Vanilla Ice Cream without the Ice Cream Maker!

Creamy and light (in texture, not calories) homemade ice cream...

WITHOUT an ice cream maker?

YES!

A certain generous milk-man blessed me with an obscene amount

of heavy whipping cream recently.

My goal has been to find and make perfect homemade ice cream.

I've tried cooked custards. I've tried little packages of powder.

I've tried it all.

This one seemed too good to be true. It's not.

This recipe takes the burden off of the ice cream maker to whip enough air

into the ice cream to make it creamy and instead

uses the Kitchen Aid to do the job.

I've put my ice cream maker out to pasture. I suspect mine won't be lonely for long.

Magic Vanilla Ice Cream:

**makes 2 quarts

1 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 oz. white chocolate squares
2 T. quality vanilla
dash of salt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate in the milk - for about 1 minute at 50% power. Stir. If chocolate isn't quite melted, heat for 20 second intervals, stirring after each time.
Cool. When milk/chocolate mixture is cooled add vanilla, salt and sour cream.

In a chilled bowl, beat the whipping cream to soft peaks - which takes about 2 minutes on medium high speed.

Mix 1/3 of the cream into the milk mixture. Once it is all combined, gently fold into the remaining cream, careful not to deflate.

Place mixture into an air tight container and freeze until firm about 6 hours or up to 2 weeks.

Bon Appetit!

German Chocolate Cake

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me!

This is a well kept family secret...

German Chocolate Cake IS my favorite birthday cake!

Somehow I was dubbed someone

who loved Black Forest Cake

for their birthday and I'm not entirely sure how it happened. With that said,

there is nothing wrong with a

well done Black Forest Cake,

but it's not my favorite cake:)

So, today on the day of my birth - I begged James to let me make my own birthday cake. He was so willing to go to the bakery and buy me a GC cake, but really?

I wouldn't be as good as the one

I am more than willing to make!

I won...it is after all MY birthday and

I can do anything I want including

making my own scrumptious cake.

German Chocolate Cake:

1 boxed German Chocolate Cake mix + ingredients to make it.

Frosting:

1 c. evaporated milk
1 1/3 c. white sugar
2 eggs
4 T. butter
1/4 t. salt
2 t. vanilla
2 1/2 c. coconut
1 c. chopped pecans or walnuts

In a heavy saucepan combine the milk, sugar and eggs. Whisk until well combined. Add the butter and salt, cook on medium low heat until thickened. I stir pretty much constantly until the mixture starts to boil. Take it off the heat and stir in the vanilla. Add coconut and nuts. Set aside until it has cooled.

Note: This is not the kind of frosting you will be able to frost around the sides of a cake beautifully. I prefer to make a 9x13 pan and then spread a nice THICK layer of the frosting on top. Some prefer to frost 2 - 8 or 9 inch rounds with frosting in the middle. Just be aware that this type of "frosting" will have more of a "dripping" effect over the sides of the cake. There is just no way around it...unless you frost the sides of the cake with a regular chocolate frosting, which I must say I don't like. I prefer dripping GC frosting any day to any other type or flavor of frosting on my GC cake. Boy. This is a long note.

Strawberry Pie

This is definitely one of my favorite summertime desserts. The filling is quick and easy and the crust is a shortbread cookie. As Ina Garten says, what could be better than that?

Crust:

1 C butter (not margarine)
1/2 C powdered sugar
2 C flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

Cream the butter and sugar together. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour and baking powder. Combine with the sugar and butter. Chill for an hour or so, then press into a 9" pie plate. I find this makes a lot and don't use quite all of the dough. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned- around 20 minutes. Let cool.

Filling:

In a saucepan, mix together:
1 C sugar
2 T cornstarch
1 small pkg strawberry jello
Add 1 C cold water and stir over medium heat until mixture is thickened. Let cool to room temperature.

You will need one quart (4 Cups) of strawberries. Wash and take the tops off. Leave the berries whole, or halve the larger ones to make them more bite-size. Pat dry and place them in the cooled crust. Pour cooled gel mixture over berries and put the pie in the fridge for an hour or so until completely set. Serve with whipped cream and enjoy!

Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Cake

Three layers of flour-less chocolate cake, strawberry chocolate mousse,

topped in chocolate ganache AND strawberries.

Decadent does not even begin to describe this dessert.

This piece of heaven comes from Marcel Desaulniers, the author of

Death By Chocolate.

In his cookbook are desserts with names like, Chocolate Phantasmagoria,

Double Mocha Madness, and his signature dessert - Death By Chocolate.

This man LOVES his chocolate.

I find myself perusing this particular cookbook when I am in

the mood to make something that will overload your senses.

When I feel like creating a few minutes of euphoria that

will have you savoring the moment.

I also need a crowd.

Regrettably, this dessert has a relatively short shelf life,

and should be eaten within 24 hours of making it.

