Guilty Pleasure à la mode: Cookies 'n Cream Ice Cream

My girlfriends and I have a running list of all of the outlandish things that have happened in 2020. The list includes everything from Covid to hurricanes to a sink hole in the East Village and a giant dust cloud from the Sahara—and that was just from the beginning of this summer. There are still so many hearts aching around our country and for many different reasons. Something I have noticed about myself during this summer is that I take time to appreciate the small things more: the sun shining when I wake up, my health, the endorphin rush after finishing a workout, and of course, a great bowl of ice cream with some trash tv. It is truly the simple things.

Last summer (2019 seems like such an innocent time now, doesn’t it?) one of my co-workers and I discovered a show on Lifetime called “Marrying Millions.” Though it is considered reality TV, you can tell pretty easily that the producers have a very specific plot line in mind and feed the couples lines, which is to say that the couples starring in it are doing their best to “act naturally,” which is to say that their acting classes haven’t paid off yet. Honestly, it’s so bad, it’s good and I am not even one for reality TV. Basically, they find couples with significant age and bank account differences, mic them up, and set them up on all of these little outings to bring out their differences and cause conflict. The therapist in me cringes but the observer in me laughs hysterically. While I was watching this show and hysterically laughing last summer, I was also eating ice cream during the episode. So, in an effort to bring some normalcy into 2020, I am going to eat ice cream and watch the season two premiere of “Marrying Millions” tonight. My two greatest guilty pleasures of 2019 are helping me round out the summer of 2020. Here is the ice cream I am going to be enjoying tonight, which features another one of my guilty pleasures: Oreos! One of the things I love about this ice cream is that instead of tasting like vanilla ice cream with some cookies mixed in, the ice cream base tastes similar to the cream between the Oreos—truly delicious!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups whole milk

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 2 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 cup crushed Oreos

Method:

1. Freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

2. In a large bowl combine, milk, sugar, and salt. Stir together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

3. Add in cream and vanilla extract. Stir until incorporated.

4. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

5. Pull out mix and give it a final stir.

6. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

7. While that’s churning, count out 12 Oreos and put 10 into a plastic bag and smash into crumbs with a rolling pin. This should yield about 1 cup. Snack on the saved two while waiting for ice cream to finish; when you finish the package of Oreos without sharing, hide the evidence.

8. With 5 minutes left on the churn, add in crushed Oreos.

9. Once completed, put in a freezing container, and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

10. Scoop yourself out some and enjoy some trash tv, honey!

BBQ Grill-Friendly Bananas Foster Dupe with Cinnamon Ice Cream

Yes, you read that right! This is a bananas foster dupe that yields a totally gorgeous and delicious result! This is for all you girls that love bananas foster but are terrified you might singe your eyebrows off trying to make it at home! (Side bar: Especially if you were the child who was trying to imitate your much cooler, older sister who got her eyebrows waxed, and in your 8 year old state of mind, decided it would be a great to go ahead and throw a nice strip of Scotch tape over your eyebrow to replicate the process. Leaving a bald spot on your brow that would take many years of brow therapy (brow waxing and shaping appointments) and tubes of a regrowth serum to come back from.) Saving time and saving your eyebrows, this recipe is everything you need!

For Ice Cream:

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups whole milk

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• Optional: 1/4 cup dark rum

Method:

1. Freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

2. In a large bowl combine, milk, sugar, and salt. Stir together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

3. Add in cream, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg (and rum if you please). Stir until incorporated.

4. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

5. Pull out mix and give it a final stir. If the cinnamon looks clumpy in the mixture, don’t panic. Your mixer will take care of it!

6. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

7. Once completed, put in a freezing container, and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

For Bananas Foster:

Ingredients:

• 4 peeled bananas

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

• a dash of nutmeg

• 4 tablespoons of butter, cut into 8 pieces

• 4 sheets of foil to wrap bananas in

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425 or if you’re using a grill, a medium-hot fire. (If you’re grilling meat prior to grilling this, wait about 5-10 minutes for the grill to cool down and bit and then you’re good to go. See also: girl, eat that delicious steak and then worry about your dessert!)

