Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Warm Summer days have finally arrived here in the northeast and that means ice cream season has officially begun! Last year we bought this little, electric ice cream maker and we love it! It's got the gel style bowl that's kept in the freezer until you're ready to use it. Then you just dump in your ingredients and turn it on. About half an hour later you have perfect ice cream -- no ice or messy rock salt necessary.


Another thing we love about this ice cream maker is that it only makes around 1.5-2 quarts of ice cream at a time, so we can make a lot of different varieties in small batches. Hint, hint... expect to see more ice cream and gelato here in the future.

The first ice cream we made this year was mint chocolate chip in honor of my father-in-law who loves the stuff. Unfortunately though, I forgot the part of our conversation where he asked to leave out the chocolate chips. Oops! Honestly though, mint chocolate chip ice cream minus the chocolate chips is as weird as my husband ordering chicken and broccoli minus the broccoli (and yes, that's how he orders it -- embarrassing, yes I know..) Anyway, this ice cream really surprised us all at how good it was. The recipe is so simple that we weren't expecting too much, but it's really good!

The second batch of ice cream we made was this same recipe, but without the chips. I have no photos as my father-in-law made quick work of it and it disappeared before I had a chance to get my camera out. One other change I made in the second batch was to use half whole milk and half 2% milk, rather than all 2%. The difference in creaminess was definitely noticeable and I think this may be a real winner for a basic ice cream recipe to customize with different flavorings.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
from Allrecipes.com
Makes 2 quarts (8 one-cup servings)

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups 2% milk (or 1 cup whole, 1 cup 2%)
* 2 cups heavy cream
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
* 3 drops green food coloring (optional)
* 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, stir together the milk, cream, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and peppermint extract until the sugar has dissolved. Color to your liking with the green food coloring.

2. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. After about 10 minutes into the freezing, add the chocolate chips. After the ice cream has thickened, about 30 minutes later. You can eat it soft this way or spoon into a container, and freeze for 2 hours.


Nutritional Info (Courtesy of Allrecipes.com)
**So, the calories and fat are really high, but this is for eight 1-cup servings, which is a pretty generous amount of ice cream! Most store bought ice cream is labeled in 1/2 cup servings**

Servings Per Recipe: 8
Amount Per Serving

Calories: 455
Total Fat: 30.7g
Cholesterol: 86mg
Sodium: 196mg
Total Carbs: 45.4g
Dietary Fiber: 1.5g
Protein: 4.3g

Happy Birthday Mom

We had this chocolate and peanut butter cake for my mom's birthday party. She is a lover of anything with chocolate and peanut butter, so this turned out to be a big hit.

The cake is made of two layers using this recipe for white chocolate cake batter. In between the cake is a thick layer of chocolate buttercream and covering the outside is peanut butter. I made rosettes and stars using a 2-D tip. The base for the icing recipe was Wilton's Buttercream and I just added peanut butter and cocoa powder to each until it had the right flavor I wanted. I chopped up mini Reece's peanut butter cups and piled them in the center and then drizzled melted chocolate over the top. MMmmmmm.... major peanut butter and chocolate overload!

Oh, and we don't count calories on birthdays, so no official calculation here!

Vanilla Bean Shortbread with Berries and Whipped Cream

This shortbread recipe comes together really quickly and easily. Half of the butter is swapped out for canola oil, making them lighter and crisper than your typical shortbread.

Once again I turned to my bottle of vanilla bean paste rather than use an actual vanilla bean. It's just more economical and I don't know if there really is a difference in flavor. If anyone has any opinions, please let me know. Maybe I'll have to give in and buy some vanilla beans some day!

I thought berries would make a good addition so their juice would soak into the shortbread a little -- kind of like biscotti with coffee. Mmmmmm... and well, honestly who can eat berries without whipped cream? We served this as part of our Memorial Day party spread and everyone seemed to enjoy it.


If you look closely, you can see the tiny, black vanilla bean specks in the shortbread.

Vanilla Bean Shortbread
from Cooking Light May 2009 and online

Makes 32 servings (serving size: 1 piece)

Ingredients

* Cooking spray
* 9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
* 1/4 cup cornstarch
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1/2 cup canola oil
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (or 1 TBL Vanilla Bean Paste)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Line bottom and sides of a 13 x 9–inch baking pan with foil; coat foil with cooking spray, and set aside.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl; stir with a whisk.

