Ice Cream Cake

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | August 25, 2009
Filed Under frozen dessert, recipe | 50 Comments

When I was an art student at the University of Vermont I worked at the Ben & Jerry’s making ice cream cakes. It was my first job in the world of sweets and I have never looked back. My brothers were very little then and it started a birthday tradition for them that lives on today. I wish my two brothers lived close by, but Alec is an artist in Portland, Oregon and Carey works in a recording studio in NY. They are wildly talented and two of my favorite people to be with. Every summer my family rents a cabin in Northern WI and we get to spend precious, albeit short, time together. This year that time fell on Carey’s birthday. Even at the ripe old age of 27 he still wants his childhood favorite; ice cream cake.

As some of you may know this month has been a marathon for me. Jeff and I finished the manuscript for Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day just last week. Did you hear me celebrating! The week prior I was on vacation with my family in Maine. It was a glorious week of ocean, lobster, fresh wild blueberries and some of the best pie on earth. And last but not least, yesterday was my 18th wedding anniversary. Despite my absence from blogging I have been baking and look forward to being back home where I can start posting about my adventures in the kitchen.

I hope you all have had a wonderful August! Read more

Blueberry Cobbler with White Peach Ice Cream!

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | July 7, 2009
Filed Under dessert, frozen dessert, recipe | 34 Comments

Last weekend my family and I went to Avon, Minnesota to see a special 4th of July live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion. For those of you who have never been to Minnesota, you will get a quick and thorough understanding of the place if you tune in to listen to Garrison Keiller’s show on NPR. He ends every broadcast with the phrase “…where the women are strong, the men are good looking and the kids are above average,” which pretty much sums up the place.

We brought enough food to share with the thousands of other patriotic NPR listeners sitting all around us. We arrived 4 hours early (we were far from the first ones there) and didn’t want to risk getting hungry. You know how that goes. For dessert I made blueberry cobbler, the biscuits were made with tarragon from my garden. It was hot from the oven and required its own basket and carrying case. This is significant only because of the distance between our car and the field we set up in. But, my family never said a complaining word and I marched on blissfully with my cobbler. In the end they, carrying everything else, were happy that I did.

It was such a hit that I made another batch and baked them as individuals in dainty ramekins my friend Jen bought me during her trip to Maine. This time I served the cobbler with White Peach Ice Cream. Read more

Plum Cupcakes with Sweet-Corn Ice Cream!

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | June 9, 2009
Filed Under cake, frozen dessert, giveaway!, recipe | 32 Comments

My husband brought home corn last weekend from the market that was so sweet it just begged to be made into a dessert. But, that was not quite what he had in mind for this batch so we grilled it, peeled it, a small squeeze of lime juice and a sprinkle of salt. The lime brings out the sweetness even more. The following day I was back at the market and got more of the sweet corn and some early season plums that I suspected would be a bit tart. I figured the tart plums and the milky, honey like corn would be great companions.

Right away I knew that the corn would be turned to ice cream, with just a touch of vanilla and nothing more to distract from the delicate flavor. I baked the plums in a pound cake recipe that includes a touch of cornmeal. Not too much or it would be dense, but enough to give a hint of corn flavor and a nice texture. I left the skins on the plums because they were too gorgeous to remove and once they baked the skins were perfectly soft. We are weeks, if not months away from having these grow locally, but our neighbors to the south are kind enough to ship us their crops until then!

Coffee Ice Cream with Rosemary Shortbread

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | May 25, 2009
Filed Under cookies, frozen dessert, recipe | 32 Comments

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know that I’m a dedicated coffee drinker. I was very loyal to illy for a time, while Costco carried it, but now my heart belongs to LavAzza. Many of you recommended it to me, but honestly I never tried it until I went to my friend’s bakery. At the Salty Tart Michelle creates pastries that inspired Andrew Zimmern to say it is the “best bakery in the World!” The coffee she serves is LavAzza. The coffee is excellent, worthy of her treats and good enough to make me switch from illy!

