Hot Fudge!

Hot Fudge

Hot Fudge

Hot fudge: *UPDATE* [15.01.2018] I’ll be posting another hot fudge recipe with better photos and a video shortly!

Yes. More chocolate. Obviously, my desire for chocolate did not desert (pun not intended!) me, as I had previously thought. I was craving vanilla ice cream. Since I am limiting the amount of sweets due to my diet, I convinced myself not to make my own ice cream. Instead, I purchased a pint of vanilla ice cream to eat over a few days.

Hot FudgeIn addition to ice cream, I wanted to make hot fudge. I looked over many recipes online, and some called for heavy cream. I didn’t want the fudge to be too heavy in fat, and I was out of heavy cream, so I looked for a recipe that didn’t ask for said ingredient. Consequently, I found a recipe on AllRecipes that looked promising. I made a third of the recipe, and it yielded more than enough fudge for one person. Per the comments and suggestions made on the site, I reduced the amount of evaporated milk to make it thicker. It was perfect. The photos do not do it justice as all. It was thick, smooth, chocolaty, and delicious. After sitting out for awhile, it becomes even thicker. So thick that it doesn’t pour out without stirring it first. I stuck my finger in the chocolate goo, and tasted it again. Ahhhh, it’s sooo freaking good!

Hot FudgeI have posted the adapted and halved version of the fudge recipe below. Half the below recipe for a smaller version; it makes more than enough for one or two people.

Don’t forget to check out a plethora of other ice cream flavors to accompany this hot chocolate such as vanilla bean, vanilla bean with brown sugar, espresso, milk chocolate, Mexican chocolate, gelato al limone, chocolate chip cookie dough, coffee, double chocolate toffee, mint chocolate chip (w/extract), and Mint Oreo Ice Cream!

Hot Fudge Sauce
adapted from AllRecipes

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter (1 stick or 8 oz)
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2/3 cups evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

  1. In a large saucepan, combine the chocolate chips and butter. Cook and stir over low heat until melted.
  2. Gradually mix in the powdered sugar and evaporated milk. Increase heat to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly, for 8 minutes. Remove from heat, and then stir in vanilla and salt. Serve warm. Store in refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Copyright – Memoria James – http://www.mangiodasola.com

Browned Butter “Chewy”

I found this recipe, which was adapted from Alton Brown’s “The Chewy”, on RecipeGirl. I love her photos and almost all of her baked goods.

For some reason, her cookies came out bigger and flatter than mine. They also look darker. Next time, I will flatten the dough mounds before placing them in the oven, and I will darken the butter more. After doing brief research on browning butter, I read that the skillet should not have a black base because it will be hard to see how dark the butter is getting. In order to (attempt to) remedy that problem, I used my white rubber spatula to see how dark the butter was getting. It never became really dark, and I even put the heat on medium for about 5-10 minutes, so I just gave up and proceeded with the recipe.

Because I live alone and have started my diet AGAIN, I baked only 4 small cookies (the ones you see pictured) and froze the rest of the dough. I am an all-or-nothing dieter, meaning when I’m on a diet, I’m very strict with eating and exercise, and when I fall off the diet wagon, I fall off badly. I make up for all the deprivation and resistance to goodies that I did while on track. Consequently, I am trying to train myself to indulge more sensibly from time to time so that whenever I reach my goal, I will be better at maintaining instead of gaining all of the weight back.

As a consequence of gobbling up these cookies, I ate a healthy salad with Naked Juice (WARNING: a video starts up immediately on this site) for lunch/dinner. I plan to eat something else light later on. I also don’t allow myself to eat after 9pm. However, if my stomach is really aching for something, I will eat a small plum or another piece of fruit. Later, I will do some serious cardio and strength training to burn off these yummy cookies. Ah, the price we have to pay to have our cake and eat it, too…and stay fit in the process…

On another topic, I finally got over my anxiety and stepped outside to take these pictures on my patio. I think they look much better than my previous pics, which I usually had taken inside and in the evening (yeah, bad combination, I know). I used the same camera and just added more of God’s light and used my purple scarf as a backdrop, which yielded much better pictures. Right after I was done taking over 100 photos(!), I picked up the plate of cookies to bring them back inside when one of them fell to the ground (look below)! The cookie just smiled back at me (see the face?), I wiped it off, and gobbled it up gleefully and guiltlessly haha. Hey! You live only once! If I die over a fallen cookie…er…correction – a fallen, delicious cookie, then so be it! I will just die happy :).

