Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

Zak's grandparents mailed us a big box of cherries last week and we decided to try a new cherry vanilla ice cream.  The recipe we tried a year or two ago was ok, but froze very hard.  This new recipe was like the peach raspberry ice cream we made a few weeks ago--we basically used the base and then added cherries. My friend let us use her cherry pitter, which was awesome!  It is a great tool.  The ice cream was great, soft and creamy and perfect on a hot summer day.

1 c. milk
3/4 c. sugar + 1/8 c.
1 c. half & half
1/2 Tbl. vanilla
2 c. cream
2 c. pitted, quartered cherries
1 1/2 Tbl. vanilla

1.  Scald milk on stove until bubble form around the edges, remove from heat.
2.  Pour into a heat-proof bowl and stir in sugar and salt until it's all dissolved.
3.  Add in half & half, vanilla and heavy cream.
4.  Cover tightly, refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5.  Freeze ice cream according to ice cream maker's directions.  Once it has churned for about 20 minutes (starting to stiffen up), add pitted, quartered cherries and continue mixing another 5 - 10 minutes.
6.  Freeze in freezer for a few hours.

delicious!

Peach Raspberry Vanilla Ice Cream

We have been itching to make homemade ice cream, but it hasn't been very "summer-y" around these parts until the last few days.  After much debate, we decided on a vanilla ice cream with peaches from Zak's grandparents and raspberry jam or syrup to swirl in.  We ended up using the basic vanilla ice cream recipe from our ice cream maker book and went from there.  The result was simply delicious.  We were too eager to try it after a few hours in the freezer that we completely forgot about the sugar cones we bought.  Anyways, this was supposedly a 2 quart recipe, but we separated it into two containers to fit into the freezer, so I don't know how much total it made.  But it was worth it!

1 c. milk
3/4 c. + 2 Tbl. sugar
pinch of salt
1 c. half & half
1/2 Tbl. vanilla
2 c. heavy whipping cream
2 c. pureed peaches (2 fresh peaches)
about 4 Tbl. seedless raspberry jam (didn't have any homemade stuff, but Smucker's worked just fine)

1.  Scald milk on stove until bubbles form around the edges, remove from heat.
2.  Pour into a heat-proof large bowl and stir in sugar and salt until it's all dissolved.
3.  Add in half & half, vanilla and heavy cream.
4.  Cover tightly, refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5.  For the pureed peaches, Zak blended them with about a Tbl. of plain yogurt to smooth the texture out.  And then he heated up the jam in the microwave so we could pour it easily.
6.  Add peaches to refrigerated mixture and freeze according to ice cream maker's directions.
7.  We added the jam after about 20 minutes of mixing it, just on top and let it run for a few minutes.
8.  Freeze for at least 2 - 3 hours before tasting, it will be tempting though!

before freezing

it was a bit soft when we ate it, but it was so good (also check out the cute bowls Zak's parents got us, we love them)

delicious!

Irish Chocolate Guinness Cake

For St. Patrick's Day, in addition to corned beef, our friends requested I make this cake.  I agreed because I really love making cakes and it looks like it'd be a delicious, moist cake.  Plus I can't say no to a recipe with cream cheese frosting.  I'm a sucker for the stuff.  Anyways, this cake is delicious.  It's very thick, moist and easy to eat.  It's so very good, so good that Zak didn't want me to give any away to our friends!

Cake
1 c. Guinness
1/2 c. butter, cubed
2 c. sugar
3/4 c. cocoa
2 eggs
2/3 c. sour cream
3 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream

1.  Grease a 9" spring-form pan, then line with parchment paper.  Set aside; set oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Melt butter in a small saucepan.  Once butter is mostly melted, add beer and stir until butter has completely melted.  Remove from heat.
3.  In a large bowl, combine sugar and cocoa.  Add in beer mixture and stir until smooth.
4.  In a small bowl, beat eggs.  Add vanilla and sour cream, mix well.  Add to large bowl with beer and chocolate.
5.  Mix in flour and baking soda until completely smooth.  Pour in prepared pan.
6.  Bake for 40 - 45 minutes, until toothpick is inserted in middle and comes out clean.
7.  Cool completely on wire rack, still in pan.  Once cake has cooled, remove from pan and place on cake plate.
8.  Beat cream cheese until fluffy.  Slowly add in powdered sugar and heavy cream and beat until smooth.
9.  Frost cake and refrigerate.  Bring to room temperature about half an hour before serving.  Store leftovers in fridge.

delicious

a thick, moist piece of cake!

