coffee brownie crackle swirl ice cream (using store bought ice cream)

I cheated with this ice cream.  I did.  Didn’t have time to make home-made but wanted something special and different.  You can really be creative at home with mix ins and ice cream.  Use your mixer to help you incorporate the extras.  I loved loved loved this treat.  Not too much coffee flavor since I swirled it with vanilla – and the addition of left over brownie edges and drizzled milk chocolate crackle was just delightful.  Truly.  Friends raved but really it was probably me who liked it the most.  Well, and Sylvie too!  Add a few caramalized bananas and some freshly whipped cream and this would be heaven in a bowl.  Enjoy –

coffee brownie crackle swirl ice cream:

one pint vanilla ice cream
one pint coffee ice cream
brownie bits (homemade is preferable)
1 cup chopped milk chocolate, melted – more or less depending on your taste.

Other ideas include: Oreos, reverse Oreos, Girl Scouts mint cookies, peanut butter cookies, peanut butter, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chips, graham cracker chunks, grape nuts, raisins, Reeses, m&m’s…I can go on.  Just have fun.

Melt the chocolate in a metal bowl placed over an inch of simmering water.  Melt and let cool a bit.

Soften ice cream – leave out at room temp or the fridge for a bit.  Place ice cream in mixer with paddle attachment.  On the lowest speed, soften the ice cream even further.  Add the brownie bits or whatever you are mixing in and gently incorporate.

Remove from mixer.  As you scoop ice cream into the container, drizzle the melted chocolate on top.  Layer by layer add more drizzles and at the end fold a bit to incorporate all the chocolate.  Sooo good!

Enjoy!

healthy 5 grain breakfast bowl

Sylvie thinks it’s weird for me to post my breakfast bowl.  She might be right, so just skip over if not for you.  I tend to eat the same breakfast for a while – until I can’t look at it any more…but I’m on a record of probably 10 weeks of this particular mixture of goodness.  I’m thinking it may last a lifetime, but I always think that.  The hot hot hot cereal (cooked with berries) combined with a little cold almond milk (or milk, soy or rice milk) and the addition of fresh cold fruits (the more colorful the better) makes me happy each and every day.  Even though I’m not hungry in the morning I look forward to it and manage to happily stuff it down.  This fills me to my brim – and that prevents me from sampling too many of my sweets in the AM – and from overeating in general.  So…enjoy this – and doctor it up to suit you and your taste buds.  I just finished mine.  Full and happy.  Enjoy-

You can also make this with chopped apples, raisins, dried cherries and cinnamon – especially if you can’t find good berries.

healthy 5 grain breakfast bowl:

1/2 cup hot cereal (I like Old Wessex All Natural 5 Grain Cereal – no sugar)
raspberries
blackberries
blueberries
strawberries
pomegranate seeds (so good if you can find)
and any other fruit – mango is nice, red currants too
1-2 teaspoons sugar (brown is nice) or small bit of Truvia
cold milk (I use unsweetened almond milk – but any milk will do) – use about 1/3 of a cup – or more or less to your liking.

Measure cereal according to package and add water (this one calls for a cup).  Mix in about 4-5 raspberries and 3-4 blackberries.  Place in microwave for 2.5-3 minutes.  The fruits will soften and liquefy to some extent and flavor the whole bowl with berry!

Be careful pulling out as it is very hot.

Sprinkle with sugar or Truvia.

Top with cold milk.

Heap on cold fruits.  Begin eating 🙂

Simple and so so good.

Add flax seed if you like – or wheat germ too.