Haha! Do you see the tongue sticking out on the right? Weird!

These cookies were so good. They were very soft. In fact, one of them wanted to fall apart, and I had to be very careful with it. My oven tends to overheat, so I always have to half the time indicated on a recipe. I also like my cookies to be really soft and not fully cooked, so I baked it for 5 minutes instead of 6.

You should definitely make these cookies. They really are good. I’m not able to say if I think they are better than the original “Chewy” because I forgot how the originals tasted, and I didn’t brown my butter long enough. Nevertheless, they were very good, and I will make them again.

BROWNED BUTTER “CHEWY”
Adapted from Alton Brown and RecipeGirl

2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar (packed)
1 Tbs half and half cream (or milk)
1 Tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 cups chocolate chips (I used a combination of Guittard and Ghiradelli semisweet chips)

1. Sift together flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.

2. Melt butter in medium saucepan over low heat. Continue to cook on low heat, stirring often, until butter is browned. Turn off heat and stir in white and brown sugars.

3. Scrape into a medium mixing bowl and use electric mixer to cream the butter and sugars together. Add half & half, lemon juice, vanilla extract and eggs. Mix in until well combined. Add half of the flour mixture and incorporate into the batter with electric mixer. Add the rest and mix until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. The cookie dough will be very soft and buttery. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill until firm for an hour or two (I left my dough in the refrigerator overnight, and it was fine. Just let it sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes before scooping out dough).

4. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop up heaping Tablespoonfuls of cookie dough and use your hands to roll into balls. Place 12 balls on a sheet, keeping about an inch and a half between each ball.

5. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, depending on how large you’ve rolled your balls (mine took 11 minutes).

Yield: About 2 1/2 dozen

Copyright – Memoria James – http://www.mangiodasola.com

Chocolate Milk

I thought that my cravings for chocolate were waning, but I was pining chocolate milk for the longest time. After a depressing and disappointing weekend, I decided to work on a chocolate milk recipe I had found on Yahoo Answers.

The “by the glass” version is really good, even with skim milk. It looks like dirty water with the skim milk, but it tasted really good and satisfying. You could make it even healthier by adding Splenda or any other sugar substitute (or Equal, which my mother loves…a little too much)!

The dry mix version, however, left something to be desired, so I had to modify it. After looking over the two recipes, I realized what was wrong. The cocoa to sugar ratio was different than that of the “by the glass” version. Consequently, I increased the amount of sugar in the mix version and reduced the amount of non-fat dry milk because I think there’s too much in this recipe. As you can see in the photo below, most of the mix just collects at the top of the glass, so I decided to microwave the mixture with 1 ounce of liquid as is done in the “by the glass” version. Lastly, it tasted better with 7 oz of milk instead of water. I’m sure it would be even richer with whole milk.

Well, the changes worked! I think I’m satisfied with this version. I could have made chocolate milk with chocolate chips or bars, but I wanted a cheaper version that didn’t require melting chocolate. Enjoy!


Homemade Chocolate Milk

heavily adapted from Yahoo Answers

By the glass… (double or triple the recipe to your liking):
1 ounce water
1 1/2 teaspoons cocoa
2 tablespoons sugar (Splenda, Equal, or half sugar or half substitute)
dash of salt
11 ounces milk (skim, reduced, or whole)

Put sugar, cocoa, and water in microwavable 12 oz glass. Microwave for 30 seconds. Add cold milk and stir.

Dry mix (8 ounces per serving) you could easily half this recipe, especially if you’re using a sugar substitute:
1 c. cocoa
2 c. sugar (or 1 cup of Splenda, Equal, or half sugar and half substitute)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. non-fat dry milk

Combine ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Put mix in jar and store for handy use.
Use 2-3 tablespoons of mix with 1 ounce of cold water. Microwave for 30 seconds or until sugar and cocoa dissolve. Add 7 ounces of cold water or milk (I prefer to use milk) and stir. For hot chocolate, add 8 ounces of hot milk to the mixture.

Copyright – Memoria James – http://www.mangiodasola.com

Peanut Butter Brownies (or Fudge?)

