Did you make the coffee ice cream I posted on Tuesday yet? No? Well you’re going to be kicking yourself for it after you see today’s post. But don’t worry! There’s still time to remedy your huge oversight. If you haven’t already started a grocery list after just reading the title, then let me get right to it: you need to make this dessert. Now.

Or this weekend, you know with that pesky little thing called work consuming the weekdays. Chocolate chip cookie cake with coffee ice cream and a salted butter caramel sauce. Woah, someone hold me, I’m weak in the knees!

The inspiration for this dessert phenomenon was my fellow ice-cream loving friend. We aren’t normal ice cream lovers. We are ice cream aficionados. We eat, sleep and breath ice cream. If we were on the top of Mount Everest we would say to one another, “P-p-pass the ice cream p-p-please.” In addition to our ice cream desires we also maintain our manners under extreme conditions. For her birthday I decided to turn one of our favorite ice cream truck treats into an ultimate dream cake. It’s dessert in a dessert times ten.

Although it looks like a monster of a project, if you split out the components it is completely do-able and so worth it. The strong coffee flavor, buttery and chocolately cookie, and warm caramel sauce will have you making obscene noises perhaps not suitable for children. I have never seen a dessert be devoured so quickly and neither will you.

Coffee Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich Cake with Salted Butter Caramel Sauce

 

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Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients

for the cake

• 1 batch Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
• 1 quart Coffee Ice Cream, softened

for the salted butter caramel sauce

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream, divided
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ¼ teaspoons coarse salt

Directions

for the cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line a 9” round springform pan with parchment paper. Take half the cookie dough and evenly press into the bottom of the springform pan to create a large round cookie. Bake for 20 minutes. Do not overcook the cookie or it will be hard after freezing. Remove and let cool on a wire cooling rack. Repeat with the second half of the cookie dough.
3. When the cookies are completely cool you can start assembling the cake. Place one of the cookies in the bottom of the springform pan lined with parchment paper. Scoop and evenly spread the coffee ice cream on top of the bottom cookie until you have about a 2” layer. You may not have to use all the ice cream. Place the second cookie on top, right side up, making sure not to press too hard. Wrap the entire pan in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 8 hours. Let the cake sit out and soften before serving.

for the salted butter caramel sauce

1. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large heavy duty saucepan. Stir in the sugar with a heatproof spatula and continue stirring frequently until the mixture is a deep golden brown and starts to lightly smoke. The sugar will be completely dissolved at this point.
2. Remove from the heat and carefully whisk in ½ cup of the cream. I recommend using an oven mitt as the mixture may bubble splatter. Stir in the rest of the cream, vanilla extract and salt until combined. If any sugar lumps remain gently whisk over low heat until dissolved. Serve warm.

Notes

Caramel should be stored in the fridge in an airtight container and can be reheated in a saucepan over low heat or in the microwave.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

Coffee and I have a strange relationship. I’ve gone my whole life without needing caffeine in the morning. Whether I stayed up all night cramming in college or made the mistake of going out too hard on a weekday before having to be in the office at my usual early hour, I have gotten by without depending on coffee, tea, soda or energy drinks. I run on excitement for life! My avoidance was partly not wanting to be dependent on something to wake me up, but mostly because with my severe acid reflux and various other stomach ailments most of those items don’t agree with me. With coffee, it was also due to me not liking the taste.

However, in the last couple years I have come to enjoy coffee as an occasional treat. I still don’t like hot coffee, but a Dunkin Donuts iced mocha or a Starbucks caramel frappuccino? Yes, please! This new-found coffee exploration has also led me to yummy coffee flavored items that were previously, and sadly, absent in my life. Among these my favorite way to consume coffee flavor is through ice cream. No surprise there.

This simple coffee ice cream is smooth, creamy and bursting with coffee flavor. This is my favorite ice cream I have made so far, and that’s saying a lot considering my self-professed chocolate ice cream superiority complex. Although now that I mention it this would be really good with some Oreos or chocolate swirls mixed in… just saying ;-).