Carmelitas

Warning: you will want to consume the entire pan of these, try your best not to.  These are delicious.  And are way too easy to eat.  They are called 'carmelitas' and I found them on a cute blog, and decided to give them a try, with the idea that we'd give some away.  We did give some away, just not as many as I had hoped.  Because we ate most of them.  They are just amazing, oh man.  They're a combination of cookie and bar, and are very rich, but kind of addicting.  They're also pretty simple to make, they just require a lot of time to cool.  I didn't get more than a few pictures, because I was too busy eating them.  Enjoy!

32 caramel squares, unwrapped
1/2 c. heavy cream
3/4 c. butter, melted
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. flour
1 c. oats
1 tsp. baking soda
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Combine caramels and cream over low heat until completely melted and smooth.  Set aside.
3.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, oats, baking soda and butter.  Pat half of the mixture in an 8x8" pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.
4.  Remove pan and sprinkle chocolate chips over baked crust.  Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips; sprinkle remaining oats mixture on top of caramel layer.
5.  Return to oven and bake additional 15 - 20 minutes, or until sides are slightly browned.  Remove and let cool completely before cutting.  To make a 9x13" pan, simply double ingredients.

fresh out of the oven

I tried to get a good picture...

...but then I devoured them...

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com.  I don't know where the idea to make cinnamon rolls came from, but I decided it'd be nice to do when Kenny & Delaney were here.  This recipe was delicious and pretty simple to do.  Next time we have company stay with us, I'll probably make them again.  But we don't need a whole pan of these in the fridge, they will get eaten much too quickly!

rolls
1 c. milk
1/3 c. butter
1 (.25 oz.) package active dry yeast
1/2 c. sugar
4 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
3 eggs

filling
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 Tbl. cinnamon
1/2 c. raisins (optional, I didn't include them)

glaze
1 tsp. light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 c. sifted powdered sugar
2 Tbl. half & half

1.  Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles; remove from heat.  Add the butter and stir until melted; let cool until lukewarm.
2.  In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in the milk mixture.  Add sugar, 3 c. of flour, salt and egg.  Stir well to combine.  Add the remaining flour, 1/2 c. at a time, stirring well after each addition.
3.  When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed until smooth and supple, about 8 mins.
4.  Lightly oil a larger bowl and place dough in it; coat with oil.  Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
5.  Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 10"x14" rectangle.  Lightly brush the far edge with water.
6.  In a small bowl, combine cinnamon and brown sugar and sprinkle over the rectangle evenly.  The sprinkle raisins, if using.  Roll up the dough into a log and seal the seam.
7.  Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces; place in a greased 9"x13" pan.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to rise overnight.
8.  The next morning, preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Let the rolls stand at room temperature for 30 mins. before baking.
9.  Once at room temperature, bake for 25 - 30 mins., or until golden.  Meanwhile, combine corn syrup with vanilla in a small bowl.  Whisk in the powdered sugar and enough cream to make a thick glaze.  Drizzle glaze over the rolls and serve warm.

before going in the fridge at night

big rolls the next morning

out of the oven, yum!