Peanut Butter Brownies

Peanut Butter Brownies

Peanut Butter Brownies: I’m tired of chocolate…to the point that I don’t like the stuff very much anymore. It’s weird. I guess as I get older, my love for chocolate wanes. Oh well, I thought I had had a hankering for chocolate and peanut butter once I saw the tempting photos and recipe about three days ago, and once I tasted the soft, gooey, chocolaty concoction, I surprisingly did not get overly excited. I’m certain that it’s not the recipe’s or ingredients’ fault; I blame it all on my taste buds. For instance, almost all the Daring Bakers loved the Chocolate-Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milano Cookies from last month’s challenge, and I didn’t. So, I know it’s just me.

Peanut Butter BrowniesDespite my negative and unusual reaction, I do suggest you make these if you still love chocolate, especially when paired with peanut butter. My brownies were more like fudge than a brownie. I highly suggest you drink cold milk (add a bit of ice to make it colder) or homemade vanilla ice cream.

Peanut Butter BrowniesAs always, I halved the recipe, and I still have some more left in the refrigerator, and I made these a couple of days ago! Because I halved it, there was very little brownie batter. So little that I placed the batter in a bread pan, and it was still very thin. As you can see in the photo, the brownie layer doesn’t look very thin once cooked, though. The peanut butter filling and second chocolate layer make the brownies/fudge thicker. If you’re a chocolate/peanut butter lover, I am certain that you will enjoy these. They tasted like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in fudge/brownie form. This similarity in taste could also be because I used Reese’s Creamy Peanut Butter!

*UPDATE* Like peanut butter and chocolate? Check out another version of Peanut Butter Brownies or these Chocolate Peanut Butter Tartlets!

Peanut Butter BrowniesPeanut Butter Brownies (full recipe below)

adapted from Blog Chef

 

Ingredients:
Brownie layer-
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
½ ounce semisweet chocolate (I used Guittard Extra Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips)
½ cup (1 stick) butter
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup AP flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Frosting-
1 ½ cups powdered (icing) sugar
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup butter (softened)
2-3 tablespoons heavy/whipping cream

Chocolate Glaze-
1 ounce semisweet baking chocolate (I used the same chocolate chips mentioned above)
1 tablespoon butter (or margarine)

Instructions:
  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small sauce pan melt semisweet and unsweetened chocolates and butter over low heat. Cook until mixture is smooth. Set aside and allow the mixture to slightly cool.
  • In a medium bowl beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy and pale colored. Mix in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Add flour, salt and melted chocolate mixture. Stir to mix well.
  • Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13” baking dish (Use 8×8″, if you want thicker brownies). Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes (do not overbake). You will want to bake into a toothpick comes out almost clean (the toothpick should come out with some crumbs on it). Remove from the oven, and allow the brownies to cool.
  • While cooling, make the frosting: In a mixing bowl, add peanut butter and butter, and beat until combined and smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar (1/2 cup at a time). The mixture will become crumbly. Blend in cream until the mixture is fluffy and has reached your desired spreading consistency. Evenly spread and chill until firm.
  • To make the glaze: melt semisweet baking chocolate and butter in a sauce pan until smooth (I microwaved the two ingredients in a bowl for 30 seconds, stirred, and then microwaved the mixture 30 seconds more. Stir again until creamy). Drizzle (or spread) over the brownies. Allow the brownies to chill for awhile before cutting.
Copyright – Memoria James – http://www.mangioeviaggiodasola.com

Cherry Frozen Yogurt with Chocolate Stracciatella

I had a bag of cherries. I needed to use them. I pitted them with a pastry tip, and there was no mess because I pitted them in a deep bowl. However, my thumb was very sore. Anyway, I found the recipe for this yogurt off of Mike’s Table. The cherry flavor was as intense as it looks in the photo. In fact, the cherries in my yogurt look a lot darker than they do in Mike’s. The chocolate bits toned down the intense, cherry flavor, but I still could eat only a little bit at a time. Hence the reason I still have a lot left sitting in the freezer.
I was surprised about how well the chocolate and cherry complemented each other. If you really love cherry, you should try out this recipe. I am entering this recipe in for the Ice Cream Social Challenge hosted by Scotty Snacks, Savor the Thyme, and Tangled Noodle.

