Rocky Road Ice Cream with Homemade Marshamallows

I've had a recipe for homemade marshamallows in my recipe box for some time now. An index card waiting to be read and covered in powdered sugar. Well the time for me to make these delicious treats finally came. With the arrival of my new ice cream maker I knew that I would have to make a delicious and indulgent version of Rocky Road ice cream. Always a childhood favorite of mine. Along with pistachio and mint chip. We used to go to Thrifty Ice Cream because you could get a cone for under a dollar and I loved the flavors of their ice cream, especially when I could get two flavors. I loved getting Rocky Road and finding the marshamallows and almond pieces stuck in the bottom of the cone.

I knew with my new ice cream maker I would have to make a more grown up version of this treat, which would require homemade marshamallows as well as some salted caramel sauce. Trust me, you only need a little bit of this ice cream. The base is a dark and rich chocolate layered with tiny homemade marshamallows, slices of almonds, and swirls of delicious salty homemade caramel. This may be the best ice cream ever. I adapted the recipe from Jenni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home. If you like ice cream I strongly recommend this book. The recipes are amazing and the pictures are beautiful. A great read and must have for ice cream lovers!

Homemade Marshmallows
Butter for coating pan
Powdered sugar for coating pan
2 tbsp gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup boiling water
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1) Butter an 8x8 pan and coat with powdered sugar

2) Dissolve gelatin in cold water and whisk together using whisk attachment of kitchenaid
3) Whisk together boiling water, sugar, and salt in a pan for about 15-20 minutes until the temperature reaches 236 F. You will need a candy thermometer for this

4) Remove from heat and slowly pour over the gelatin and then add the vanilla

5) Beat on medium for about 20 minutes until white and thick

6) Add cooled marshmallow cream to the pan and spread out, then coat with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature overnight

7) Coat a bench scraper or knife with powdered sugar and then slice marshmallow into desired shape and size. Toss cut marshmallows in powdered sugar so they don't stick together and enjoy!

Super Rocky Road Ice Cream
Adapted from "The Milkiest Chocolate Ice Cream in the World" in Jenni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home
If possible do use local and organic, high quality ingredients, it really makes a difference

1 cup whole milk
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp cornstarch
3 oz good quality dark chocolate (55-70%)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup evaporated milk
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp organic light corn syrup (I try and avoid corn syrup as much as possible because of GMO's, but if you use organic you can avoid this issue)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
Homemade marshmallows
Sliced almonds
Homemade Salted Caramel (Follow recipe for the caramel part only, not the frosting recipe)

Makes 1 quart

1) Mix 2 tbsp of the milk with the cornstarch to make a slurry and set aside

2) Chop chocolate into pieces and place in metal bowl

3) Fill a large bowl with ice water and water to make a water bath to chill hot ice cream mixture
4) Combine the remaining milk, cream, evaporated milk, sugar, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan and bring to a rolling boil and add the cocoa and whisk. Boil mixture for exactly 4 minutes

5) Remove from heat and pour in cornstarch and milk slurry and return to heat and cook for another minute or so until thickened slightly
6) Add hot mixture to chopped chocolate and stir until melted then pour into a large freezer bag and submerge in ice water bath for 30 minutes

7) Pour ice cream base into ice cream maker and follow instructions for your machine, will take about 20-25 minutes until thickened

8) Add a layer of ice cream to a container then top with a layer of marshmallows, almonds, and salted caramel and repeat

9) Freeze until firm about 4 hours and enjoy!

Pistachio Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Baking cookies is one of my favorite things to do. Well, besides eat them. Especially anything with chocolate in them. You add pistachios and I can't really ask for much more. Luckily, I had a giant bag of pistachios in the kitchen and was in a baking mood. So I decided to experiment with a cookie recipe.

If you are a chocolate and pistachio fan you are going to love these cookies. This is an adaptation of your regular chocolate chip cookies, but for the chocoholic. Delicious chocolatey cookie with rich chunks of chocolate and the added salty crunch of pistachios. YUM!  This recipe is really adaptable and would be great with any nut, or say dried cranberries. I love recipes like this because they are constantly being adapted and made even better!

Pistachio Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 sticks butter, room temp
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 (11.5 oz) bag of chocolate chunks or chips
1 1/2 cup chopped pistachios

1) Preheat oven to 350 F
2) Cream butter and sugars, then add in vanilla and eggs

3) Mix in dry ingredients then fold in chocolate and pistachios
4) Drop desired size of cookie dough onto baking sheets and bake for 8-11 minutes

5) Let cool and enjoy!