Chicken in Lemon-Cream Sauce

My mom sent me this recipe and I made this last night and it is so yummy!  It was hard to leave leftovers!  It's a very simple, easy recipe and went great with some mashed potatoes and corn.  Wonderful!

a few Tbl. butter
8 chicken breast halves, or tenders
2 Tbl. dry white wine or water
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. (white) pepper
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
2 Tbl. lemon juice
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1/3 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 c. sliced mushrooms (we don't love mushrooms, so I excluded them)

1.  Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat, add chicken.  Cook, about 10 minutes, or until browned and tender.  Remove and place in overproof serving dish; discard butter from skillet.
2.  Add wine (or water), lemon peel and lemon juice to skillet; cook and stir over medium heat about 1 min.  Stir in salt and pepper.
3.  Gradually pour in cream, stirring constantly.  Stir until hot, do not boil!  Pour cream sauce over chicken, sprinkle with cheese and mushrooms.  Broil about 6 inches from heat source until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. 

No pictures, sorry!

White Cake (with Whipped Cream & Strawberries)

This is the cake I made for Easter, that I mentioned in this blog post. I got the recipe from my mom, who had made it a few weeks earlier for a co-worker's birthday. I figured it would be a perfect Easter/spring cake and called her for the recipe and her tips on it. She said the original recipe had a different filling, but she just to use just whipped cream and strawberries. She suggested I incorporate the strawberries into the whipped cream, in the hopes that it would sit and set up better. She had done: cake/whipped cream/sliced strawberries/whipped cream/cake, etc., and it was a bit slippery. The way I did it worked well, but I didn't need nearly as much whipped cream and strawberries as she suggested, so ... just a note.

Also, another note: follow the recipe exactly. And use parchment paper. It just makes life easier. The cakes turned out perfectly and my confidence level for cake making rose about 50 points after this baking episode.

White Cake (warning, you will be licking the bowl, it is so tasty!)

2 1/4 c. cake flour

1 c. whole milk, room temperature [a tip for getting things to room temperature: set containers in bottom of sink, filled with hot water, leave for 10 or so minutes, just make sure to check periodically]

6 large egg whites (3/4 c.), room temperature

1 tsp. almond extract

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 3/4 c. sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

12 Tbl. unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Either cut parchment paper to lay on the bottom of round pans or grease and flour pans.

3. Pour milk, egg white, extracts into 2 c. glass measuring cake and stir with fork until blended.

4. Add cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and beat in mixer on low speed until all mixed up.

5. Add butter, beat on slow speed until resembles coarse crumbs.

6. Add all but 1/2 c. milk mixture, and beat on medium speed 1 1/2 minutes.

7. Add remaining milk mixture, beat 30 seconds on medium speed.

8. Scrape sides of bowl, beat another 20 seconds on medium.

9. Divide batter evenly into pans.

10. Bake on middle rack 23 - 25 minutes. Make sure the middle isn't wobbling; if the cake starts to sink when it's pulled out of the oven, it's not cooked enough.

11. Rest for 3 minutes in pans after pulling out of oven.

12. Loosen sides with a knife around the edges.

13. Turn over onto cooling rack; turnover again so top is facing up (use parchment, if desired).

14. Let cool 1 1/2 hours.

Whipped Cream

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1 lb. strawberries, cut and diced into small pieces

powdered sugar

almond extract (opt.)

vanilla extract (opt.)

1. Beat whipping cream until thick.

2. Add powdered sugar (sorry I don't have an estimate, just until it is sweet enough; don't add sugar to the strawberries because they'll 'leak', so allow the cream to get sweet enough to compensate for the berries) until sweet.

3. If desired, add in some vanilla and/or almond extract. Just eyeball it.

4. Once thick, remove from mixer and incorporate strawberries in by hand.

5. Spread whipping cream between cake layers, on top and on sides if there is enough. It's also good just by itself!

a beautiful golden cake

complete with filling; this cake is very dense and rich

care for a slice?

Tuxedo Chocolate Cake

This. Cake. Is. Fantastic.

However, it takes a fair amount of time to make, it is huge, and one piece is probably a fair amount of your caloric intake for the day. But it is worth it, because it it divine. Here we go.

