Hot Fudge Sauce

The other day I had a powerful, and I am talking POWERFUL, hankering for a hot fudge sundae. This is rather unusual for me because I’m not a great lover of ice cream. Still, I became obsessed with wanting one. I rummaged around in the freezer (my climate-controlled version of the downstairs, unfinished storage area, affectionately known as “the belly of the beast”), and found a carton of vanilla ice cream way in the back. When I took the lid off and peered inside, I found a rather gummy, crystallized hunk of ice cream. I’m not proud to say that my plans were to eat it. In looking for fudge to top my ice cream I came to the realization that I was out. I say “out,” but what I really mean is I generally don’t keep this on hand. Naturally, I took to the Internet to find a recipe so that I could make my own to satisfy my culinary craving, and settled on this one. I changed it up because chocolate absolutely needs coffee to intensify the flavor. It was amazing how good that old hunk of desiccated ice cream turned out to be.

Hot Fudge Sauce

Adapted from The View from Great Island

 1 heaping c. semi sweet chocolate chips

½ c. unsalted butter

1/8 t. salt

½ t. espresso powder

2 c. confectioner's sugar

1 12-oz. can evaporated milk

1 T. vanilla extract

 Melt the butter, chocolate, salt, and espresso powder in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan over low heat. Add sugar and milk, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook for about 6 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

 Pour into jars and store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

 When ready to use, microwave the sauce VERY briefly to heat it up. You can either heat up individual portions, or heat the whole jar.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Pixie Tangerine Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

 

You know that summer’s coming when I go downstairs to the belly of the beast for the sole purpose of excavating the insert for the ice cream maker, bringing it upstairs to the freezer in the kitchen. Generally, I wait until June to make ice cream, but a recipe that I found on the Melissa’s Produce website lured me in, and I had to try it. Citrus-y, creamy, and delicious, this tastes like the Creamsicles from my youth. If you enjoyed them as much as I did, this is a must make.

Pixie Tangerine Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Slightly adapted from Melissa’s Produce

 2½ c. heavy cream

½ c. whole milk

2/3 c. granulated sugar, divided use

2 Melissa’s Vanilla Beans, split lengthwise

½ t. pure vanilla extract

2 T. Pixie Tangerine zest

4 egg yolks*

½ c. Pixie Tangerine juice

½ t. pure orange extract

 Into 3-quart saucepan, place cream, milk, and 1/3 cup of sugar.

 Scrape the seeds from the vanilla beans into the saucepan and drop in the vanilla bean pods. Stir in the vanilla extract and the tangerine zest. Heat over medium- low heat, stirring often, until small bubbles appear around the edge of the pan; remove from heat.

 In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until smooth, like a ribbon.

 While whisking, pour some of the scalded liquid into the egg mixture, continuing to whisk all the while. Add that back to the scalded liquid in the saucepan and cook over low heat until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

 Strain mixture into a bowl and stir in the tangerine juice and orange oil.

 Place the mixture in the refrigerator and chill completely.

 Place in an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacture’s directions.

 *Use the egg whites to make this White Almond Cake.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

No Churn Fresh Peach Ice Cream

My two favorite fruits are blueberries and peaches. When the fresh peaches come in at local farms, I come home with bags of them. But, as often happens, my eyes are bigger than my stomach, and I can’t possibly eat them before they go bad. Yes, I have frozen them in the past, but this year I was really feeling like ice cream. As I mentioned a week or so ago, when it comes to ice cream, I can take it or leave it, but lately I’ve wanted to take it.

 Today I made a delicious, simple, no-churn peach ice cream. It is absolute heaven. The freshness of the peaches really comes through, making each bite taste like the bounty of summer. I enjoyed mine in a cone, but if you feel inclined, put yours in a bowl and top it with fresh peaches and a drizzle of raspberry syrup. Enjoy summer’s delicious bounty while you still can.

No Churn Fresh Peach Ice Cream

From Eagle Brand

 2 c. heavy cream, whipped

1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 T. vanilla extract

1 c. pureed peaches (2 medium peaches)

Food coloring

Combine sweetened condensed milk and vanilla in large bowl; stir in 1 cup pureed fruit and food coloring (if desired). Fold in whipped heavy cream. Pour into 9” x 5” loaf pan or a 2-quart freezer container; cover. Freeze 6 hours or until firm.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Billie’s Chocolate Ice Cream

Lately, I have become (and I hesitate to use this word, but it’s embarrassingly accurate) addicted to a pleasant little Australian drama/comedy now on Netflix called “Offspring.” A friend of mine from high school (male) got me started watching it. I hadn’t anticipated liking it, because I am a dyed-in-the-wool fan of British television, mysteries in particular, but he had willingly accepted so many viewing challenges that I had thrown his way, that I felt that I owed it to him to watch at least one episode. Six episodes later, and nearing 4 o’clock in the morning, I had to stop. I was hooked from the very beginning. If you haven’t seen it, it’s about the Proudman family of assorted misfits, and all of their misadventures. It is about life, and love, and loss, and misunderstanding, and is seriously hard to stop watching. The casting is excellent, and I doubt that you’ll find a quirkier bunch than in this series. It got to the point where I had to limit myself to one episode per night in order to keep from losing any more sleep.

