TWD – Caramel Swirl and Coconut Macadamia Ice Creams

Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu chose this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, vanilla ice cream. When the recipes were announced, I thought the bookends of the month, the first and last recipes, were a natural together. I planned to make the Tribute to Katharine Hepburn Brownies and serve them with scoops of vanilla ice cream.

Then peer pressure took over.

I started thinking, what will my fellow TWD-ers do with this recipe? It’s practically a blank canvas, and Dorie’s playing around suggestions encourage us to take off in many directions, including mix ins and swirl ins. I could have done one of those, but I had to do something different so that maybe you would stop here and go “Wow! Look what Leslie did with this! I never thought of making it with sriracha.”

OK, maybe not that different. So I decided to make my caramel sauce (recipe to come), which is ridiculously easy, and swirl it in after the ice cream chilled some.

I made this ice cream on the same day I made the brownies. The high that day was 102, we don’t have air conditioning, and I appreciated this one didn’t require turning the oven on.

Until I decided toasted macadamias and toasted coconut would be perfect compliments to the rich vanilla base. The oven went back on.

The custard base was super simple. The star players were heavy cream and whole milk with a vanilla bean (its vanilla caviar, as Gail Gand would say, stripped out and added to the mixture). Egg yolks added richness and stabilized the mixture; the custard was cooked until it thickened slightly. Once cooled, the custard is churned in an ice cream maker.

As I poured the churned mixture, still soft and bursting with flecks of vanilla, into two separate containers, I put aside the dasher to taste once the ice cream was safely in the freezer.

Oh. My. I wanted to climb in the freezer and be with it, it was that good. Better, yes indeed, than the Bouchon vanilla ice cream I made a few years ago. So good, I didn’t want to serve it with the brownies. Or add anything that would take away from its pure vanilla flavor. But I did.

The caramel was swirled in after the ice cream froze for a half hour. I may have been a little heavy handed with the caramel, but I knew the vanilla base could stand up to the aggressive bite of the bitter caramel sauce.

Then I chopped the toasted macadamias and added them and the toasted coconut to the other half of the base. Mix lightly and back in the freezer for both flavors.

Then wait. Waiting is hard.

Sneak a bite…

After tasting the caramel swirl, I knew the coconut macadamia could never live up to it. The caramel was rich and almost bitter from being taken practically to the edge of burning before the cream was added. No namby pamby sweet caramel for me. It lends a complexity that the vanilla plays up without competing with it. This ice cream is some of the best I have ever eaten.

Sneak a bite of the other flavor…

Impossible. The saltiness of the macadamias (which I accidentally left in the oven a bit too long, until they were brown) and the sweet toasted coconut with the rich vanilla backdrop made a flavor as subtle and complex as the caramel was in-your-face.

Not to overstate it, but this recipe blew me away. As written, it’s the very best vanilla ice cream you could ever hope to eat or make. But when you let your imagination carry you away, it’s transformed from the star to a supporting role. Your flavors can shine because the foundation is solid.

I never thought I could make great ice cream, but Dorie has taught me I can make a lot of great things. All it takes is the right teacher, and letting your mind wander until you find the flavors that speak to you.

If you’d like the recipe, check out Lynne’s blog. Or better yet, buy the book. We’re cooking from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. It’s filled with amazing, fun and even some challenging recipes that will increase your baking repertoire.

TWD – Caramel Swirl and Coconut Macadamia Ice Creams

Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu chose this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, vanilla ice cream. When the recipes were announced, I thought the bookends of the month, the first and last recipes, were a natural together. I planned to make the Tribute to Katharine Hepburn Brownies and serve them with scoops of vanilla ice cream.

Then peer pressure took over.

I started thinking, what will my fellow TWD-ers do with this recipe? It’s practically a blank canvas, and Dorie’s playing around suggestions encourage us to take off in many directions, including mix ins and swirl ins. I could have done one of those, but I had to do something different so that maybe you would stop here and go “Wow! Look what Leslie did with this! I never thought of making it with sriracha.”

OK, maybe not that different. So I decided to make my caramel sauce (recipe to come), which is ridiculously easy, and swirl it in after the ice cream chilled some.

