Oatmeal Cookie Dough No-Churn Ice Cream

You guys.  I can't even.  No words.

Black Tea Affogato with Cocoa Nib Brittle

I don't know how other food bloggers do it.  How do they keep posting week after week through moves, babies, book deals, the ups and downs of life?  I used to be like that, in fact I used to post almost twice a week.  We lived in sunny, warm Southern California when I started this blog.  Ingredients and inspiration were abundant.  I was part of a CSA that dropped a mountain of beautiful produce in my lap every week and a garden in my yard that allowed me to grow our favorites nearly year round.  I had two kiddos who were old enough to be in school at least a few days a week so I had time to fiddle around, try new recipes and ingredients.  It all seemed so easy.  I'm coming up on four years now and these days I'm lucky if I can get two posts a month cranked out. I can't remember how I used to manage it.  Was it just that I had more time?  More ideas or inspiration?  Am I (and this is the worst possibility) simply burned out?

I'm trying not to put too much pressure on myself.  2015 may just turn out to be a year of slim pickings here and I am trying to be okay with that.  Last year was a big, big year for me.  I kept on blogging through a surprise pregnancy, working on capturing my family's recipes in a little cook book of my own and recipe testing for an awesome cookbook that will be out later this year (I can't wait to share the results with you!).  So I suppose it's only natural that I need to take a step back this year.  That's not to say that I don't want to keep at it.  I have a half dozen ideas swimming around in my head pretty much all the time.  It's the steps of taking those ideas from the musings of my daily life to actual recipes and photos that I can share with you.  So I'm trying to make what does get onto this page the best of what makes it onto my plate.  My hope is that even if it's not abundant, what I do post is worth your time and mine.

Black Tea Affogato with Cocoa Nib Brittle
Serves one with enough brittle to share with 3 friends.
For the printable recipe, click here.

I love tea.  It's that simple.  It's my comfort and my morning drink.  So it stands to reason that I use it a lot in my cooking and baking too.  If you look through my archives you'll find at least half a dozen that incorporate tea in some way.  So when I saw a recipe using chai (a personal favorite) in place of the usual espresso in the Italian treat affogato (coffee poured over ice cream) I decided that I need to give it a shot.  I broke out my really good loose leaf assam tea, steeped it and gave it a shot.  But it needed a little something else.  A crunch and counter balance to the sweet ice cream and bitter tea.  I recalled an ice cream cake I once saw that included a cocoa nib brittle and remembered thinking that I really wanted to give it a try, so this is my version simplified.  Since the serving is small, use the best ingredients you can.  The creamiest and richest vanilla ice cream and your favorite strong black tea will turn this simple treat into something special.

For the tea:
1/4 cup hot water
1 bag black tea (assam, darjeeling, jasmine or English breakfast) or 1/2 tsp loose leaf tea

For the cocoa nib brittle:
3 tbs sugar
1/4 cup cocoa nibs

Premium vanilla ice cream

Steep the tea bag in the hot water until it cools to warm.  If using loose tea, use a tea infuser to contain the leaves.  You want a strong tea to counter balance the sweet ice cream so infuse as long as you can.  If it cools too much you can always reheat it to warm.  Don't reheat the tea too much, too hot and it will simply melt the ice cream right away.

While the tea is infusing, heat the sugar in a small dry pan over medium high heat.  It will melt and caramelize it in just a few minutes.  Watch carefully because the sugar can go from perfectly caramelized to burnt and bitter in a heartbeat.  If it needs a stir, do so gently and little as possible so that the caramel doesn't crystallize.  Once it gets to a beautiful golden color, remove the caramel from the heat and stir in the cocoa nibs.  If it cools too quickly you can put the pan over the heat for just a moment to soften the caramel.  Pour the brittle onto a parchment lined baking sheet to cool.  Once it cools, break into small pieces.  The brittle will keep in an airtight container for a few weeks.

Assemble the affogato by placing two or three small scoops of ice cream into a glass.  Pour the warm tea over the ice cream and top with a sprinkling with the brittle.  Enjoy immediately.

