Chocolate Turtle Ice Cream—Secret Recipe Club

Chocolate Turtle Ice Cream

Ahhhh, it’s August already!  Awww, it’s time for Secret Recipe Club!  Yippee for heavenly ice cream!

Bet no one will ever guess whose blog I have for Secret Recipe Club this month.  I’ll bet at least everyone in Group A will be able to guess!  If you can’t guess, maybe you’ve been living under a rock.  Or here’s a hint, maybe you’re a lunatic………………..well, that doesn’t sound very nice…….but since my secret blog this month is none other than Kim Bee of Cravings of a Lunatic, it’s probably okay to say.  Kim has such a fun blog.  I love her writing and I love her food!  Check out her "about me" page.  She is a barefoot-loving, picky eater who hates pickles and tomatoes and is lactose intolerant, but love ice cream.  She likes it so much that she has devoted her Sunday posts to Ice Cream Sundays (though I think she posts about ice cream more than just on Sunday). ;)  No matter, I don’t hardly know Kim, except for recently discovering her blog through the Secret Recipe Club, but we have a lot in common—especially our love for ice cream.  I was torn on which ice cream to make from her blog, but finally settled on her Turtle Ice Cream.  Oh, that’s another thing we have in common, I love turtles—the chocolate caramel pecan kind, not so much the animal. ;)  Kim has turtle popcorn, and no-bake turtle cheesecake, and turtle bark just to name a few. 

I have not made enough ice cream this summer, so this was a perfect excuse for me to do so.  I ended up making a few slight changes to the recipe, since she has cut up turtle candies in her ice cream and I didn’t have those, so I put pecans and drizzled melted chocolate in the ice cream and made Kim’s caramel sauce that is part of her turtle bark recipe, which is some good stuff!  The caramel went on top of the ice cream, since I knew some in my family would not like it IN the ice cream (crazy people!).

I really like the chocolate ice cream recipe for how simple it is, with just cocoa powder, sugar and a mix of cream and milk.  I’ve made it twice.

Chocolate Turtle Ice Cream, adapted from Kim at Cravings of a Lunatic, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup dark brown sugar (I’ve also used light brown as I’ve made the ice cream twice)

pinch of salt

1/2 cup 2% milk

1  1/2 cup half and half

1 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2  1/2 ounces toasted, cooled, chopped pecans

2 1/2 ounces milk chocolate, melted

In a medium sized saucepan, combine the cocoa powder, sugars, salt and 2% milk and 1/2 cup of half and half.  Stir with a whisk and let the mixture heat on medium until sugar dissolves, 2-5 minutes.   Remove from heat and add the mixture to a blender, as well as the cream and vanilla.  Blend for about 1 minute.  Refrigerate the mixture until it is cold, or put it in a bowl in an ice bath until cold. 

Churn in the bowl of an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions, 20-25 minutes.  Just before it is finished, add the pecans and drizzle in the melted chocolate in a fine stream.  Put the ice cream in an airtight container and freeze for a couple hours. 

Serve with caramel sauce and more chopped pecans (optional—just the nuts), the caramel is mandatory for turtle ice cream! ;)

I had to do it.  I baked a chocolate chip cookie in a 4 ounce ramekin and put a little of the Chocolate Turtle Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce on top (and then I took a bite and gave the rest to Kevin and Scottie, sigh).  Dee-licious! 

Delicious Fat Free Sugar Free Peach Mango Ice Cream

This Peach Mango Ice Cream I made today is so good and I LOVE that it is fat free and sugar free but you’d never know it.  It’s a great treat if you’re watching what you’re eating!  I actually made a peach mango ice cream last year that was also light, but I upped the amount of fruit in this one and instead of using a full-of-sugar condensed milk, I used just a touch of agave and some skim milk.  I like this one better and am happy to have a frozen treat for me in the freezer.  It seems to be full of full-fat ice cream treats that I choose not to eat (even though I love those, too!). 