I made this ice cream on the same day I made the brownies. The high that day was 102, we don’t have air conditioning, and I appreciated this one didn’t require turning the oven on.

Until I decided toasted macadamias and toasted coconut would be perfect compliments to the rich vanilla base. The oven went back on.

The custard base was super simple. The star players were heavy cream and whole milk with a vanilla bean (its vanilla caviar, as Gail Gand would say, stripped out and added to the mixture). Egg yolks added richness and stabilized the mixture; the custard was cooked until it thickened slightly. Once cooled, the custard is churned in an ice cream maker.

As I poured the churned mixture, still soft and bursting with flecks of vanilla, into two separate containers, I put aside the dasher to taste once the ice cream was safely in the freezer.

Oh. My. I wanted to climb in the freezer and be with it, it was that good. Better, yes indeed, than the Bouchon vanilla ice cream I made a few years ago. So good, I didn’t want to serve it with the brownies. Or add anything that would take away from its pure vanilla flavor. But I did.

The caramel was swirled in after the ice cream froze for a half hour. I may have been a little heavy handed with the caramel, but I knew the vanilla base could stand up to the aggressive bite of the bitter caramel sauce.

Then I chopped the toasted macadamias and added them and the toasted coconut to the other half of the base. Mix lightly and back in the freezer for both flavors.

Then wait. Waiting is hard.

Sneak a bite…

After tasting the caramel swirl, I knew the coconut macadamia could never live up to it. The caramel was rich and almost bitter from being taken practically to the edge of burning before the cream was added. No namby pamby sweet caramel for me. It lends a complexity that the vanilla plays up without competing with it. This ice cream is some of the best I have ever eaten.

Sneak a bite of the other flavor…

Impossible. The saltiness of the macadamias (which I accidentally left in the oven a bit too long, until they were brown) and the sweet toasted coconut with the rich vanilla backdrop made a flavor as subtle and complex as the caramel was in-your-face.

Not to overstate it, but this recipe blew me away. As written, it’s the very best vanilla ice cream you could ever hope to eat or make. But when you let your imagination carry you away, it’s transformed from the star to a supporting role. Your flavors can shine because the foundation is solid.

I never thought I could make great ice cream, but Dorie has taught me I can make a lot of great things. All it takes is the right teacher, and letting your mind wander until you find the flavors that speak to you.

If you’d like the recipe, check out Lynne’s blog. Or better yet, buy the book. We’re cooking from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. It’s filled with amazing, fun and even some challenging recipes that will increase your baking repertoire.

TWD – Raspberry Blanc-Manger

Dorie continues to test our limits and teach us to appreciate the untried. I never ever would have picked this recipe out of a cookbook and said “This one sounds great! I can’t wait to make it!” That’s the beauty of participating in a group like Tuesdays with Dorie. Someone different picks the recipe each week, and we get to try making (and eating) things we’re not familiar with. One thing I’ve learned is that the weeks where I “don’t feel like” making the recipe is the week I absolutely need to make it. Those are the recipes that surprise me the most–in a good way.

My first question this week was “What the heck is a blanc-manger??” It is reminiscent of a coeur a la creme, but has whipping cream and milk with gelatin to stabilize it. This was such an easy recipe to put together. I made it the night before I served it and parked it in the refrigerator overnight.

I went back and forth on whether I should grind blanched almonds or just use my Trader Joe’s ground almonds (which are ground with the skins on). It was obvious from the photo that Dorie used blanched almonds, but I was feeling lazy and decided to go for that rustic look.

The recipe came together very quickly and easily. It took longer to pick through the two baskets of raspberries to trash the ones that were mushy than it did to make the blanc-manger. I smoothed the top diligently, wrapped it with plastic wrap and put it in a drawer of the fridge, away from strong odors. When it was time to unmold it, I soaked it in hot (OK, boiling hot) water, and it popped right out, but the top was very shiny. In the future, I’d use hot tap water and I think I’d get the effect the picture in the book shows.

