Club: BAKED - Mississippi Mud Pie AKA Coffee Ice Cream Tart

The Club: BAKED bakers are at it again.  This time the recipe we're all making (making, since no baking is required!) is Mississippi Mud Pie aka Coffee Ice Cream Tart.  It involves a homemade chocolate cookie crust with a bourbon chocolate fudge filling topped with coffee ice cream.  


The original recipe tops the whole thing off with a chocolate topping, but I thought there was enough chocolate already so I made a Bourbon Salted Caramel Sauce (Good decision! Recipe found here).  Besides the caramel sauce, the only other adjustment I made to the original recipe was to omit the nuts and use chocolate animal crackers instead of chocolate wafer cookies (like a few others, I couldn't find these at any local stores either!).  I loved the crust that resulted - it reminded me of the chocolate crunchies found in store-bought ice cream cakes... and who doesn't love those??  The whole pie was reminiscent of an Ice-Cream-Cake version of one of those frozen blended coffee drinks... yum. 


We really enjoyed this dessert, especially with the Bourbon Salted Caramel Sauce.  The saltiness provided a nice counterpart to all of the sweetness.  But hands down our favorite part of the cake was the crunchy-like cookie crust.  Be sure to visit the Club: BAKED site to see how this pie came out for the other bakers.  Stop by Jess' blog, The Saucy Kitchen, for the recipe.  Thanks for hosting, Jess!

Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Do you keep your ice cream maker bowl in the freezer?  It takes up a lot of room, but for whatever reason ice cream is one of those things I don't think about making long before I get started.  So if I don't keep a bowl in the freezer, I'll probably lose interest by the time the recommend 24 hour freezing period is over.  As soon as Spring comes around and Winter is over, I need to make room in the freezer for my ice cream maker bowl so it can always be ready for me.

Luckily when I came across Handle the Heat's Easy Vanilla Ice Cream, I had a bowl in the freezer just waiting to be put to use.  With only 4 ingredients, it really is quite simple to throw together, and if you happen to have a bowl in the freezer at all times for whenever a homemade ice cream craving strikes, you can be eating your frosty creation in under an hour.  If you have just a little bit more patience, you can throw together a quick Eggless Cookie Dough to add into the ice cream.  I'm glad I was able to muster up the patience because the cookie dough really made this ice cream special.  I used only half of the prepared Eggless Cookie Dough in the ice cream, so I'm excited to put the rest to use in other recipes! 

If it's hot where you are right now (I feel like it couldn't get any hotter in Florida!) then make up a batch of this Cookie Dough Ice Cream for your family, they will surely thank you.  And they won't believe it's made from scratch!  

Easy Vanilla Ice Cream, adapted from Handle the Heat

Ingredients:

1/2 cup 2% milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 generous tablespoon pure vanilla extract


Using a handmixer set to low speed, combine the milk and the sugar.  Stir in heavy cream and vanilla.  If you're making plain vanilla ice cream, pour the mixture into the bowl of your ice cream maker and follow the directions on your ice cream maker.  If you are making the Eggless Cookie Dough, put the ice cream mixture in the refrigerator to chill.

Eggless Cookie Dough, adapted from Cupcake Project
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 generous tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 - 4 Tablespoons milk


Combine butter, vanilla and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Add in flour and salt and mix on low to combine.  Add in milk by the tablespoons as needed to achieve a cookie dough consistency.  Put in the refrigerator until chilled.  When firm enough to handle, form several thin sheets (about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick).  Put in the freezer for about a half an hour.  While Ice Cream is churning, take out the chilled cookie dough sheets and cut into small cookie dough chunk pieces.  After ice cream is finished churning, remove from the ice cream maker and stir in the cookie dough chunks.  Freeze for 2 hours before serving.

Recipe Card! Click to enlarge

Ice Cream Sandwiches: Gingersnap Cookie and Lemon Ice Cream

I've always wanted to make my own ice cream sandwiches, but was intimidated. They're so cute! Plus, with homemade cookies of your choice and homemade ice cream in the wildest flavor you can think of, they'd be so much more delicious than the store bought ones. And so cute! Did I mention I think they're just adorable? The process of making them seems fairly easy, but is it one of those things that looks easy but turns out to be anything but? Well, I finally decided to give it a go and find out. Turns out it actually is quite easy.