Delicious Fat Free Sugar Free Peach Mango Ice Cream, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

4 peaches, pits  removed and sliced

2 mangoes, removed from pit and cut off the peel into chunks

zest of one lime

juice of one lime

1/4 cup agave nectar

1/8 teaspoon almond extract (optional, or more to taste)

1 cup skim milk

Put the peaches and mangoes in a blender.  Add the lime zest and juice and agave nectar.  Puree until smooth, 1-2 minutes.  Add the milk and puree until combined.  Put the mixture through a sieve to remove the peach skins.  (It’s easy and there isn’t much of the skin left.)  Chill the mixture in the refrigerator until cold.  Pour into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions, 20-25 minutes.  Remove ice cream from bowl and store in an airtight container in the freezer.  Serve after a couple hours of freezing.

Perfect summer treat!

TWD—Baking With Julia—Blueberry Nectarine Pie

Blueberry Nectarine Mini Pie

Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking With Julia this week was a pie.  I made the pie crust for this pie last week.  It chilled in the fridge for a few days.  I thought I was going to get the pie made on Saturday, then Sunday, then yesterday it was then or I wasn’t going to get it done in time.  It worked nicely to already have the pie crust dough made.  I was excited to see how the dough rolled out.  I’ve tried so many pie crusts over the years and some really are hit or miss.  Dorie said with this recipe that it will be one you’ll always want to have with you and use. 

I followed the filling recipe almost exactly, except that since we have a freezer full of blueberries, I used frozen blueberries even though the recipe suggested fresh ones.  I also added an extra cup of frozen blueberries to the mix, using four cups instead of the three.  I did use fresh nectarines, using only two as each one cut up was a cup.  I decided to do more of a dice on the nectarines as I didn’t want slices of it throughout the blueberry pie.

   While the blueberry/nectarine filling cooled, I started rolling out the crust.

The dough was quite sticky and no matter how I tried, it stuck to the counter every time I tried rolling it out and lifting it up to put in the pie plate.  Grrr.  Never fear—I decided to try making mini pies and hoped I’d have better luck with smaller amounts of dough.  It actually got to where the more the dough became closer to room temperature instead of cold that it was easier to work with.  I thought that was strange since it is usually preferred that a pie dough be cold when you’re working with it.  Maybe I just hadn’t made the dough the right consistency before chilling it?  At any rate, I starting rolling out four inch pie crusts and placing them in my two mini tart pans and two mini cake pans and ended up with four great looking mini pies. 

I decided to just bake one pie and the other three are in the freezer.  My parents are coming to stay a weekend in two weeks before they go on a mission for our church for a year.  They will be serving in Omaha, Nebraska which we think will give us great reason to go visit our Midwest friends and see them within the next year.  Anyway, I decided my mom would love her own mini pie, since she doesn’t eat chocolate and that is often included in the goodies I make.

 

I played around with different edges to the pies.  After being so frustrated with the dough, it became much nicer to work with the more it was “played with”. 

I baked one pie for about 35 minutes.  When I scooped all the filling in to each pie, I did not add all the extra filling juice that was there, it seemed like a lot.  Probably since I’d used frozen blueberries.  The pie that I baked turned out great.

So glad I made the TWD recipe this week.  If you’d like the recipe, our hosts this week will have them on their blogs.

Liz at That Skinny Chick Can Bake made a great looking lattice for her pie.

Hillary at Manchego's Kitchen made her pie with blueberries, raspberries and nectarines and made a crumb topping.

Have I ever mentioned I like pie?

Yep, I do. ;)

Perfectly Fudgy Brownies

Perfectly Fudgy Brownies

I’ve sure been in a blogging slump.  Not sure exactly why, but I know we all go through that.  It’s certainly not because I haven’t been baking.  Got that part down.  I just haven’t been motivated to sit down and write.  But I’ve really wanted to get these brownies written down because they were very good—and my new camera arrived and I think the photos of the brownies are great, just basic, but they look good! ;)  I have much more to learn about my camera and photography in general though.   On to the brownies--

I was intrigued by this brownie recipe I ran across on Cooking.com, which is actually a brownie from Eating Well Magazine.  First of all, it is called Dark Fudgy Brownies, but I’ve chosen to call them Perfectly Fudgy Brownies because the recipe actually gives you the option of using regular cocoa or dark cocoa and I’ve made them trying both and my favorite are the ones I made with the regular cocoa.  Call them what you will, they really are of a perfect fudgy texture, but brownie-like in every way.  You can get the original brownie recipe on the two links, but I’ll give you the recipe as I made them.  I thought it interesting that the recipe gave you an option of using butter or oil when each would make a difference.  I used butter and since I liked these so much they way I made them, I doubt I’ll try them with oil instead.