Without any further adieu...the recipe.

Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Cake:

Chocolate Cake:

1/2 lb. butter (2 T. melted)

8 oz. semisweet chocolate

8 egg yolks

3/4 c. sugar

4 egg whites

Chocolate Strawberry Mousse:

2 pints strawberries, stems removed

16 oz. semisweet chocolate

4 oz. white chocolate

6 egg whites

2 T. sugar

1 c. heavy whipping cream

Semisweet Chocolate Ganache:

1 c. heavy whipping cream

2 T. butter

2 T. sugar

12 oz. semisweet chocolate

Lightly coat the insides of 3 - 9x1.5 inch cake pans with melted butter. Line each pan with parchment paper, then lightly coat the parchment paper with more melted butter. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Heat 1 inch of water in the bottom half of a double boiler over medium heat. Place remaining butter and 8 oz. semisweet chocolate in the top half of the double boiler. Tightly cover the top with plastic wrap. Allow to heat for 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat, stir until smooth, and hold at room temperature.

Place the egg yolks and 3/4 c. sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle. Beat on high until slightly thickened and lemon colored, about 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on high for 2 additional minutes.

While the egg yolks are beating, whisk 4 egg whites in a large stainless steal bowl until stiff but not dry.

Using a rubber spatula, fold the melted chocolate mixture into the beaten egg yolk mixture. Add a quarter of the beaten egg whites and stir to incorporate, then gently fold in the remaining egg whites.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans, spreading evenly, and bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool in the pans for 15 minutes. (During the baking process, the surface of the cakes will for a crust; this crust will normally collapse when the cakes are removed from the oven.) Invert 1 of the cakes on to the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan. Invert the other 2 cakes onto cake circles. Remove parchment paper and refrigerate cakes for 30 minutes.

To prepare the chocolate mousse, reserve the 12 best looking strawberries to decorate the top of the cake. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, puree 4 oz. of strawberries (12 medium sized berries should yield 1/2 c. - 4 oz. - of puree.) Set aside until needed. Refrigerate remaining berries until needed (that includes the 12 berries for decoration.)

Heat 1 inch of water in the bottom of a double boiler over medium heat. Place 16 oz. of semisweet chocolate, the white chocolate and the strawberry puree in the top half of the double boiler. Tightly cover with plastic wrap. Allow to heat for 12-14 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir until smooth. Transfer to a stainless steel bowl, using a rubber spatula to remove all of the melted chocolate mixture. Keep at room temperature until needed.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a balloon whip, whisk the 6 egg whites on high until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes. Continue to whisk on high while gradually adding 2 T. sugar. Whisk until stiff but not dry. Set aside until needed.

Using a hand held mixer, whip the heavy cream in a well-chilled stainless steel bowl until stiff. Fold a quarter of the egg whites into the melted chocolate mixture, then fold in the whipped cream. Now fold in the remaining egg whites. Set aside at room temperature until needed.

Assemble the 9 inch springform pan. Spread 1/2 c. of the mousse onto the cake layer in the assembled springform pan. Arrange 1/2 the amount of reserved strawberries (not including the 12 reserved for decoration), stem side down, into the mousse. The berries should be arranged in 2 rings: the first ring being 3/4 of an inch from the outside edge of the cake and the second, inside ring 3/4 of an inch away from the first. Distribute 3 c. of the mousse over the berries, being careful to keep the berries in position. Holding the pan by the top rim, gently but firmly tap the bottom of the pan2 to 3 times on your work surface to eliminate air pockets. Position a cake layer on top of the mousse, then repeat the process used on the first layer. Top the mousse with the remaining cake layer and gently press into position. Refrigerate the cake for 2-3 hours (do not freeze.)

Make Semisweet Chocolate Ganache by heating the heavy cream, butter and sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. When hot, stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil. Place the chocolate in a stainless steel bowl. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Reserve 3/4 c. of Chocolate Ganache for decorating the top of the cake. Set aside.

Remove the sides of the springform pan (do not remove the bottom of the pan; this will make it easier to handle later). Use a cake spatula to smooth and fill in the sides of the cake with 2-3 T. of room temperature ganache. Evenly spread the remaining amount of this ganache over the top and sides of the cake. Refrigerate the cake for 1 hour.

Transfer the reserved ganache to a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Remove the cake from the refrigerator. Pipe a circle of 12 evenly spaced stars along the outside edge of the top of the cake. Place a strawberry, stem side down, into each ganache star. Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes.

Cut the cake with an electric serrated knife, heating the blade of the slicer under hot running water before making each slice. Allow the slices to come to room temperature for 20-30 minutes before serving.

Bon Appetit!

Chef's Note: Give your chocolate ganache plenty of time to cool before you attempt to ice the cake. The longer it sits the thicker it will become - you don't want to try to ice the cake if the ganache is too warm or thin.