The raspberry coulis was easier than the blanc-manger (picking through the raspberries again took more time). I forgot to reserve some berries to decorate the top, so I decided to make an amoeba-like design on the top with the coulis. Well, I decided to make a design, but my design skills are pathetic.

This was a hit at work. Once people got over the “What is it?” and had a slice, it disappeared in record time.

This is a not a dessert for anyone watching their weight as its predominant ingredient is whipping cream, but it’s an impressive and refreshing summer dessert. I used the suggested raspberries, but peaches, apricots, strawberries or cantaloupe would all work.

Thanks go to Susan of Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy. She picked this dessert for us to make this week, and she’s something of a visionary in my mind. If you’d like the recipe, please visit Susan, or better yet, buy the book and join us in our odyssey to bake our way through it, one recipe at a time.

CSA – One week, one box, many opportunities

I have been getting a box from J&P Organics, a local CSA, for a couple of months now. For those of you who haven’t heard of CSA, it stands for community supported agriculture. Farmers grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables and sell them directly to consumers in what is basically a variety pack each week. For those of us who are idealistic, it’s a way of helping family farmers survive in a nation of mega factory farms.

I like belonging to a CSA not just because we’re helping to preserve family farms, but because you get to have a personal relationship with the farmer, in addition to having organic fruits and vegetables picked at their peak.

I’m not always good about finishing all of the bounty that comes to me in my box each week (and I don’t always order weekly, I usually order every other week–because the produce was picked that day, it generally lasts two weeks). In order to spur myself to finish all of the box this week, I’m going to post the contents of this week’s box, and post updates daily on how I’m using my veggies (we get less fruit, so I generally don’t have a problem finishing that!)

Here’s what we got this week:

eggs (available if we want to order them with our box)

golden raspberries

strawberries

yellow globe squash

green squash (maybe tatuma?)

sweet potatoes

new potatoes

red spring onion

Swiss chard

oranges

broccoli

carrots

green leaf lettuce

spinach

M. is gone for a couple of weeks, so it’s up to me to finish off this week’s box! I’d love to hear your suggestions especially for the swiss chard as I’ve not cooked with it much before.

For my A.M. pick-me-up, I’m having a Green Monster with about a cup each of chard and spinach, a banana, unsweetened Almond Breeze and a T of flax seeds. Since I’m not yet sure how I’ll cook the chard, I decided to add it to a Green Monster to take advantage of its nutritional benefits (it’s high in folate, thiamin and zinc, plus lots of vitamins). I first learned about Green Monsters on Caitlin’s blog Healthy Tipping Point, and although I thought anything with pureed greens would be revolting, the banana and Almond Breeze add great flavor so you don’t even taste the greens. I loved GMs from the very first one I made. It feels virtuous to get in 2 cups of leafy greens without even tasting them!

My usual summer breakfast is muesli:

1/2 cup oatmeal (NOT steel cut)

1/2 cup 1% milk

1/2 cup fat free yogurt (I’m using plain, but I usually use vanilla)

1 T maple syrup

Combine ingredients in a bowl, refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.

Today, I’m topping my muesli with strawberries and golden raspberries from my CSA and a couple of toasted pecans.

I usually get up around 5:00 AM and have a small snack then eat breakfast at my desk around 8-ish, so this will be all ready for me when I get hungry. With a breakfast this yummy, I’ll be ready to face whatever problems crop up (the last couple of days have been insane at work!)

TWD – Honey Peach Ice Cream

We’re well into our June recipes with Tuesdays with Dorie, and this week we’re making ice cream. This week’s recipe was chosen by Tommi of Brown Interior, and I think a lot of us were jumping for joy when we saw this one. Ice cream! Peaches! Honey! OK, when can I start?

I found nice organic yellow peaches at Whole Foods, and their perfume fragranced the house as they ripened on the counter. Welcome, summer!

As with many of Dorie’s recipes, this one was easy and lent itself to preparing in stages. I made the custard and peach puree before leaving for work in the morning, and put it in the ice cream maker when I got home from work. Now, I’m not always functioning at 100% while I’m getting ready for work, and I not only heated the custard too much, but I also didn’t combine the custard and peach puree before refrigerating.