Cherry Frozen Yogurt with Chocolate Stracciatella
adapted from Mike’s Table who adapted it from Perfect Scoop and Amateur Gourmet
  • 3 cups cherries
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup greek yogurt
  • 1 Tbsp cognac (OPTIONAL since I don’t drink alcohol, I subbed honey for consistency)
  • few drops of almond extract
  • Optional: 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate

With all of your cherries pitted, toss them with the sugar in the saucepan, and crank up the heat to medium-high. Stir this periodically, and the cherries will begin to soften and surrender their juices while the sugar will dissolve and form a delicious syrup. After about 10 minutes or so, the cherries ought to be fairly tender and you should have a good bit of juice. Remove from heat once you do.

Now, while the cherries are hot, transfer this to the food processor or blender. If you want cherry chunks in your final frozen yogurt, don’t purée just yet, but maybe give a quick few pulses. If you’d rather have the cherry completely mixed in to your final frozen yogurt, purée this mixture well.

Let the mixture cool to room temperature before you go any further. To speed things along, you can set the mixture in a bowl over an ice bath for about 20 minutes. Once the cherry mixture is sufficiently cool, add the yogurt, cognac (optional), and almond extract and stir everything together or put in the blender/food processor until well mixed.

Set this aside in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap (press it right against the surface), and let this rest in the fridge for about 2 hours so it can cool down.

Once time is up, churn this in your ice cream maker according to the directions that came with your machine.

If you choose to add the stracciatella, about 2 minutes before the churning is done, melt your chocolate in a bowl in the microwave (30 seconds, stir, another 30 seconds, stir, and repeat if necessary until totally and nicely melted down). Once the chocolate is in liquid form, pour a very thin stream into the churning ice cream maker, doing your best to avoid the dasher (but let’s be realistic…). The thin stream of chocolate will resolidify into little chunks on contact with the cold yogurt and it will be quite nicely dispersed throughout the frozen yogurt. Transfer this to an air tight container and let it rest in the freezer over night.

Copyright – Memoria James – http://www.mangiodasola.com

Daring Bakers: Chocolate-Covered Marshmallow Cookies & Milano Cookies

The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

Finally. I have finally completed a true baker challenge with this one. 🙂 I even made both cookies, even though we could just make one of them. Let’s first talk about the Marshmallow Cookies.

MARSHMALLOW COOKIES:

The base to these cookies was very easy to put together. I made the dough, which was shaped into a disk, two days ahead of time with the intention of doing the rest of the cookie the next day. Well, that didn’t happen because…well…the marshmallows happened haha.

MARSHMALLOWS:

I talked about the marshmallows on a previous post already, but I guess I can go into more detail here. The first time I tried to make them, I didn’t read the instructions carefully and stirred the egg white (I halved the recipe) into the somewhat-cooled caramel. There were strings of caramel everywhere – on my hands, bowl, spoon, pot, etc. It was crazy. After I cleaned off every thing, I tried again. The second time around, I followed the procedures found on the recipe posted on Smitten Kitchen, since it looked easier. Well, everything looked better until I noticed that the softened gelatin had clumped up at the bottom of the mixer bowl. I tried to pour out what I could and went on with the recipe in hopes that everything would work out. The so-called marshmallows came out looking yellowish and weird, so I had to throw them away.

It was getting dark, and I was tired, so I gave up and put everything away. I couldn’t sleep well that night because I couldn’t stand the fact that I hadn’t been able to master what seemed to be a feasible recipe! I had made caramel sauce, soufflés, authentic mole poblano, puff pastry, danish, apfelstrudel, yeast breads, etc. in the past, why couldn’t I make marshmallows? I dreamt about making marshmallows. I could see the beautiful, pristine photos on Deb’s website in my head.

As soon as I woke up the next day, I walked directly to the kitchen, pulled out all of the ingredients by memory, and followed the recipe on Smitten Kitchen instead of that of Daring Bakers. I figured that since they had given us permission to use store-bought marshmallows, I could follow another recipe. That is better than taking the shortcut!