Ice Cream Cookie Cups

Have you ever prepared a chocolate chip cookie recipe that came out as flat as a pancake? I'm talking so thin, when you hold it up you can see patches of light coming through. I have recently and I was quite disappointed because I thought they were going to be nice and soft and chewy. Instead, they came out wafer thin. I didn't even bother taking pictures of them. We ate about 3 or 4 of them before throwing away the whole lot of them. The problem was, when I prepared the recipe, I only baked half of it. The rest I stuffed into a freezer bag and popped in the freezer for another night when we had the craving for fresh, warm chocolate chip cookies. Since the cookies weren't that great, the bag just sat there in the freezer taking up room for a few weeks. Until I had an idea...

What if I baked them in a cupcake tin? Maybe the shape of the cupcake tin would stop them from spreading out all over the cookie sheet. It would retain its shape and stay a little thicker. Right?


Right. It turned out to be quite a nice little dessert creation.


As they cooled, they sank a little in the middle - making a perfect cookie cup for a scoop of ice cream!







For the cookie recipe, I used Vanilla Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies from the Toronto Star (via The Canadian Baker). The reviews of the recipe were great, so I was expecting a really good cookie. Maybe I did something wrong, because mine were not so. I'll have to give this recipe another shot, but I have another Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe using Vanilla Pudding that I want to try too!

Vanilla Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Canadian Baker
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, melted & cooled
1 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
102 g box instant vanilla pudding mix (or if you have a larger box, weigh it out on a scale)
2 tbsp cold
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp each: baking powder, baking soda
2 cups milk chocolate chips (I went crazy with my Chips and used Chocolate Rocks, Hershey's Special Dark Chips & Toffee Bits)

Preheat to 350. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until creamy. Stir in pudding mix and milk. Add eggs and vanilla. Next, add the flour, baking powder and soda. Stir until batter is smooth. Stir in your choice of chips.

Drop heaping tablespoons of dough on non-stick cookie sheets. Bake about 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 10 minutes on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

Kiwi Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Cupcakes

Summer is right around the corner. Actually, here in Florida is seems like it began a few weeks ago. So, Ice Cream Cupcakes are the perfect thing to cool you down on these hot days... while satisfying your sweet tooth, too! And what better way to welcome summer with a delicious fruity flavor combination. For my second attempt at making Ice Cream Cupcakes, me and the fiance came up with an AMAZINGLY fresh and fruity concoction: Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream on top of Strawberries-and-Cream Cake, topped with Kiwi Sauce and Vanilla Whipped Cream It tasted like the frozen ice creamy version of Strawberry Shortcake, with a little extra something from the homemade Kiwi Sauce. This recipe was a total winner. Absolutely FULL of flavor, refreshing, and decadent all at the same time. And this is my entry for CupcakeProject's 2010 Ice Cream Cupcake Roundup! Please see details for this contest here at Cupcake Project and here at Scoopalicious





Strawberries and Cream Cake, adapted from The Hungry Mouse
Ingredients:
3/8 cup sugar
2 Tbls butter, soft
1/2 an egg (whisk entire egg, discard half of it)
3/8 cup heavy cream
1 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
heaping 1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 cups strawberries, sliced

Put 12 - 16 foil cupcake liners (depending on how much cake you want per ice cream cupcake) on a cookie sheet. Preheat to 375. Beat the sugar, egg and butter together to combine. When slightly cream, pour in the cream and mix to combine.
In a separate small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add to the wet mixture. Beat on low to combine and then turn it up to high for a short while to make the consistency thick and creamy - but do not overbeat.
Add in the strawberries and stir by hand with a spatula to incorporate. Divide between the liners and spread slightly with a spoon. Liners will only be about 1/2 as full as if you were making full sized cupcakes.
Bake for 16-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool. When completely cool, move to the freezer to freeze the cakes. Then, make your ice cream...




Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream adapted from epicurious.com
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
Strips of lemon zest, from about 1/2 a lemon
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 lb strawberries (by weight), hulled and halved
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Combine heavy cream, zest, and sea salt in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat.
Whisk the eggs with 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl. Put a strainer on top of this bowl, and slowly pour the cream/zest mixture through the strainer/sieve. Discard the zest. Pour back into the saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened and an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F (do not let boil).
Immediately pour custard through a sieve into a metal bowl, then cool to room temperature by putting this metal bowl into a larger bowl full of ice water, stirring occasionally to quickly cool. Chill, covered, at least until cold, about 2 hours, and up to 1 day.
While custard is chilling, purée strawberries with remaining 1/4 cup sugar and lemon juice in a blender until smooth, then force through fine sieve (to remove seeds) into chilled custard. Stir purée into custard.
Freeze in ice-cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer a bit more, so it is soft enough to pipe through a piping bag. Pipe on to frozen cupcakes and freeze to harden.