4. Place butter in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add oil; beat with a mixer at medium speed 3 minutes or until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean, and add seeds to butter mixture; discard bean. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Spoon dough into prepared pan. Place a sheet of heavy-duty plastic wrap over dough; press to an even thickness. Discard plastic wrap. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool in pan 5 minutes on a wire rack; cut into 32 pieces. Carefully lift foil from pan; cool squares completely on a wire rack.

***To make the toppings, I combined blueberries, raspberries, and diced strawberries with sugar (to taste depending on your desired sweetness).

Whipped cream was made by whipping heavy cream with an electric mixer and adding a little powdered sugar (to taste again depending on your desired sweetness).***

Nutritional Information for Shortbread provided by Cooking Light
Calories: 101
Fat: 6.4g (sat 2.1g,mono 2.8g,poly 1.2g)
Protein: 0.9g
Carbohydrate: 10.1g
Fiber: 0.2g
Cholesterol: 8mg
Iron: 0.4mg
Sodium: 39mg
Calcium: 2mg

Fresh Rhubarb Pie

It’s rhubarb season here! My dad is the only one in my immediate family that likes rhubarb, so he lucked out and got an entire pie to himself. He’s been making out quite well in receiving all the baked goods lately. My dad has a pretty large patch of rhubarb growing in his garden, so I guess that’s his trick to getting my mom and me to bake for him… sneaky, isn’t he?

He requested a pie with the stack of rhubarb he handed me. My mom helped me find a recipe in one of her older Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks that she said had been tried and true.

The recipe was pretty simple and followed the same steps for a basic apple pie recipe – dice the fruit (Rhubarb isn’t a fruit is it? Is it a vegetable? Does it fall into that “other” category?), add sugar and butter, and bake in a pie shell.


I do think rhubarb is really pretty though. It has a cross of colors from bright green to a really pretty reddish pink.

Dad said he really liked the pie and in just a few days had actually eaten the entire thing and two other little tartlets I made. I only wish I had that kind of metabolism!

Fresh Rhubarb Pie
from Better Homes and Gardens All-Time Favorite Pies

serves 8

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
dash salt
4 cups rhubarb cut into 1-inch pieces
double pastry crust
2 tablespoons butter

In mixing bowl combine sugar, flour, and salt. Stir in rhubarb pieces; toss gently to coat fruit. Let fruit mixture stand for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare and roll out pastry. Line a 9-inch pie plate with half of the pastry. Trim pastry to edge of pie plate. Turn rhubarb mixture into pastry-lined pie plate. Dot with butter. Cover with top lattice crust (cut slits to allow steam to escape if using whole crust to cover). Seal and flute edge.

To prevent overbrowning, cover edge of pie with foil. Place pie on cookie sheet to catch any drippings. Bake pie in 375 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for about 25 minutes more or till golden.

Nutritional Information (courtesy of CalorieCount.com)

Calories 379
Calories from Fat 137
Total Fat 15.2g
Saturated Fat 4.9g
Total Carbohydrates 58.1g
Dietary Fiber 2.0g
Protein 3.8g

Pecan Sandies

Growing up it seemed like my dad would always have a package of those Keebler Pecan Sandies at the house. They were ok, I guess, but you had to practically pull out a microscope to find any pecans in them. (No offense to the Keebler Corporation, of course!)

I saw these in the April issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine and decided to make them as a surprise for my dad. A little friendly competition between those Keebler Elves and Martha Stewart, if you will.

The Martha Stewart recipe was really easy to follow - not many ingredients and they were a cinch to roll into balls. I was concerned about my brown sugar when I opened the bag and found it nearly rock hard. A quick Google search revealed that you can place a damp paper towel inside the bag, seal it up and microwave it for a minute or so. This worked really well! These cookies baked up really evenly and held together perfectly.

So, who's cookie will reign as pecan sandie champion? Sorry, Keebler... Martha Stewart rocked this competition... and easily I might add. These cookies are awesome with their big chunks of pecan goodness. You can really taste the butter in them, so be sure to use the real thing. I had one soon after they came out of the oven and then another when taking photos of them. It's hard not to do that! The rest are packed up and ready to go down to my dad. Hope he likes them as much as I do.

Pecan Sandies
Martha Stewart Everyday Food Magazine and Online
Makes 18

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
* 1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in vanilla and salt. With mixer on low, gradually add flour, beating just until combined. Fold in pecans.
2. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls, and place on two baking sheets, 2 inches apart. With the dampened bottom of a glass, lightly flatten each ball.
3. Bake until cookies are golden brown, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer to wire racks, and let cool. (To store, keep in an airtight container, up to 5 days.)