Another thing that caught my curiosity to try the brownies was that they have powdered sugar and a little corn syrup and I wanted to see if that made a difference to other typically fudgy brownies.  If you’re intrigued and interested, too, I think you should give these brownies a try.  They were certainly eaten rather quickly at our house.

Perfectly Fudgy Brownies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Eating Well Magazine

3/4 cup (90 grams) all purpose flour

2/3 cup (73 grams) powdered sugar

3 tablespoons (15 grams) natural cocoa powder

3 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped, plus 2  1/2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped (divided use)

1  1/2 tablespoons (3/4 ounce) unsalted butter

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar

1  1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup blended with 3 tablespoons lukewarm water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1/2 cup toasted, chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line an 8x8 baking pan with foil with the edges overhanging on the sides.  Spray lightly with cooking spray.

Combine together in a medium sized bowl the flour, powdered sugar and cocoa powder.  Stir with a whisk to sift.  Set aside.  Combine the 3 ounces of chocolate and the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat and stir just until melted and smooth.  Remove from the heat and stir in the granulated sugar, corn syrup mixture, vanilla and salt until well combined.  Add the egg and stir quickly until it is well incorporated.  Fold in the dry ingredients and combine well, then add the walnuts and remaining chocolate just until blended.  Pour the batter into the pan and spread evenly.

Bake for 22-24 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.  Let cool completely on a wire rack for at least 2 hours.  Remove the brownies from the pan and peel off the foil.  Cut into squares.

   Dark Fudgy Brownies (They look similar!)

These are the brownies I made exactly the same as the recipe above, but I used a dark cocoa.  These were almost just as good, I just liked the ones with natural cocoa a little bit better.  That said, Kevin decided he preferred the dark cocoa brownies.  I would certainly make these again.

Refrigerator Rolls and Cinnamon Rolls with Potato Dough—Secret Recipe Club

Refrigerator Potato Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls with Refrigerator Potato Dough

For the Secret Recipe Club this month, I once again had a great time browsing through my randomly assigned blog, Cooking Mimi.  Micha’s blog is full of so many great recipes and tempting photos.  I tend to be drawn to the baked goods (surprise!), but I really need to give some more meals a shot in these Secret Recipe Club assignments, because mmm, they look so good.  Check out the Slow Cooker Pizza, Enchilada Stuffed Shells, or Chicken Tortilla Casserole to name just a few of Micha’s most popular recipes. 

While looking through all her baked goods, I ran across the Refrigerator Rolls she posted a couple years ago.  I have seen bread dough that has potatoes in it before, but had never tried it and decided it was time.  I mean, come on, I’m an Idaho girl, what is up with not making rolls with potatoes before?

My mixer and I “whirred” up the dough in no time, after I first cooked a potato and mashed it.  I love getting everything out and measured and ready before actually starting a recipe—makes baking so much more enjoyable—and really helps someone like me, who often just starts a recipe without having ever read it through the first time.  The only negative thing I’ll say about this refrigerator dough recipe, though there are some who wouldn’t consider this a negative thing, is that it is certainly not low in fat and sugar (for a bread dough), that and it’s made with regular white all purpose flour.  Don’t get me wrong—my family prefers everything with flour to be that way.  It’s just that I, myself, don’t/can’t eat it.  I do splurge once in a while, but I really do try not to eat white flour and I’ve tried cutting back on fats and refined sugars.  Doesn’t stop me from baking away and spoiling those around me.  Lucky ducks. ;)

The dough has risen and is ready to “play with”.

The recipe makes quite a lot of dough and I planned to use half of it right then for rolls for dinner and refrigerate the other half for making cinnamon rolls.  And that’s just what I did.  The rolls came out beautifully.

I tasted a bite of one roll for dinner the night I made them.  They were good.  Good enough that the rest of the family ate them all up!  I tucked the other half of the dough into the fridge to save for cinnamon rolls, as planned.  Two days went by before I remembered that I needed to use that dough and make those cinnamon rolls.  I had no objections from anyone at home.

Cinnamon rolls ready for a short bake in the oven.