2. Place bananas on their sides on each piece of foil.

3. Divide seasonings evenly between each banana.

4. Place two pieces of butter on each banana.

5. Bring all of the foil seams to the top and fold down (like a little banana tent). You don’t want any butter spilling out into your grill or the bottom of your oven!

6. Place on the grill for 15 minutes, or until banana is soft. If you’re using an oven, place bananas on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until banana is soft.

7. Serve immediately with cinnamon ice cream and enjoy!

Dirty Mint Ice Cream

I absolutely adore mint in everything from my salads to my cocktails to my desserts—but most especially my ice cream. Recently, I have observed that the mint-chocolate flavor combination is becoming increasingly overlooked in favor of things that are more inventive and current, like mascarpone and fig or honey and lavender ice cream flavors. But what flavor is as refreshing as mint? It stands alone. What food is as celebrated as chocolate? None. It is time to revive this classic and celebrate her contributions to our spoons and stomachs. I’m a proud member of the ice cream party and am voting Mint-Chocolate 2020!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups whole milk

• 3 cups heavy cream

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon mint extract

• 3-5 drops green food coloring, personal color preference

• 1 cup Oreos, crushed

• 2 tablespoons chocolate hard shell (optional)

Method:

1. Freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

2. In a large bowl combine, milk, sugar, and salt. Stir together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

3. Add in cream and mint extract and food coloring. Stir until incorporated.

4. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

5. Pull out mix and give it a final stir.

6. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

7. While that’s churning, count out 12 Oreos and put 10 into a plastic bag and smash into crumbs with a rolling pin. This should yield about 1 cup. Snack on the saved two while waiting for ice cream to finish; when you finish the package of Oreos without sharing, hide the evidence.

8. With 5 minutes left on the churn, add in crushed Oreos and drizzle in chocolate hard shell.

9. Once completed, put in a freezing container, and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

10. Welcome to the Ice Cream Party! We are glad to have you!

S'Mores Ice Cream

Well friends, we made it to June—Happy Summer! The temperatures in Texas have officially moved from warm to just plain H-O-T! With the rising temperatures, I am thinking of all the ways to cool down and my favorite way to do it is with my number one vice: ice cream! This recipe pays tribute to those nostalgic s’mores I used to enjoy at camp and at my family’s lake house growing up. I’m curious are you very methodical about your marshmallow roasting, trying to get just the right golden color, or do you simply just light yours on fire and let nature take its course? I am the latter—I love the crunch that comes with a burned marshmallow. I feel like you can get a small taste of children’s risk tolerance, watching them around a campfire, engaging in the roasting practice. I am no rebel though; a burned marshmallow is about as wild as I get! Spreading s’more love from my ice cream maker to yours—here’s to a sweet treat to beat the summer heat!

Ingredients:

• 5 graham cracker sheets broken into pieces

• 3 cups whole milk

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 tbsp vanilla

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 3/4 cup chopped chocolate bar

• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (I used a box of graham cracker pie crust) You could always pulse some graham crackers in the blender until you get a powder-like consistency

• 3/4 cup of mallow bits (I used Kraft)

Method:

1. Freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place broken graham crackers onto a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until you start smelling them.

3. Pour toasted graham crackers into a bowl with 3 cups of milk. Cover and steep for 15 minutes. Strain milk out of crackers, pressing with a spatula. You should get back 3 cups of milk, but if you get a little less than that—don’t worry—just top off with regular milk!

4. In a large bowl, combine graham cracker milk, sugar, and salt. Stir together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

5. Add in cream and vanilla extract. Stir until incorporated.

6. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

7. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir, taking care not to make it bubbles, as you do not want to add air.

8. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

9. With 5 minutes left on the churn, add in chopped chocolate, graham cracker crumbs, and mallow bits.

10. Once completed, put in a freezing container, and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

11. Enjoy your s’mores ice cream and remember to spread s’more love!

Chocolate Ice Cream

A sweet treat for a sweet day! Today is our 3rd wedding anniversary and actually the first time we have spent May 6th in Dallas since the day we got married! We love to take a trip over our anniversary! Tonight will look a little different, but still delicious! Ribeyes on the grill, twice baked potatoes, a glass (or two!) of red wine, the leftover brisket queso from yesterday’s Cinco de Mayo dinner, and finally, cookies and ice cream! I whipped this ice cream up in no time at all and it will be the perfect sweet treat to cap off tonight’s celebrations. I included some wedding photos below and it is very easy to see that our wedding revolved around food! I don’t think our guests went more than 30 minutes without eating! Starting off with our fabulous passed hors d'oeuvres (including mini crab cakes!), our three signature cocktails for our hour and a half cocktail hour (the Kentucky Derby ran in the middle of our cocktail hour so we had the country club set up a TV outside and served mint juleps during it too!). Leading to a seated dinner of salmon and beef tenderloin, my bride’s cake with vanilla and red velvet cake, my husband’s cookie bar with 2000 Oreos stacked with 15 dozen cookies and macaroons and spiked milk punch, a midnight snack of sliders and fries, and then donut holes in cinnamon and sugar to end the night on a sweet note! Clearly, our priorities have not changed—I would not have it any other way!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups of whole milk

• 2 cups of heavy cream

• 1 tsp. vanilla

• 1 cup of sugar

• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

• 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, unsweetened

• 1/2 tsp. espresso powder—it is just going to enhance and intensify the cocoa flavor!

• Optional spike: 1/8 cup of preferred bourbon or whiskey—this will also intensify the chocolate flavor

Method:

1. Pre-freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

2. In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, and salt. Stir together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

3. Add in cream, vanilla extract, and espresso and cocoa powder. Add your spirit spike here too! Stir until incorporated, it’ll take a second! You might have to whip out a whisk!

4. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes. This time is going to help the milk absorb all the cocoa powder you just threw at it!

5. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir or whisk.

6. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

7. Put in a freezing container and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

8. Behold—your new favorite summer treat!

Grandpa's Breakfast Ice Cream

Okay, okay, I have to say that my beloved grandfather “Papu” was not the inspiration for this recipe. He enjoys grapes and milk with his cereal at his 3:30 am wake up call—oh the sleep-deprived life of a cattle rancher and farmer. This recipe is more of a figment of my imagination: an incorrigible, white-haired man slipping spirits into his breakfast cereal before anyone can catch him. In my imagination this ice cream sounded delicious, and I am happy to report that in real life it tastes as good as I imagined. I think the tongue-in-cheek title adds to the flavor too—I deeply appreciate food that doesn’t take itself too seriously. In fact, that is exactly what this quarantine has brought out in me, a recovering perfectionist—a charge to try and not to take things so seriously. A reminder that life is finite and precious. The schedule, the plan, the day, inevitably, changes. I can either waste energy trying to course-correct, or go with the flow and put my energy into creating progress on what I can control: me doing my darnedest to see and keep up with therapy clients through telehealth and giving myself permission to play with food and flavors! Though I hope this quarantine will end soon, I must say that I have appreciated the pause and creativity that has come with the stillness—though I know that has definitely not been the case for everyone. I hope you are staying safe and well, and don’t forget to play with you food and laugh when you can. You never know what you will come up with, like putting cornflakes and bourbon together to make a delicious bowl of ice cream. 

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cornflakes

• 2 1/4 cups milk, yielding 2 cups of cereal milk

• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream

• 1/8 cup bourbon

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Method:

1. Freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place 3 cups of cornflakes onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes.

3. Pour 2 cups of toasted cornflakes into a bowl with 2 1/4 cups of milk. Cover and steep for 15 minutes. Strain milk out of cereal, pressing with a spatula. Due to the cornflakes absorbing the milk you will probably be left with 2 cups of cereal milk. If you get a little less than that—don’t worry—just top off with regular milk!

   P.S. Congratulations you just made cereal milk! It’s all the rage in NYC.

4. In a large bowl, combine cereal milk, sugar, and salt. Stir together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

5. Add in cream, vanilla extract, and bourbon. Stir until incorporated.

6. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

7. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir, taking care not to make it bubbles, as you do not want to add air.

8. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

9. While your ice cream starts churning, take remaining cup of cornflakes and place into the jar of a blender. Blend into a fine powder. This is your mix in!

10. With 5 minutes left on the churn, add in cornflake powder!

11. Once completed, put in a freezing container, and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

12. You can absolutely leave out the bourbon to make this kid-friendly! Or the mix in if you just want plain cereal milk!

Cappuccino Pie: A love story

I used my coffee chip ice cream recipe for the pie pictured above and even served the ice cream pie a la mode!

“…Amen”. Oh I’m sorry, I just had to say a quick prayer after eating another slice of this pie because it is so sinfully delicious. I have made it no secret that my favorite flavor combo is coffee and chocolate, a dessert that combines the two with ice cream: Sign me up! As if that was not enough reason to love this pie, the added bonus is that the crust is my favorite cookie, Oreo, and my favorite ice cream flavor, coffee, is the filling. If this pie were not already named after the frothy, caffeinated beverage, I would have probably started a petition to have it named after me. Since that role has already been filled, I will just stick to being this dessert’s #1 fan. If you are looking for a grown up version of the ice cream cake you had as a child, look no further, and has the simplest process to put it together.

I will always remember the first time I ever tried my first slice of cappuccino pie. My boyfriend—now husband—and I were seniors in high school and had just started dating. While driving back from dinner one night, we were stopped at an intersection, and he remarked that the restaurant we were stopped by had the most amazing cappuccino pie, and asked if I would like to try it. I think you could see my ears perk up from the next car over. He got the hint and on went the blinker! We pulled into the restaurant, and little did I know, the boy who would become my life’s staple introduced me to one of my dessert staples. I adore both of them—and could eat one of them with a spoon.  Like any good recipe does, this recipe has options. You want to make your own ice cream for the filling? Go for it. I linked my recipe for coffee chip ice cream here. If you want to buy a quart of your favorite coffee ice cream, that’s great too. This is a pie that is eager to please.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 25 Oreo cookies, yielding 2 cups of crumb

• 1/2 tsp. espresso powder

• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

• 5 tbsp. melted butter

Filing:

• 1 quart of coffee ice cream, softened

• or if you want to make your own: click here! Just make sure you have a quart of it!

Topping:

• 2 cups of heavy cream

• 2 tbsp. of lemon juice (okay your eyebrows might be raising at this one, but hear me out. Traditionally speaking, when espresso is served in an Italian restaurant, it is served with a lemon rind that you are supposed to rub around the rim of the espresso cup and put into the drink, to cut the bitterness. I thought this addition would be a fun nod to that! It also helps cut through some of the milk fat and brightens the flavor!)

• 1-2 tbsp. of powdered sugar, depending on how sweet you like your whipped cream

Method

For the crust:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a food processor, pulse Oreos, espresso powder, and salt until Oreos are a fine crumb. Pulse and stream butter in. Mix should look and feel like wet sand.

3. Press into a pie dish with a measuring cup, I find the 1/3 of a cup works best, and work to make the crust even.

4. Bake for 6-8 minutes.

5. Take out and let cool.

For the filling:

1. If you’re making your own ice cream, now is the time to bust out that ice cream maker! Your ice cream mixture can harden in your pie dish once it is done being mixed.

2. If you’re going the premade route, put your ice cream on the counter to soften for 30 minutes or until spreadable.

3. Fill pie dish with ice cream and place into freezer to set. About 30 minutes.

For the topping:

1. Combine heavy cream, lemon, and sugar into a bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.

2. Top pie with cream mixture.

3. Place back into freezer to harden for 4 hours.

Pie can be stored in the freezer. To slice, run some hot water over a knife to make cutting easier! Or you can just stand in your kitchen, in your jammies, with a spoon just enjoying the whole thing yourself. No judgement.