Enjoy-

oatmeal cherry coconutty cookies

First bite tastes like a simple delicious oatmeal butter cookie, not a bad thing…but as you savor that first bite (if you can) you will notice the tart cherries, and then most likely exclaim (as most did) “hmmm…what’s in these?”  Coconut I say.  “wow they are really good!”  And they really are.  They are.  I found the recipe in David Lebovitz beautiful book Ripe for Dessert and although a very simple cookie to make, they are full of such awesome flavor and texture that most smile after that first bite.  Even me, and I don’t even like coconut.  But it is subtle.  These are dense and hearty and oh soooo good chopped up and dropped into my vanilla ice cream.  Enjoy-

oatmeal cherry coconutty cookies (slightly adapted from Ripe for Dessert by David Lebovitz):

1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup dried shredded coconut (sweet or not – I used unsweet)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried tart cherries (or cranberries, or chopped apricots)
3 tablespoons water
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup (avail in well stocked supermarkets)

Preheat oven 350 degrees and place rack in center of oven.  Line baking sheet with parchment.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oats, brown sugar,coconut, baking soda, salt and cherries.

Mix together the water, melted butter and Golden Syrup and pour into the dry ingredients.  Mix until dry ingredients are incorporated.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4 inch balls and place on baking sheet.  Flatten slightly to form 2 inch disks.  Bake for about 12-15 minute until the cookies are a nice light brown.  And otate the pan midway through cooking.  If you place 2 pans in at once, baking time may be longer.

Let cool on rack.  Eat.

These store well for about 3 days in an airtight container.  And remember you can roll the dough into a log and place in fridge or freezer to bake fresh the next time you want them…look at the oatmeal raisin post (the bottom of it) for pictures and directions.

heartland turtle bars (amazing)

The best reviews so far!  True love.  Crazy love. Rob said really good.  Then about 5 minutes later turned to me and said “I really like those bars.”  (And this means that he was thinking about them for 5 whole minutes.)  Sylvie said OMG I love these!  Alisa followed my lead and mixed them with ice cream and caramelized bananas, commenting “the best ever.”  Greg’s friends Matt said  “unbelievable” trying to sum it up in one word.  And Jamie explained, “I really like the mixture of sweetness and crunch” while Sam added “so good like a cookie and a brownie mixed but better.”  Sylvie’s friend Abigail smiled and said, “so good – I love that it is creamy and crunchy.”  Ali said these were on her all time fave list and that Danika thought they should be called yum bars.  Jodi and Mike loved these too.  I brought some to them as they cooked for us, but I must admit that I didn’t share with anyone else. Sorry adult tasters, too good.  Too too good.  These are buttery and rich and so very flavorful – so cut them into small bites but seriously, the nuts, caramel, oats, salt and chocolate – well, these cannot be beat.  Can’t wait for my treat tonight!  Enjoy –

heartland turtle bars (only adapted a tiny tiny bit from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito):

base and topping –

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 3/4 cup rolled oats (old fashioned)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter – melted
1 cup toasted pecans – chopped coarsely
1 3/4 cup chocolate chips

caramel filling –

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
10 tablespoons butter (1 1/4 stick) – room temp and cut into pieces
2 tablespoons heavy cream
pinch kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and first toast and cool pecans.  Chop.  Keep oven on.

Butter the sides and bottom of a 9×13 glass or light colored metal baking pan.  You can line this with parchment or foil (as seen in baking tips) if you also want the ease of pulling these out of the pan easily.  In this case I didn’t line and found the bars fairly easy to cut and remove from the pan.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking soda.  Add the brown sugar and use your hands to rub and crumble it in until somewhat smooth.  Stir in the oats and mix until evenly combined.  Make a well in the center and add the melted butter and mix again, until wet and combined.

Spread about 2/3’s of the dough into the pan and press it to cover any holes.  Bake for about 12 minutes.  Remove the pan to let cool, but keep the oven on.

Sprinkle the the toasted pecans and chocolate chips over the slightly cooled crust.  Then make the caramel.

caramel –

In a medium sized saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and the brown sugar and bring to a boil.  Let boil for about a minute to 90 seconds – stirring constantly – the caramel will begin to darken at this point.

Remove the pan from the heat and now carefully add the heavy cream – stirring with a long wooden spoon and step away from the saucepan as you do this as this is VERY hot and can sputter  up a bit.  Mix in.

Being careful (this stuff burns) evenly pour the caramel over the chocolate and pecan layer.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 of the dough (the base and top oat dough) on top of the caramel.