But it all worked out in the end. The freshness of the peaches, paired with my favorite vanilla bean paste, gave this ice cream the heady scent of summer. Be sure to DICE or puree your peaches, instead of cutting them in chunks as I did, because they are rather icy when you chew on them. In fact, my ice cream was a bit icy if I didn’t let it soften somewhat. Softened slightly, it was creamy and delicious, and a sprinkling of chopped candied ginger give it a nice bite. Another winner from Dorie!

TWD – Honey Peach Ice Cream

We’re well into our June recipes with Tuesdays with Dorie, and this week we’re making ice cream. This week’s recipe was chosen by Tommi of Brown Interior, and I think a lot of us were jumping for joy when we saw this one. Ice cream! Peaches! Honey! OK, when can I start?

I found nice organic yellow peaches at Whole Foods, and their perfume fragranced the house as they ripened on the counter. Welcome, summer!

As with many of Dorie’s recipes, this one was easy and lent itself to preparing in stages. I made the custard and peach puree before leaving for work in the morning, and put it in the ice cream maker when I got home from work. Now, I’m not always functioning at 100% while I’m getting ready for work, and I not only heated the custard too much, but I also didn’t combine the custard and peach puree before refrigerating.

But it all worked out in the end. The freshness of the peaches, paired with my favorite vanilla bean paste, gave this ice cream the heady scent of summer. Be sure to DICE or puree your peaches, instead of cutting them in chunks as I did, because they are rather icy when you chew on them. In fact, my ice cream was a bit icy if I didn’t let it soften somewhat. Softened slightly, it was creamy and delicious, and a sprinkling of chopped candied ginger give it a nice bite. Another winner from Dorie!

Yogurt, elevated

One of my biggest obstacles to losing the last 10 20 pounds is my love of all things dairy. I have friends with varying degrees of lactose intolerance, and I am sincerely sorry whenever I think about what they are missing.

When I crave something creamy and delicious, I often reach for yogurt in one form or another. I lean to fat free and low fat, and fat free Greek yogurt is frequently the one I go for. It’s thick and creamy, and good with both sweet and savory adornment. This week, I got to indulge my love of lemon and my love of yogurt by utilizing some left over lemon curd. Yes, I made my own lemon yogurt. Here’s how you do it:

Put desired amount of yogurt (I used low-fat Stonyfield Farms Organic Vanilla) in a bowl. Pour leftover lemon curd over yogurt to taste. Sprinkle with toasted nuts or granola. Eat. Repeat. Lick bowl (only if no one is looking). Feel virtuous for using up leftovers AND getting in a calcium serving.

Yogurt, elevated

One of my biggest obstacles to losing the last 10 20 pounds is my love of all things dairy. I have friends with varying degrees of lactose intolerance, and I am sincerely sorry whenever I think about what they are missing.

When I crave something creamy and delicious, I often reach for yogurt in one form or another. I lean to fat free and low fat, and fat free Greek yogurt is frequently the one I go for. It’s thick and creamy, and good with both sweet and savory adornment. This week, I got to indulge my love of lemon and my love of yogurt by utilizing some left over lemon curd. Yes, I made my own lemon yogurt. Here’s how you do it:

Put desired amount of yogurt (I used low-fat Stonyfield Farms Organic Vanilla) in a bowl. Pour leftover lemon curd over yogurt to taste. Sprinkle with toasted nuts or granola. Eat. Repeat. Lick bowl (only if no one is looking). Feel virtuous for using up leftovers AND getting in a calcium serving.

CEiMB – Nutty Granola aka Hide the Milk

This week’s recipe for Craving Ellie in My Belly is Nutty Granola. Amazingly, I had everything I needed in my pantry for this one. This is all you need…

I chopped the nuts and dried cherries (which I subbed for the raisins). I dumped everything in a glass bowl (I like to be able to peek at the bottom to see if I thoroughly mixed everything together). Then I poured on the maple syrup…

Stir, stir, stir.