Hot Chocolate Ice Cream with Marshmallows

Raise your hand if you were obsessed with Serendipity’s Frozen Hot Chocolate growing up (both of my hands are in the air!). I am sure the nutritionist I saw as a child just cringed! I will never forget the first time I tried that magical dessert during one hot New York summer day. It was love at first bite—as it enabled me to have one of my favorite Christmas time beverages in the summer heat. I loved it so much that I asked to bring the pre-made packets back to Dallas so I could make them as I pleased. While good, they were just not the same, I could never get the consistency right. Fast forward to the following summer, my quest for ice cold hot chocolate was still red hot. After swimming in the pool, I decided that some ice cream was in order (see that nutritional training paid off!). Perhaps, I thought, maybe if I combined a pre-made hot chocolate packet into ice cream, I might have something similar.

I wish I could go back in time and give my younger self a pat on the back because that 13 year old girl was on to something! Throughout high school and college, the frozen hot chocolate inspiration evolved into hot chocolate ice cream. I would simply take a hot chocolate packet and combine it with a simple vanilla ice cream recipe—voila. As I have gotten older though, I have really wanted to nail this recipe down and make it my own, as it one of my favorite childhood creations. I am so happy to share this recipe with you, as it is years in the making, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have! Perhaps I should add to my resume: Savannah, virgo, gluten-full, and believer in year round hot chocolate consumption? I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you say, “Yes!”, as my spoon was scraping the bottom of the bowl.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups of whole milk

• 2 cups of heavy cream

• 2 tsp. vanilla

• 1 cup of sugar

• 1 tbsp. kosher salt

• 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, unsweetened

• 1/4 tsp. espresso powder—it is just going to enhance and intensify the cocoa flavor!

• 1 cup of marshmallow bits, I used Kraft

Method:

1. Pre-freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

2. In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, and salt. Stir together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

3. Add in cream, vanilla extract, and espresso and cocoa powders. Stir until incorporated, it’ll take a second! You might have to whip out a whisk!

   Side bar: you could put all of the above ingredients together into a saucepan and heat over the stove on a medium-low setting until cocoa powder is mixed in—just like you would make stovetop hot chocolate. If you want to do this, just pick back up on step 4. I just wanted to simplify this process and opted to stir in my cocoa sans heat.

4. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

5. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir, taking care not to make it bubbles, as you do not want to add air.

6. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

7. Slowly add in marshmallows directly into ice cream mix with 5 minutes left to go.

8. Put in a freezing container and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

9. Welcome to the hot chocolate ice cream fan club! I am the founder, manager, and janitor of the club!

Peach Ice Cream

Happy Labor Day weekend! The official bookend of summer is upon us and in case you find yourself by a peach stand during this long weekend, needing to get your last summer fix, make this! I find that there are two camps when it comes to peach ice cream. Camp one: wants basically vanilla with peach chucks in it. Camp two: wants it to taste/smell/look like a peach, just colder. Since I’m all about taking your favorite things from each recipe and blending together, this felt like a fun one to experiment with. Here’s what I found, making a peach simple syrup is KEY! It contributes sweetness, color and translates the essence of peach very well into the milk and cream mixture. Don’t worry, it’s not as complex as it sounds—I’m going to walk you through step by step so you too can know the wonders of peach ice cream!

Ingredients:

Peach Ice Cream

- 2 1/2 cups heavy cream

-2 cups whole milk

-2 1/2 tsp salt

-3/4 cup sugar

-2 cups fresh peaches, cubed (about 5 peaches)

-1/2 cup of peach simple syrup

-2 tsp vanilla extract

Peach Simple Syrup:

-skins of 5 yellow peaches

-1 1/3 cup water

-1 1/3 cup sugar

Method:

Peach Simple Syrup

1. Peel the skin off 5 peaches. Place the inside of the peaches into a bowl (we will need for the ice cream) and place the skins into a saucepan.

2. Fill saucepan with water until peaches are covered. Add same amount of sugar, as you did water. For this exercise, my measurement was 1 1/3 cup for both. Stir together until dissolved.

