Cake & Ice Cream

Once upon a time, I hated ice cream sandwiches. Even as a kid, I didn’t like those thin, soggy “cookies” filled with tasteless ice cream that are sold in grocery stores. Then I discovered the ice cream macaroons at Jeni’s Ice Creams. For the uninitiated, Jeni’s is a company that makes artisan ice creams right here in Columbus, Ohio. They use local, seasonal ingredients and make ice creams that are rich and flavorful, but not overly sweet. Jeni’s ice cream is excellent on its own, and is only enhanced when it’s made into sundaes, floats and other treats. That’s where ice cream sandwiches come in. Jeni’s takes their ice cream and sandwiches it between two handmade macaroons. The first one I ever tried was Double Chocolate Buttermint, which is exactly what it sounds like. Two fudge macaroons are filled with buttermint ice cream. The resulting treat made me realize that ice cream sandwiches, when made carefully and with quality ingredients, can actually be very good.

Of course, I still wasn’t about to go to the grocery store and buy those icky ice cream sandwiches that they sell. I just figured I’d content myself with the occasional Jeni’s sandwich & leave it at that. The idea of making them myself never even crossed my mind, until I came across an article devoted to ice cream treats in the June issue of Food Network Magazine. It has recipes for homemade versions of classic ice cream truck treats, such as Orange Cream Pops and ice cream sandwiches. I plan to make several of the treats featured in this article, starting with these Ice Cream Sandwich Cakes. Sure, they’re not Jeni’s macaroons. But their rich, fudgey cake puts those nasty grocery store cookies to shame.

Ice Cream Sandwich Cakes
Makes 18 sandwiches

Ingredients
4 tbsp. butter
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 c. cocoa powder
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. coffee, brewed
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 pints mint chocolate chip ice cream

Directions
1. Line bottom of two 8″ square cake pans with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 325°.
2. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl.
3. In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk about 1 minute to dissolve the powder.
4. Transfer cocoa mixture to a bowl and whisk in sugars until combined. Add coffee, buttermilk, egg and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the flour mixture until just combined.
5. Divide the batter evenly between both pans. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
6. Allow cakes to partially cool in the pans, then invert onto a rack to cool completely. Transfer cakes to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 1 hour.
7. Take ice cream out of freezer and allow to soften for 20 minutes. Clean and dry cake pans, then line each with plastic wrap, leaving a 4″ overhang on all sides.
8. Scoop all ice cream into one of the pans, packing it to make an even 1″ thick layer. Use a spatula to smooth the ice cream. Fold the plastic wrap over the ice cream to cover it, then freeze until solid, at least 1 hour.
9. Put 1 frozen cake in the remaining cake pan. Unwrap the ice cream and invert it on top of the cake. Remove plastic wrap and cover with remaining cake, pressing gently. Cover cake with plastic wrap and freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
10. To serve, unwrap the cake and cut it into 9 squares. Cut each square in half to make 2 rectangles. Enjoy!

That's a big ice cream sandwich!

Recipe Source: “What A Scream”, Food Network Magazine, June 2010.

Admittedly, not the prettiest containers. But they are definitely cookout ready!

This is one of those recipes that I originally had no intention of blogging. I mean, what is there to say about making fruit salad? Chop up some fruit and maybe mix a quick dip. Easy. However, tonight marks the second Thursday in a row that I’ve found myself in the kitchen making this. I took it to a cookout at work last week, where the combination of sweet fruit and tart dip got rave reviews. A couple coworkers asked for the recipe and a couple others asked me to make it again for a Mother’s Day breakfast we’re having tomorrow. Since I’m hosting & catering my sister’s bridal shower in July, in addition to all of the usual Summer cookouts and picnics, I can see myself repeating, and playing with, this recipe a lot in the coming months.

