SNOWMAN DESSERT

It has been a busy December and after looking through holiday cookbooks to decide what to make for this months blog, I stumbled upon a cute snowman dessert. Leave it to Martha Stewart. A snowman made out of vanilla ice cream, rolled in shredded coconut with a marshmallow top hat and 2 eyes made out of licorice. So cute and perfect for a winter holiday dessert. I examined the recipe and decided to go for it. How hard could it be? I have most of the ingredients at home. I'm all set.

 I decided to bring the supplies I needed to make this dessert to the library so I could put it together, show everyone the masterpiece and then taste test it. I guess our freezer here was not cold enough even though I tried to turn it up. To add to the frustration, my marzipan was as hard as a rock and would not mold whatsoever. Luckily my friend had an extra tangerine so I cut the peel and used that for the nose. I did not have Sen Sen candies and decided to use some black licorice and cut into small button like pieces. A bit tricky. Another challenge was that I only had a barbecue lighter to roast my marshmallows. Consequently, putting together Mr. Snowman was quite the feat!  Maybe that is why my snowman didn't quite look like Martha's. Ok, I admit it. It wasn't even close. I was defeated. So much for the masterpiece. I tried my best but  I think if I had the perfect conditions and practiced a few times that I would eventually make one that could possibly resemble Frosty's half brother?

There is a youtube video of Martha making these on her show with 2 celebrity guests; Susan Lucci and Susan's daughter Liza Huber. Both Susan and Liza mentioned that they had a difficult time putting their snowman together. Martha makes it look so easy. I'm guessing that she has a team of people helping her, all the needed supplies,a freezer that will keep the ice cream coconut balls from melting and perfectly roasted marshmallows. I hope you have better luck than me. I suggest using this dessert as a centerpiece. Making one for each guest would be so time consuming and would take up too much space in your freezer! Just keep in mind that if you want only one snowman to divide this recipe by four. Good Luck!

COCONUT SNOWMEN - makes 4 snowmen

You will need three ice cream scoops in varied sizes. Shoestring licorice cut into pieces that can also be used for the buttons, eyes and mouth.


2 1/2 pints best-quality vanilla ice cream
2 packages sweetened shredded coconut (7 oz each)
Orange food coloring
1 Tbs. marzipan
40 Sen Sen Licorice candies
4 marshmallows
4 chocolate wafers
Sifted confectioners sugar

Line a baking pan that fits in your freezer with parchment paper. Scoop vanilla ice cream, rounding scoops as much as possible until you have 4 of each size and place in prepared baking pan. Transfer to freezer to harden 15 minutes.

Spread coconut onto a plate. Remove ice cream from freezer and roll scoops in coconut. Return to pan, then return pan to freezer. Add food coloring to marzipan until carrot color. Shape marzipan into small carrot shapes using a paring knife to make ridges. Remove one small scoop of ice cream at a time from freezer and make faces using Sen Sen for eyes and mouth and marzipan carrots for nose. Return to freezer.

Remove middle-size scoops from freezer one at a time; place Sen Sen in row down front for the buttons. Remove remaining scoops from freezer and stack to create snowmen, pressing slightly to adhere. Return snowmen to freezer.

Make top hats by roasting marshmallows on skewers over a gas burner or on a baking sheet under the broiler until browned, rotating every few seconds. Place toasted marshmallows on chocolate wafers and dust with confectioners sugar. Place hat on snowmen just before serving.

THE MARTHA STEWART LIVING CHRISTMAS COOKBOOK

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ICE CREAM HOARDER

I have a confession to make. I'm obsessed with making ice cream. I think it all started when my oven broke and my baking came to a halt. It was summer and the ice cream maker had come off the shelf already but hadn't been used yet. I had added some new ice cream making books to our collection and I wanted to test them out. I also had some friends requesting that I make them peanut butter ice cream; one of my specialties and also one of my favorites. So, I started with the peanut butter, moved on to french vanilla and then never stopped! I tried coconut, heath bar, cookies and cream, banana chocolate chunk, blueberry, cherry chocolate chunk. I even made a rhubarb raspberry swirl with my leftover rhubarb from pie season. Seems like I have been making and hoarding ice cream for about two months now. Since then, my oven miraculously started working again. I'm really not sure why. I can get back to my baking now but at least I have an arsenal of ice cream flavors to get me through the winter.