3. Bring peach skins to a boil for 5 minutes. Reduce to a simmer and let cook for 45 minutes.

4. Strain peach skins and place peach simple syrup in a container to cool completely.

Peach Ice Cream

1. Place the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker in the freezer at 0 degrees for 24 hours

2. In a large bowl combine, milk, sugar and salt. Stir until dissolved.

3. Add in cream, vanilla, and simple syrup and mix to combine. Cover and let chill for 2 hours.

4. Take freezer bowl out of freezer, and add cream mix, make according to your machines settings.

5. Add in peach chunks with 5 minutes to go.

Peach Cobbler with Salted Vanilla Ice Cream

There are many things I love about the summertime: more daylight hours, blueberry picking, the smell of sunscreen, and peach season to name a few. Peach cobbler has always felt like summertime in a bowl to me. Maybe it’s the bright color or the mix of the jelly-like texture of the peaches, with the pillowy-bread top, or the fact that it tastes like sunshine personified? I always knew it was the start of summer when my mom made a peach cobbler on Memorial Day Weekend, and then through out each holiday in the summer, made from peaches that we usually pick up from a peach orchard not far from our family’s farm in East Texas. The cool thing about cobblers is that is feels like everyone’s family has their own recipe and I love seeing how everyone puts their own spin on things—keeping the family traditions alive. I love the fact that this is the recipe my grandmother made, my mother makes, and my sister and I will continue to make. Each adding our own touches to make it our own. My mom doubles the recipes to make it thicker and cooks it longer, my sister makes her gluten free, and I macerate my peaches (which means nothing more than letting sugar break down fruit) and added the ice cream touch to make it a little extra special!

This is our family’s peach cobbler recipe and it reads a little like Miss Truvy’s “Cuppa-Cuppa-Cuppa” recipe from Steel Magnolias. I added the Salted Vanilla Ice Cream because the salt brings out the natural sweetness from the peaches, as well as cuts through the syrup-y sweet taste.

Peach Cobbler Recipe

Ingredients:

-1 cup of flour

-1 1/2 cups of sugar

-1/4 tsp of cinnamon

-1 cup of milk

-2 tsp baking powder

-1 stick of butter

-12 overly ripe peaches (you can leave them in the window sill to help them ripen!)

Method

1. Peel peaches and cut into 1/2 in. size, sprinkle with half a cup of sugar and cinnamon. Set aside to macerate for 10-15 minutes.

2. Mix together flour, sugar, milk, and baking powder to make a paste.

3. Pour paste into a greased 9x13 baking dish.

4. Cube one stick of butter of the paste.

5. Pour peaches over the butter.

6. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until it bubbles all around sides and in the center and browned.

Salted Vanilla Ice Cream

Pre-freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

Ingredients:

-2 cups of whole milk

-2 1/2 cups of heavy cream

-1 cup of sugar

-1 tbs. of kosher salt (I use Diamond)

-2 tsp. of vanilla extract

Method:

1. In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, salt. Stir (do not whisk) together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

2. Add in cream, vanilla extract, and combine. Cover and chill for 2 hours.

3. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir, taking care not to make it bubbles, as you do not want to add air.

4. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

5. Put in a freezing container and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

6. Or enjoy immediately over your freshly made peach cobbler and sprinkle with a little extra cinnamon!

Butterfinger Ice Cream with swirled peanut butter

As the temperatures ramp up in Dallas, my obsession with perfecting ice cream recipes seems to be surging right along with them. I promise, come September 1st, you will see a green vegetable grace this site—maybe even two! But for now, the ideas keep coming, so I’m going to keep churning out (pun intended) the cream. Growing up Butterfinger was my favorite candy, a preferred treat of mine post soccer games. I loved the way the pieces broke off and it was still crunchy while being enrobed in chocolate. Delicious. I’ve tried Twix as a mix in for ice cream and the cookies just do not hold up to the ice cream and the crunch gets lost. All that is solved with the use of Butterfingers. It crumbles beautifully, breaks off into multiple sizes and shapes, the color is a fabulous burnt orange, and stays crunchy! Add in a little peanut butter and you’ve got yourself quite a treat—almost becoming mousse-like when churned. YUM!

Butterfinger Ice Cream with Swirled Peanut Butter:

Pre-freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

Ingredients:

-2 1/2 cups of heavy cream

-2 cups of whole milk

-1/2 cup of sugar

-2 1/2 tsp of kosher salt, remember the peanut butter will add salt too!