Cherry and Cantaloupe Popsicles

You can't usually tell, but lurking right at the edge of most of the photos I post here is a small boy waiting (rather impatiently) for me to finish up so he can grab whatever food is in front of lens and take off.  He also, for reasons I have yet to determine, really likes to have his picture taken posing with the muffin, cookie or slice of bread I've taken the time to style just so.  He'll stand just outside the frame of my photo bouncing back and forth waiting for me to give him the go ahead to pick up the tasty bite and stand holding it with a big goofy grin on his face.

I have a ton of unpublished photos, mingled in and amongst the more polished ones, of my little man and his favorite foods.  He gets such a kick out of it.

I'm often in a hurry to get the pictures taken, so I get annoyed by his persistence to have those few extra poses taken.  Can't he understand that I just want to be left alone for a few precious moments?  Of course not!

And, if I really take a moment to think about, I ought not to let bother me so much.  He's only four and this age of eagerness to have his picture taken or even to interact with me won't last forever.  I can already tell by the decreasing frequency of hugs and cuddles with my eight year old, that the years will go quickly and before I know it I'll have a couple of sullen teenage boys on my hands.

So this time around I decided to embrace his need to be in my photos.  And, come on, aren't those little hands just the cutest?  It started with a few fingers sneaking their way across my field of view trying to steal one of these incredibly tempting popsicles.  Instead of snapping at my little man to wait, I kept taking pictures.  I may even have posed him once or twice.  And in the end, my favorite photos are the ones where the popsicle is threatening to run away with it's little owner.

The pictures are downright fun, and so are the popsicles.  After all, that's what a popsicle is meant to be, right?  And when it's in the shape of a rocket, it's even more irresistible.  I know from experience on this one.  So go ahead, steal away little man.  Mom is more than happy to let you run away with one of these pops.

Cherry and Cantaloupe Popsicles
Fills 6 rocket pops or 8 standard sized popsicle molds.  Adapted from Honest Cooking.
For the printable recipe, click here.

These popsicles are only lightly sweetened with a bit of honey and have a touch of yogurt added for creaminess.  You can separate the flavors into their own popsicles, put them together with a bit of a swirl or layer them the way I do.  It's all up to you.  The amount of sweetener is up to you and the sweetness of your fruit.

1/4 cup greek yogurt, divided in half
2-3 tsp honey, divided in half
2 tbs lime juice, divided in half
1 1/2 cup cubed cantaloupe (about 1/2 small cantaloupe)
1 cup cherries

Place half of the yogurt and lime juice and 1 tsp of honey into a blender.  Add the cantaloupe and blend together until smooth.  Taste for sweetness, adding up to another 1/2 tsp of honey if necessary.  Pour into the bottoms of bottom of popsicle molds, dividing the puree evenly among the molds.  Set aside or into the freezer.

In the same blender, pour in the rest of the yogurt and lime juice as well as 1 tsp of honey and the cherries.  Blend until smooth.  Taste for sweetness, adding a bit more honey as needed.  For a layered effect, slowly pour the cherry puree over the cantaloupe puree in the popsicle molds.  If you would like the flavors swirled, with a bamboo skewer or toothpick, gently swirl the two layers together once or twice.  Freeze the popsicles for one hour.  Add the sticks to the center of the popsicles and return them to the freezer for three to four more hours, until fully frozen.

To unmold, run the popsicles under warm water for a few seconds.

Strawberry Swirl & Lemon Ice Cream {No Machine Required!}

I have a bad habit that I am trying to kick- I'm addicted to cookbooks.  The cupboards above my microwave and fridge are bursting with books ranging from small volumes focused on a single subject to huge, glossy hardbacks covering the whole of bread making.  It's a collection that I have been curating for over 15 years and I can't pass by a bookstore or magazine stand without taking a peek at the food-related volumes.  Some I buy for their beauty and I want to make every single recipe in the book- one of my current faves is Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard, by Nigel Slater.  The photos are what my dreams are made of, simple and beautiful, and the fruit- oh my!  And some I choose because of a single recipe that I simply can't live without.