Nutritional Information (from Everyday Food Magazine)
per cookie
135 cal
9.4 g fat (3.6 g sat fat)
12.1 g carb
0.8 g fiber
1.3 g protein

This is for you Edie!
Chloe loves to do her sunbathing. Oh to have the life of a cat!

Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes

When I saw the newest issue of Clean Eating magazine on the shelf, I immediately grabbed it up. I love this magazine, but more importantly for me these lovely, little cupcakes were gracing its cover. YUM!

I made a couple of changes to the recipe. First, I didn't have any sucanat so I opted to use half brown sugar, half regular sugar. (Not very clean... I know!) Then I decided to just go with a simple dusting of powdered sugar and top with a raspberry and mint sprig. Thanks to my new Aerogarden I have what seems like an endless supply of mint! Expect to see more in the future!

I also decided to use up some mini cupcake liners, so I made 22 mini cupcakes and still got 8 regular sized ones too. I think this recipe makes a heck of a lot more batter than it says it yields! Some of my larger cakes did fall though, BUT that could have been due to not whipping the egg whites enough. In my defense, my father-in-law was taking an exam in the next room and I felt like the mixer was causing a distraction for him. Eight cupcakes were sacrificed on his behalf, but it's ok. He's family.

Overall these cupcakes were bowl-licking good. My husband, who never eats cake batter, couldn't get enough of this stuff. Of course the baked version is great too and low in calories!



Sour Cream Cupcakes
from Clean Eating Magazine

Makes 12 regular-sized cupcakes (so they say...)

Ingredients
1 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup Sucanat, divided (I used half brown and half white sugar)
1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup low-fat sour cream
1/3 cup plus 2 tsp skim milk, divided
1 tbls olive oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 whole egg plus 2 egg whites
1 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped, plus more for garnish

(I skipped the bittersweet chocolate + 2 tbls skim milk topping)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cocoa powder, 1 cup of the sugar, flour, salt, and baking soda.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together sour cream, 1/3 cup milk, oil, vanilla, and whole egg.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients. Combine everything with a rubber spatula.

Add egg whites to a large clean, dry mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whip whites with beater or whisk attachment of mixer until they begin to get foamy. Add remaining 1/4 cup sugar very gradually to whites. Continue whipping whites into medium-stiff peaks.

Fold whites in thirds into cake batter, gently but assertively with rubber spatula.

Fill each of the 12 cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter. Tap bottom of filled muffin pan on counter top and transfer immediately to oven. Bake for 45 minutes (mine took a lot less -- maybe 26-28 minutes!) or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cupcakes cool completely.

When cupcakes are completely cool, combine chocolate and remaining 2 tsp milk in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on 50% power for 30 seconds. Stir until melted chocolate is completely smooth. Spread a thin layer on top of each cupcake. Sprinkle additional chocolate shavings on top, if desired.

Nutritional Information for original recipe (if you chose to dust with powdered sugar instead you could knock off a few more calories)

Calories: 160
Total Fat: 6 g.
Sat. Fat: 3 g.
Carbs: 28 g.
Fiber: 3 g.
Sugars: 22 g.
Protein: 4 g.
Sodium: 85 mg.
Cholesterol: 10 g.

Super Easy Banana Nut Bread

Ok, so we've already discussed my lack of enthusiasm for banana bread. Well, I think I may be converted now and with such a simple recipe too.

A co-worker at my office brought in a plate of this banana bread and I was shocked at how much I liked it. Crazy, I know! I think the texture is by far the best part. The top gets a little crunchy and the inside is so dense and moist. I asked her for the recipe and she said it came from the back of a box of Bisquick, which made me doubly shocked. It's really good.

The calorie count on this is pretty high and it's so hard to stop at just one piece-- so just know that you've been warned!

Banana Nut Bread

2 1/3 c. Bisquick
1 c. sugar
1/3 c. canola oil
3 eggs
3 lg. very ripe bananas
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. chopped nuts

Mix together Bisquick, sugar, oil and eggs, beat well. Stir in bananas. Add vanilla and nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes in loaf pan.


Nutritional Information (calculated from caloriecount.com)

Calories 290
Total Fat 13.6g
Sodium 337mg
Total Carbohydrates 39.0g
Dietary Fiber 1.7g
Sugars 23.2g
Protein 4.5g