On my third attempt, I stirred the softened gelatin as I poured in the syrup instead of beating it with the whisk attachment on the mixer. After I stirred the gelatin and syrup, I started to swell with excitement because I could tell I was on the right track. Once I mixed the gelatin with the syrup, I turned on the mixer with the whisk attachment and watched the mixture turn into a white, smooth, yet stringy marshmallow fluff!! YIPPEE!! I then added the egg whites and vanilla and poured the fluff into the powdered-sugar-lined pan. They came out perfectly and were so soft. I’m still not crazy about marshmallows, though. LOL

We were supposed to put the marshmallow fluff in a pastry bag and pipe it out onto the cookie base, but I decided to just make them full-out marshmallows and threw them in the oven for a few minutes at a low temperature while atop the cookie base so that the marshmallows could melt a bit and adhere to the cookie. I then allowed them to cool before dipping them in the glaze.

The chocolate glaze for the cookies was no problem. I ran out of the Guittard semi-sweet chocolate chips, so to the rest of the cookies I used some unsweetened, dark chocolate and added sugar to the mix, which made the texture look grainy. So, about half of them had semi-sweet chocolate and the other half, dark chocolate. I didn’t try the latter because I don’t like dark chocolate.

MILANO COOKIES:

These cookies were easy to make. I only had problems with shaping the cookies. As you can see, each one is a different size and shape haha. I was going to use my pastry bag, as the recipe instructed us to do, but I didn’t want to dirty one up, and I thought I could get away with using a Ziploc bag. Um, yeah, well, that didn’t work out right. Once I started squeezing out the dough, the bag busted open and all the dough (or goop) fell out onto the silpat/silicon mat. I scraped up everything and put it back in my mixer bowl. Then, I just spooned in 1 x 2-4 inches of dough on the mat. I had a feeling it would spread greatly since we were supposed to make 1-inch portions. Well, they did spread and were misshapen, so in order to make the sandwich cookies more uniformed, I cut the edges with scissors. That worked out perfectly. The chocolate filling came out fine, too. I just don’t like the taste of dark chocolate.

MY CONSENSUS ON BOTH TYPES OF COOKIES:

I didn’t like either of the cookies. I’m very tired of marshmallows. I’m very tired of chocolate (GASP!). I’m very tired of cookies (GASP AGAIN!). They are everywhere in my kitchen. Since I live alone, I halved the recipe, but the recipes still yielded quite a bit. I’m going to give all the cookies to what I lovingly call my “garbage disposal” (aka my neighbor/college). Whatever he doesn’t eat, he told me he would “donate” to our colleagues, and put them in the kitchen in our office.

REFLECTIONS ON THE CHALLENGE:

Even though I didn’t like the cookies, I am so so so happy that I participated in this challenge because I learned so much. I was able to make things I had never made before, which is the point of Daring Bakers. I am so proud of myself for making marshmallows. I’ll never forget it haha. I also enjoyed enrobing the cookies in chocolate.

Thanks, Nicole at Sweet Tooth! Don’t forget to see what the other Daring Bakers have done with this challenge. I’m 100% certain that their entries will be much more creative than mine were haha.

Copyright – Memoria James – http://www.mangiodasola.com

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Need I say more?

Awww, do I have to?

Well, Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream is my favorite flavor of ice cream. I like the fact that chocolate is not the star of the show; it is the supporting actor. The star, or the mint flavor, pairs well with the coldness of the ice cream. It fills your mouth with the refreshing, cold taste of mint. I wish I could make this again (I made this over a month ago!), but I need to wean myself off of ice cream now…If I only I had the metabolism of a young, skinny boy. *sigh*

For this ice cream, I just made vanilla ice cream based on this recipe, then I added mint extract and chocolate chips. Next time, I would like to make Mint Chip ice cream with mint leaves as found on Serious Eats. I am entering this recipe in for the Ice Cream Social Challenge hosted by Scotty Snacks, Savor the Thyme, and Tangled Noodle.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

1 cup (250ml) whole milk (substitute half-n-half or heavy cream for a richer, softer ice cream)

A pinch of salt

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

2 cups (500ml) heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (to taste)

1 – 2 teaspoons mint extract

1 cup chocolate chips (or 6 ounces of chocolate chunks)

1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan just to the scalding (not boiling) point. Remove from heat.

2. To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2l) bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl. (OR place the entire custard base (i.e., after steps 3 and 4) in the refrigerator when you’re done. I save extra bowls and ice this way. You also don’t have to rewarm the milk.)

3. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Rewarm the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

4. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula (I use a wooden spoon), until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula (about 5-7 minutes).

5. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool (if desired), add the vanilla and mint extracts (to taste), then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight.Itálico

6. Freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. About 2-5 minutes before the churning stops, add in the chocolate chips or chunks.