All the ice cream flavors I made started out with a custard base. You can build a flavor by adding fruit, vanilla flavor or other flavorings, coconut, cookies or candy to the mixture.   First you have to whisk 6 egg yolks with sugar until it is light and fluffy. Yup...six egg yolks! I have even seen recipes for richer ice creams that call for 9 or even a dozen. Now with the price of eggs on the rise due to the Avian Flu, making home made ice cream is not easy on the pocketbook. But once you taste it, you will know why you can splurge on occasion. Or as for me...... quite often. Luckily, I have a friend that gives me fresh eggs from his farm. Using fresh eggs makes the ice cream extra scrumptious.

After heating the cream mixture, you temper the eggs by drizzling  in 1/2 the warm cream mixture and whisking. Then you return it to the original pot with cream and heat it until it gets a bit thicker and can coat the back of a wooden spoon. I pretty much have it memorized. That's what repetition can do to the brain! The following recipe will give you full details.

Vanilla Ice Cream

About 1 quart

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop 

For a richer custard, you can add up to 3 more egg yolks. For a less-rich custard, substitute half-and-half for the heavy cream, realizing that the final texture won’t be as rich or as smooth as if using cream.

• 1 cup (250ml) whole milk
• A pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup (150g) sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 2 cups (500ml) heavy cream
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.

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.

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, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

5. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight.

6. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Note: Used vanilla beans can be rinsed and dried, then stored in a bin of sugar. That sugar can be used for baking and, of course, for future ice cream making.

NOTE: I did not have a vanilla bean on hand and substituted pure vanilla extract - ( about a tablespoon.) I omit the vanilla flavor if I am adding fruit to the creamed mixture to make blueberry, raspberry, etc. 

I decided to order pint sized ice cream containers and labeled them with my flavor creation.

Here are the labels I bought. I think next time I will make personal labels on the computer and print them myself!

This recipe and others can be found in

 The Perfect Scoop 

by David Lebovitz

After you get the hang of it, you can experiment with flavors

like I do. My latest flavor inspiration came to me not only when I realized that summer is actually over and fall is in full swing but also when a friend gave me a bushel of organic apples. Apple Pie Ice Cream ! Maybe it will become a new fall favorite?

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PINEAPPLE CUPCAKES

There is a science to creating delicious food. One measure of a superior chef is to see if they can demonstrate their ability to combine and balance flavors.You might be familiar with some of the new game shows like Chopped, America's Top Chef and Iron Chef to name a few. Each show has a bit of a different twist but the challenge is for the chef to use mismatched and sometimes uncommon ingredients to test the chef's ability to work with and combine foods and spices to produce a wonderful end product. It takes skill, experience,confidence and creativity to build a mouthwatering masterpiece. I enjoy cooking but seldom have the extra time to experiment with unusual flavors. Typically, it is easier for me to rely on ingredients that are known to compliment each other. That's why for this month's post I decided to go with a flavor combination that is not only representative of summer but has proven to work well together: Pineapple and coconut.

Buttercream Dreams: small cakes, big scoops and sweet treats by Jeff Martin.

NAOMI'S PINEAPPLE CUPCAKES


CUPCAKES

2 1/2  cups all -purpose flour

1 1/2  teaspoons baking powder

1/2  teaspoon baking soda

3 large eggs

1 3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup sour cream

1 1/2  cups canned crushed pineapple, drained slightly

1. To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with paper liners.

2.  In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside

3.  In a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat the eggs and granulated sugar on medium speed until
     slightly thickened and a light cream color, about 2 minutes. On low speed, mix the oil and vanilla
     until blended.

4. Add the sour cream and pineapple and gently mix until fully incorporated. Add the flour mixture
    mix until just combined and smooth.