Last night I was watching an episode where oldest daughter, Billie Proudman (played by Kat Stewart of “Mr. & Mrs. Murder”), received some bad news. She barricaded herself in a room, crawled beneath a pile of blankets, and wouldn’t speak to anyone unless they brought her chocolate ice cream. At that moment I was reminded that I didn’t have any chocolate ice cream on hand. What if I encountered some sort of emergency, late at night? What would I do? It was then that I decided to make some to keep in the freezer just in case.

Here is an easy, no-churn recipe that you can do without standing for lengthy periods of time in front of the stove stirring up a custard, adding eggs, and praying to God that they don’t curdle. It’s astoundingly good, and a must to keep on hand, you know, just in case of emergency. :-) 

Billie’s Chocolate Ice Cream

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup Hershey‘s special dark cocoa, sifted
1/4 teaspoon espresso powder
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
Pinch of sea salt
2 cups heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks

Whisk together condensed milk, cocoa, espresso powder, vanilla, and salt. Fold into whipped cream, one half at a time, until combined. Pour into a 9” x 5” x 3” loaf pan and put into the freezer. It will be ready to scoop and serve after five hours. Conversely, if you have an ice cream maker, freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. Eat while barricaded in your room, hiding under mounds of blankets.

PRINT RECIPE

If sorbet is more your thing, this Concord Grape Sorbet is absolute HEAVEN!

This post is linked to:

Happiness is Homemade Sunday

What’s for Dinner Sunday

Dishing It & Digging It

Cooking & Crafting with J&J

Amaze Me Monday

Busy Mondays

Over the Moon

Celebrate Your Story

Full Plate Thursday

Thursday Favorite Things
Feathered Nest Friday
Funtastic Friday
Best of the Weekend
Pink Saturday
Create, Bake, Grow and Gather

This post contains affiliate links.

Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

You know how you occasionally, after a particularly difficult day, like to treat yourself to your favorite gourmet ice cream? You know the kind I'm talking about, that pricey stuff in those small containers. That stuff is good, but face it, a couple of healthy spoonfuls, and it and your eight dollars are gone. I have another idea. Make your own! The recipe that I'm about to share with you kicks your favorite brand of gourmet ice cream to the curb. No more will you have to go out in search of creamy, decadent, high-end deliciousness, you can make it at home.

I stumbled upon this recipe after making my Chocolate Stout Cake. I had about a cup of Guinness left and no idea what to do with it. Sure, if I liked beer (or ale, or Porter, or stout, or IPA, or anything else that smacks of yeast or hops) I could have drunk it. But seeing as I don't like Guinness or any of that other stuff, I needed to cook with it. It was way too much to make Guinness ale mustard, and I was looking for something chocolaty. As luck would have it, I found this in David Lebovitz's AMAZING ice cream book, The Perfect Scoop. I had picked up this book at the library some time ago, and just happened to see this while flipping through. I took the book back to the library, drove immediately to the local bookstore, and bought a copy of my own. It's a rare day that I actually buy a cookbook because I get so many of them from publishers for review, but this was one I knew that I had to have as a permanent addition to my cookbook collection . If the rest of the ice cream in this book is half as good as this one, I am going to be one happy girl.

A word of warning, this ice cream is not for the kids because the Guinness does not get cooked out, simply stirred into the custard after it is cooked . So you might want to keep that in mind. But you and your other adult friends are going to want to savor and enjoy every creamy spoonful. Or, you may just want to hoard it all for yourself. 

Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

Makes about one quart

7 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup Guinness Stout
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put the chocolate pieces in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer over the milk chocolate, then stir until the chocolate is melted. Once the mixture is smooth, whisk in the cream, then the Guinness and vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz

PRINT RECIPE

This post is linked to:

Dream, Create, Inspire

O My Heartsie Girls Wonderful Wednesday
 Homestead Wednesday

Wow Us Wednesday

Wine’d Down Wednesday

Full Plate Thursday

Friday at the Fire Station
Foodie Friday & Everything Else

Create, Bake, Grow and Gather
Share Your Style

Simple Saturday Blog Hop

A Bouquet of Talent

Paula's No Rules Weekend Blog Party

Pomegranate Gelato

This delicious gelato came into being thanks to a salmon fillet.

Let me explain.

