Brown Sugar Ice Cream

There are no pictures of failure.

I hate custards.  Wait, no, that's a lie.  I love to EAT custards, I hate to make them, because apparently, I fail at them on a regular basis. see: Pots de Creme. The problem with this, however, is that lots and lots of ice cream bases are custards.  (especially the ones in this book)  So I am going to have to learn, come hell or high water.

I am fairly certain that this is user error, as opposed to cookbook error. 

The epic fail began when I was cooking the brown sugar in a saucepan until it "was a chestnut color"  so I was watching, and stirring, and approximating, and finally I figured it was okay (the sugar was bubbling up pretty crazily), and set it to rest for 15 minutes. I think that one of the things that may have helped me here is a temperature reading- I am pretty familiar with making caramel sauce, and am well acquainted with my candy thermometer, and I think knowing what temp I was aiming for would have been helpful. When the resting time was over, the sugar was melted,  but still a little gritty in the pan, so I'm not sure if i undercooked it or not.  (this would not matter, later)

While it was resting, I whisked the eggs, and set the milk in a saucepan to scald. I tempered the eggs, and poured the egg/ milk mixture back into the milk, turned the heat down,and then began to whisk.  I was looking for a spoon, so i could test the thickness of the custard, when I lifted the whisk out of the milk and egg mixture, and noticed that there were tiny pieces of scrambled egg attached to it. My heart sank, and I killed the heat on the stove, and thought, maybe, if the eggs hadn't scrambled toooo much, I could take my sieve, and pour the milk/egg mixture through it, and have a salvaged ice cream base. Which I guess was good in theory, but in practice, I had scrambled much more of the egg than I realized, and half of the mixture stayed in the sieve.  Cursing profusely, I trashed the entire thing.

I know I made a rule about not repeating recipes that I've made,  but i feel like i need to give this one a second chance.  Maybe next time with a double boiler.

Tea Ice Cream 1877

In Baltimore, we are lucky have a wonderful gelateria called Pitango Gelato. they have all sorts of awesomeness, organic, delicious gelato- but one of the best flavors that they have is black tea gelato.  I had heard about it weeks before I had been able to try it- and after a couple of failed attempts at going to Fells Point once a week (they were out when I was there), I finally had success! It was amazing. I couldn't stop thinking about it.

 

So when I got the cookbook, the recipe that immediately piqued my interest was the one for Tea Ice Cream.  The headnote says that you can use any kind of tea (Green tea was originally used, but I'm not a fan)  I have a bag of loose leaf Earl Grey from Zeke's  for special occasions (that will now be relegated solely for ice cream use)  and I set about putting the ice cream base together.  It's pretty simple, although time consuming.  I don't know if it's because I don't have a proper double boiler (I was using a Pyrex bowl over a saucepan)  or if it just takes that long, but it took forever for the cream to scald.  You scald half the cream with the tea, strain out the tea, return to the double boiler, and add the rest of the cream, and then scald again.  Once scalded, you add it slowly to beaten egg/sugar combo, and let cool, then chill in the fridge overnight.

 

This is where my poor planning kicks me in my impatient ass. So I got my mixer attachment in the mail, and I knew that I would have to freeze the bowl.  So i though to myself "I'll just freeze this, and make my base tomorrow right when i get home from work, and then churn it before I go to bed!"  What I didn't do, however, was read the recipe instructions, which said that the base had to chill overnight. (cue me kicking myself)  so after I cursed a little,  I put together the base, and threw it into the fridge once it was cool, so I could churn it on Friday. I considered churning it before work on Friday, but I vetoed that idea, because while I do, occasionally, have some willpower,  churning ice cream before work would certainly mean that I would be eating ice cream for breakfast. I am not made of stone, people.

 

So I waited until I got home from work, and put it into the mixer attachment to make my inaugural batch of ice cream. If you are a fan of tea, and have an ice cream maker, I suggest you stop whatever you are doing, and get the ingredients to make this ice cream.  It is heavenly.  You know when you put real cream in your tea, that creamy, sweet, tea that results is wonderful? If you take that cup of tea and magnify the deliciousness by ten, you will begin to come close to the awesomeness that is this ice cream.  Earl Grey is, I think, the best compliment to this ice cream, because besides being one of my favorite teas, The flavor of the tea blends really, really well with the cream.

 

Hands down. I think it may be the best dessert I've ever made.

 

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Frosting

 

There are few things in life that are better than the combination of chocolate and peanut butter.  Creamy, nutty peanut butter, offset by sweet and rich chocolate- It's seriously one of the best things to go together. Even better than peanut butter and jelly.

I began by baking the peanut butter cupcakes, which I suspect I slightly over baked, but they were still good- The recipe is forgiving, and they are were still pretty moist.

And then the frosting. Oh, the frosting. I don't know why people buy frosting out of a can, when making this is so easy. sure, you dirty a bowl, but the results are 1000x better than the chemical-laden stuff you get in cans.  Even as someone who is more partial to dark chocolate, this is a clear winner.  I've made something similar from Smitten Kitchen before, and it was just as (if not better!) than it was last time.