After rolling the dough out flat into a rectangle, I spread it with softened butter (I actually used Bestlife, which is a healtier 50/50 buttery baking stick.).  I then sprinkled it liberally with brown sugar and lots of cinnamon.  The dough was rolled up and sliced into perfect cinnamon rolls.  Do you know the trick to slicing bread dough?  Use thread or non-mint flavored dental floss.  Put it under the dough with the size of slice you want, bring it to the top of the roll and pull the two ends across from each other and through the dough.  It slices perfectly without smashing each roll as a knife often does.  Try it if you haven’t!

Iced cinnamon rolls ready to eat!

After the cinnamon rolls baked and slightly cooled, I iced them with a simple concoction of powdered sugar, butter, a pinch of salt, some vanilla and cream and milk.  The icing was just drizzled on with a spoon.

Couldn’t resist a bite, but a bite was all I had.  Lucky boys, they fought for the rolls enough that I even had to cut the last rolls into thirds!  Half the dough made at least 16 rolls, it might have been 20—I can’t recall and didn’t write it down.

Refrigerator Potato Rolls and Cinnamon Rolls, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Micha at Cooking Mimi

1 package active dry yeast (or 2 ½ teaspoons)

½ cup warm water

2/3 cup butter or margarine (I used Bestlife 50/50 buttery baking sticks)

2 large eggs

1 large or two medium potatoes (which was about 7 ounces or 200 grams after peeling and cubing)

6-7 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

1 cup milk (I used 2%)

egg and water mixture for brushing on tops of rolls before baking, optional

Peel and cut the potato into cubes. Cook in small saucepan with the potato completely covered with water. Once cooked, drain and mash the potato. Measure out one cup of mashed potato, if there is any of the potato left, eat it. ;)

Heat the milk in small saucepan until bubbles appear around the edges (scalding) and let it cool. While the milk is cooling, put the ½ cup warm water, yeast and 2 teaspoons of sugar in a medium sized bowl until it is foamy, about 5 minutes. Place the milk, potato, and ½ cup sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until smooth, then add the butter/margarine, eggs, salt and one cup of the flour. Mix well. Once the yeast mixture is foamy, add it to the mixing bowl and mix well. Then add the remaining flour a cup at a time until a soft dough is formed. (You might not need 7 cups—the original recipe called for 5-6 cups, but I ended up using quite a bit more than that.) Let the stand mixer knead the dough (with a dough hook) for 8-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Or knead it by hand for the same amount of time.

You may then refrigerate all or some of the dough to use at a later time. Store it in a greased bowl, covered. If you are using it right away, put it in a greased bowl, covered and let it sit on the counter at room temperature for about an hour, until it is doubled in size. Shape into rolls and place them on a greased baking sheet. Let the rolls rise, covered lightly with a damp towel for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

For cinnamon rolls: Roll dough into a rectangle shape (doesn’t have to be precise), about ¼ inch thick. Spread softened butter evenly on the dough. I used about 2 ounces, or ¼ cup. Sprinkle generously with brown sugar (1/2 to 1 cup). Sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll up the dough using the longer side. Once it is all in a rolled log, slice the log into individual cinnamon rolls using thread or unflavored dental floss. Place each roll on a baking sheet that is coated with cooking spray with four rolls to each short row on the sheet. You don’t want them too close together as they will rise. Cover the rolls with a damp cloth and let rise for about 30 minutes. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Let cool until warm. Spoon icing in a drizzle over the baked cinnamon rolls. Makes about 16.

Simple Cinnamon Roll Icing, by Katrina Baking and Boys!

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons butter, softened

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

2-4 tablespoons cream*

2 tablespoons milk*

*You could just use all milk if you’d like, adding it a tablespoons at a time until it is the desired consistency. Combine all the ingredients in a mixer or medium sized bowl and blend until smooth. Adding the milk/cream a tablespoon at a time until the icing is the thickness you’d like.