-2 tsp vanilla extract

-3/4 cup of smooth peanut butter (spray your measuring cup with nonstick spray prior to filling)

-1 cup of chopped/crushed Butterfingers (this took about 10 of the fun-sized bars)

Method:

1. In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, salt. Stir (do not whisk) together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

2. Add in cream and vanilla and combine. Put in refrigerator to chill for 2 hours.

3. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir, taking care not to make it bubbles, as you do not want to add air.

4. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machines settings.

5. Add in Butterfinger pieces with 5 minutes to go. Then add in your peanut butter—slowly drizzle it in. The candy pieces will grab the peanut butter (they make the texture a little more irregular)—incorporating it easier.

6. Put in a freezing container and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

7. As the little alien dude says in the new Butterfinger commercial, “Nobody lay a finger on my Butterfinger.”

8. Make a sign to go on your ice cream with the same sentiment.

A little abstract ice cream art…

Salted-Vanilla-Nutella Ice Cream

We made it to the weekend! Grab arm in arm with the person next to you and sprint across the finish line to that celebratory, Friday-feeling. With summer winding down, I have been pulling out all the stops on the ice cream recipes. After seeing Coffee Chip put so many smiles on the faces of my family, friends, and co-workers, I started playing around with my favorite condiment: Nutella. It was only a matter of time before I turned it into an ice cream. Those who have taste-tested (Hi, Rachel & Kristina!) have loved it so far and I hope you will too!

Salted-Vanilla-Nutella Ice Cream

Pre-freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

Ingredients:

-2 1/2 cups of whole milk

-2 cups of heavy cream

-1 cup of sugar

-1 tbsp. of kosher salt (I use Diamond)

-2 tsp. of vanilla extract

-1/2 cup of Nutella

Method:

1. In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, salt. Stir (do not whisk) together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

2. Add in cream, vanilla extract, and combine. Cover and chill for 2 hours.

3. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir, taking care not to make it bubbles, as you do not want to add air.

4. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

5. Slowly drizzle in Nutella directly into ice cream mix with 5 minutes left to go. The Nutella will be resembling the texture of stracciatella. Tip** spray your measuring cup with non-stick spray so it will slide out easier!

6. Put in a freezing container and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

7. Tell yourself that you will not eat the whole thing in one sitting.

8. Forgive yourself for breaking that promise.

Coffee Chip Ice Cream

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen a story post of mine a few weeks back where I could not actually stop myself from eating ice cream. This recipe was what yielded the ice cream in question, and yes, I heard that dreaded sound of the spoon scraping the bottom of the tub.

My favorite flavor combination would have to be coffee and chocolate. Nothing else comes close for me. I am curious what is yours? Leave in the comments below! After spending the July 4th week perfecting my peach ice cream, I finally decided I had a delicious and reliable enough base recipe to start making other flavors.

This ice cream is creamy, but not too soft. Sweet, but with plenty of bold flavor to cut through. And the cream eats cleanly—don’t you just hate it when ice cream coats your mouth? I truly believe this is the best ice cream I have ever had or made. My friends, I give you Coffee Chip Ice Cream.

Coffee Chip Ice Cream Recipe:

Pre-freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

Ingredients:

-2 1/2 cups of whole milk

-2 cups of heavy cream

-1 cup of sugar

-2-3 teaspoons of kosher salt, total personal preference here and I’ve used 2.5 teaspoons before

-2 tablespoons of espresso powder

-1 cup of chopped semisweet chocolate chunks

Method:

1. In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, salt. Stir (do not whisk) together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

2. Add in cream, combine, and espresso powder, a tablespoon at a time, and make sure to stir out clumps. Put in refrigerator to chill for 2 hours.

3. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir, taking care not to make it bubbles, as you do not want to add air.

4. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machines settings.

5. Add in chocolate chunks with 5 minutes to go.

6. Put in a freezing container and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

7. Do not eat all of the ice cream in one sitting.

8. Do as I say, not as I do.