Chocolate French Macarons

My first time eating French Macarons was fairly recent: about a year ago. And I couldn't get the taste out of my head. I couldn't believe I had gone without these delicious, tiny, scrumptious treats for so long. As I gained experience baking I thought to myself, if only I could make a French Macaron. I read recipes that indicated it was a difficult process, one that I wasn't sure I could handle. But as long as you follow the recipe and read a little bit on the technique they can be replicated in your own kitchen. A dangerous discovery for me to make.

I decided to start off easy and go with a more simple Chocolate Macaron and save the more fanciful recipes until I was sure I was doing it right. Next time I'll be making Pistachio. I found almond meal at Trader Joe's and ground it up a little more fine with powdered sugar and cocoa in the food processor. You can also grind your own, just make sure you don't turn it into almond butter, which I read can be a problem. Make sure to sift the ground mixture really well. You don't want heavy macarons.

Chocolate French Macarons
Adapted from "Chocolate Macaroons" in "Macaroons"

1/4 cup ground almonds
Scant cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup superfine sugar (you can make your own in the food processor)

Filling:
100 grams semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 cup heavy cream

1) Put ground almonds, powdered sugar, and cocoa into the food processor and blend for about 15 seconds then sift into a large bowl
2) Whip egg whites (you can add a pinch of cream of tartar if you want) until they hold soft peaks, then gradually beat in superfine sugar to make a firm, glossy meringue
3) Gently fold almond mixture into the meringue, a little at a time until incorporated
4) Pour the batter into a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch plain tip attached. Pipe 32 small circles onto parchment paper lined baking sheets. When finished, gently tap the baking sheets to release any air bubbles. Then let the macarons sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to let the macarons outer shell harden to prevent cracking

5) Preheat oven to 325 F and bake macarons for 10-15 minutes, rotating pans after 5 minutes, check after 8 minutes. Macarons will be ready when they no longer stick to parchment paper. Let cool slightly on pans then let cool completely on cooling racks

6) To make the ganache filling heat the heavy cream then pour over chopped chocolate stirring until melted. Place in refrigerator and let harden until firm, about 1 hour, but check every once in a while, you don't want it too firm
7) Sandwich macarons together with ganache filling and enjoy!

Chocolate Press Cookies

I'm going to blame this new kitchen gadget on my mom, and Amazon.com and their 4 for 3 deal on kitchen gadgets. Every Christmas my mom talks about how she wants to make Spritz cookies. Usually we don't. Mainly because we have lost some part to the cookie press or we just plain forget. Despite this my mom is still nostalgic about them. Nostalgia about food is something I understand. Especially with foods associated with holidays. I love making Christmas cookies and giving them to friends, I also really like receiving colorful tins lined with a variety of delicious holiday treats. So as a way to learn about my mom's love for the cookie press I decided to get one of my own.

Our friend invited us over to watch some college football and eat some amazing BBQ. I usually bring desserts to events like this so I had to decide what to bring. I know pressed cookies are usually associated with the holidays, but my new Kuhn Rikon Cookie Press said on the box that these cookies weren't just for the holidays anymore. It even came with a variety of disks to make different themed cookies. Since it is Autumn I decided to go with the pumpkin shaped and one that is called Abstract, basically a squiggly shape. There is even a dinosaur shaped disk, although I think it looks more like a camel or a llama.

I'm not much of a vanilla person, chocolate is much more my style. So of course I had to try the chocolate cookie recipe that was included in the manual. But oops, I grabbed the wrong measuring spoon and added nearly twice the amount of salt. Sometimes mistakes are for the best. I'm going to misquote what my friend said after eating about 20 of them. "You've captured what makes tortilla chips so addicting in a cookie". A great compliment for me as I find tortilla chips to be the most addicting food on the planet. So go ahead and add a little extra salt.

Chocolate Press Cookies
Adapted from Kuhn Rikon Recipe Book

2 sticks butter, at room temp
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt (plus a little extra)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups flour

1) Preheat oven to 375 F
2) Beat together butter and sugar until fluffy, then add vanilla, egg, milk, and salt

3) Sift in cocoa and flour then mix with a wooden spoon

4) Place dough into cookie press and attach disk then press onto ungreased cookie sheets

5) If adding sprinkles, do this before baking
6) Bake for 10-12 minutes, remove from baking sheet and let cool
7) Decorate with frosting if desired then store in airtight container, or just eat them and enjoy!