_______________________________________________

I am so happy I finally made rolls with potato in the dough, it really does make for a nice, soft, flavorful roll.  Try it out sometime.  Glad to have found this recipe and yet again another great blog from the Secret Recipe Club!  Check out everyone else’s revealed recipes below.  *On a side note—I’m SO done taking photos on my cell phone, which I have been doing for the last month or so.  My camera broke, still under warranty, and after sending it in for repair, the company decided they’d rather not fix it and gave us a voucher to buy a new one.  I just happily received my new camera and can’t wait to get to know it better (it’s a different one from the previous one).  Yeah for better upcoming photos! ;)

 

TWD—Baking With Julia—Hazelnut Biscotti

Well, aren’t I the lucky one—I get to be one of the hosts for today’s Tuesday's With Dorie recipe from Baking With Julia.  When I saw that biscotti was one of our recipe this month, I threw in my vote to host because I love biscotti.  I was happy to be chosen to host.  I’m hosting along with Jodi of Homemade and Wholesome.  Check out her biscotti, she’ll have the recipe posted, too.  I’ve mentioned before, but the “old” shows of Baking With Julia are on my local PBS station every Saturday and I record them.  It is so great to see some of the episodes where we are making or have made the recipes I’m watching on the shows. 

From simple and well-worded directions for getting the skins off the hazelnuts by boiling them in water and baking soda, to the cookie dough coming together easily with a bowl and spoon, these biscotti are great!

One word of warning though, and I’m just saying this hypothetically—don’t use cornstarch instead of baking soda when boiling the nuts—the skins simply won’t come off.  Okay, okay, so I did that.  I was surprised to see that the cornstarch congealed and was just strange.  I’ll spare you the photos I took all the while not realizing I wasn’t supposed to use cornstarch but baking soda.  Here’s the boiled hazelnuts with baking soda in the water.  Just as the recipe indicates, the water will turn black when they are ready.

I thought removing the skins after the nuts were boiled was the most tedious and annoying part of the recipe, but it still wasn’t that bad. 

After making the dough, two cookie dough logs are put onto a baking sheet.  The recipes suggested that with the sticky dough you flour your hands.  I got mine a little wet with water instead.  I have done this before with biscotti and liked how easy it was to form the logs. 

The first bake of the biscotti went off without a hitch!

 

After cooling for a short time, I sliced the “logs” into half-inch pieces.  The biscotti were placed on a wire rack and baked for ten minutes in their second baking.

The biscotti really was enjoyable enough as-is.

The biggest surprise to me with these is that Kevin (who hates crunchy cookies) has been eating them dunked in milk and said they are actually pretty good.  I’m glad he likes them so I don’t eat them all. ;)

And of course, if you know me, like many of you know me, I just couldn’t leave well enough alone and I couldn’t leave chocolate out of these—or off of them.  Drizzle, drizzle!

Here’s the recipe--

Hazelnut Biscotti, from Dorie Greenspan, Baking With Julia

Makes about 4 dozen biscotti.  It’s the baking soda in the dough that gives these biscotti their wonderful open, crunchy texture.  Although they’ll tenderize over the course of a few days (if they last that long), just-baked, they’re exceptionally dry and crackly.  It’s also baking soda that makes easy work of the usually pesky job of peeling hazelnut—they’re boiled in a baking soda bath and emerge ready to shed their skins in a flash.

This recipe can be doubled and the choice of nuts varied.  You can make the biscotti with almonds, pistachios, or even peanuts; you can add raisins, or try chocolate chips.  And you can make the dough easily either by hand or in a mixer with a paddle.  If you choose the mixer, whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl, beat the liquid ingredients and sugar in the mixer, then add the dry ingredients to the liquid and continue with the recipe.

2 cups water

3 tablespoons baking soda

2/3 cup unblanched hazelnuts

1  2/3 cups all-purpose flour (200 grams)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons hazelnut liqueur, such as Frangelico, or brandy (I used Torani Hazelnut flavoring syrup instead of liquor—Katrina)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup sugar (150 grams)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Preparing the nuts:  To skin the hazelnuts, bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan, add the baking soda and the nuts, and boil for 3 to 5 minutes, until the water turns black.  To test if the skins have loosened sufficiently, drop a nut into a bowl of cold water and rub lightly against the skin—if the skin just slides off, the nuts are ready to go.  Turn the nuts into a colander and run cold water over them.  Slip off the skins, toss the nuts onto a towel, pat dry, and transfer to a jelly-roll pan.