Bake for about 14-18 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Let the bars cool for a bit – 15 min or so.  These are sooooo good warm and fresh out of the oven – but messy and do fall apart – but good!  Oh, with ice cream!  You can also let them set up for a few hours and cut later.  If you want to speed up the cooling process – place in fridge after about 20 minutes and cool for about an hour – they will firm up faster.

They last nicely at room temp for 3-4 days.

Enjoy-

buttermilk chocolate cookies (that melt in your mouth!)

I know I have many a chocolate cookie and brownie on this blog – but I think you can never have enough chocolate choices!  I read about these in Nicole Weston’s BakingBites blog and her write-up was so compelling that I had to bake them.  Another success.  “Incredible” Greg’s friend Matt said as he and Greg asked for another cookie.  Greg said they were the best ever.  And Andy, Sylvie and Rob agreed.  Alisa and her friend Andressa (who loves all things chocolate) also said “delicious.”  Friend Suzanne said the chocolate buttermilk’s were devoured quickly with everyone searching for crumbs.  And tasters Ari and Claudia (both eager and happy to be on my neighborhood tasting list :)) said the chocolate cookies were a little piece of chocolate heaven.  Claudia reports that she caught Ari standing alone in the kitchen simply savoring the cookie saying aloud to himself… “Wow. That’s good.”  These are very thin, very moist, very delicate, and very chocolate-y cookies.  The really do melt in your mouth.  No mixer necessary – all done easily by hand.  Oh, and there are no eggs in here – so these really are all about the cocoa and chocolate chips.  Enjoy-

As with many a cookie – you can save some dough in the freezer.  Roll into logs and cut and slice as needed.  Go to the bottom of the oatmeal raisin post for photos and directions.

Try not to overbake these.  They are great just done or even slightly underbaked.

buttermilk chocolate cookies (from bakingbites.com):

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 and 1/2  sticks butter, melted
3/4 cup cocoa powder (try to use a good dark cocoa – I used Valrhona)
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 cups chocolate chips (I used Guittard for a richer chocolate chip)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking pan with parchment.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

Mix together the warm melted butter, and the cocoa powder and mix until smooth.  Whisk in sugar, vanilla and buttermilk.

Gradually stir in the flour mixture – and fold or mix gently until there are no streaks of flour.  Gently stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop the dough in one inch balls leaving about 2 inches in between cookies as they spread.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes.  A little hard to tell when done  – but they should be set around the edges but look moist and dark in the center.

Yum.  Enjoy!

red berry soup (with peaches, nectarines and currants)

I love fruit soups.  I really do.  After a delicious summer meal – it is nice to (sometimes) forfeit that heavy dessert and go for something light, refreshing and healthy.  Well, this is it.  Friends enjoyed this the other night.  Everyone just so excited by fruit!  As I’ve said before, Deborah Madison’s Seasonal Fruit Desserts cookbook is truly wonderful – filled with so many simple ideas that I’m blown away each time I peruse it.  The “broth” is made of a cooked and strained berries and the chunky bits are simply peaches, nectarines, berries and currants.  There is nothing crazy here – but the fruit in a cold fruit sauce – is so much better than fruit alone!  Add a dollop of Greek yogurt to keep it light, or some vanilla ice cream for those looking to add a little richness.  Or as Greg said – some lemon or raspberry sorbet might be nice too.  Lots of choices.  Enjoy-

This serves around 4 people –

red berry soup (from Seasonal Fruit Desserts by Deborah Madison):

soup–

3 cups red raspberries or mixed raspberries, red currants and strawberries
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup water
few drops of lemon juice or rose water
pinch kosher salt

the fruit–

4 peaches or nectarines, white and/or yellow
1 scant cup mixed berries such as blackberries, golden or red raspberries, and currants

garnish–

2 rose geranium leaves with their blossoms, lavender springs, or sprigs of currents (or just serve as is.

For the soup – place the berries in a small pan with the sugar and a half cup water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 90 seconds.  While it simmers, break up the fruit with a masher or pestle.

Turn off the heat and let stand for about 5 minutes and then pour through a sieve.  Using a rubber spatuala, squish out as much juice as possible into a bowl.  You should have about 1 1/4 cups of liquid.

