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Sugar, Sugar … Ah, Honey, Honey.

 

And…Homemade Ice Cream Cakes that won’t Break the Bank

Thursday, March 7th, 2013

Have you been to Baskin’ Robbins lately to pick-up an ICE CREAM CAKE?

These are two alternative homemade ice cream cakes we have made that won’t break the bank and they were great!  We made the NERDS & Funfetti Ice Cream Cake for my brother-in-law and he thought we bought it (was he just being nice, not sure). The Peanut Buster Parfait Ice Cream Cake was made by a friend and it was so tasty.

Nerds Funfetti Ice Cream Cake Recipe

- Buy a Funfetti Box Cake, pack of NERDS candy, White Icing, & Breyer’s Vanilla Ice Cream (to class it up)

  1. Prepare & Bake Funfetti Cake as directed on box in a removable side cake pan.
  2. Let the cake cool. Use knife around sides of cake pan edge. Remove cake pan side. Then cut cake into two pieces on the side (to create a top and bottom piece). Then place the bottom portion of the cake onto a plate.
  3. Next, let your Breyer’s Vanilla ice cream soften a bit.
  4. Spoon the ice cream onto the bottom piece of the cake (don’t let it hang over the edges).  Now place the top part of cake back on.
  5. Freeze the cake for a bit so it hardens (this makes it much easier to frost).
  6. Next, frost the cake on the top and sides.
  7. Sprinkle Nerds on top (and Skittles too if you have want to).
  8. Freeze again until you are ready to serve.

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Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe – A Birthday Family Favorite

Monday, July 30th, 2012

One of the best things about having a food blog is having the ability to be able to save all of our family recipes to a safe-locked place besides in an old book in the second bedroom.  Having said this, sometimes family favorites are favorites because of the nostalgic flood of memories that come along with each bite.  Of course, every family has their own set of a particular family faves. All of us having so much stuff these days means that the best thing you can pass down, in my opinion, are a couple of family keepsakes such as a book of family favorite recipes. My brother and I have a small book of handwritten family recipes and then we’ve added some of our new favorites over the years. We cherish our little family recipe books and use them all of the time.

This is a cake that my husband remembers being baked and served by his Granny in North Carolina.  It came from a Community Church cookbook where everyone shares their favorites, pretty great if you think about it.  Actually, I need to look back through that book and see what else I can find – hopefully it isn’t filled with jello salad recipes that were popular in the Midwest at least!  You know it, even jello salad can be a family favorite recipe – like I said, it can be all about the nostalgia.  Have you heard the word nostalgia stated enough in this post? It had just been too long, I had to get back to this bad word that flowed like butter from the mouths of my fellow grad students back in the day.

Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe

  • 1/4 lb. butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 8 oz. sour cream
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tsp. water
  • 2 cups flour, sifted
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda

Topping:

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 6 oz. package of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream together butter, sugar, and eggs. Add sour cream, vanilla and water. Sift flour, resift with baking powder and soda. Add to mixture.  Grease 9×13 inch pan. Spread half of batter in pan (can be a bit hard to spread, but it works). Then sprinkle half of the topping mixture over it.  Spread the remaining batter on top.  Now sprinkle the rest of the topping.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.

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“Valentine, Don’t Pout,” Have a Stout Brownie

Sunday, February 12th, 2012

If you are or your valentine is a chocolate lover, these Stout Brownies will knock your socks off (and your valentine’s)!

Who knew the secret to brilliant dark chocolate fudgey sauce was chocolate and butter?

John has made this recipe the last two weekends and both times people kept coming up to me at parties asking if I was the baker. Sadly, no I didn’t make them, John did.  Needless to say, these brownies will now permanently go into the, impress your friends recipe box.

If you get Bon Appetit, well, the recipe is in this months mag that has the fried chicken drum stick on the cover. This recipe does take a bit of time to make and you should definitely use the foil.

Chocolate-Stout Brownie Recipe

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Rum Cake Recipe for Christmas

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

This is a family holiday tradition food gift.  You can freeze the cake and serve it on Christmas but it is hard to resist for that long.  I baked the one in the photograph in a Bundt cake pan with no middle section out of it.  It baked at 325F for about 50 minutes instead of an hour.  It came out perfectly!  The versions below are some we’ve made in the past with regular Bundt cake pans.

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Labor Day’s Last Hurrah: Special S’mores Variations

Monday, September 5th, 2011

Graham Cracker

Roasted Marshmallow, must be burnt

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup OR White Chocolate & Strawberries OR

Hershey’s Chocolate Piece + Oreo + Another Hershey’s Chocolate Piece OR

Andes Mints OR Crunchy Peanut Butter & Banana + Toasted Coconut

Graham Cracker

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Chocolate Tantric Pie Recipe from Esalen & A Big Sur Themed Dinner Party Recipes

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

We did a Big Sur themed dinner and each recipe came from a different Big Sur restaurant cookbook.  The Chocolate Tantric Pie was our dessert recipe and it came from Esalen.  When I heard the pie name,  it made me chuckle because of the infamous couples tantra workshops at Esalen.  This is a very rich and tasty chocolate pie that is very easy to make.  You have to really love chocolate though. My biggest advice is to not put much of the candied ginger on top because a little can go a long way.

Our Big Sur Themed Dinner Recipes:

Chocolate Tantric Pie Recipe • Esalen

1 1/2 cup organic half-and-half or whipping cream
3 cups semisweet organic chocolate chips
1 cup chopped almonds
1 cup chopped candied ginger (I would only use 1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
1 package (9-inch size) pie crust

Over medium heat, bring half-and half or whipping cream to a simmer in a 1-quart saucepan, stirring to prevent scorching on the bottom. Whisk as you slowly pour the chocolate chips into the cream and continue to stir until the chocolate has melted.

Stir in half the almonds and half the ginger. Stir in cayenne if using.

Pour mixture into a pre-baked 9-inch pie shell. Sprinkle with remaining almonds and ginger on top (don’t use much ginger, maybe 1/8 cup). Cool until firm, slice, and serve.

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Carrot Cake ‘Cupcakes’ with Lime Mascarpone Icing – Thanks Jamie Oliver!

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

  • Get Creative: Garnish is just a sliver of carrot with parsley as the carrot top.

  • Make this recipe into cupcakes for Easter! That is what I am going to do along with a Create-your-Own Deviled Egg Bar for guests to make their own.

This is an impressive recipe because of the combination of the lime flavor and the moist carrot cake.  Either I dined with polite folks or they really liked this cake and wanted the recipe.  This sparked a conversation about cooks who don’t like to share their recipes.  I told them it was fine with me to share this carrot cake recipe because Jamie Oliver had shared it with me!

Jamie Oliver and Sunset Magazine are two that I trust for solid recipes that will succeed on the first try!

Carrot Cake with Lime Mascarpone Icing Recipe from Jamie Oliver

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Grilled Fruit Kabobs with Balsamic Glaze and Manchego Recipe

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

The balsamic glaze looks like chocolate syrup and the cheese is a bit disguised amongst the fruit and ice cream in this recipe.  The disguised ingredients make this dessert feel like a new discovery for the palette!

Grilled Fruit Kabobs with Balsamic Glaze and Manchego Recipe Click to continue »

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