decided to make Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies.  What makes them Mexican, you ask?  Cinnamon and a touch of black pepper.

The cinnamon and pepper add a nice touch of spiciness.

As they might say in Mexico: delicioso!

Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies (from www.epicurious.com)

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips

Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then vanilla. Sift next 6 ingredients over butter mixture; beat just until blended. Mix in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough until cold, at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 2 large baking sheets. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake cookies until golden brown but still soft to touch, about 10 minutes (for crisper cookies, bake 12 minutes). Let stand on sheets 3 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool.

mid-week treat

Posted in drink by

Last week I ate at an Indian restaurant with friends and had some of the finest Masala Chai Tea I’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying.  Now, I’ve definitely sampled my fair share of chai tea over the years and used to buy cartons of the pre-made liquid kind from the grocery store, but after researching recipes this weekend I realized how easy it is to make from scratch.  And since I am always a fan of making things from scratch whenever possible I couldn’t resist.

Making the tea did require a trip to the spice section of the grocery store to buy ingredients in whole form: cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, cloves, and black peppercorns.  Making the tea also gave me a chance to use the mortar and pestle my mom gave me for Christmas.  And I am always looking for an excuse to bust out the mortar and pestle.

I wish the masters of the interweb could figure out a way to transport scent through our computers because man oh man if you could smell it while the spices were steeping!  It was awesome– sweet and spicy at the same time.

After straining the spices you add milk, a bit of sugar, and finally the tea.

This cup is for you:

Masala Chai Tea

(Adapted from Indian Masala Chai recipe found on www.food.com )

servings

Update

  • 4 whole cloves
  • 3 cardamom pods
  • 1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
  • 4 black peppercorns
  • 3 cups water
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 black teabags (I used decaffeinated but certainly caffeinated would be fine too)

In a mortar crush the cloves, cardamom pods, cinnamon, and black peppercorns, or use a coffee grinder.

Transfer the crushed spices to a small saucepan, add the water and ginger and bring to a boil.

Remove the pan from the heat, cover and let steep for 5 minutes.

Add the milk and sugar to the pan and bring to a boil.

Remove from the heat and add the teabags.  Cover and let steep for 3 minutes.

Stir the chai, and then strain it into a warmed teapot or directly into teacups.

My Aunt Sarah’s banana bread

Posted in bread, fruit by

In honor of Mother’s Day I thought I would bake a recipe of a favorite mother in my life– in this case, my Aunt Sarah’s banana bread.  In hindsight perhaps I should have made one of my own mother’s recipes but I had two ripe bananas in my freezer just begging to be baked into bread so that was the deciding factor.  I know my mom will understand.

I like to have bananas with breakfast but I sometimes buy too many and can’t eat them all before they go bad.  Fortunately they freeze very well so are easy to tuck away until you are ready to add them to smoothies or baked goods so they don’t have to go to waste.  I hate wasting food.

My aunt’s recipe calls for shortening but I only had about a tablespoon left thanks to a certain houseguest who has a habit of leaving small amounts of things behind after cooking and baking with them, but never fear– I always seem to have plenty of butter on hand so substituted that instead.  And it came out just fine.

The flowers on the table are in honor of you Mom…

An hour or so in a 250 degree oven and you get this:

The note my aunt included with the recipe when she emailed it to me years ago said that the best way to enjoy the bread is with butter while it is still warm.  My aunt is a very smart lady.

Happy Mother’s Day to all my favorite mother’s out there!

Aunt Sarah’s Banana Bread

  • ½ cup shortening or butter
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 very ripe bananas
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups flour

Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees.  Butter and lightly flour bread pan (I suggest using glass pans as the bread cooks more evenly in glass) and set aside.

Beat shortening and sugar with mixer and then add eggs and beat well.  Add mashed bananas and beat until combined.

To this mixture add baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flour.  Stir until well blended.

Put mixture into prepared bread pan and bake for about an hour or just until the top springs back.  (Note: I find that somewhere between an hour and ten minutes and an hour and twenty minutes is about right.  I have both under- and over-baked this bread before as there is a fine line between the two.  It’s best to keep an eye on the bread after an hour of baking and put back in oven for five-minute intervals as needed to finish baking.)