Place the pan in the oven and toast the nuts, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or until evenly browned.  The best way to test for total toastiness is to bite into a nut—it should be brown to the center.  Remove the nuts from the oven and cool.  Lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

When the nuts are cool enough to handle, coarsely chop them and set them aside.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and reserve until needed.

Making the dough:  Put the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk just to blend.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, liqueur (flavoring), vanilla, and sugar.  Add the dry ingredients to the liquid and stir with a wooden spoon to mix.  Add the nuts and continue to mix, just until well incorporated.  (Since the dough is stiff, sticky, and hard to stir, you might find it easier just to reach in and mix it with your hands.)

Flour your hands and life half the dough onto one side of the parchment-lined baking sheet.  Pat and squeeze the dough into a chubby log 12 to 13 inches long.  Don’t worry about being neat or smoothing the dough—it will even out as much as it needs to in the oven.  Repeat with the other half of the dough, leaving about 3 inches between the logs.

First baking:  Bake the logs for exactly 35 minutes.  Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes.  At this point, the logs can remain on the pan overnight, if that’s more convenient for you.

Second baking:  Using a serrated knife, cut the logs into 1/2-inch-thick slices, cutting straight across or diagonally.  (You can make the biscotti thinner or thicker, as you wish, and adjust the baking time accordingly.)  Lay the biscotti on their sides on a cooling rack—you may need to use a second rack—then place the cooling rack in the 300 degree F oven, directly on an oven rack.  (Baking the biscotti like this allows the oven’s heat to circulate around the cookies, so there’s no need to turn them over.)  The cookies may need to bake for as long as 15 minutes, but it’s a good idea to start checking them after about 10 minutes.  When the biscotti are golden brown, dry, and crisp, remove the cooling rack(s) from the oven.  Let the cookies cool to room temperature before packing them for storage.

Storing:  The cookies will keep in an airtight container for about a month.

Contributing Baker—Alice Medrich

Ann Romney’s M&M Cookies (From Family Circle Magazine)

Ann Romney’s M&M Cookies with Peanut Butter & Oats

After seeing on The Today Show yesterday the two cookies chosen by the presidential candidate’s wives, Ann Romney and Michelle Obama, which is a tradition Family Circle magazine started a number of candidates back, I decided that Ann Romney’s M&M Cookies needed to be made here and tested.  I just finished baking them and wanted to hurry and write about them before we head out for a day trip.  They are that good.  You should make them soon.

I love that they only have oats, so if you wanted to make sure and get the gluten free oats, these would be gluten free.  With no added flour, I was worried they would flatten out too much, but these turned out perfectly.  They are baked at a lower temperature (325 degrees) and I think that helps with not-too-much spreading. 

I did not change anything about the recipe except that Ann’s suggested time for baking is 18 minutes and we like more of a chewy/soft cookie here, so I only baked them for 14 minutes.  Perfection! 

Since I didn’t change the recipe, which Ann was quoted as saying “no one in her family can resist them”, here’s the link to the recipe.  Ann Romney's M&M Cookies

On a side note, with wholesome oats and the Skippy Natural chunky peanut butter I used, these cookies are a great treat.  I was quite surprised to see Michelle Obama’s cookies (isn’t she on a big kick to get the nation’s kids healthy???), are FULL of butter and shortening—shortening, you know, the butter-flavored kind full of trans fats.  I was just a little shocked to see that as the cookie she picked to go up against Ann Romney’s cookies.  I think Family Circle has reported that 4 out of the last 5 times the potential first ladies have gone up against each other with their cookie recipes, the winning cookie has also been the presidential candidate who won the election.  Hmmm?  Can’t wait to see!  (And I’ll bet you can’t tell who I’d like to see as our next president and first lady!)  Let’s not get all political here, this is strictly about cookies….;)

TWD—Baking With Julia—French Raspberry Cake (Genoise)

French Raspberry Cake with Perfect Genoise from Baking With Julia

I kept putting off making the Baking With Julia recipe for this week and until Monday almost-afternoon I still hadn’t made it.  Then out of nowhere, I just decided to do it.  I wanted to try making a genoise cake, I can’t remember if we made one before with TWD-BFMHTY, probably, but after reading all the problems and questions on the TWD website, I wanted to prove to myself that this really was an easy cake to make—and it was!

