Shortbread Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

What else can you make with the delicious vanilla ice cream I showed you yesterday?  These Ice Cream Sandwiches!

When I first made the vanilla ice cream (you can see it here!) I immediately thought of making ice cream sandwiches with it.  The ice cream is just so amazingly creamy and smooth, I knew it would go perfectly in between 2 chewy and crumbly cookies.  

With the ice cream being so flavorful I had to pick the perfect type of cookie.  No ordinary cookie would work.  I debated chocolate chip, oatmeal, snickerdoodle, and more – but none of these felt right.  Then I remembered a shortbread cookie that I discovered about 3 years ago.  I remember it being super soft and chewy which is exactly what I wanted.  I dug through my recipes and found it at the very back.  And wow… they’re even better than I remembered! 

These shortbread cookies are very soft in texture.  And then at first bite they crumble and melt in your mouth.  They taste like butter and vanilla!  Now what’s better than that?!

What makes these cookies even tastier is sticking vanilla ice cream in between them.  When these 2 components are combined they shine and work perfectly together!

Enjoy the last post from this fun and joyous ice cream month :)!

 

Vanilla Ice Cream

I’m going to make this post short and sweet. 

Here is vanilla ice cream.  Not just any vanilla ice cream.  The vanilla ice cream.  The best vanilla ice cream I have ever had.  And I have A LOT of vanilla ice cream. 

Let me tell you why this is the best vanilla ice cream I’ve had….

It’s creamy.

It’s smooth.

It’s soft.

It’s sweet, but not too sweet.

It’s rich…. But in a good way.  Not the way where you can only have one bite. 

It’s vanilla-y.

Everyone needs a great vanilla ice cream recipe, and this just became mine!  And I hope it becomes yours too :).

This ice cream is perfect on it’s own, but it also great when combined with other tasty treats.  Pour some hot fudge and/or caramel on top and you set.  You can also …. tune in tomorrow to see another delicious treat to use this ice cream with :).  

 

Frozen Peanut Butter Pie with Easy Peanut Butter Ice Cream

You are lucky today!  You want to know why… You get 2 desserts in 1 post! 

Now come on, what’s better than 2 for 1?!  And if you’re a peanut butter lover, your even more lucky!

For today's post I am following along my ice cream theme, but I am also showing you something a little different.  The ice cream I have to show you is this easy peanut butter ice cream.  And when I say easy, I really mean it.  I know that sometimes when you hear the words easy out of my mouth (or read it on the screen), you think, “Come on, she say’s everything is easy.”  But this really is!  I promise! 

It has 4 simple ingredients – almond milk, brown sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla – that you mix together and then freeze in your ice cream maker.  That’s it!  No separating the egg yolks.  No cooking the milk.  No chilling the liquid.  Just mix and go.  Oh and if you don't have almond milk, or don't like the taste, you can always use normal milk.

This quick and tasty ice cream is served along side a delicious Frozen Peanut Butter Pie.  This pie is composed of 2 parts – a vanilla oreo crust and a peanut butter filling.  These components come together to create a peanut butter lover’s dream!  This pie is also quick to put together (other than having to wait for it to freeze).  It might not be the fanciest pie out there with the most extravagant ingredients, but it’s these types of desserts that people love.  It’s the easy desserts that people keep asking for.  This pie is another great example of how simple ingredients can turn into something wonderful.  

This peanut butter pie is so incredibly good!  The filling is silky, smooth, and creamy.  And it bursts with peanut butter flavor.  Then the vanilla oreo crust adds the right amount of crunch.  The crust has a crumbly texture that goes great with the smooth filling.  And the vanilla and buttery flavor makes the pie perfectly complete! Mmmm…  Serve the pie with this light and refreshing peanut butter ice cream and you’ve got a great dessert!

[This dessert came as a special request from my sister.  She asked for something peanut butter to make her boyfriend.  I'm think I did a pretty good job :).

Happy early Birthday Mike!  Enjoy the Peanut Butter goodness!]

 

 

Caramel Sauce

I have no fear in the kitchen.  There really is nothing that I won't try.  Soufflés, Puff Pastry, Cream Puffs, French Macarons - I have tried them all with no fear.  I don't always get it right the first time (or a few times after that), but at least I tried.   And if at first I don't succeed I try and try again until I get it.  This is how I finally mastered French Macarons.  I was determined to get them right.  I tried so many different recipes and none of them worked (at least for me).  But finally with much determination and the right recipe, I got it right and they turned out perfectly!  I have this drive in me that won't stop until it's right.  This characteristic could be annoying to some, but I love it as it shows that if I try hard and have enough determination, I can get anything done.

However, sometimes if I do try a recipe and it doesn't work out the first time I set it aside for a while and come back to it when I feel ready.  This was how I felt with caramel sauce.  About one year ago I made caramel - well at least I tried to make caramel.  It did not turn out the way I hoped.  The caramel stuck to the pan and completely hardened before I could do anything with it.  Instead of trying to make it again and again until I got it right, I tucked the recipe away and decided to come back to it at a later time. Well it's been almost and year and I finally revisited caramel sauce.  

I researched for a recipe that I liked and felt confident with and then made the caramel.  Well you know what... It turned out perfect!  Exactly like I hoped and wished - silky, smooth, sticky, soft, and gooey.  And let me tell you, it was very easy and quick!  Caramel sauce has 3 simple ingredients - Sugar, Butter, and Heavy Cream.  The process of combining these ingredients is easy, however, you need to pay very close attention while making the caramel.  If you do these things you will have success:

1) Don't try to do something else at the same time. 