Kiwi Sauce:
Ingredients:
4 kiwis
1/8 C sugar + additional, if desired

Peel the brown skin off of the kiwis. Place kiwis in a food processor and blend until completely pureed. Add to a saucepan set on medium to high heat with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Stir over the heat until it thickens slightly. Remove to a small metal bowl and, set the small bowl within a larger one filled with ice water. Stir the kiwi sauce constantly to quickly cool the sauce. Add sugar until the sauce reaches your desired sweetness. Force through a strainer to remove (most of) the seeds. Serve, cold, on top of ice cream cupcakes.



Vanilla Whipped Cream:
Ingredients:
1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
2 tsp mexican vanilla
1/8 C granulated sugar + additional, if desired

Beat all ingredients together, on high, until mixture reaches light and fluffy consistency. Add more sugar if desired to reach desired sweetness. Serve on top of ice cream cupcakes.

Ice Cream Cupcakes: Banana Pound Cake with Mango-Lemon Ice Cream & Blood Orange-Orange Syrup

Ice Cream Cake is one of those simple treats that are an absolute favorite in this house. In all honesty, if Dan had his choice, our wedding cake would be a giant Fudgie The Whale cake from Carvel. I'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't be opposed to it either... And no, I'm not getting paid to promote Fudgie the Whale... though I would gladly accept a cake as payment.
If we love ice cream cake so much, and I so often make cake and ice cream, why oh why have I never tried to make my own ice cream cake before?? More importantly, why have I never tried to make my own ICE CREAM CUPCAKES before?? Ice Cream Cupcakes are just like Ice Cream cakes except better because they're tiny, adorable, and you get to eat the whole thing. When I saw that Cupcake Project is now doing her annual Ice Cream Cupcake Contest, I vowed to make a new ice cream cupcake every week for the month of May, to select the best one to use as my entry into the contest.

So, how does you make ice cream cupcakes? I took pictures of the process...

1. Make cupcakes, but put half as much batter in as you normally would. You need room for ice cream! Bake, let cool completely, then throw in the freezer.
2. Make homemade ice cream.
3. After churning and before chilling said ice cream, so it is still a little soft, put a dollop on to the half-full, frozen cupcakes.
4. Spread smooth with an offset spatula. Dip the spatula in warm water before smoothing if necessary.
5. Freeze cupcakes until firm.
6. Peel and enjoy your very own Ice Cream Cupcake!

For my first attempt at making Ice Cream Cupcakes, we came up with... Banana Pound Cake with Mango-Lemon Ice Cream and Blood Orange-Orange Syrup. Yu-u-um.

Banana Pound Cake Recipe adapted from The Dutch Baker's Daughter
Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 C mashed ripe banana (around 1 - 1 1/2 medium bananas)
1 1/4 cups cake flour
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup 2% milk
1 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated orange peel, lightly packed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with 19-21 standard size cupcake liners, or if using foil liners, place on a cookie sheet.
Cream butter with an electric mixer. Gradually add sugar, beating on low, then increase speed to high and beat until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Beat several minutes on high until the mixture is smooth. Mix in the bananas.
With a whisk, mix flour, baking powder, salt and ginger. In a separate bowl, combine milk and vanilla. Beating on low, add dry ingredients, alternating with milk-vanilla mixture. Stir in the orange peel.
Divide the batter between the cupcake liners, filling each liner up about half as full as you normally would to make regular cupcakes. Bake for 14 - 18 minutes. Let cool completely and then pop them in the freezer and begin making the ice cream.



Mango-Lemon Ice Cream with Blood Orange-Orange Syrup adapted from Dianasaur Dishes
Ingredients:
1-2 mangoes, depending on your desired mangoiness.
Most of the zest from one lemon (the rest from about 3/4 of a lemon)
1 cup heavy whipping cream, cold
4 egg whites
4 tablespoons sugar

Peel mango and cut into cubes (click here for mango cutting 411 if you've never cut a mango before!). Using a food processor, blend the mango well to a smooth consistency. Add lemon zest and pulse until incorporated. While blade is running, pour in the cream and beat until mixed.
In a separate large bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy, and then add in the sugar gradually. Fold in the mango-cream mixture. Churn according to your ice cream maker's instructions.