Fruit Salad & Key Lime Dip
Makes approximately 12 servings

For the salad
1 pineapple
1 papaya
1 pint of strawberries
4 kiwifruits

For the dip
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 c. powdered sugar
8 oz. heavy whipping cream, cold
1/3 c. granulated sugar
1 Key Lime, juiced & zested

Directions
1. Prepare the fruit. Peel, core and cube pineapple. Cut papaya in half, remove seeds, and chop into cubes. Peel kiwifruits and cut into small cubes. Remove tops from strawberries and cut into quarters. Mix all fruit together in a large bowl and set aside.
2. Make the dip. Using a stand mixer, combine powdered sugar and cream cheese on medium speed. Once ingredients are combined, add whipping cream and sugar. Increase speed to high. Beat until cream is slightly firm, about 4 minutes. Add lime juice and zest. Enjoy!

My thoughts & suggestions

• I know there are people who add sugar to fruit salad. I don’t understand this, since fruit is so sweet on its own. However, I do like to let the fruit sit for at least a few hours, if not overnight, before serving. This allows the flavors to combine and the natural sweetness to come out.
• Using this recipe, the dip tastes a lot like key lime pie filling. I considered adding vanilla, but didn’t think it needed any. I probably will try adding that in the future. I’d also like to play with other citrus fruits. I think that oranges would be especially refreshing in the summer.

Yes there are only 1.5 cookies in this picture. That's because we ate the rest. They were delicious.

After all of the holiday baking was done, I promised my husband I would bake him anything he wanted. His request? Chocolate-chip cookies. My immediate response was to harass him about his “boring” taste in baked goods. Then he specified that he wanted ridiculously big, thick, chewy chocolate chip cookies. Since my usual recipe yields a smaller, chewy cookie of normal thickness, his request made the project a little more interesting. Still, I initially hadn’t planned to blog the cookies, which is why there are only two in the picture. The rest were gone by the time I decided to write about them. This is because they were very good cookies. And chocolate-chip cookies are a classic, definitely something that should be included in any food blog.

Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 1 dozen cookies

Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
12 oz. chocolate chips
1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Cream butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl, being careful not to overbeat. Add egg and vanilla and beat lightly.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Slowly add to sugar and butter mixture. Add chocolate chips and walnuts.
4. Scoop 1/4 c. portions of dough onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350º for 18-22 minutes.

My thoughts:
In spite of my initial resistance, I was very happy that I made these cookies. They were great out of the oven with a warm glass of milk, and still good a few days later. As you can see from this pic, they were also as thick as my hand. In the future, I plan to play with this recipe more – maybe add some oatmeal or M&Ms. Then again, maybe I’ll just let a classic remain a classic.

What does the holiday season mean, if not food? OK. Actually, it means a lot of other things. But this is a food blog, not a metaphysical, philosophical, or even particularly domestic one. Back in early November, I had intended to blog all of my holiday food adventures. Then I got super busy with work and family commitments. I still did a lot of baking and cooking. I just didn’t have time to upload the pictures, type out the recipes and make it all look pretty.

Now it is January. Christmas is over. But since Christmas is such an important time when it comes to food and food-related traditions, I’d like to record some of what I’ve been up to the last few weeks before moving on to 2010′s culinary experiences.

There are a lot of Christmas traditions that I love. But my favorite is Cookie Weekend. My mom, sister, aunts and cousins take over my grandma, Honey’s, kitchen. Everyone brings different recipes and baking supplies. We then spend the whole day making and decorating cookies and candies. Here are a few of the things we made that day, with links to the recipes that I used:

• Pea Blossoms – These are the classic peanut butter cookies with a Hershey’s kiss in the center. To me, they are the quintessential Christmas cookie. I think it’s because my mom only ever made them at Christmas.
• Taffy – For years, my sister wanted to make taffy. Everyone always denied her due to the mess and complication involved. This year, I decided we were going to make taffy. I gave her the recipe and a candy thermometer. She did the rest!
• Hard Cinnamon Candy – We decided this couldn’t be that much different than making taffy. It was super easy. In the process of making this candy and the taffy, we all got a lesson in the stages that sugar goes through when it cooks.