The berries I used were rather large - to do it over again, I would cut them in half to make the layers more even. It didn't affect the taste, but I ran out of room in the springform pan.

Billie's Italian Cream Cake

I don't know who Billie is, but she makes one heck of a cake! I found this recipe on The Pioneer Woman website and knew I had to try it. Curiously, I found the cake was even better the next day - almost like a marriage had taken place.




Billie's Italian Cream Cake:

Cake:

1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. vegetable oil
1 c. sugar
5 eggs, separated
3 t. vanilla
1 c. coconut
2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 c. buttermilk

Frosting:

2 - 8 oz pkgs cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. butter, softened
3 t. vanilla
2 lb. powdered sugar
1 c. walnuts, chopped
1 c. coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 3 - 9 inch cake pans, set aside.
Beat egg whites until stiff, set aside.

In a large bowl combine butter, oil and sugar, beat until fluffy. Mix in egg yolks, vanilla and coconut. Add dry ingredients and finally add buttermilk. Gently fold in egg whites.

To make frosting, combine cream cheese and butter - mix well in Kitchen Aid bowl. Add, vanilla, then powdered sugar. Once well blended add nuts and coconut.

Evenly pour cake batter into the 3 prepared cake pans, sprinkle with 2 T. sugar. Place cake pans in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven, cool in pans for 15 minutes then turn cakes out on a wire rack. These cakes are rather delicate, so be careful not to break them. Cool completely.

Once cooled frost between layers.

Bon Appetit!

Ina's Perfect Apple Crisp

This is my first choice when faced with the dilemma...

TOO MANY APPLES & NO ONE IS EATING THEM.

I haven't found it really matters what kind of apple you use. I've used Granny Smith's, Braeburn, Gala, Fugi and Golden Delicious - all with tasty results.

Today however we had an abundance of Braeburn & Gala apples.

This particular recipe has the perfect blend of spices and citrus juice, from your friend and mine...Ina Garten.

Ina's Perfect Apple Crisp:

3 lbs. apples, peeled & sliced
2 T. orange juice
2 T. lemon juice
1/2 c. sugar
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. nutmeg
*******

Topping:
1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 c. oatmeal, quick or old fashioned
1/2 lb. butter, diced (You WON'T regret it...)

Mix apples with orange & lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl and set aside.

In bowl of mixer place all ingredients for topping and combine until it has a coarse sandy texture.

Pour apples into a 9x13 inch pan and gently cover with topping.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Serve with whipping cream or enjoy it au natural.

Bon Appetit!

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

I might be the only one who has never made a pudding cake...

BUT in case I'm not, I'll share the experience with you.

The whole idea of pouring 1 cup of boiling water over a

lovely chocolate batter seemed like dessert suicide -

but as I learned a short 45 minutes later...it was just the

beginning of something rich and YUMMY.

*********

Spread batter into the corners

Sprinkle the sugar/cocoa mixture over the batter
Against my better judgement...pour boiling water over batter
Bake until the top cracks

Spoon out of pan and serve with whipping cream or ice cream

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake:

1 c. sugar, divided

1/2 c. cocoa, divided

1 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. milk

4 T. butter, melted

1 egg yolk

2 t. vanilla extract

1/2 c. chocolate chips

1 c. boiling water

Heat oven to 350. Spray 8x8 inch pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl combine 1/2 c. sugar and 1/4 c. cocoa. Set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer combine flour, 1/2 c. sugar, 1/4 c. cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir. Add milk, butter, egg yolk and vanilla and mix until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Batter will be stiff.

Spoon batter into prepared pan, spreading to the corners. Sprinkle reserved sugar/cocoa mixture evenly over the batter. Gently pour boiling water over the top - DO NOT STIR.

Bake for 24-28 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs and the top is cracked.

Cool 10 minutes. Serve warm with whipped topping or ice cream.

Bon Appetit!

Earthquake Cake

This cake is like an explosion in your mouth!

If the creamy craters aren't enough you've got nuts and coconut

on the bottom that take it to a whole new dimension.

It bakes up bubbly and molten.

Earthquake Cake:

1 chocolate cake mix, plus ingredients to make

1 c. coconut, shredded

1 c. walnuts, chopped

1 - 8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 t. vanilla

1 c. chocolate chips (on top at the end)

2 c. powdered sugar

Spray 9x13 inch pan with Pam. Sprinkle walnuts and coconut on the bottom of the pan. Mix cake mix according to directions. Pour over coconut and walnuts. Mix softened cream cheese and butter until combined. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Drop by spoonfuls over the cake mix and sprinkle chocolate chips on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

***Baker's Note: Place a clean cookie sheet or aluminum foil under the cake. As mine baked it flowed over the edges of the pan a bit. I narrowly averted a mess by having a baking stone on the rack below:)

Creamy Peach Dessert

I was going to make sure the FIRST "jello" recipe came from Jodie...because everyone expects it from me. I live in Utah - but I didn't grow up here and I didn't even grow up eating jello.
But I am going to post this phenomenal "jello" recipe...first. It was given to me by a wonderful woman named Nancy, who works with my sister in Boston. We've gone on a few trips with her and her husband and we never fail to exchange great recipes.