And just so you know...

If you can BARELY get a knife into your mango because it is too hard, your mango isn't ready for use. Your mango should be darker in color, moist, and relatively easy to cut in to.

When your ice cream maker is done churning your ice cream, spread the still-soft ice cream on to the tops of your frozen cupcakes. Spread smooth with an offset spatula, dipping the spatula into warm water occasionally if necessary. Then, return the cupcakes to the freezer while you prepare your syrup.



Blood Orange-Orange Syrup also adapted from Dianasaur Dishes
Ingredients:
1 blood orange
1 naval orange
1 heaping tablespoon sugar
1/2 tsp blood orange zest, packed

Zest and juice the blood orange. Mine didn't yield much juice (maybe a half a tablespoon!) so I juiced a naval orange as well. Add juice from both oranges, sugar and zest to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce and let simmer for 4-8 minutes until thick, about the consistency of maple syrup. Refrigerate and serve over ice cream. This syrup is POTENT, and though the recipe didn't make so much, it was enough for all of the cupcakes. You really only need about 1 teaspoon at the most per cupcake.




This recipe was a total success. It was enjoyed by everyone who tried it! The banana pound cake and the mango-lemon ice cream was delicious and refreshing, and the syrup complimented all of the flavors, tying them all together nicely. I can't wait to try another Ice Cream Cupcake recipe!

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Apple Orchard Crumble

Yes, I'm finally back! I'm really glad I was able to get back in the swing of things for this week's recipe - Um, warm apples coated in cinnamon and sugar topped with brown sugary crumblies, Helloo?? Delicious!

This was a really easy recipe to throw together. The thing that took the longest was coring, peeling and slicing the apples (If only I had one of those little tools, it would have been a lot easier!). The rest came together very very quickly. When I first read through the recipe, I did so quickly, and I thought this would be made in a 10 inch pie plate. So I thought, "Yeahhh, I'll make the whole thing". Then when I had a ginormous bowl full of sugary apple slices, I re-read the recipe and found out it was a 10 inch DEEP DISH.... Ohhhh!!! Since I don't have one of those, I made it in a 9x13 pan, and it fit perfectly.

The only changes I made were to use only Golden Delicious and Mcintosh apples (couldn't find any of the others), and to omit the all-spice and sub in a little more cinnamon in its place. It came out really good! I love those easy, quick ones that taste great! (And it tasted even better with some vanilla bean ice cream and caramel sauce!!!)





Be sure to check out the other fantastic SMS Bakers, I'm sure they did some really beautiful, delicious-looking things! And thanks to Cristine of Cristine Cookies for hosting and posting the recipe!

King Arthur Fudge Brownies & Coffee Slushy

I've noticed something interesting. At work the other day, a customer came to my window (I'm a drive-up teller). He showed me a pre-printed deposit slip that said, "For ID Only" on it. Having never seen this done before, I was a bit confused. He just handed this deposit slip and a check for me to cash, and repeated, "This is for ID only." Not really understanding his point, I innocently asked him if he had his ID on him. To which he replied, "No, I don't, that's why I've put this deposit slip in here." Now, I don't know if you've ever been a bank teller, but this is not generally an accepted form of identification. I took in his check and deposit slip, and asked the people around me, "Does anyone know Mr. So & So?" To which, a co-worker replied, Oh yes! He's a very good customer, he has a lot of accounts with us. He walked over and said hello to the customer, with a little bit of butt-kissing. The customer told my co-worker THREE TIMES in the following conversation, "Do me a favor, tell that bank teller who I am." Apparently, because he has money, I was supposed to know his identity and break the rules for him. It just kind of made me think, I don't really care if you have a gajillion dollars, or negative gajillion dollars... please don't treat me like that. I was standing righttttt thereeeee.