So I was browsing through Anthropologie a couple of weeks ago (another addiction to be tackled at a later date) and I stopped by a stack of Kinfolk magazines.  If you haven't seen one, let me tell you about it- this simply lovely magazine is devoted to gatherings, small and large and is beautifully photographed, simply styled, and partners those photos with thoughtful prose.  I love it, but it's not necessarily cost effective at $18 a volume.  So, with no intention of buying, I flipped through it and got stopped in my tracks by an ice cream recipe.  Two pages, a beautiful photo and a surprisingly easy recipe.  I considered for a moment snapping a pic of the recipe with my iphone.  I promise it was a fleeting thought.  My morals got the better of me and I took it to the counter.  Sigh.  $18 for an ice cream recipe.

But it was so worth it.  I didn't stick to the recipe, but used it as a springboard for my own inspiration.  And the result is an ice cream that had my kids silent at the table while eating (except for the occasional declarations of "I love this ice cream!").  So worth it.

Strawberry Swirl & Lemon Ice Cream
Serves 4 (makes 1 pint).  Adapted from Kinfolk, A Guide for Small Gatherings, Vol. 7.
For the printable recipe, click here.

The joy of this recipe is its simplicity.  No ice cream machine is required here, simply a bowl and a whisk.  So anyone can make it.  There is a tiny bit of liquor in the mix, but you won't taste it.  It's purpose is to help the ice cream from setting up too solidly.  You can leave it out if you like, but it will effect the texture of the ice cream.  Instead, if the alcohol is the issue, try heating the lemon juice, sugar and rum mixture at a low simmer for a minute or two.  Just be sure to cool it completely before proceeding with the recipe.  In my opinion, this ice cream is the epitome of early spring in a bowl.  But I also can't wait until summer to try it with blackberries and blueberries.  Whatever berry you choose, I promise you'll love it.

1/2 cup plus 2 tbs lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbs white rum or white tequila
1/2 cup sour cream or creme fraiche
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup chopped strawberries, blended until smooth

Stir together the lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar and rum until the sugar is dissolved.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whip together the sour cream and heavy cream until thick with either a whisk or or electric mixer.  Add this mixture to bowl with the lemon mixture and stir until fully incorporated.  Pour it into a freezer proof container and freeze.

After about 1 1/2 hours, remove the container from the freezer.  The ice cream should be partially set, but not firm yet.  Gently pour the strawberry puree over the ice cream as you stir so that it swirls through.  Do not stir until it is fully mixed in- you want the streaks and swirls.  Return to the freezer and freeze until set, at least another 1 1/2 hours.

Pineapple Buttermilk Granita

Not that long ago, my husband was on one of his many trips for work.  His squadron goes all over the place to train and perform the mission of his aircraft.  Most of the time, they use Hawaii as a home base for a few weeks and fly several missions from there.  In between the 6 to 8 hours of flying a day, there's always plenty of down time and fun to be had.  But somehow there never seems to be room in his luggage for me to stow away in...

During this past trip, I got a random picture texted to me in the middle of the day.  It was a picture of a giant ice cream cone filled with a very recognizable frozen treat- Dole Pineapple Whip.  He was teasing me with sweets.  From Hawaii.  On a beautiful day at the pineapple plantation.  How is that fair, I ask you?  I'm stuck with the day to day trials and tribulations of taking care of two boys at the tail end of summer vacation and he's traipsing around paradise flaunting his good fortune!

Determined not to let my hubby have all the fun, I snagged a pineapple from the nearest grocery store and set out to recreate that now-infamous and completely resented photo for myself.  Here's the problem- nobody really knows how Dole makes that Whip.  It's not ice cream, it's not sherbet or gelato either.  It's some crazy recipe only the Dole food scientists can figure out.  So I settled for the next best thing, a quick granita like my grandmother used to make when I was growing up. 

After much blending, mixing and tasting, I came up with what I think is just the right combination of flavors.  The granita is sweet from the pineapple and honey and tangy from the buttermilk and lime, with just a tiny bit of creaminess. With this container in my freezer, I'm only a few scoops away from my own little paradise here in the California sun.  So there! 

Pineapple Buttermilk Granita
Serves 4-6.
For a printable version, click here.

This is an easy treat to make and it doesn't require any fancy gadgetry.  Just a knife, measuring cup, blender, and fork.  So really, anyone can get a taste of paradise for very little effort.  That's my idea of a real treat!