I used Trader Joe's Cocoa Powder for the frosting, and I am impressed on how well it held up.  I think a side by side tasting with Hersheys, and a high end cocoa powder might be a fun thing to do- but that would require much, more frosting than I need to have around.
I grated a little dark chocolate on top for decoration, and ta da! Cupcakes:

note: this recipe makes extra frosting. I stuck mine in the fridge, intending to use it for another dessert, and ended up using it on graham crackers, and apple slices... and perhaps just directly from a spoon into my mouth. it's GOOD, you guys.

And the recipe's still online! Grab it here

Flat and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I don't make Compost Cookies, (my general, go-to cookie of awesomeness)  my default chocolate chip cookie is Alton Brown's The Chewy.  I should just say, these are my ideal chocolate chip cookies- they're just right. Chewy, with a little bit of heft (you make them on the larger side) and just a little bit underbaked in the center. They are cookies that I compare all chocolate chip cookies to. 

 I am generally not a fan of flat, or crispy, or cake-y chocolate chip cookies, I mean, I'll eat them, but they aren't my absolute favorite.

These cookies are excellent.  Just the right amount of chewy, with a nice hit of saltiness, I can definitely see adding them to my cookie repertoire.  This is one of the two chocolate chip cookie recipes in the book, and I can definitely see why this one made it- it's a classic.  Not quite as good as the ideal, but definitely close.

For someone that is relatively practiced at cookie making, this recipe's a snap. Mix together ingredients, chill, and then bake.  My friends were appreciative!

Martinis!

For anyone who loves gin as much as I do, It is surprising to me even, that I had not ever had a martini before I made these ones for the project.

 

When my friend Paul asked what he could bring to dinner, I asked him to bring some fun olives, because I knew we would be having martinis with dinner. And fun olives he did bring! Ones stuffed with almonds, and ones stuffed with sundried tomato, and some kind of orange zest.

  

I mixed them in a large mason jar with a lid, (because I am Classy, and don't have a bar set) and poured them into wine glasses (see again re: classy)  and we each chose an olive to plop into our drink. I used my basic budget gin (New Amsterdam, in case you're wondering- I read an article somewhere... Real Simple? Somewhere online? That named it as one of the best gin bargains, and I have to say, it's pretty good)

 

I don't know where this drink has been my whole drinking life!  the gin really shines through, and the salty-briny of the olives offsets it nicely.

 

A definite win!

Chocolate Dump-It Cake- 2002

A link to the recipe in the NYT website is here

I have, up to this point, not been much of a cake-baker (this will change, shortly, as there are a ton of cake recipes in the book)  I tend to stick to cupcakes, because of the portability factor, and, to be honest, the cuteness factor. (who doesn't love a cupcake?) 

But! The book calls, and when it was my sister's birthday, and she requested chocolate cake,  I landed on this one, which, in the headnote says is a great birthday cake.  This, I can confirm.  It was easy to put together, melting the chocolate in a saucepan, stirring the ingredients together,  sifting the dry ingredients, and then pouring the batter into the pan.  I put it in the oven for the allotted time, and then didn't have any problems getting it out of the pan when it had cooled a little.

Putting together the frosting is super quick and easy-  you melt chocolate in a double boiler, and add sour cream. stir, and frost cake. The result is slightly tangy, chocolatey frosting.

I cut it in half,  to make two layers, frosted it, and served it as Birthday Dinner Dessert for my sister. This cake is an awesome, chocolatey cake- not too dark, with a lighter tasting frosting. It's a good go -to chocolate cake to have in your arsenal. So make it! It doesn't have to be for a  birthday, it can just be because you want cake!

And Happy Birthday, Jack!  It only took me a month after your birthday to get the post up.

Shrimp and Artichoke Casserole

Because I've been so lame at posting, some of these dishes were cooked awhile ago, and I"m just writing aboutt them now. 

For Glee Tuesday (My weekly tradition of dinner and tv with friends) I've been using that as an excuse to work on project dinners. My friend Julie is doing South Beach, so I was looking through to find recipes that are not super carb heavy, and I landed on this one.  (I have also wanted to make it for awhile)  It has lots of things that I love: artichokes, shrimp.mushrooms- YUM.

You begin by making a delicious bechamel, that covers shrimp, artichokes, and sauteed mushrooms, you top with parmesan cheese, and paprika (Amanda Hesser suggests using smoked paprika, which I HEARTILY CONCUR- it takes the dish to the next level)  and bake it in the oven.

I served it over wilted spinach, which I wouuld do again in a heartbeat- it was even better than serving it over pasta, or rice, I think- the spinach was the perfect compliment to the dish.  If it didn't involve artery clogging heavy cream, I would definitely make this all the time. Alas, it will have to be relegated to special occasions, which will give me even more to look forward to.