So when I wanted to make coffee ice cream I used Lavazza beans and a recipe from David Lebovitz, which I found in a recent copy of Fine Cooking magazine. The coffee flavor is so deep and intense that it almost has a bittersweet chocolate taste to it. If you’ve ever had Vietnamese ice coffee, this ice cream is reminiscent. That rich flavor just begged for something bright, so I paired it with a rosemary shortbread cookie. A new addiction is born! Read more

Baked Alaska comes out of obscurity! (and the winner of Robin Asbell’s book)

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | October 5, 2008
Filed Under Book Giveaway, frozen dessert, recipe | 40 Comments

Congratulations to Susan at www.wildyeast.com, she has won a copy of Robin Asbell’s The New Whole Grain Cookbook. Thank you so much to everyone who left such incredibly kind comments about the Apple Pumpkin Cake I made from her book. I hope you will all check out Robin’s fabulous book.

Like most Americans I have been consumed by this election. Right before the VP debate some of the foodies on Twitter were discussing what they would be eating during the face off. With all the talk about our 49th state these days It dawned on me that the perfect dessert for this event would be the once loved Baked Alaska. Read more

The Grown-Up Float – Framboise Lambic with Blueberry Ice Cream (and something for the kids!)

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | August 9, 2008
Filed Under dessert, frozen dessert, recipe | 9 Comments

grown-up float

Recently my husband has been on a Lambic beer kick. He’s tried them all (pêche, pommes, kriek and cassis) and the Lindemans’ Framboise (raspberry) is the hands down favorite. I’m not a beer drinker, unless I’m sitting on a tropical beach with the sun beating down on me and eating something spicy; at which point a beer satisfies my needs. But this beer is different, it is the dessert of beers. Lindemans’ Framboise is made in Belgium from barley, wheat and wild yeast. After it spontaneously ferments (this is sounding a lot like the start of a levain bread dough) the raspberries are added and you have a complex flavor of juice and the bitter slightly sour taste of the beer. I can even drink this without a beach!

My sons requested root beer floats after our long, hot car ride back from the cabin. As I was scooping the ice cream into the glass and the foam came up over the glass I had a vision of an adult version of this classic kids treat. I grabbed my husbands glass of beer and threw in a scoop of vanilla ice cream. But vanilla ice cream? It needed something more, something fresh and fruity to bring out the character of the beer. I had just made a blueberry-ginger sauce that would fit the bill perfectly. All I did was pour some of the sauce over the ice cream in a dish, refroze it for about 20 minutes and then scooped out the blueberry swirl ice cream into the beer. Now we have something to talk about. Read more

Sweet Peach Lassi

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | July 31, 2008
Filed Under breakfast, frozen dessert, kids | 16 Comments

lassi

How can something so tasty be SO easy. Just throw it all in the blender, let it whirl and you have a a gorgeous lassi! This is what I made my boys for breakfast this morning. Peaches and a bit of honey sweeten the tangy yogurt. Pour it in beautiful little glasses you can serve it as dessert after an Indian feast or a light picnic on the patio.

The recipe comes from my friend Suvir’s book, Indian Home Cooking. I switched to peaches from his traditional mango and replaced the sugar with honey, otherwise it is all his! He and I will be teaching a class at Cooks of Crocus Hill on August 30th for any of you in the area who would like to join us. It will be a wonderful evening of his incredible food and I will be creating breads and sweets to match. Read more

Lime-Lavender Granita with Fresh Figs

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | July 11, 2008
Filed Under basic, dessert, frozen dessert, recipe | 12 Comments

lime lavender granita

I’m finally home from all of my traveling. I’ve never been so happy to be in my kitchen, despite the 94° forecast and no air conditioner. Something frozen, tart and a little floral is exactly what I need to get through this day. I just went to the market and bought a flat of fresh, dripping-with-juices-ripe figs. The sweetness of their nectar will balance perfectly with the lime and lavender. Read more