For some reason, this event reminded me of my two most recent dessert-making experiences. Take these photos for example:





You'd probably think the brownies were much much better, right? Well, it wasn't the case! The brownies were so-so, and the edges were down-right trash-worthy. But the Coffee Slushy... the gloppy, melty, ugly, spotty Coffee Slushy... was Too Die Forrr. I don't care how pretty ya look, as long as you taste good. In a weird way, it reminded me of my encounter with Mr. So & So. I don't care how much money you have or don't have, as long as you're not a doodie-head to me. Sound like a stretch? Maybe. Maybe it's all the frozen coffee deliciousnesssss talking.
*** V.I.P.U. (Very Important Post Update :) -- We retasted the interior slices (not-edge pieces) of brownie later on that night and even the next day... Okay, they tasted much better. Very good and very fudgy! They improved greatly with time! ***

Anyway, on to the recipes. Unfortunately, there will be no SMS this Sunday. But I have two other things to share with you!
First, the delectable Coffee Slush.



I found these instructions for making a nice frozen coffee treat. And since Daniel had just picked up some freshly roasted Snickerdoodle flavored coffee (gasp!) I thought... I'm soooooo there. I only made a few alterations. Here is what I did....

Ingredients:
Slightly less than 2 tablespoons coffee grinds in your favorite flavor
1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 C Low Fat Milk
1 Tablespoon cornstarch

Directions:
Whisk the cornstarch into a half cup of cold low fat milk, beating until lumps are gone. Set aside for a couple of minutes.
Add to the rest of the milk (1 cup). Add sugar and simmer on low heat until the sugar dissolves.
Take 2 - 3 tablespoons of the warm sweetened milk and add to the coffee powder in a cup and beat vigorously with a handmixer until it becomes creamy.
Add this to the heating milk and stir till the custard thickens and is able to coat the back of a spoon without dripping off.
Take it off the heat and cool in an ice-bath for 10-15 minutes.
Put in the frig for about an hour. When thoroughly chilled, put in your ice cream maker for the amount of time your ice cream maker recommends.
Serve in a tall glass topped with whipped cream. DELICIOUS



ON TO THE BROWNIES!

I saw amazing reviews of the King Arthur Flour Fudge Brownies. So, I decided to give this recipe a go for our Sunday family night dinner. When they came out of the oven, I threw a few chocolate chips on top and the warmth of the fresh baked brownies was enough to melt them enough to be spread into a smooth topping with an offset spatula. So, they looked pretty darn pretty! But to be honest, I was a little disappointed. The edges were SO CHEWY that we had to throw them away. But the inside slices were pretty good... Nice and fudgy. I might have preferred the brownies to be a little bit MORE cakey. It was SO fudgy and creamy that it was almost like biting into a slice of fudge.
But judging from the 120+ Positive reviews on King Arthur's website, perhaps something went wrong for me. I might give it a try again and see if it comes out any better. Don't get me wrong, they weren't bad! In fact, I'm sure the family will have no problem gobbling them all up! But I'm just sayin'... I've had better. I followed along with the pictures and instructions from the KA Baker's Banter Blog. The only thing I did differently was to do the butter-sugar heating in the top of a double boiler, rather than the microwave. I DID notice that my chocolate-egg mixture was considerably thicker than theirs looked. Perhaps I'll try again next time with the microwave method.
*** Post Update!! After a re-taste later, these brownies turned out to be quite yummy. Sorry I was so quick to judge you, little chocolately fudgy brownies! ***







Please see King Arthur Flour's website for the Fudge Brownie Recipe, since I didn't really make any changes to it.

PS - Please make sure to check out my super-cool apron if you haven't yet. :) [shameless promotionnnnnn]
PPS - Just wanted to make a shout-out to Karen who purchased one. Hope you're enjoying it, Karen!!

Vanilla Ice Cream with Dulce de Leche Swirl

What to do when your boyfriend is getting oral surgery, and your blog's name is Ice Cream Before Dinner. What to do, What to do. Well, besides making him a frig full of mushy items to eat, fill your freezer up with homemade ice cream, of course! Now, as you may know, Daniel & I are spoiled by Mix-In loaded ice creams, scooped on top of warm home-made brownies. When your gums are raw, however, and several of your teeth have just been extracted, the possibility of cookie dough chunks, brownies, and other chewing-necessary Additions disappears. But I couldn't make him just plain vanilla, so I knew I wanted a gooey swirl of some sort. In comes my obsession, The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. Strangely enough, I had never made his basic vanilla ice cream recipes before. So, for my ice cream base, I chose "Vanilla Ice Cream, Philadelphia Style" (p. 25). I liked that it didn't involve making a cooked custard step, and that he described it as having a lighter taste. I was sold. Plus, this doesn't require any eggs, and I needed to reserve my eggs for Daniel's mushy dinner menus. I prepared this simple recipe, and popped it in the frig to chill.