Let cool, then stir in the rose water or lemon juice – and add more to taste if desired.  Add a pinch of kosher salt to taste.  Cover and refrigerate.

To peel the peaches- prepare an ice bath.  Bring a pot of water to boil.  Dip the peaches into the water for 5-7 seconds – then quickly remove them with a slotted spoon and pop into the ice bath to stop the cooking.  Slip off the skins or refrigerate the fruit with the skins intact until needed (if serving later).

To serve, divide the soup into shallow bowls.  Slice the peeled peaches and nectarines and divide among the bowls.  Place the blackberries, raspberries and currents in the bowls too.  Garnish with what you might have available from above.

Add a dollop of Greek yogurt, creme fraiche, ice cream, sorbet – or just serve as is 🙂

Enjoy-


pomegranate grapefruit sorbet

Refreshingly cool.  The first bite is pomegranate, lemon and a little lime; the aftertaste is grapefruit.  YUM.  I love this.  I grew up eating tons of pomegranates and tons of grapefruit – so together in this light dessert, well…happiness!  Greg and Andy liked this a lot too.  Sadly, Rob is not a grapefruit guy – so he liked it until the aftertaste.  Oh well.  I didn’t really share this because I’m kind of hoarding it.  However, if I had a dinner party coming up I’d make meringue shells and pop these in for a pretty, tasty summer sweet.  Alternatively, a half ounce of vodka might be super on this sorbet in a little dish with fresh pomegranate seeds and grapefruit segments. I’m having neither so I’ll just eat plain (although the vodka sounds good this second…hmmm maybe later!)  The POM people were kind enough to send me a case of their juice – which was such a treat both mentally (nice that they like my blog) and physically (well, it is good!)  Last year I made pomegranate sorbet but without grapefruit or citrus notes and that too was good with just juice and a simple syrup.  You can try that if you’re not in love with the added grapefruit.  It was back to Sally Sampson for this recipe – I loved her Recipe of the Week-Cookies, so I purchased her Ice Cream of the Week book which is filled with a lot of awesome looking frozen treats.  Many more to come…Enjoy!

pomegranate grapefruit sorbet (adapted from Recipe of the Week-Ice Cream by Sally Sampson):

3 cups pomegranate juice
1 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (don’t bother if using from a carton), strained
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon lime juice
pinch kosher salt

Mix together the pomegranate juice, grapefruit juice , sugar, lemon, and lime juice.

Heat until sugar has melted.  You do not need to boil.

Refrigerate until cold – several hours or overnight.

Season with a pinch (or 2) of kosher salt  – taste it.

Run in your ice cream machine.

Enjoy!

summer fruit crumble (with a ton of different fruits!)

Plums, apricots, pluots, cherries, blackberries, raspberries, nectarines, peaches (and more) – this crisp has everything in it!  I wanted to take full advantage of all the fruits I saw and love at my local farmers market.   And I did!  Grown-up friends loved this…Amy, Judy, Marco and Michael all had verrry nice things to say although didn’t speak much because their mouths were full.  The crisp buttery oat-y topping paired with the succulent fruits just speaks summer.  It really does.  I love crisps, crumbles and cobblers, they are so easy to make and really pack such delicious flavor.  Served this with a mixture of whipped cream and creme fraiche and oh, each bite tastier than the next.  Vanilla ice cream or plain freshly whipped cream would also be great.  The kids are reluctant to try this – not sure why because they’d love it, but there is time for everything eventually.  Serve warm from the oven, or room temp later, or cold the next morning this is all around superb.  Enjoy-

Feel free to fiddle with your fruits.  Also, I had left over streusal (that keeps well in the freezer for any time I want a little crisp.)