2) Have all your ingredients ready to go. 

3) Don't take your eyes off the pan that you’re making the caramel in.

4) Don't let the sugar burn.  This won't happen as long as you pay attention.

See the first time I made caramel I didn't pay close attention.  I left the sugar alone and didn't follow the directions exactly.  If you follow my directions in the recipe below and watch the caramel carefully, I have great confidence that you can master caramel sauce as well!

 

This caramel sauce is of course perfect to top ice cream with! 

More ice cream recipes coming your way :)!

 

 

Cookie No-Dough Ice Cream

It has been SO hot lately!!!  We have been living in New York for a couple months and the weather has been hot. It mostly stays around the 80s - sometimes going a little up and a little down.  But let me tell you - Summer has hit and it has hit hard! On Friday the temperature was 113 by our house!  Can you believe it?!  113!

All last week it was hot, probably somewhere around the 90s, but on Friday it hit a new level.  We get in our car (luckily we have a car in New York and don't have to walk everywhere in this horrible heat), and the temperature says 115.  We were shocked!  But we thought - it will go down, the car must have read a higher temperature.  And then after driving for more than 30 minutes it only went down to 113, and stayed there for a while!  Now we knew the temperature was accurate and couldn't believe it was that hot in New York.  Thank goodness we have air conditioning or I wouldn't be able to handle it!  Unfortunately Steve had to go to the Baseball field in that heat where they are outside most of the time.  He just had to bear the heat and sweat (a lot!). 

After Friday the temperature went down but it was still hot - around 100 degrees.  In comparison to Fridays heat it's not as hot, but anything in the 100s (or even high 90s) is hot!  And don't think it drastically cools down at night.  We came home on Friday after Steve's baseball game and it was 102 at 10pm - now that's crazy!  I can't wait for this heat wave to end and get back to normal weather (if you can say high 80/low 90 with a bunch of humidity is normal?).

With this heat wave happening it's perfect time for Ice Cream month to progress.  This week is the last week of this joyous month filled with Ice Cream.  All week I have yummy ice cream related treats to show you.  And to start off this week I have a delicious Cookie No-Dough Ice Cream to show you!  I'm sure when you read the title of this ice cream you were confused by the "No-Dough" part.  Well, you know the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream that has the balls of cookie dough in it?  This ice cream is a play off of that.  Instead of a vanilla ice cream with cookie dough balls all throughout, this is an ice cream that tastes like the cookie dough balls, with no actual cookie dough included.  Now doesn't that sound good?!

When I was looking for a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream, this recipe really caught my eye.  The reason being that I always just eat the cookie dough balls out of the ice cream and leave most of the vanilla ice cream.  So when I could have an ice cream taste like those cookie dough balls I knew I had to try it!  After tasting this recipe it was exactly what I was looking for - an Ice Cream with chocolate chunks all throughout that tastes like cookie dough. Yum! 

This recipe calls for dark brown sugar and unfortunately I only had light on hand. That is why the color is more white.  If I had used dark brown sugar it would be a darker brown and look more like cookie dough.  However, I don't think it would have changed the taste too much if I used dark - It probably would just highlight the cookie dough flavor more. Next time I make this I will use dark brown sugar and let you know how it goes.  No matter which way, I really liked the taste of this ice cream and am very happy with the way it turned out!   

Tune in all week for more Ice Cream related posts :)!

 

 

Roasted & Candied Pecans

My husband Steve has baseball games every night – Yes, every night!  So all of our nights are consumed with Baseball.  Games are from 7pm until about 10pm.  Then by the time we get home it’s at least 11pm, depending on where the game is at.  This makes for very late dinners.  We both normally eat smaller meals before the games and then I snack during the game (only because you all know that I love to snack!).  And because I get so hungry sitting there watching baseball.      

I bring all my own snacks to the game because there is only so much “baseball food” I can eat.  With this, I normally don’t buy food at the game unless I run out of snacks and am still hungry, or there is something I have to have.  There is one stadium that has one snack that I have to have.  The stadium is in Maryland and we have only had a couple of games there.  But every time I go to this stadium I must get this snack.  It’s the Roasted, Candied Pecans.  They are incredible!  And so addicting!  They give you a little pouch full and I swear I can eat the whole thing in 5 minutes.

When I had my first bite of these pecans I knew I wanted to make them at home.  I asked the lady who made them (her company is called “Nuts for You”) what ingredients were included – It’s only sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.  That’s it!  Simple ingredients that elevate the pecans into something unbelievably delicious.

When I made the pecans at home they tasted just like the ones from the stadium.  They were crunchy from the candied exterior, and bursting with flavor.  They did not just have one note of pure sugar – it was the vanilla that added another sweet taste, and then the cinnamon that packed another depth of flavor.

These are really easy to make.  Coat them with a little water and then toss in sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Then roast them at a low temperature of 250 degrees F in the oven for about 1 hour.  Then kick it up a notch to 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes at the end.  That’s all you do to create this simple and tasty snack!

 

New Look!

Hi Everyone! 

As you can tell I am changing some things around on the blog.  I am playing around with new layouts, logos, and much more!  For the next few days I will be updating the blog's look.  Please bear with me as these changes are being applied.

Krissy's Creations is turning it up a notch :)!

And for fun... Here is a cute picture of me and husband!