• Sugar Cookies (pictured above) – After all of the other cookies are done, everyone sits around the kitchen table and decorates sugar cookies. We make some pretty and others silly. I love decorating them so much that I actually made an additional 200 cookies on my own and gave them to my employees. The recipe I linked to is the sugar cookie recipe I’ve been using for several years. The first time I made these cookies, my aunt said that they tasted just like my great-grandma’s sugar cookies. I never did get to meet Great-Grandma; but I understand that she was quite the cook and baker. Needless to say, this was one of the best compliments my aunt could have paid me. These cookies are soft, buttery, and not-too-sweet. They stand up perfectly to buttercream frosting (see my last post for the recipe).

This is just a sampling of the good things we made that day. There were also snickerdoodles, truffles, chocolate overload cookies, and probably some other things I am forgetting. Like I said, Cookie Weekend is one of my favorite holiday traditions. It is an excuse to get together with a lot of great women, bake, laugh, and OD on sugar and coffee. What could be better in the midst of all the holiday stress and chaos?

Buttercream Frosting
Makes 3 cups

Ingredients
1/4 c. vegetable shortening
3/4 c. unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 c. powdered sugar, sifted
2-3 tbsp. milk
4 tsp. meringue powder

Directions
1. Using a stand mixer, cream butter and shortening. Add vanilla.
2. In a seperate bowl, combine sugar and meringue powder.
3. Slowly add sugar mixture to butter. Beat at medium speed. Add milk and beat until frosting is fluffy and light.

My thoughts:
1. To make a chocolate buttercream, simply add 3/4 c. cocoa powder and an additional 1-2 tbsp. milk to the mixture.
2. To color the frosting, I use the Wilton Icing Colors. They can be purchased at any craft store and yield much richer colors than standard liquid food coloring.

Jared took this picture. He was both shocked and amused by the amount of butter and shortening I went through this Christmas

After dinner last night, Jared and I both had a huge craving for something sweet. We don’t keep many sweets around, but the baking cabinet is usually stocked with basic ingredients. I wanted to make something easy that involved chocolate. It also had to be eggless since we didn’t have any eggs. Recipezaar to the rescue! Contributor Chiclet’s vegan brownie recipe was exactly what I needed. This recipe took less than 45 minutes to prepare and bake. The brownies came out gooey and spongy. They have a hint of cinnamon and aren’t overly sweet.

Vegan Brownies
Makes 12 brownies

Ingredients
2 cups unsweetened applesauce
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup pecans (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, combine applesauce, sugar and vanilla.
3. In a large bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix to combine. Fold in most of the pecans, if using.
5. Coat a 9×9 pan with non-stick cooking spray. Spread brownie batter evenly into pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips and crushed pecans on top
6. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes. Let cool before slicing.

My thoughts:
1. The original recipe called for walnuts. I was out of walnuts so I used pecans instead.
2. Since I didn’t have vegan chocolate chips, my take on the recipe wasn’t truly vegan. Also, I left the chocolate chips out of the batter. Instead, I sprinkled them on top of the brownies, along with some crushed nuts, to give them some visual interest.

Recipe Source: Chiclet at Recipezaar

Normally, I stick to ice cream flavors that involve chocolate, peanut butter or coconut. Saturday’s cold, rainy weather put me in the mood for something a little more seasonal. Enter Ben & Jerry’s Cinnamon Buns ice cream. Like all of their ice cream, Cinnamon Buns comes in a colorful container festooned with graphics of cows and clouds. The ice cream itself is caramel with swirls of streusel and cinnamon bun dough in it. It tastes like brown sugar and cinnamon with a creamy background. I had wondered if the caramel would be too much. Surprisingly, it works perfectly with the cinnamon and sugar streusel swirl. The dough reminds me of the chocolate chip cookie dough that they put in ice cream, which is what I had expected. My only real complaint with this ice cream is that it’s almost too sweet. This is probably a good thing since it means I can’t eat too much of it in one sitting. Overall, though, it’s very good and something I’ll buy again.