Last year Mr. O-P, our then resident fish cooker, got it into his head that he wanted to make salmon wrapped in cedar papers and topped with a pomegranate sauce. As he is notoriously difficult to shop for around holiday time, I put the bug in dad's ear that some cedar wraps and bottle of PAMA liqueur might be an appropriate gift. Not one to pass up a sale, when dad found the PAMA at a good price, instead of buying one bottle, he bought two. That is a lot of pomegranate liqueur! Fast forward to yesterday when, yet again, I was looking for a place to move these taller-than-the-shelf, top-heavy bottles so as not to be in my way. In desperation, I decided to give it a google and see if I could find an appealing recipe that was quick and easy. Enter the gelato recipe that I found on epicurious.com. I was a bit short of heavy cream and only had an 8-ounce bottle of pomegranate juice (for yet another of the mister's salmon recipes), so made a few adaptations that are reflected below. It was heavenly! I say was because it is now just a memory. Even the mister, a vanilla (I call it dull-nilla) ice cream purist gobbled it down and asked for more. As the liqueur is stirred in after the cooking, it is not for the kids, so don't feel guilty when you don't share. Just be thankful, and enjoy!

Pomegranate Gelato

Adapted from a recipe on epicurious.com

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 8-ounce bottle pomegranate juice

1/2 cup pomegranate liqueur such as PAMA

1 teaspoon fresh Meyer lemon juice

Special equipment: an ice cream maker

In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt, until the cornstarch is fully incorporated and the mixture looks powdery. Do this, and you will not have any lumps.

Slowly pour in milk and cream while continuing to whisk, doing so until well blended. Pour mixture into a 2 1/2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan.

 Bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking occasionally, then boil, whisking, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in remaining ingredients.

Transfer to a bowl and chill, uncovered, until cold, 1-2 hours.

Freeze in ice cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 2 hours.

Soften gelato slightly in refrigerator, about 20 minutes, before serving.

Cook's notes:

• Cream mixture (before churning) can be chilled, covered, up to 1 day ahead.
• Gelato keeps 1 week. (This made me laugh.)

This post is linked to:

Metamorphosis Monday  
Amaze Me Monday

Cinnamon Maple Wonton Crisps

If you made the Won Ton Soup from yesterday (and even if you didn’t) you’re going to want to try these delicious little nibbles using the remaining won ton wrappers.  This recipe comes from Melinda and Bob Blanchard’s wonderful A Trip to the Beach Cookbook.  They serve them as a garnish for ice cream and sorbet.  I think they are perfect for tea time or brunch.  Mr. O-P thinks they’re great any old time.

They go together in a flash and require REAL maple syrup (don’t even think about using Mrs. Butterworth), and need to be baked until the edges brown and curl.

Cinnamon Maple Wonton Crisps

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ cup sugar

18 thin wonton wrappers

Sifted confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Mix together the butter, maple syrup, cinnamon, and sugar.  Arrange the wonton wrappers on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and brush* them with the butter mixture.  Bake until golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes.  Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

*I found the mixture didn’t spread too well with a brush, so I just spooned about 2 teaspoons of mixture on each wonton wrapper, and spread it to the edges with the back of a spoon. 

This post is linked to:

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

Tasty Tuesdays

Pumpkin Ice Cream

I've made a lot of things with pumpkin, but have never once made pumpkin ice cream, so when I saw this recipe in Taste of the Southmagazine, I had to try it.  It was quite an experience!  Generally,  Mr. O-P is the ice cream maker in the family, but these days I’ve been running amok with the ice cream maker.  So when my custard looked like it was beginning to curdle I feared that I’d failed despite having followed the instructions to the letter, and stirred with reckless abandon.  Fortunately, as it turned out, it did not curdle.  In fact, I ended up with one of the creamiest, most delicious ice creams that I’ve ever made.  Abundantly pumpkin-y, spicy and unique, this is one dessert that will cause your friends and family to raise their eyebrows in enraptured culinary bliss, and say, “Yummmmm!”  I topped mine with a sprinkling of Heath Brickle Bits.  You can also grate cinnamon or nutmeg on top, sprinkle with crushed ginger snaps, or drizzle with your favorite topping.  I tried it with each of Melissa’s Dessert Sauces and it was wonderful no matter how I topped it.  For purists, it is also delicious simply left alone.

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Taste of the South Magazine

1-1/2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2/3 cup sugar

¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

5 large egg yolks

1 16-ounce can pumpkin*

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, combine milk, cream, sugars, and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Place egg yolks in a medium bowl; whisk in half of hot milk mixture. Return egg mixture to remaining milk mixture in saucepan, whisking to combine. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat; stir in pumpkin. Strain pumpkin mixture through a sieve set over a bowl. Add pumpkin pie spice and vanilla to pumpkin mixture, whisking to combine. Cover, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, approximately 4 hours.

Process pumpkin mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Spoon into a freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze until firm, approximately 3 hours. Serve with pecan brittle, if desired.

Yield: 4 cups

*I used less than this, about ¾ of the can, because that was all I had on hand.