Ellie says to spray a baking sheet with cooking spray before spreading the granola evenly on the baking sheet. This had me very conflicted. I still have some post traumatic stress from spending two days cleaning my broiler pan after the sesame-teriyaki chicken thighs. I pondered using a silicone mat to ease clean up, but I was worried that the granola wouldn’t brown properly. I ended up using cooking spray, which worked fine.

The granola baked for 30 minutes, filling the house with a wonderful aroma. When it came out of the oven it looked amazing…

I waited (impatiently) for it to cool enough to have it for breakfast. Finally, I spooned some in a bowl and anointed it with milk. Mmm…delicious! It’s not overly sweet like most commercial granolas, nor is it so hard my jaw hurt after eating it. The maple and cinnamon are subtle and don’t overpower the nuts. Yum. This is so good…have another small bowl. I mean, I do plan to work out today. No, really.

This week was my turn to pick the recipe. I found it to be a humbling experience. I wanted to pick something that didn’t have expensive ingredients, wouldn’t take a lot of time or be overly complicated, and was family friendly. I enjoyed making this, and I hope you will, too! Here’s the recipe:

Nutty Granola – Serves 9

You can’t buy granola this good, and it couldn’t be simpler to make. All the flavors come through crisp and clear: crunchy toasted nuts, chewy oats, and caramelized raisins perfectly sweetened with the unmistakable flavor of real maple syrup and humming with cinnamon.

Cooking spreay

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup raisins (optional, I used dried cherries instead)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients, mixing well to coat everything with the maple syrup. Spread on the baking sheet and bake until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Transfer the sheet to the wire rack and let cool completely. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for about 2 weeks.

I will definitely make this one again. I would like to try it with some pumpkin seeds, dried apple, orange zest, vanilla caviar, but not all at the same time. Check out what the other CEiMB cooks did here. If you like this recipe, I urge you to check out the book The Foods You Crave, by Ellie Krieger.

CEiMB – Nutty Granola aka Hide the Milk

This week’s recipe for Craving Ellie in My Belly is Nutty Granola. Amazingly, I had everything I needed in my pantry for this one. This is all you need…

I chopped the nuts and dried cherries (which I subbed for the raisins). I dumped everything in a glass bowl (I like to be able to peek at the bottom to see if I thoroughly mixed everything together). Then I poured on the maple syrup…

Stir, stir, stir.

Ellie says to spray a baking sheet with cooking spray before spreading the granola evenly on the baking sheet. This had me very conflicted. I still have some post traumatic stress from spending two days cleaning my broiler pan after the sesame-teriyaki chicken thighs. I pondered using a silicone mat to ease clean up, but I was worried that the granola wouldn’t brown properly. I ended up using cooking spray, which worked fine.

The granola baked for 30 minutes, filling the house with a wonderful aroma. When it came out of the oven it looked amazing…

I waited (impatiently) for it to cool enough to have it for breakfast. Finally, I spooned some in a bowl and anointed it with milk. Mmm…delicious! It’s not overly sweet like most commercial granolas, nor is it so hard my jaw hurt after eating it. The maple and cinnamon are subtle and don’t overpower the nuts. Yum. This is so good…have another small bowl. I mean, I do plan to work out today. No, really.

This week was my turn to pick the recipe. I found it to be a humbling experience. I wanted to pick something that didn’t have expensive ingredients, wouldn’t take a lot of time or be overly complicated, and was family friendly. I enjoyed making this, and I hope you will, too! Here’s the recipe:

Nutty Granola – Serves 9

You can’t buy granola this good, and it couldn’t be simpler to make. All the flavors come through crisp and clear: crunchy toasted nuts, chewy oats, and caramelized raisins perfectly sweetened with the unmistakable flavor of real maple syrup and humming with cinnamon.

Cooking spray

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup raisins (optional, I used dried cherries instead)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients, mixing well to coat everything with the maple syrup. Spread on the baking sheet and bake until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Transfer the sheet to the wire rack and let cool completely. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for about 2 weeks.

I will definitely make this one again. I would like to try it with some pumpkin seeds, dried apple, orange zest, vanilla caviar, but not all at the same time. Check out what the other CEiMB cooks did here. If you like this recipe, I urge you to check out the book The Foods You Crave, by Ellie Krieger.