Red Wine Chocolate Cake with Cinnamon Whipped Cream

I've been wanting to try this cake ever since I saw the post on Smitten Kitchen. Thursday night I finally had a chance. We were having a quiet night at home watching movies and I thought the perfect thing to compliment the chill night would be some nice warm chocolate cake. This cake is surprisingly easy and fast to make. I think that I had started it and finished eating a piece within an hour. My kind of cake. Plus, there really isn't anything more delicious and simple than freshly whipped cream, except maybe if you add some cinnamon.

Red Wine Chocolate Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen


6 tbsp butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
3/4 cup red wine
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup plus 1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

1) Preheat oven to 325 F and butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan
2) Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs, red wine, and vanilla
3) Sift dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients

4) Add batter to pan and bake for 25-30 minutes

5) Cool in pan for 10 minutes then slice into pieces, top with whipped cream and enjoy!

Cinnamon Whipped Cream
This is more of a suggestion than a recipe because I just poured heavy cream into a bowl. Start whipping, then add sugar to taste and continue whipping until peaks form. Add cinnamon and place on top cake, or coffee

Halloween Treats

My friends through a huge Halloween party Saturday night. So of course, I had to bring treats. I made Chocolate cookies with Candy Corn, Brown Sugar Spice Ghost Cookies, Chocolate Mini Cupcakes with Halloween Sprinkles, Pumpkin Mini Cupcakes with Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting (piped in the shape of brains), Mexican Hot Chocolate Mini Cupcakes with Spicy Ganache, and Pumpkin Cupcakes with a Chocolate Ganache filling and chocolate buttercream frosting. An epic amount of desserts for an epic party.

Chocolate Chip Cookies- A Classic

I love chocolate chip cookies, and really who doesn't? I am always willing to try a new, or old, recipe that I come across. I bought the Bon Appétit Desserts cookbook the other day. I couldn't resist the 600 pages of delicious, sweet recipes. We were having a lazy Sunday, we played some bocce ball in the park, grocery shopping, and I baked. I hadn't made chocolate chip cookies in a while and I thought that they sounded pretty good. Plus, I just bought a stackable cooling rack and I had to try that out.

These cookies were pretty good. I think other recipes I have followed have produced thinner and crispier cookies. These were a lot cakier than I am used to, but hey anything with chocolate and butter will still taste delicious.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from bon appétit desserts

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temp.
1 cup, packed brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 375 F
2) Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl
3) In separate bowl, cream butter and sugars, then add eggs and vanilla
4) Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and combine, then add the choco chips and walnuts

5) Spoon mixture onto baking sheets

6) Bake for 10-12 minutes, until slightly browned
7) Let cool, or if you're like me burn your mouth eating the ones fresh out of the oven

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I rarely buy bananas, but for some reason I placed them in my grocery cart thinking maybe I'd make a smoothie or something. As the days went by I noticed that they had started to go bad. I thought, hhmmm, why don't I make banana bread? I've never made it before, despite how simple the recipe is. I then remembered one of my favorite breakfast foods from the dining commons in college- chocolate chip banana muffins! I usually skipped out on breakfast (I had the cheap dining plan, 2 meals a day) but days when they were serving these muffins, I had to be there! There's just something about bananas and chocolate that I love, and those muffins were pure bliss. So I searched the online archives for the perfect banana bread recipe. I couldn't really find one that I liked so I decided to alter and combine a few to make one delicious hunk of bread.

Ingredients:
3-4 bananas (I used 3.5 because I ate half of one, it really depends on the size)
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
Pinch of salt (or about 1/8 tsp.)
1 1/2 cups flour
Chocolate chips (just eyeball it)

1)Preheat the oven to 350
2) Mash bananas (I used a potato masher) and then combine all ingredients and mix until combined

3) Pour batter into greased 4x8 loaf pan

4) Bake for 1 hour
5) Let cool and eat

Having been my first time making banana bread I was sure something would have gone awry. But to my pleasant surprise it was delicious! The bread was perfectly cooked and far from being dry. The chocolate chips added a layer of flavor that complimented the bananas. And remember, chocolate is good for you!