This is one of my favorite recipes so far!  I’m actually happy with the way it turned out and that I was able to cover an entire cake with whipped cream, which I don’t believe I’ve done before.  And I’m happy with how it turned out.  Yes, those of you looking at it from TWD, it’s short.  It became apparent to me that there was no way I was going to be able to cut the cake into three layers, so I didn’t even try.  Two layers it was and it is/was just fine!

The cake for the recipe was supposed to be strawberry cake, with a layer of macerated strawberries in between each layer.  But I have just not been very happy with the strawberries we’ve had available here so far this season (grocery stores), and I have a freezer full of raspberries (plus we like raspberries more here anyway).  So I got some frozen raspberries out of the freezer and let them thaw.  Once they were about half thawed, added a quarter cup of sugar and let them sit for another hour or two.  As the recipe indicated, I mashed the whole berries with a fork and I actually drained the liquid (it made a great smoothie!), instead of spooning the fruit out with a slotted spoon. 

After slicing the cake (which I froze after it cooled as that was supposed to make for easier cutting, but didn’t for me), I topped the first layer with all of the raspberries, which was about a cupful.  Then I topped the berries with some of the whipped cream and for a little kick, I sprinkled some chocolate shavings on the middle layer.  As you can see, I also sprinkled some on top.  I didn’t have any pretty, fresh raspberries to put on top of the cake, so it only seemed natural to put chocolate! ;)

Good dark chocolate (70%) grated with a peeler and ready for the cake!

Mmmm!  While I think it could have used even more chocolate, this is a great cake.  Just perfect for my frosting-hating family.  I’ll be making more cakes in the future with whipped cream for the icing!

Word up (just for my own sake), I don’t like my photos and haven’t lately and won’t for a while—my precious camera has gone to the fix-it shop and these were taken with my phone.  Not really liking how photos are turning out with my phone, but at least I have it, right!

You want this genoise recipe and the French Strawberry Cake (though you can use any fruit you’d like and I’m sure it would be okay).  I’m really enjoying baking in this book, Baking With Julia.  What is really fun is that every Saturday our PBS station here has the episodes from Julia Child’s show, which Dorie Greenspan worked behind-the-scenes on with Julia.  I have been enjoying watching and recording the episodes—a few of which we’ve already made the recipes I’ve seen on the show. 

I say get the book if you don’t have it, but if you want this recipe, our hosts for this week will have it on their blogs.

Sophia from Sophia's Sweets and Allison from Think, Love, Sleep, Dine are the hosts.

Lucky Leaf Giveaway and Blueberry Pie, Strawberry Cookie Pie, Peach Cinnacake and Frozen Strawberry Pie Pops

Brace yourself for a delicious post full of all kinds desserts and treats made with Lucky Leaf premium pie filling—and a giveaway! Lucky Leaf contacted me and asked if I wanted to try some of their pie fillings and some fun ice pop molds.  I thought it would be fun to try them.  After receiving the package, I went to town making all the recipes they sent along with the products.

First, I made some  frozen strawberry pie pops.  I love the spiral shape of them and the boys enjoyed eating them.

I know, this is where you think it would be fun to see some cute pictures of my boys eating the pops.  And this is where I tell you that my camera is broken and on its way to the fix-it place.  Needless to say, I’m not thrilled with any of the pictures that will be in this post since I took them with my phone and due mostly to user-error, they aren’t that great.  So I did take some pictures of the boys, and they are blurry.  sigh  Anyway, for this post, I’ve picked out the best of the worst to share with you, because there are some great treats here. ;)

After making the pops, which I made using only half the strawberry pie filling, I made some miniature strawberry cream peanut butter cookie pies.  In the recipes given to me by Lucky Leaf, they suggested using refrigerated store-bought cookie dough.  But since I don’t do that, I made my own and decided on a peanut butter cookie dough for the crust.  They also suggested mixing the pie filling with thawed frozen whipped dessert topping, but I used real whipped cream.  One of the things I like about Lucky Leaf pie fillings is that they are made with no high fructose corn syrup---so I didn’t want to add any other pre-packaged ingredients and have other high fructose or hydrogenated oils, etc. in these desserts. 

These were good.  The peanut butter cookie crust was perfect for the fluffy strawberries and cream filling.  I took half of these to Kevin’s sister’s house and I think Scott ate the rest of them.  He really liked them!