Serves from 8-12.

summer fruit cobbler (slightly adapted from Baking For All Occasions by Flo Braker):

You’ll need a 13x9x 2 inch baking dish – or around that.  If you have smaller dishes, you can make two!

streusal–

1 1/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 oz (1 1/4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

fruit filling– (9-10 cups total)

4 cups mixed berries such as blueberries, blackberries, boysenberries , raspberries (you pick what you like to equal about 3-4 cups)
1 cup sweet cherries, stemmed, pitted and halved
2 medium firm but ripe peach, peeled, halved, pitted and sliced
1 each small firm but ripe nectarine, pluot, apricot and plum, halved, pitted and sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 – 1/3 cup sugar  (if your fruits are very sweet, go with a little less, if not, go with a little more)
3 tablespoons all purpose flour

whipped topping-(double this if you think your guests or family will eat a lot of it.  I find people take the smallest spoonfuls.)

1 cup cold heavy cream
1/4 cup creme fraiche
1 tablespoon sugar

Streusal- In a large bowl, combine the oats, flour, sugar, butter, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Using your fingers mix and squish this until it resembles coarse sand and kind of comes together as a dough a bit if you squeeze it.  The streusal can be stored at room temp for 1-2 hours.  For longer storage, place in fridge for up to 5 days.  You an also freeze the streusal to keep on hand for the next time you want a crumble fast.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place rack in center of the oven.

Combine all the prepped fruits in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, stir together the lemon juice and vanilla.  Sprinkle this mixture over the fruit.  Add the sugar and pinch of salt to the fruits and and gently toss with your hands to coat evenly.  Sprinkle the flour over the fruit and again, toss gently.

Pour the fruits into the gratin dish and then scatter the streusal on top of the fruits.  Do not press down – just try to evenly top the fruit. (Although a lot of topping is good, I wanted this to be very fruity – so I didn’t use all of the streusal.  So up to you.  I saved the extra in the freezer for strawberry crumble on the fly.)

Bake the crumble until the fruit is soft and bubbling – and the topping is lightly browned.  Probably take about 30-40 minutes or so although I forgot to time this.  So check at 30 and continue to bake if not yet golden and bubbly. Let cool on a wire rack.  Serve warm, or re-heat later, or serve at room temp.  Cold is good too actually!

Whipped cream/creme fraiche – whisk together the cream, creme fraiche and sugar with hand held beaters or in your electric mixer until it is very softly whipped.  Cover and refrigerate until service.  Ice cream or plain whipped cream is great too (freshly whipped please!)

nectarine, cherry, and berry crisp

Yes, another fruit crisp.  I just love love love them.  So much easier than a pie and really (to me) just as good! Made this for Father’s Day – Rob’s family was in and I thought they would enjoy this.  (Served favorite fudgy brownies too for my chocolate lovers.)  Here the nectarine, raspberries and cherries make for a colorful crisp that just tastes like summer.  The reds and yellows are so vibrant and pretty – feels like I’m eating sunshine.  This one is not too too sweet which is also nice – the fruit tastes like it should – and the topping adds a special crunch. Everyone enjoyed this, especially my mother-in-law I think 🙂  (Me too!)  Hard to keep the leftovers on the counter (too much extra nibbling) so I gave it to Jodi and Mike for their Father’s Day celebration and got more rave reviews.  Have fun here, fiddle with your fruits and sugar – and spices.  Taste the fruits before you use them and taste them again once you add the sugar and spices.  Go easy at first and add sugar and spice as you need and desire.  Enjoy this-

Serves around 6-8.

nectarine, cherry, and raspberry crisp (adapted from Baking Unplugged by Nicole Rees):

4 1/2 cups pitted, sliced nectarines (about 3-4 large)
3 cups raspberries
1 1/2 cup pitted, halved cherries
1/2 cup sugar (more or less to taste)
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
pinch kosher salt

topping–
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup old fashioned oats
1/3 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place rack in center of oven.  Butter a 9 inch square baking dish.

Combine the fruits with the cornstarch, allspice, cardamom and pinch of salt in a medium bowl.  Pour into prepped pan.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, oats and salt.  Add the melted butter and stir to combine.

Sprinkle the topping over the fruit and bake for about 35-45 minutes.  I forgot to time this – so keep cooking until the fruit juices bubble and the top to turn a nice golden brown.  Enjoy-