Cake:

4 c. sugar

1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

4 c. flour

1 Tbl. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. buttermilk

1 Tbl. vanilla

1 c. unsalted butter

1 c. canola or vegetable oil

2 c. water

4 large eggs

Whipped Cream Filling & Frosting:

4 c. chilled whipping (heavy) cream

1 1/4 c. powdered sugar

Chocolate Glaze:

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces

1/2 c. whipping (heavy) cream

1/4 c. Lyle's Golden Syrup OR Dark Karo (corn) syrup [the Lyle's stuff is apparently British, so I did some research to find a reasonable substitute]

2 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Prepare three 9-inch round cake pans; lightly grease pans with shortening, line with parchment paper, and then lightly grease the top of the paper and dust with flour.

2. In a (very) large mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; whisk together to mix.

3. In a small bowl, combine buttermilk and vanilla.

4. In a medium saucepan, combine butter, oil and water. Heat over low heat until the butter is melted, stirring often.

5. Pour the butter mixture into the sugar/cocoa mixture. Using an electric mixer or a wire whisk (which works just fine), stir until combined and smooth.

6. Crack the eggs into a small mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly to break up the eggs, then add to batter, stirring until combined. Add the buttermilk mixture and stir until everything is thoroughly combined.

7. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake 40 - 45 minutes or until center tested with a toothpick comes out pretty and clean.

8. Place pans on a wire cooling rack for 15 minutes, then remove cakes from pans to cool completely. Make sure they are cooled completely before frosting, at least one hour.

9. In a large mixing bowl (it works a little better if you chill the bowl and mixing tool beforehand), beat the 4 c. whipping cream until soft mounds form. Gradually add the powdered sugar and beat until thick and stiff.

10. Place one cake on the plate you are going to use, thickly spread some of the whipper cream over the top. Top with the remaining cake layers, coating the top of each with the whipped cream. Cover the sides of the cake as well, and make it as smooth as possible over the top and sides.

11. Refrigerate the cake at least one hour to stabilize the whipped cream before glazing.

12. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.

13. In a small saucepan over medium low heat, heat the 1/2 whipping cream until it is hot and just beginning to steam.

14. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate, stirring until it's completed melted. Add the Golden Syrup (or dark Karo corn syrup) and vanilla, stirring until completely melted.

15. Pour the chocolate mixture into a pitcher, or liquid measuring cup with a pouring spout and let it cool for 8 - 10 minutes (if it sits longer than that, it will thicken up too much to pour over the cake, so set a timer).

16. Slowly pour the glaze over the cake. Cover the top entirely, then let some of the glaze drizzle down the sides, allowing some of the whipped cream to show through.

17. Refrigerate the cake until the glaze is set and the whipped cream frosting is firm at least one hour. To serve, slice the cake with a long serrated knife.

cooling

I used foil pans, since I didn't have enough pans, so it was kind of a challenge...I had to fill in the gaps with extra whipped cream

more or less frosted

with the glaze, ooh

look how lovely!

Vanilla Cherry Ice Cream

Yesterday we made an impulse purchase: a 4 qt., Rival ice cream maker for $20. It was on clearance at Wal-Mart and we decided we might as well give it a shot; we don't need to get the $100 Kitchenaid attachment just yet. Well, I had been looking at recipes for bing cherries (since we have a huge flat left, and some are starting to turn yucky), and came across a vanilla cherry ice cream recipe. And since that is both one of our favorite recipes, we decided to give it a shot. It's a very simple recipe and we are quite pleased with the results with both the recipe and the ice cream maker. We are now excited about making different types of ice cream this summer....

2 c. heavy cream
1 c. milk
3/4 c. white sugar
1 Tbl. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
2 c. fresh cherries, pitted and cut in half (we did quarters so it would be easier to eat)

1. Combine the cream, milk and sugar; stir until sugar is dissolved.
2. Stir in the extracts; add the cherries.
3. Pour into ice cream mixture and churn according to manufacturer's instructions.

churning away

after being frozen overnight

yum yum yum!

Zak has stained hands now, haha