P.S. You wouldn't even have to admit that this recipe includes jello if you didn't want to. Jodie witnessed the deception of my Dad when we made this recipe last summer. He has a weird phobia/hatred towards jello - so we made it and failed to mention jello being an ingredient. He believed us...hook, line and sinker - and LOVED IT!

Creamy Peach - (shh...jello) - Dessert:

2 pkg. peach jello (you may use orange if you can't get peach)
2- 8 oz pkgs. cream cheese, softened (you could easily use 1/3 less fat, by why?)
2 c. heavy whipping cream
1- 28 oz. can peaches, juice reserved
3 small cans mandarin oranges, drained

Drain syrup from peaches. In a small saucepan heat drained syrup to boiling, stir in jello - using a whisk stir until jello dissolves. Put aside to cool.

Using a food processor, puree peaches. Add cream cheese in pieces, blending well after each addition. Add slightly cooled jello. Blend well. You may need to do this in stages, depending on the size of your food processor. It won't affect the end result.

In large bowl whip the whipping cream until stiff peaks. Gently FOLD in the jello/cream cheese mixture until smooth and even. Add mandarin oranges, folding gently.

Pour into a 2-3 qt. mold...or a 9x13 if you are like and don't own a jello mold:)

Refrigerate until firm. Unmold - and/or garnish with additional mandarin oranges or fresh orange slices.

Bon Appetit!

You'll undoubtedly notice that there is not a picture. I tried, really. The jello wouldn't cooperate but the posting must go on...with or without a picture. I won't make a habit of it, I promise.

Jam Sponge Cake

I saw this recipe in the new issue of Canadian Living magazine. It caught my attention because I first tried it when I was living in England and really enjoyed it. This cake was a favorite of Queen Victoria and it is a classic tea-time treat in England. Today it was my Sunday afternoon treat. The trick to making it light and airy, like a sponge, is to beat the butter, and add the sugar bit by bit as well as the other ingredients to ensure the batter is not heavy.



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Cake:

1/2 C butter, softened
1 C sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 C sifted all-purpose flour, OR 1 3/4 C cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 C milk

Grease and flour an 8 or 9" round metal cake pan; line bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.

With a mixer, beat butter until light and pale, about 2 minutes. Beat in sugar, 3 T at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; sift into butter mixture alternatively with milk, starting and ending with the flour. Scrape into prepared pan.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on rack for 10 minutes then turn out onto rack and peel off paper. Cool completely.

Filling:
2/3 C whipping cream. Whip until stiff; add powdered sugar while beating for desired sweetness. My jam is very sweet, so I didn't add too much sugar.
1/2 C strawberry jam

Using a long serrated knife, cut the cake in half horizontally. Spread the jam on the bottom half of the sponge, and then the cream. Replace the top of the cake. Sift powdered sugar over it all.

Easy- as- Possible Parfaits

This is truly the quickest and easiest dessert you will ever make. It can be customized to whatever fruit you like or what is in season. You can also make it relatively fat-free depending on what kind of yogurt and cool whip you choose.



3 C stirred yogurt of your choosing ( I used strawberry)
3 C cool whip

Mix well.

Line your parfait glass with a dollop of the cool whip/yogurt mixture. Then put a layer of graham crackers crumbs, followed by another layer of the mixture. Add a layer of strawberries or whatever fruit you are using. Layer how you like until the glass is full, topping it with some of the berries.
Granola instead of the graham crackers crumbs is good too.
This will make around 5 parfaits depending on the size of the glass.

Caramel Heavenlies

These are as tasty as they are easy. They taste like a lot more effort!



Preheat oven to 350 degrees

14 graham crackers
2 C mini marshmallows
3/4 C butter
3/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 C sliced almonds
3/4 C flaked coconut

Line a 11X7 pan with parchment paper. That part in important otherwise they will stick and you won't be able to get them out of the pan. Place 12 graham crackers side by side on top of the parchment. You will need to break a another few crackers in half to fill in the space of the pan.

Sprinkle the marshmallows on the crackers. Set aside while you make the caramel.

Melt the butter; add the cinnamon and the brown sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves and then let it boil while stirring for around 2 minutes. Take off heat and add vanilla. Pour over the graham crackers. Sprinkle with the almonds and coconut. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes until browned. Cool completely. Peel off parchment paper and then cut into squares and then in half again to make diamonds.
* The filling hardens while cooling. It will not be fully set ( a little jiggly) when it comes out of the oven.