I then used the peach pie filling to make my version of Lucky Leaf’s Perfectly Peach Cinnacake.   Their suggestion was to use a boxed cake mix, but I made my own dry cake mix and was happy with how it turned out.  Kevin, who as we all know, doesn’t like cake and especially frosting, actually really liked this cake (because it didn’t have frosting).  The boys all enjoyed topping their pieces of cake with some whipped cream.

The recipe said to fold the pie filling into the cake mix, but I didn’t want chunks of peach throughout the cake, so I actually pulsed the filling in the food processor before adding it to the cake.  It was good!

And finally, and probably my favorite of all these desserts I made a simple pie crust and made some mini blueberry pies.  Some perfectly two-bite mini pie pockets that were delicious (I love pie crust!).

Blueberry pie filling goodness hiding inside of these!

Even more fun, was this little three inch lattice pie I made.

I love how perfectly the pie sliced! And it tasted great!  And for the record, I did not make all of these in one day!  I will share the recipes I used for making homemade cake/cookie crust and pie crust in later posts, so stay tuned for those!

Meanwhile, Lucky Leaf is willing to send some of their premium pie fillings, ice pop molds and recipes cards to one of my readers!  Wanna win?  Leave me a comment letting me know what is you favorite flavor of pie.  That’s one entry.  For another entry, like the Baking and Boys! Facebook page and come back and leave me a separate comment that you did (or if you already do).  The deadline to enter for this giveaway is Monday, June 18, noon MST.  (U.S. Residents only please.)

Chocolate Grasshopper Mint Cookies Ice Cream

Decided I needed to share this ice cream recipe since today is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day.  It is a perfect, simple ice cream for any kinds of mix-ins you’d like.  Try it!

Chocolate Grasshopper Cookies Ice Cream, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, ice cream base adapted from Amanda's Cookin'

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free condensed milk)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup 2% milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups chopped Keebler Grasshopper cookies

Put the condensed milk into a medium saucepan. Sift the cocoa into the condensed milk. Whisk together and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and slightly thickened. Remove from heat. Put the bittersweet chocolate in the condensed milk mixture and whisk until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large measuring cup, gently mix together the cream, 2% milk and the vanilla. Drizzle the cream mixture into the chocolate mixture. Whisk the mixtures together as you are drizzling. Be sure to loosen any mixture from the edges and corners of the pan using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Whisk until smooth. Pour through a sieve into a clean bowl.

Make an ice water bath in a bigger bowl and set the bowl of the chocolate cream mixture into it until it is very cold, whisking now and then. Pour into an ice cream maker and church according to manufacturer’s instructions, about 20-25 minutes. During the last couple minutes of churning, add the chopped cookies. Put in an airtight container and freezer for a couple hours (or enjoy the ice cream soft serve immediately. ;))

I have a little disclaimer with this particular ice cream.  One and a half cups of chopped cookies is plenty, but as I was chopping them, I kept chopped the whole package of cookies and ended up adding them all to the ice cream.  While I didn’t think so, Kevin thought it was a bit too much.  A whole package of the cookies probably totalled 2  1/2 to 3 cups of chopped cookies.  Add the amount you’d like.  Also if you want to bump up the mint flavor even more, you can add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of mint extract.

Tis the season for ice cream!

TWD—Baking With Julia--Oasis Naan

This week’s recipe for Tuesdays With Dorie is Oasis Naan.  This flat bread is good for tearing off pieces and soaking up gravy or sauce from a stew or soup.  I made it to go with some pasta for dinner one night.  We all thought it was just okay.  I didn’t put the scallions on top but did sprinkle it with salt and cumin.  The top one in the photo is sprinkled with a little dried oregano and basil and salt (no cumin).  I knew the boys wouldn’t be crazy about the naan, so with half the dough, I made breadsticks and brushed them with oil and sprinkled cheese and dried oregano and basil on top.  The breadsticks were definitely a bigger hit.

I probably wouldn’t make naan again, but thought it was a good bread dough to work with.  If you’d like the recipe, you can find it on our host blogs--

Maggie at Always Add More Butter—check out what she did with some of the dough for a sweet treat!

Phyl at Of Cabbages & King Cakes