3 1/2 cups coarsley chopped fresh pineapple (roughly 3/4 of an average pineapple)
1 tsp lime zest
juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup honey

In a blender, puree the pineapple, honey, lime juice and zest.  Add the buttermilk and blend just to mix.  Pour the mixture into an 8 x 8 freezable pan (glass works well).  Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and freeze.

When the mixture begins to set (after about an hour and a half), stir it with a fork to loosen the crystals.  Repeat this after another 2 hours.  At this point, the granita is ready to serve.  Serve in small, chilled glasses or ice cream bowls.

Double Root Beer Floats

When you're a little kid, you don't think much about how your experiences will influence the rest of your life.  OK, most kids don't think about that sort of thing at all.  Why would they?  Children live for the moment, the "here and now".  As adults, we tend to forget about the present and spend much of our time planning for our futures or reminiscing about our pasts.  I wonder when that switch occurs?  Sometime in the transition between the teenage brain and the adult brain, I'd guess.  But I'd be hard-pressed to come up with the memory that was the first to register with me as something that would stick with me forever.  And yet, I know they exist.

I think it must be because the things that really make you who you are are more often the little things and not the huge, life-altering events.  The little family traditions, the special treats, or the things that are said to you day in and day out that influence the adult person you will become. 

Many of my influences came from my mother and her family, mostly because we were closer to her side of the family.  My father sort of gets pushed aside by my Mom's loud, rambunctious Italian family- and I don't mean that in a bad way.  But he's a quiet, unassuming kind of guy and I guess he doesn't mind most of the time.  Nevertheless, there are a few loves in my life that are a direct result of my Dad's influence.

When you grow up as an all-American boy in the 60s, there are a few things that you can count on being a part of your life.  Baseball (go Phillies!), drive-ins, and cool cars.  My dad can tell you all about any car ever made, but especially about the muscle cars of the late 60s and early 70s.  I love that when you ask a question about one, he'll rattle off a ton of information about it even when all you wanted to know was when it was made.  I'm not a gearhead by any stretch of the imagination, but I still find myself watching car auctions and restoration shows on TV and thinking of my dad.

My dad and I would listen to baseball on the radio while working out in the yard, or to the old radio shows from the 1940s (like George Burns and the original Green Hornet) on the way to gymnastics practice.  That was our quality time.  Neither of us are big talkers, so we would just sit together and listen.  And when he wanted to do something really special, back when you could still find them, he'd seek out a drive-in burger joint and order us up a root beer float.  To this day, I still consider them the ultimate treat.  My mom wanted a chocolate ice cream soda, but my dad and I would always go for the root beer.  It was even better if the root beer came straight from the tap or at least a glass bottle.

I don't drink much soda these days, but on the rare occasion that I do, you can bet it will be a root beer.  Thanks Dad!

Double Root Beer Floats (with Root Beer Ice Cream)
Makes about 1 quart of ice cream and enough root beer floats for a bunch of hungry kids.  Adapted (just barely) from Amanda's Cookin'.
For a printable recipe, click here.

I'm going to confess, I didn't think this ice cream was going to turn out right.  The ingredients seemed too simple and try as I may, I just couldn't get it to freeze in my ice cream maker.  As a last resort, I just poured the really cold ice cream base into a freezer safe container and stuck it in the freezer overnight.  Lo and behold, the next day I actually had scoopable ice cream.  So there's hope even for you folks without an ice cream maker.  All you have to do is seek out root beer extract (which, oddly enough, I found at Walmart and not some fancy cooking store).  Get yourself some really good root beer, in a bottle of course, and you're set!

14 oz container of sweetened condensed milk (all I had was the non-fat version and it worked just fine)
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup of milk (anything but non-fat will work here)
4-5 tsp root beer extract (they vary widely by brand, so taste your ice cream base before adding more)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk all the ingredients together in a large bowl.  Chill until very cold (at least two hours).  Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.  If you can't get yours to freeze- like I couldn't- don't fear.  Continue on with the recipe anyway. 

Place the ice cream in a freezer safe container and freeze until solid, preferably at least 4 hours or overnight.

To make the floats, pour root beer into a frosty glass to about 3/4 full.  Add a big scoop of the root beer ice cream on top.  Serve with a straw and a spoon.