¡OJO!: Make sure you place the ice cream container in the freezer a day before you make this or the same day, if you plan to leave the custard in the refrigerator overnight.

Copyright – Memoria James – http://www.mangiodasola.com

Chocolate S’Mores Ice Cream

I’m not as crazy about S’mores as many other people, but one day I had a rare craving for the stuff. I bought the marshmallows, graham crackers, and Hershey’s chocolate with great hesitation. I originally wanted to make my own marshmallows and graham crackers, but I didn’t feel like putting in that much effort for something I’m not super crazy about eating…well, until a few days ago.

So after I consumed two or three s’mores, my craving was satiated, but I still had an almost full bag of marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate. In order to use up some of the stuff, I made some s’mores cookies that were insanely good (never got a chance to take photos of them, but you can click here or here to see them). Since I halved the cookie recipe, I was still left with a lot of s’more ingredients.

So, the other day, I had to make homemade marshmallows for an upcoming event, and all I could think was, “oh great, more marshmallows!” After three trials of making those marshmallows, I was left with three or four egg yolks. As I looked at the egg yolks, all I could think about was making ice cream with them.

Bokeh even makes a discarded letter, empty Coke box, vacuum cleaner, and foot massager look good! LOL!

Even though I’m no longer that crazy about chocolate, I was craving chocolate ice cream for some reason. After I made the custard base for the ice cream, I started thinking about what I could add in it. Then I looked over at the marshmallows and graham crackers and thought “S’mores ice cream!” I looked online for S’mores Ice cream recipes and found only one recipe that was unsatisfactory (i.e., no egg base and faulty instructions). So, I thought I’d just improvise and make my “own” concoction.

Ideally, I would have made a vanilla-based ice cream with chunks of Hershey’s chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers added in during the final minutes of churning in the ice cream maker (Someone should try this out, and tell me about it! *wink wink*). However, since I had already made chocolate ice cream, I decided to add in crushed graham crackers and marshmallows. You could also add in chocolate chunks, but for me, that would be too much.

Surprisingly (or not surprisingly), the ice cream tasted great. Thanks to David L.’s chocolate ice cream recipe and the custard base, the ice cream was really creamy and smooth. I think it would also be a good idea to toast the marshmallows, allow them to cool and then add them to the ice cream so that they taste more closely to s’mores. If you decide to make this or the variation mentioned above with the vanilla base, or if you’ve already made it, please tell me about it!

July is National Ice Cream month, so I’m sending this to the Ice Cream Social Challenge, put together by Savor The Thyme. Tangled Noodle, Scotty Snacks & to Ben’s Homemade# 5: Ice Cream.

Chocolate Ice Cream
from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup whole milk

¾ cup sugar

Pinch of salt

5 large egg yolks

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk unto the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions (If the cold mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin out).

Makes a little more than 1 quart.

Copyright – Memoria James – http://www.mangiodasola.com

Double Chocolate Ice Cream

Double Chocolate Ice Cream

Double Chocolate Ice Cream

Double Chocolate Ice Cream *UPDATE* Check out my Double Chocolate Toffee Ice Cream!

After an unsatisfactory attempt of making the Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream I mentioned before, I decided to make something I knew would taste good. I don’t know if I did something wrong, but the texture and taste of the cheesecake ice cream were way off.

I have been trying to avoid custard-based ice creams because I don’t like using only one part of an egg. I have way too many egg whites in the freezer already. However, I was really pining for a creamy ice cream and succumbed to the idea of making an ice cream with egg yolks. I knew I wanted chocolate, so I looked in my bookmarked recipes for chocolate ice cream recipes with the least amount of egg yolks.

Fortunately, I found one that required four instead of 5 to 8(!) egg yolks. In the future, I’m going to try to make the same ice cream with 2 egg yolks to see if they come out okay. Also, I want to try making a chocolate sorbet, which doesn’t require any egg yolks at all. I hope the consistency of the ice cream will be more than satisfactory.

Back to the ice cream I made… I didn’t have any blocks of chocolate, so I used a combination of Guittard‘s semi-sweet chocolate chips and Nestlé chocolate/peanut butter chips. I didn’t taste any of the peanut butter, but the ice cream was FANTASTIC. I could barely sleep last night because I couldn’t wait to have more the next day. With my ongoing insomnia, I had to force myself away from that freezer all night and early morning :). Make sure you have other people around when this ice cream is ready, or you’ll be tempted to eat too much of it in one sitting!