5. Fill each cupcake liner two-thirds full of batter. Bake for 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into     the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

6.  To make the coconut-cream cheese frosting, in a large bowl using a hand mixer beat the butter
      until smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat until well combined, about 30 seconds.

7.  Add the vanilla and coconut extract. Add the confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time and blend on
      low speed until combined. Raise the speed to medium and beat until the batter begins to get
      fluffy
   
8.  Slowly add the heavy cream and the rum (if using) Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.

9.  Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip and pipe a swirl of frosting on top of            each cupcake. Top with a few sprinkles of toasted coconut. Store in an airtight container in the            refrigerator for up to 3 days.


COCONUT-CREAM CHEESE FROSTING


1 stick unsalted butter

1 ( 8 oz package of cream cheese)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract

4 cups confectioner' sugar

1 Tablespoon heavy cream

1 Tablespoon dark rum (optional)

Toasted coconut for garnish


The icing is on the sweet side. If you don't care for super sweet icing you can 1/2 the recipe or add confectioners' sugar a little at a time and test for sweetness. In addition, you can omit the heavy cream and substitute it with pineapple juice.

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ONE LAST TASTE OF SUMMER

Autumn is creeping up on us. Where did the summer go? It always seems to fly by so fast. Summer to me, means a lot of things; sun, beach, a healthy tan, long days and warm nights and ICE CREAM!
I eat ice cream all year round because I love it so much, but once summer ends my ice cream maker goes on the shelf for a while. It is getting cooler out but not autumn weather by any means. Why does everyone rush the seasons?  Look around you....all of the Halloween decorations are out in the stores and everywhere you look, new flavors at coffee retailers or restaurants include an item on the menu with a pumpkin flavoring;  a flavor typical of fall. Summer is not over - officially. September 22nd will be the first day of autumn. So, savor every last bit of summer. Enjoy........ Don't rush it!

I decided to make some last batches of ice cream before I put away the ice cream maker and take out the crock pot. Coconut ice cream is the perfect summer flavor for one last hurrah! The first time I tried it, I was on vacation at a restaurant overlooking the Caribbean. I could picture the clear turquoise waters and feel the warm breeze and taste the fresh coconut.

Looking for that tropical coconut ice cream recipe, I decided to try the WILLIAMS SONOMA ICE CREAM book by Mary Goodbody. It has more than 40 recipes for ice cream, gelato and sorbet. You can start out with vanilla,  move on to chocolate hazelnut and if you get really daring, you can try the avocado, pumpkin or ginger ice cream.

This recipe calls for sweetened coconut you find in the baking aisle. You don't have to hack into a coconut and scrape out the white flesh. So much easier.



TOASTED COCONUT ICE CREAM:

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/4 cups sweetened shredded coconut
4 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar
3 Tbs cream of coconut
1 tsp vanilla extract  (or coconut extract)

* After trying this recipe I would substitute coconut extract for the vanilla. Needs a tad more coconut flavor!

In a heavy saucepan combine the milk, 1 cup of the cream and 3/4 cup of the coconut. Cook over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges of the pan...about 5 min. Set aside for 20 min and then strain through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing into the coconut. Return the milk mixture to the pan and place over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges of the pan, - about 5 min.

Meanwhile combine the egg yolks, sugar and remaining 1/2 cup cream in a bowl. Whisk until smooth. Gradually whisk about 1/2 cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture until smooth. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon at a low simmer, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Do not let the custard boil. Remove it from the heat and stir in the cream of coconut. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Stir in the vanilla.

Place the bowl in a larger bowl with ice cubes to cool custard mixture and then put plastic wrap over custard, pressing it directly on the surface. Refrigerate over night.  Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and when it looks like thick whipped cream, add 1/2 of the toasted coconut.Transfer to a freezer container and freeze for 3 hours or up to 3 days. When serving, garnish with the leftover toasted coconut.

How to toast Coconut: Set a small frying pan over medium heat and add 3/4 cup coconut. Stir occasionally until lightly browned - about 1-2 minutes and transfer to a plate to cool. I stored mine in a plastic freezer bag so its air tight.

ENJOY!

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