For the swirl, I chose his "Dulce de Leche" (p. 171). I chose this one because from my last attempt at making caramel (See Sweet Melissa Sundays post for Strawberry Turn Overs), I learned it is quite a chore... and one that doesn't always turn out right. This Dulce de Leche required only a can of sweetened condensed milk, a preheated oven, and some patience....

You simply take your 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk, pour it into a dish about the size of an 8 x 8, and then put that 8 x 8 (or similar sized dish) inside a larger dish which is filled half way with water. Stick it in the oven for quite a while (see his book for more details) and MAGICALLY, out comes delicious, perfect Dulce de Leche!

Post-Bake Picture:


As the Dulce was cooling, I began churning the Ice Cream mixture in my Ice Cream maker. When it was done, the Dulce was just about cool enough to be added to the ice cream.

Take some ice cream, and pour it in your Air Tight, Freezer container of choice. Then, blob some of your Dulce de Leche on top:


Then, repeat. Make another ice cream layer, followed by another Dulce layer. Repeat until all of the ice cream is gone (there will probably be some dulce de leche left - that is fine! Keep it in a glass, or microwaveable container, so that when you serve your sundaes, you can microwave it and pour it on top of your dessert!)





the remaining dulce

Sorry, no glorious Sundae shots this time. But trust me, it was delicious.

More Ice Cream, Truvia Product Review, and Cappucino

Yet another successful recipe from my favorite Ice Cream recipe book. (I should really be getting paid by their publishers for all the good publicity I'm giving them, right??) This time, we made Orange Popsicle Ice Cream. Just.... take a look.


This might be my favorite one so far. Mmmm....

In other news, we've recently added a new piece of artwork to our home...


Oh, yeah the painting is pretty new, too. But I was referring to the espresso machine. After our vacations in Italy, it seemed only natural we'd need to get an espresso machine in our coffee-lovin' household.


Our first attempt at home made cappuccino!



What are we sprinkling in our cappuccino, you ask?

With all the sugar we consume over here at Ice Cream Before Dinner... whether it's in ice cream, brownies, cupcakes, cookies, etc, we don't need any more white sugar in our diet. In our coffee and in a million other applications (I find more and more every day), we've turned to the new zero calorie natural sweetener Truvia.




The taste is not artificial like other no calorie sweeteners, and the fact that it is natural and not some weird mutant chemically altered science experiment is a benefit. Instead of being one molecule away from having the same chemical make up as plastic, this is made naturally from the leaves of the stevia plant. We've switched to using this 100% in our household instead of other sugar substitutes. And I don't know if it's all in my head or not, but you know those rumors/stories that artificial sweeteners jump-start your appetite, making you hungry? I've found that once I switched to Truvia, I can actually wait until lunch time to eat... without getting super hungry between breakfast and lunch. I would definitely recommend it!


Oops, I ate it.

Cannoli Ice Cream

The ice cream maker came back out last night. This time it produced a decadent, rich, creamy Cannoli ice cream. You heard me right. This is not to be taken lightly. Quite a leap from the refreshingly light and fruity Key Lime Sorbet. More than one scoop of this pastry-inspired bad boy, and you're in for it. Not for the faint of heart. But it's ohhh so good.



Cannoli Ice Cream makes about 1 quart
Ingredients:
1 3/4 C ricotta cheese (not skim)
2/3 C sugar
1/2 heaping tsp vanilla extract
2/3 C heavy cream
1/2 tsp grand marnier
citrus zest (I used grapefruit because it is what I had, but you could use lemon or orange...I used about the zest of half a large grapefruit)
smidgen of fine sea salt

In a food processor, combine the ricotta, zest, sugar, and vanilla until well blended. With cover on and blade spinning, slowly pour in the heavy cream. Then add the grand marnier. Place the mixture in a medium bowl, and place the medium bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice water. Set in the frig until thoroughly chilled. (I find the ice bath makes it chill faster).

Churn in your ice cream machine according to your machine's directions. Place in a freezer container in the freezer until firm.