Double Chocolate Ice CreamJuly is National Ice Cream month, so I’m sending this to the Ice Cream Social Challenge, put together by Savor The Thyme. Tangled Noodle, Scotty Snacks & to Ben’s Homemade# 5: Ice Cream.

I’m also submitting this ice cream recipe to What’s Cooking Summer Recipe #4 – Ice Cream forum!

Don’t forget to check out a plethora of other ice cream flavors such as vanilla bean, vanilla bean with brown sugar, espresso, milk chocolate, Mexican chocolate, gelato al limone, chocolate chip cookie dough, coffee, double chocolate toffee, mint chocolate chip (w/extract), and Mint Oreo Ice Cream!

Double-Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole milk (I didn’t have whole milk, so I used a combo of skim and half-n-half)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s)
pinch of salt
6 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used semi-sweet chocolate chips)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Optional:
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I didn’t add these since I had used them in the base)

Method:
1. In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, combine the milk and 1 cup of the cream. Cook over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges of the pan, about 5-7 minutes (I waited until there was a film on top of the milk).

2. Meanwhile, combine the egg yolks, sugar, cocoa, salt and remaining 1/2 cup of cream in a bowl. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and the sugar begins to dissolve (It never reached the smooth stage for me. Just wait until it is well-mixed).

3. Remove the milk mixture from the heat. Gradually whisk about 1/2 cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, until smooth. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and keeping the custard at a low simmer, until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it, 4-6 minutes (My custard seemed to be the right consistency as soon as I put everything in the pot! I still continued to heat it for 4-5 minutes). Do not let the custard boil. Put the 6 ounces of chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips) in a heat proof bowl and pour the hot custard over it (I suggest putting only half of the mixture over the chips, wait a minute or two, then stir the chocolate. After the chocolate has melted, add the rest of the custard). Stir until the chocolate melts and the custard is smooth. Strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl (if you like little chunks of chocolate in your ice cream, I would skip this step, unless you think there are a few curdled egg bits in your custard). Add vanilla and stir to combine.

4. Place the bowl into a larger bowl partially filled with ice cubes and water. Stir occasionally until cool. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours.

5. Pour the custard into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Stir in optional mini chocolate chips. Transfer the ice cream to freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days before serving.

Double Chocolate Ice Cream

Copyright – Memoria James – http://www.mangioeviaggiodasola.com

El cinco de mayo: ¡Conchitas!

Ya que mañana es el cinco de mayo y enseño español, decidí hacer pan dulce en la forma de conchitas para mis estudiantes (¡y trufas de chocolate!). Seguí una receta buenísima de Toxo Bread. Ella no solamente dio la receta sino también incluyó fotos muy buenas y detalladas de todo el proceso.

Confesión: Nunca me ha gustado el pan dulce mucho, aún con café (lo cual ya no tomo). Me gustó mucho el pan dulce que hice pero prefiero las cosas dulces que son más…dulces jaja…como galletas con chispas de chocolate o pastel de chocolate con mucho glaseado UMMM.

No obstante estas conchitas son mejores que las que he probado en las panaderías. Las de las panaderías suelen ser secas y/o migajosas. Éstas tienen una textura perfecta. Si a ustedes les gusta el pan dulce, ¡les recomiendo que hagan este pan dulce inmediatamente!
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Since tomorrow is the 5th of May (cinco de mayo), and I teach Spanish, I decided to make pan dulce (sweet bread) in the form of conchitas (little shells) for my students (and chocolate truffles!). I followed a great recipe I found on Toxo Bread. She not only provided the recipe but also included very good and detailed photos of the entire process.

Confession: I have never liked pan dulce very much, even with coffee (which I dont drink anymore). I really liked the pan dulce I made, but I prefer sweets that are more…sweet haha…like chocolate chip cookies or chocolate cake with a lot of icing UMM.

Nevertheless, these conchitas are better than the ones I have had in the bakeries. The ones in the bakeries tend to be dry and/or crumbly. These, however, have a perfect texture. If you like pan dulce, I recomend you make these immediately!

Copyright – Memoria James – http://www.mangiodasola.com