Coffee Ice Cream

 

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Yield: 1 quart

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 ½ cups whole coffee beans
• 1 ½ cups heavy cream, divided
• Pinch of salt
• 5 large egg yolks
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon finely ground coffee

Directions

1. Heat the milk, sugar, coffee beans, ½ cup of the heavy cream and the salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat until it is just starting to steam, but not boiling. Remove from the heat, cover and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
2. When the hour is up, place the remaining cup of heavy cream in a medium mixing bowl then set a mesh strainer over top. Set aside.
3. Reheat the coffee bean mixture over medium heat until it is steaming, but not boiling.
4. Meanwhile, whisk together the egg yolks in a separate medium bowl. Once the coffee bean mixture is ready, slowly pour some into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, to temper the eggs. Continue slowly pouring and whisking, then scrape the whole mixture back into the medium saucepan.
5. Stir the mixture over medium heat, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan, until the mixture has thickened to the point where it is sticking to the back of the spatula. It is ready when you can run your finger over the back of the spatula and the mixture doesn’t run. Pour the mixture through the strainer into the prepared mixing bowl with the cream. Press on the beans to extract as much coffee flavor as possible. Stir the mixture together and add the vanilla and ground coffee. Stir until cool over an ice bath then place in the fridge. When completely chilled freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Notes

You can use caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee beans for this recipe, the choice is yours.

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Lauren Uncategorized 2 Comments

What I love about today’s post is that upon reading the title everyone in my family will immediately know who this recipe is celebrating. My grandma does not like many foods, but she certainly loves her vanilla ice cream. Of course she would not prefer how it’s pictured here; sprinkles and toppings are a huge no-no. But if she were in my apartment this quart of ice cream would be gone in two, three days tops. You may think I’m kidding, but I am not.

In continuing my Mother’s Day celebration I’m posting this vanilla ice cream to wish my grandma a happy Mother’s Day. My grandma lived with us for eight years so I was lucky enough to develop an extra special relationship with her. If your best friend is someone who you can share anything with, who supports you no matter what, who never judges you, who loves you with all their heart, and who can make you laugh so hard you spit milk out your nose, then my grandma was, and still is, my best friend.

Although we now swap stories over the phone rather than during weekly shopping trips since she is many miles away, I am so fortunate to have such a compassionate and strong person be such a large part of my life. So forget a “dear little bit” and treat yourself to a whole quart of vanilla ice cream this Mother’s Day!

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

 

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Yield: 1 quart

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole milk
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 cups heavy cream, divided
• Pinch of salt
• 1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
• 6 large egg yolks
• ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, warm the sugar, milk, 1 cup of the cream and salt. Once warm, scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the saucepan and add the scraped bean as well. Cover the saucepan, remove from the heat and steep for 30 minutes at room temperature.
2. Place the remaining cup of cream into a large bowl. Set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl then set set aside.
3. In a medium bowl whisk the egg yolks then slowly pour the steeped milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, to temper the eggs. Pour the milk and egg mixture back into the saucepan. Constantly stir the mixture over medium heat with a heatproof spatula making sure to scrape the bottom and not let any clumps form. Continue stirring until the mixture is thick enough to coat the spatula.
4. Remove the mixture from the heat and pour it through the mesh strainer into the large bowl with the heavy cream. Stir until combined then mix in the vanilla extract. Add the vanilla bean as well.
5. Insert the bowl into an ice bath and continue stirring until cool.
6. Chill the mixture in the fridge. Once cold, remove the vanilla bean then the custard into your ice cream maker following the manufacturer’s directions.

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Lauren Uncategorized 1 Comment

I wasn’t always a chocolate ice cream person. During the years of my youth I was a vanilla ice cream gal. Well, my true preference was a chocolate-vanilla swirl, but you can’t always have it all. When forced to decide between chocolate and vanilla at the hands of ice cream or no ice cream, clearly a situation of life or death, I would choose vanilla.

Sometime during my preteen years I smartened up and converted to my current chocolate ice cream ways. I like to attribute the switch to me being older and wiser, but it was probably due to hormones. Lets stick with the older and wiser thing though.