Let bread cool on rack for ten minutes.  Use knife to gently loosen sides of bread from pan and invert over cooling rack to finish cooling.  While the bread is still slightly warm put in plastic bag or wrap with foil or plastic wrap as the heat will help soften and sweeten the bread.

the premiere post

Posted in brownie by

Hello world.  I’d like to tell you about the most exciting thing that has happened to me so far this year. 

First, you must understand that I like to bake and that I have been doing so since I was a little kid when my mom would put a step stool in front of the kitchen counter so I could help roll out and frost cookies with her.  As an adult I have become known for my baking– always bringing homemade brownies, cookies, cakes, and pies to celebrate various occasions amongst coworkers, friends, and family, and at the risk of sounding immodest, I have been told that I’m pretty good at it.  I once even received a marriage proposal from a gay man after he had a bite of one of my confections.  However, hearing it doesn’t mean you believe it so this winter when I saw an ad for a bake-off at the local library I decided to go for it and see if there was any legitimacy to that marriage proposal.  The theme of the bake-off?  Chocolate.  Something I know a lot about.

I wanted to try something a little different from the ordinary and have always been a fan of salty and sweet combinations so I opted to make a fleur de sel brownie.  Never heard of fleur de sel before?  I’ll let you in on a little secret: it’s just salt.  Fancy sea salt.  From France.

And let me tell you: it’s not cheap and it’s not easy to find in a medium-sized city in the Midwest but I made it happen, and boy was it worth it.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  Let’s start at the beginning, with butter– where all good things start.

You melt some butter with some chocolate…

…then you mix it with things like eggs, cocoa powder, and sugar:

You also have to make caramel that starts out looking like this:

And ends up looking like this:

Put it all together, sprinkle some of that fancy French sea salt on it:

And bake it:

So how did my first bake-off go, you ask?  Well let’s just say, perhaps I should have taken my friend’s proposal more seriously…

Fleur de Sel Brownies, adapted from Salted Fudge Brownies from Food & Wine magazine (recipe by Kate Krader), and Sweet and Salty Brownie from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

  • Prep Time 15 Minutes
  • Cook Time 38 Minutes 
  • Servings: 8

Brownie Ingredients

  • 1-½ stick Butter
  • 2 ounces Dark Chocolate, broken into chunks (I used chocolate with 72% cocoa content)
  • ¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
  • 1 ¼ cups Sugar
  • 3 whole Eggs, warmed to room temperature
  • 1-½ teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 1 cup All-purpose Flour
  • ½ tablespoon instant Espresso Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Fleur de Sel (coarse sea salt)

Caramel Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup Sugar
  • 2 tablespoons Light Corn Syrup
  • ½ cup Heavy Cream
  • 1 teaspoon Fleur de Sel
  • ¼ cup Sour Cream

Caramel Preparation Instructions

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and corn syrup with ¼ cup water, stirring them together carefully so you don’t splash the side of the pan.  Cook over high heat until the mixture is dark amber in color, 6 to 8 minutes.  Remove from heat, and slowly add the cream and then the fleur de sel.  Whisk in the sour cream.  Set aside to cool.

Brownie Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Place a large piece of foil in a 9-inch square metal cake pan, draping the foil over the edges. Grease foil with butter.

Melt the 1 ½ sticks of butter with the dark chocolate over very low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat. Whisk to combine. Add the cocoa, sugar, eggs, vanilla, espresso powder, and flour.  Whisk to combine, though be careful not to over mix.  Pour three-quarters of the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula.  Set aside the remaining batter.

Bake for about 18 minutes then remove from oven.  Drizzle about ½ cup of the caramel over the brownies and use spatula to spread around, avoiding the corners of the pan.  Put the remainder of brownie batter over the layer of caramel and spread around with spatula.  Sprinkle top with fleur de sel.  Bake for an additional 18 to 20 minutes.

Cool at room temperature in the pan for about a half hour, then lift the brownies from the pan and refrigerate in the foil just until they are firm.  Remove from foil and cut the brownies into 12 or 16 squares.