Now I don’t have anything against vanilla ice cream. I love vanilla ice cream. I try not to discriminate against any flavors of the frozen sugary variety, unless it’s mint ice cream. What is that monstrosity? Anyways, all I’m saying is that all vanilla based ice creams are better in chocolate form. Chocolate chip cookie dough, cookies and cream and peanut butter cup ice cream are all delicious vanilla based ice creams. But put them against chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate cookies and cream and chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream? Not even close!

Today I’m sharing a rich and chocolate-filled ice cream. Double chocolate chip ice cream. The question becomes is it chocolate ice cream with extra added chips or is it a vanilla based chocolate chip classic turned to the delicious dark side? The answer, my friends, is both. In my humble chocolate obsessed opinion there is no better way to improve upon a vanilla based ice cream than by turning it into a chocolate based ice cream, and there is no better way to upgrade a chocolate ice cream than by adding even more chocolate. So where do you stand in the oldest debate of time: chocolate or vanilla?

Double Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

 

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Yield: about 1 quart

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream, divided
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 5 ounces semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup whole milk
• ¾ cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 5 large egg yolks
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small chunks

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder. Whisk until the cocoa is blended then bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to simmer for 30 seconds, whisking continuously.
2. Remove the saucepan from the heat before adding the chopped chocolate and stirring until smooth. Add the remaining cup of cream, stir, then pour the whole mixture into a large bowl. Place a mesh strainer on top of the bowl.
3. Using the same saucepan combine the milk, sugar and salt over medium heat until warm. In a medium bowl whisk the egg yolks then slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, to temper the eggs. Pour the milk and egg mixture back into the saucepan. Constantly stir the mixture over medium heat with a heatproof spatula making sure to scrape the bottom and not let any clumps form. Continue stirring until the mixture is thick enough to coat the spatula.
4. Remove the mixture from the heat and pour it through the mesh strainer into the large bowl with the chocolate mixture. Stir until combined then mix in the vanilla extract.
5. Insert the bowl into an ice bath and continue stirring until cool.
6. Chill the mixture in the fridge. Once cold, pour into your ice cream maker following the manufacturer's directions. During the last 5 minutes pour in the cup of chocolate chunks.

Notes

I prefer to use Ghiradelli chocolate.

3.2.1263

Lauren Uncategorized 2 Comments

I have loved ice cream as long as I can remember. Whether it was a simple scoop of vanilla at home, a soft-serve cone from the local lunch spot or a bowl of freeze-dried ice cream bits from the Dippin’ Dots fad, I have loved it, craved it and eaten it all. My love for creating ice cream, however, is a much more recent hobby.

Years ago my stepmom purchased an ice cream maker for the family for Christmas. We made one batch of super rich chocolate ice cream Christmas morning and then that was the end of it. So this past summer I pulled it out of my parents’ basement, brought it to my apartment, dusted it off and got to work.

If you have been intimidated at the prospect of making homemade ice cream then this peanut butter cup ice cream recipe is a fantastic starting point. It is easy, simple, only requires a few ingredients and the end result is snarfworthy. The peanut butter flavor is strong and bold with the mini peanut butter cups providing a surprise treat in every spoonful. A smooth and creamy texture will leave you wanting just one more bite, especially since the ice cream isn’t overly rich. You will wonder why you’ve waiting so long to make something tasty and the ice cream maker will become a regular fixture on your countertop. So make this peanut butter cup ice cream and treat yourself to a big scoop… followed by just one more bite.

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

 

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Yield: 1 quart

Ingredients

• 2⅔ cups half and half
• ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• ¾ cup smooth peanut butter
• ⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 1½ cups mini peanut butter cups or chopped peanut butter cups

Directions

1. Using a blender or food processor puree the half and half, sugar, peanut butter, vanilla and salt until smooth.
2. Chill the mixture in the fridge until cold then freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. During the last couple minutes of churning add the peanut butter cups.
3. Store in the freezer until firm enough to scoop.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments