dark-white chocolate pb cups

My obsession with peanut butter and chocolate is a never ending struggle. One that always has me up at night thinking of what can I add to these two perfect ingredients to make them better or make a new candy-cookie-muffin-cake-what-have you. And then it hit me, why haven't I added white chocolate to the mix? Duh, right? I know a total 'duh' moment. In all the years of making chocolate peanut butter cups I've never made them with white chocolate. Oh I've added cayenne pepper, caramel, cereal, espresso, coconut, cinnamon (very good), and of course my favorite potato chips (I need to post those, they were disgustingly good, and I mean that in a good way).
To make these dark-white chocolate pb cups just follow the dark chocolate pb cups I made from before, and the only change is to add a layer of melted white chocolate on top of the chilled peanut butter. Then chill that layer, then add your final layer of dark chocolate, then chill again and you're done.

Here are some interesting winter photos from my side of the world.

Icy cold Atlantic, shot taken at the Sandwich Marina lobster docks. Isn't the ocean color gorgeous?

Lots of fishing rope waiting for the next boat.

rows and rows of empty dry docked boats--like a ghost town of sorts

wanna place an order?

just outside sandwich diving school. clearly this diver is in the wrong element.

homemade cheesy tater tots

Cheesy tater tots, now? Yeah yeah new year's resolutions, I got it--everyone is on a diet....blah blah blah. Homemade cheesy tater tots will make you cheat on your new diet. That's it. LOL Kidding. I'm a foodie, it's hard for me to diet, I try I do. I doubt I will ever give up my fatty fried foods and calorie dense sweet treats. Foodie for life--word! I just have to workout more and more, and then again some more.
These fabulous cheesy tater tots I made I got inspiration from Nick over at Macheesmo (love that name). I pretty much followed his recipe, but wondered why he hadn't added cheese to the potato batter. You know? So I added cheese and did a couple other things.
So if you are looking for the BEST superbowl appetizer, oh yeah this is it. Or if you really want to make something for your friends, family or sweetheart and watch them just melt with happiness, this is it! Yes, this will impress. There is no way you can eat just 5, I mean when I made these Christmas day, they were gone in 10 minutes. That friggin good. Deep fried, crispy, cheesy, gooey, salty goodness dipped in sauces baby! Can I get an amen? Food of love people, food of friggin love.



cheesy homemade tater tots
adapted from Macheesmo
print recipe

4 Russet potatoes, peeled & chopped I used 5 medium)
1 egg (beat well in a small dish)
1/2 Cup milk (I did NOT use this)
3 TB unsalted butter (I used 5 TB)
1 Cup all-purpose flour
(½ cup sharp cheddar cheese grated fine)
Salt & Pepper
2 Large bags, plain kettle cooked chips or a few cups of Panko crumbs. (I used all Panko crumbs)

Deep-fry thermometer

Making the tots. It should be no surprise that these guys start with potatoes.
The first step for these guys is to make mashed potatoes. Now I’m not sure how they make real tater tots. I know it’s closer to a hash brown product, but mashed potatoes are a lot easier to shape and also happen to be delicious. To start, just peel and slice your potatoes.
Boil them for 10-15 minutes in salted water until the potato pieces are fork tender. Then drain them and transfer them to a bowl.
Using a fork, mush up your potatoes and let them cool for a few minutes until they are room temperature or slightly warmer. (Beat egg, well, in a small dish before adding to mix). Then add your butter, flour, egg, and (cheese). Add a good pinch of salt and pepper. Filling mixed.
To make the crunchy exterior of the tot and also give it some shape, I decided to try out two different toppings: crunched up kettle chips and Panko breadcrumbs. Both worked pretty well actually.
You cannot shape these until they are coated with the Panko crumbs. Make them into the size of a teaspoon, yes that small. Just drop a few teaspoons of mashed potatoes in your bowl of crust. Roll them around until they are coated all the way around. Then you can easily pick up each tot and shape it easily in your hand. Just roll them like you would a cookie only not as much pressure. You can try making them into a cylinder shape like Nick did. Then transfer them to a baking sheet and until ready to deep fry.
Cooking the tots. Make sure your oil is at 350 degrees before you do any type of frying. This is crucial. Once the oil reaches 350 degrees then you can start frying; do not overcrowd pan though. Unless you have a large pot you really should do semi-small batches. (I fried about 10 per batch in my 8 quart pot with about 3-4 inches of oil). They should only need about 5-7 minutes per batch. Once you scoop them out of the oil, transfer them to a paper towel and salt them immediately (I did not salt them—they really did not need it). Feel free to add whatever seasoned spices you crave. Serve with sauces--any kind would work actually. Here are a couple that I used.

horsey-blue cheese dip
from vanillasugarblog.com

3 tb of horseradish sauce
2 tb of blue cheese dressing
2 tb of Hellmans mayo
2 tb of sour cream
1 -2 ts of superfine sugar
Dashes of paprika and freshly chopped chives

spicy ketchup

ketchup with a few dashes of spicy chili oil and whatever else you desire.

asian meatballs in garlic-black bean sauce w/ peanut fried rice

Happy new year! 2010 is going to be a good one, yes? Nod your head yes. Good! My new year is already off to a good start, I have no oven but that's ok because soon I will be in my own kitchen. One month to go. My current landlord wants to try and repair the 36-year old oven. Whatev.... What did everyone eat for new year's? Leftovers? Or did you try something new? I tried something new and very tasty. This latest creation comes from the help of a very good blogging friend. She's a california buddy, so that makes her super cool. She's keeping an eye on California for me until I move back there. And when we chatted on the phone it was like we were best friends: all giggly and non-stop talking. Esi over at Dishing up Delights made these asian meatballs that literally made me print them out, throw the recipe in my to-make pile and then forget about it (I hate when I do that). But then I saw her food porn photo again and just had to make them, asap. She makes a lot of good meatball recipes: Esi the meatball maker! These meatballs were so good. You must try them. If you love the taste of ginger, this is it. I took her recipe and of course kicked it up a few knotches by adding in a sauce and swapping out the noodles for peanut fried rice. Can I tell you the smell in the house while these were cooking was so warming, so tempting, so, well good. It lingered in the house for a couple days too. I had leftovers and to be honest I ate them cold. Yes, a cold asian meatball sandwich with shredded carrots, lettuce all wrapped up in warmed Naan bread. Oh yeah! So good! I think I got all the ingredients down for the recipe. I never really measure when I'm cooking. I always measure when I'm baking but never cooking. I sort of eyeball what needs to go in there. So, that's why you'll see a lot of "or so" when I type out recipes. Basically add in as much or as little as your cute little tastebuds like. OK? asian meatballs in garlic black bean sauce over peanut fried rice print recipe Meatballs: ¾ pound ground pork 1/4 cup grated white onion 1 egg 3 fresh garlic cloves, minced 2 ts fresh ginger, grated 1/4 ts salt 1/8 ts black pepper ½ ts red chili pepper flakes 2 ts soy sauce ½ cup (or so) panko flakes Chopped scallions or chives, for garnish Garlic-honey black bean sauce: 2 TB (or so) honey 4 TB (or so) black bean garlic sauce 4 – 5 TB (or so) of soy with ginger sauce (or ginger like sauce) Dash of pepper Peanut Fried Rice: 3-4 cups (or so) of cooked rice (any kind is good, I’ve even used pilaf) 1 ts canola oil (for pan, might need more) 1-2 TB chopped garlic ¼ cup (or so) of fresh, chopped carrots (chopped into strips) 4 green onions, chopped ¼ - ½ cup of chopped water chestnuts ¼ - ½ cup of chopped bamboo shoots A couple dashes of soy sauce ¼ cup of dry roasted peanuts Soy sauce to taste (a couple dashes) 3 TB of pad thai sauce (or a sweet & sour sauce) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine meatballs ingredients in a bowl, mix well and form 1 to 1-1/2 inch meatballs. In a large fry pan heat up some canola oil and fry the pork meatballs. Get them nice and brown on all sides then transfer to a preheated 400 degree oven and finish cooking off. About 15 minutes. recipe by dawn finicane. Drain off the oil from the large skillet, leave a bit of oil in there along with any bits from bottom of pan. In a bowl combine all the ingredients for the black bean sauce, mix well, then transfer to back to the reheated large skillet and stir. Get the sauce nice and bubbly then add back in the meatballs. Coat the meatballs well in the sauce. To make the fried peanut rice, just heat up a bit of canola oil in a large skillet or wok. Add in the garlic, then add in the rice, stir well, add in the carrots, the bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and peanuts. Mix this well. Then make a small well in the middle of the wok and add in the pad thai sauce, soy sauce, then incorporate into the rice. When all is mixed through, sprinkle on the chopped green onions, and combine. Serve immediately.

rum-soaked french toast w/ pecan butter

Did everyone survive the holiday madness? Any diasters? Everything settle out or down ok? New Year's is right around the corner. I love Christmas, but in all honesty I love New Year's more. I love the celebration of a brand spanking new year. It's like someone came into your home, cleaned everything spotless, organized everything to a perfect ideal system just for you and gave you fresh clean sheets on your brand new bed. I love that! The perfect motivation to start something anew. This new year I am moving into my own home. Finally my own home with my own kitchen. No more greasy, messy rentals with broken appliances that never get fixed, no more wasting, burning rather, your hard earned money on a rental. My current rental I've dubbed as 'the money pit'. Seriously, I've even named my home network/internet connection 'the money pit'. This is the place as many of you remember where the landlord took her time fixing the fridge, then finally realizing (after 2 months) that she should buy a new one. But she didn't take the old one out (it's a wall unit) so the new fridge was put in the living room. Nice! And on top of that the new fridge that she bought was actually a 2-year old floor model that was used on the showroom floor for potential customers to open and close repeatedly, kids to open and slam repeatedly, and who knows what else abuse. She wanted the floor model because....yes, it was cheap. And cheap it was. You should hear the noises that thing makes, it reminds me of the movie Alien. No lie. I have to keep it turned up to the highest setting just to keep it at a nice toasty 35 degrees. Yes, this was the same landlord that didn't want to get the brand new washer & dryer properly fixed. I could go on and on, but in a month I move. But the icing on the cake was the fact that last week the 37-year old oven died. Just two days before Christmas my oven dies. I knew this was coming, but was hoping it would happen the day I moved. None such luck! And get this, the landlord is still undecided on whether or not to put in an oven! Good luck getting it rented with a brand new washer & dryer that doesn't work, a barely working fridge sitting in the living room and now no oven. Crazy right?
I have one more month left in the money pit and with no oven I have to resort my baking & creating to the gas stove. Thank goodness that still works (I should knock on wood at this point right?). This can give me a good excuse to do more with my wok and to flambe more, no? I have to admit I did try a batch of cookies in my ez-bake err toaster oven--it wasn't that bad!

rum-soaked french toast w/ pecan butter

1 large loaf of day old, crusty bread, sliced thick
3 eggs
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup of half & half
1/4 cup dark rum
pinch of salt
couple pinches of cinnnnnaminnnaamon

pecan butter

1 stick of room temp butter
1/2 cup or less of toasted, chopped pecans
pinch of salt
couple dashes of vanilla sugar (if you have it)

Make the pecan butter first by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and mixing well. Put into a small dish, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. You want the flavors to have an hour or so to meld together.

To make the french toast combine all the liquid ingredients, plus the cinnamon and salt in a shallow dish. Whisk this egg batter very well. Slice the crusty bread into desired thickness and let a few slices soak in the rum batter until ready to use. I soaked mine about 5 minutes. Add a few pats of butter to a hot skillet and cook up the french toast. Easy peasy. Make sure to serve with the pecan butter.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas. May the New Year bring you good fortune and the best of health.

Thank you to each and everyone of you for being such great friends.

(the above photo of the dexter grist mill in sandwich , located in my little neighborhood where I live.)

pumpkin spice cookie bark

Are you one of the many who is, at the last minute, still wondering what the heck to bring to your family Christmas gathering/party? You know Christmas is like in three days right? Ut oh! You're making me nervous! But I think I can help you and make you come out absolutely fabulous. Not that you already don't look tres fab, you do, but you will look super fab if you show up with these super tasty treats--they will be the talk of the dessert table, trust me. Plus you will wow your friends and family--you will, totally. This will not take a long time to make either, it's super easy and crazy-good tasting, plus it looks all professional, you know like you worked really hard at it.

 
pumpkin spice cookie bark
print recipe 
All you need to do is take your favorite pumpkin-spice cookie mix, instead of making them into cookies, flatten the dough out (half inch thick is good) as a thin brownie in a jelly roll pan.
You might have to reduce the cooking time too as they are thinner and might not need as much time to bake.
Then as soon as they come out of the oven put on some chopped good quality dark chocolate, let it melt, then spread it around evenly with a rubber spatula (I used about 2-3 cups of chocolate--use as much or as little as you like). If you want to add toasted pecans like I did, this is the time to sprinkle them on before the chocolate hardens. Let it cool and harden. Then you can drizzle with a little melted white chocolate. And you're done! Easy right? (if you don't have a favorite pumpkin cookie mix here is one from allrecipes.com)
Note: I did add a bit "extra" of sea salt to the cookie batter. You know me and my sweet & salty fix. It makes all the difference. All I did was sprinkle some sea salt (fine, not course) over the cookie sheet BEFORE I put the pumpkin cookie batter on--just a light, light dusting of sea salt.). Please use high quality chocolate when making these, it really make all the difference in taste and texture; the higher the cacao the better.

molten chocolate cake w/ raspberry coulis and caramel

Chocolate souffle, chocolate molten cakes are like a happy drug to me--an addicting happy drug. When a good chocolate molten cake is paired perfectly with a fruit coulis, like raspberry, the end result is pure sweet heaven. The best molten cakes are made with the best chocolate, period--no other way around it. The chocolate paired with the raspberry coulis is just heavenly. I have yet to try a lemon coulis. I think a good lemon coulis would go so well with a vanilla-white chocolate molten cake. Doesn't that sound good? Anyone tried a lemon coulis? With this molten cake I added an extra layer of flavor: caramel. I was going to add some creme fraiche, but the snowstorm is keeping me inside, so I wasn't able to run to the store. But I added some freshly whipped cream, just as good in my book.
I got this recipe from the Top Chef Cookbook this was the recipe from Hung (Season 3 of Top Chef, Episode 14: the elimination challenge). Hands down excellent recipe. molten chocolate cakes w/ raspberry coulis by Hung Huynh of Top Chef print recipe raspberry coulis: 1 pint fresh raspberries 2 TB granulated sugar, or to taste 1 TB fresh lemon juice, or to taste molten chocolate cakes: 9 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped 2 sticks unsalted butter, plus more for ramekins 4 large eggs plus 4 large egg yolks (room temp) ½ cup granulated sugar 2 TB flour For the rasp coulis: Put all the ingredients in a food processor and puree. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pushing down on the solids. Discard the seeds. Taste and add more sugar or lemon juice if needed. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. For the molten cakes: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter 4- to 6- ounce ramekins. In the top of a double broiler, combine the chocolate and butter and place over barely simmering water. Stir until melted. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. In a large bowl beat the eggs and yolks until frothy. Add the sugar and continue beating until doubled in volume. Beat in the chocolate mixture, slowly temper to eggs if still hot, and then beat in the flour. Divide the batter among the ramekins. Bake until the sides are set but the center remains soft, 11 to 14 minutes. (Mine were done at the 11 minute mark). to serve: Run a small knife around the cakes to loosen, and turn the cake out onto plates. Spoon the raspberry coulis around the cakes and top with crème fraiche. Garnish with mint and/or fresh raspberries. If you want to serve caramel with it like I did here is the recipe for the caramel.

toffee-vanilla pinwheels

I love cookies, pastries, cakes, breads, etc... that have a bit of shape and art to them. When I saw the original cookie recipe of these on Alton Brown's Christmas-cookie-something-show I wanted to make them simply because of the twirl. Who cares what they tasted like I wanted that damn twirl! They do taste great though, added bonus. On Alton's show he made them as a peppermint version. Since I am not the person to go by the rules I did them my way. I'm not a big fan of candy peppermint, I love the taste of mint, but just hate the whole crunchy candy cane stuff. Candy canes are kind boring to me...I need something else happening/going on taste or texture wise with the candy cane to eat it. I love watching and learning from Alton Brown, but sometimes he can get a bit cheeky in his "Good Eats" show--too goofy, too silly you know? He is very smart and knowledgeable when it comes to deconstructing recipes and educating you on their backgrounds and simpleness of them--so why be cheeky? Half the time when I'm watching his show I rarely pay attention, my ADD gets the best of me when shiny kitchen utensils are in the forefront and background. I have to see what he has for kitchen tools, how he has his kitchen drawers lined up, what's in all the kitchen drawers, how many gadgets he has, and what's in his friggin' fridge! I also love seeing what kind of knives the chef's have on the show 'The Next Iron Chef', and what else is in their bags and foldups. I'm a firm believer that the perfect tools help make the perfect chef. Duh, right?





Back to these cookies, as I said above they were originally chocolate-peppermint pinwheels from Alton Brown. To make the toffee-vanilla pinwheels all I did was change it up with toffee and take out all peppermint, and change places with the two doughs. You could change it up with just about anything really: peanut butter sounds good; I would love to try a vanilla-strawberry version. So, if you do want to make these my way: just follow that recipe from Alton Brown, take out the peppermint extract, use 1/2 cup toffee bits instead of crushed candy cane, add the toffee bits to the vanilla dough not the chocolate dough, and put the chocolate layer on the inside instead of the outside. That's it! These make awesome Christmas gifts if they ever make it out of your kitchen.

chocolate-caramel tarts

Lately I've been giving you a lot of baked sweet nothings. That term sweet nothings can be taken so many ways can't it? I find it ironic that I am giving you food ideas on what to make to give as gifts for the holidays when I haven't even started. Yes, I haven't even started. Tell me I'm not alone (lie)? The only thing I can say that is halfway done are the Christmas cards-- half people, half. I still haven't a clue on what to make for holiday gifts for my friends and clients. Wouldn't it be awful if I gave them gifts and no food? Oh the horror! I think I would get a lot of sad, almost on the edge of tears, phone calls. Ha ha, I would never do that. I love to make foodie-gifts just simply for the mere pleasure of their facial expressions of pure happiness. That makes all the slaving in the kitchen soooo worth it you know?
Last year I made a version of poor man's toffee that was a huge hit. People are asking for it again, but I hate giving the same thing. I might just give these chocolate-caramel tarts. They are very easy, and I used a shortcut too. I bought the pre-made shell tarts from Whole Foods. I just didn't have the time to make the tarts by hand. I know, bad, but I am so strapped for time these days. If you don't want to buy the tarts you could easily make a cookie-crust that would be perfect--like crushed Oreo's?

So what foodie gifts are you giving this holiday season?

chocolate-caramel tarts

Take some pre-made mini chocolate or vanilla tarts, chill a bit in fridge. Take some melted caramel and fill tarts halfway, add in a roasted macadamia nut or two, chill in fridge until caramel is set. Then pour melted dark or milk chocolate to the top, let set. You could literally add in whatever you like: peanut butter, white chocolate, peanuts, almonds...endless possibilities.

print recipe

chocolate dipped pretzel shortbread

I am asked, often, about how I come up with my crazy-kicked up ideas. Well, I admit I watch a lot of food tv shows, either on the Food Network or on PBS. (btw, Emeril Green on Planet Green is pretty good too). When I watch these shows I see what they are doing and always, always, always want to do it differently than what they did. The only time this does not happen is this seasons' Top Chef: Las Vegas; I'm blown away by the huge amount of talent. Almost every single dish they've made I am sitting there saying 'holy moly how very clever'! You know? Season one was sooo good too.
I keep a notepad with me almost at all times: there is one in the car, one on my nightstand, and one at my desk. The others times I carry one with me because I do get a lot of ideas when I'm at the gym or walking about. I'd say I get most of my ideas at night just before bed, and in the middle of the night to as I'm trying to fall asleep my mind just races with ideas. My list of 'to-make' is long, oh so very long; I finally resorted to typing them into my computer years ago or else I would be like those old college professors with papers, stack of papers, and stick-it's all over the place. I'm sort of a neat freak so that wouldn't fly. I am up to over 30 typed pages of ideas, not to mention the stack of recipes I printed from other food bloggers. I am very guilty of making more sweets than meals. My first love is french cooking, and I haven't been good about keeping that end up lately it seems.

Just like every chef and cook alike I have a fairly large cookbook collection. A lot of inspiration comes from cookbooks. One of my favorite things to do is look through a newer cookbook, ear-mark something, then go research almost the same thing in an old cookbooks and try to fuse the two together. Collecting old cookbooks is an addictive behaviour of mine that I don't get to practice as much as I'd like. Here on cape cod there are a lot of old, rotting bookstores with ginormous piles of neglected books; it takes hours to find the cookbooks because nothing is labeled and most of the people who go there prefer literary novels and the like, so the cookbooks are like those rug warehouses where the best carpets are at the very bottom! Don't get me started on the old, mile-long bookstores in NYC. That is heaven!! What I love about the older cookbooks: those food stains/mug stains on the pages, the withering ear-marked pages, and of course the old book smell--Love that old book smell!

There are so many food-creations I make that never make it to the food blog or are sitting in the photo archives. But I shall change that as most of you said you have no problem seeing my recipe-fails. This pretzel shortbread inspiration came from an old food & wine magazine--orignally it was a pretzel crust with chocolate filling type pie. I wanted to see if I could make shortbread with it. Came out ok, but for whatever reason they go stale fast--lasting only a couple days after being baked & dipped. Will I make this again? Not so sure, this is one of my recipe-fail ones, but I might if I add in more sugar and a hint of vanilla to it next time around.



pretzel shortbread
inspired from food & wine
print recipe

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups coarsely crushed thin pretzels (I used 1 & ½ cups)
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
A small pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg

Chocolate dip:
About ½ cup of melted milk or dark chocolate (milk is way better)

In a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter with 3/4 cup of the pretzels and the confectioners’ sugar at low speed until creamy.
Beat in the flour, egg, and salt.
Add the remaining 1/2 cup of pretzels, being sure to leave some pretzel pieces intact.
Flatten the dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 30 minutes. I only flattened them to ½ - ¾ inch thick—you don’t want them too thin.
Preheat the oven to 350°.
Roll out the dough between the sheets of plastic wrap. Cut them into circles of strips, whatever shape you desire. Place onto parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake for about 10 minutes or until tops are almost light golden brown. These bake FAST! Once they turn a medium brown they are no good.
Let them cool a bit before dipping in melted chocolate. When you are ready to dip them make sure to let them set on parchment paper.
Note: these do not keep more than 2 days. They get stale fairly fast for whatever reason.

toffee-bacon scones

Yes you read right. There is toffee AND bacon in this scone. A scone with toffee and bacon, I mean hello? And you know what else? I put caramel chunks in there too. This is not your average boring stuffy, dry scone, this is kicked up to notches unknown. I've always wanted to do a scone or a cookie with toffee and bacon. I know those two are meant to be together--a match made in flavor-heaven. People these were so darn good. You could make them as holidays treats to give away to your special friends & family--this is something they would devour instantly. I mean seriously, are you feeling the love people?



toffee-bacon scones
print recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 TB baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
¾ ts salt
¾ ts ground cinnamon
6 ½ TB cold butter, grated with cheese grater (store in freezer till ready to use)
7 TB light brown sugar, packed
7-8 pieces of thick cut bacon, chopped into 1 inch-pieces and fully cooked/crispy
3 TB buttermilk
1 large egg
¼ cup chopped caramels (chopped as small as you can get them; I’ve seen caramels pellets in the store which I bet would be perfect too)
½ cup mini milk chocolate chips
½ cup toffee, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces (if using milk chocolate-covered toffee then omit above choco chips

Grate your butter with the large holes of a cheese grater. Then back into the freezer until you’re ready to use them. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. (I have a confection so I did 400 degrees). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cook bacon in a skillet till crispy. Do not remove from pan, just turn off the heat. We will need some of the bacons’ grease for flavor, so do not drain.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
In a separate bowl add in the caramels, chocolate and toffee, and mix.
In a medium bowl combine the buttermilk and egg. Beat well until nice and combined.
Get out your butter from the freezer, and add that to the flour mixture. Mix with fork or pastry cutter until you have bread-like crumbs.
Grab a slotted spoon and remove bacon bits from the skillet into the flour mixture—it’s ok to get a bit of that nice yummy bacon fat in there—this is good people! Just make sure your bacon is cooled down a bit before adding to flour mixture so it won’t melt butter.
Add in your mixture containing the chips, toffee & caramel, mix with spoon or spatula.
Then fold the wet ingredients, in 2 batches into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula.
Make sure to not overbeat and get all the dry crumbly bits at the bottom of the bowl.
Dust your work space with generous amounts of flour and place dough down. You might want to dust your hands with flour as you will need to shape this dough into a large circle. Dough is very sticky. Once you have a ball, gently press down and out, forming the dough into a flattened circle. About 8-10 inches round. Dough will crack when you press down, you will need to pinch & repair torn areas as you go along.
Dust a large, sharp knife with flour and cut the dough into six large triangles or eight smaller ones—whichever you prefer. Slide the knife under each triangle to help you lift and transfer it to the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 14 – 16 minutes, or until the scones begin to turn light brown in color. Mine were done at the 12 minute mark so check them at 10 or 12 minutes.
When scones are done and cooled a bit you can decorate them with some warmed chocolate Ganache.

sweet potato muffins stuffed w/ cinnamon-mascarpone

My latest kitchen experiment. I had posted a picture of this creation on twitter and everyone wanted to know where, when, who....NOW! So, I rushed to type up the recipe and get it out to you. Yes, these were seriously good muffins. I mean really good. A great muffin base that melded perfectly with the mascarpone stuffing. I hate boring muffins, I know I've said this before, but what is the point of eating a boring muffin? All those calories wasted for nothing. If I'm going to have fat and sugar it better be good. Normally I do not eat what I bake, I only taste-test and then away they go to a good home, where they are pampered, loved and sincerely appreciated. If I ate everything I baked I'd be 500 pounds. (I'd be a hot looking 500 pound babe, just so you know) BUT with these muffins my friends I had two muffins. I could not help myself. These are also very pretty to look at; might be a good breakfast treat for your Thanksgiving morning if you have company over. Easy peasy to make too.





sweet potato muffins stuffed with cinnamon-mascarpone
muffins slightly adapted from Noble Pig
print recipe

Muffins:
2 & ½ cups AP flour
1 & ¾ ts baking powder
½ ts table salt
¼ ts baking soda
¼ ts ground nutmeg
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup heavy or light cream
¾ cup plain sweet potato puree
1 & ½ ts good quality vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs

Stuffing:
8 oz. mascarpone cheese, room temp.
Big pinch of salt
½ cup of sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 ts ground cinnamon
½ stick unsalted butter, room temp.

¼ cup or less of crushed walnuts or pecans (for garnish)
Cinnamon-sugar mixture to sprinkle on tops of muffins before baking.

In a medium bowl, combine all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and ground nutmeg. Set aside. In a large bowl combine cream, buttermilk, sweet potato puree and vanilla extract. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and dark brown sugar with an electric mixer, until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Alternately mix in dry and wet ingredients into the butter, starting and ending with the dry; mix only until each addition is incorporated -- Please do not overmix.
Coat a muffin pan with nonstick spray and fill muffin cups 1/2 full. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a generous amount of cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. (mine were done at the 20 minute mark).

For the stuffing: combine all ingredients and beat with an electric mixer or with stand mixer. Beat until well incorporated. To fill the muffins, all I did was cut out a large hole in the tops of the muffins and filled them with the stuffing. Use a pastry bag and pipe in the stuffing. If you don’t have a pastry bag you can use a plastic ziplock bag and snip a small hole at one of the edges. Decorate the tops of the muffins with crushed walnuts or pecans.

crispy curry fish w/ peanut sauce

I am a very fussy eater when it comes to seafood dishes. So when I find one that I love and is easy peasy to prepare I have to tell my friends. I've also been known to stop people in Whole Foods and tell them all about my latest find. Just like when you read a really good book, the first thing you want to do is tell your family, tell your friends that they absolutely have to read it--now! That's how I feel with great new finds in recipes.
This latest greatest find is a recipe from mark bittmans book "The Best Recipes in the World". A massive book of worldly recipes, most of them easy oh so easy to create. It's such a valuable book for beginners and experts alike.
I didn't just use the recipe, I had to (of course) kick it up a notch and add a sauce. Don't get me wrong it's good on its own, I just wanted a sauce. I always want a sauce with a good meal.
Both recipes are from mark bittman, I claim none of this as my own, but I do suggest serving it with some sticky sushi rice. The sauce and the sushi rice are purrrfect together. You can also use shrimp instead of fish-- if you do let me know how it goes. Sorry the photo isn't so hot, I had hungry people waiting to eat and lack of light :-(

crispy curry fish
By mark bittman
print recipe

1 ½ to 2 lbs skinless cod fillets
1 TB vinegar
salt to taste
½ ts fresh ground black pepper
1 ts ground turmeric
2 ts curry powder or garam masala
¼ ts cayenne pepper (optional)
peanut oil or vegetable oil (for frying)
2 cups flour
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
4 lime wedges

Heat oven to 200°F. Place oven proof platter in it. Toss fish with vinegar.
Combine salt, pepper, turmeric, curry powder and cayenne pepper in small bowl, then rub mixture onto both sides of each fillet.
Pour at least 1/8" oil into large nonstick skillet.
Turn heat to medium high.
Combine flour with enough warm water to make a batter about as thick as yogurt.
Test oil to see if it's hot enough (a piece of flour will sizzle in it).
Turn heat to high. Dunk fillets into batter one at a time, letting excess batter run off, then place fish in pan. Please do not overcrowd.
Fry fish, rotating as necessary so filets brown evenly.
Remove fish when golden and crisp on each side for 5 to 15 minutes.
Keep warm on platter in oven while you cook remaining fillets.
Sprinkle cilantro over fish. Serve with lime wedges.

peanut sauce
By mark bittman

3 small dried red chiles (Thai or piquin)
3 garlic cloves
2 shallots, peeled
1 stalk lemongrass, white part only, peeled, trimmed, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 tablespoon peanut oil or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce, or more to taste
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup chopped roasted peanuts or crunchy peanut butter
Salt

Combine the chiles, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, and turmeric in a food processor and grind and until fairly smooth; scrape down the sides of the machine once or twice if necessary.
Put the oil in a medium saucepan or skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the chile-garlic mixture and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Taste and add a sprinkle of salt or a little more soy sauce if necessary. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to a week (warm gently over very low heat or in a microwave before using). Makes about 2 cups.
For curry peanut sauce. Another layer of flavor: Omit the chiles, lemongrass, and turmeric. Instead, put one 2-inch piece of fresh ginger and 2 tablespoons of curry powder or curry paste in the food processor along with the shallots.

dark chocolate balsamic truffles

When I saw Giada make this on her show, I fell in love instantly. I tried it her way, and was a bit bored with it, so I decided to kick it up a notch by rolling them in crushed salty pistachios. Wow, what a difference it made. I'm certain it was the extra salt in the pistachios and the actual crunchy texture that pulled it all together. This is a very rich truffle, so you only need a little bite to satisfy your chocolate craving. After all 70% cacao is an instant fix of chocolate cravings. These would be the perfect holiday gift to give to your friends and family that are foodies.
Note: I did not want to roll them into balls, I wanted a more rustic look since I added on the pistachios. I'm certain using crushed, salted almonds would work too. I don't know about peanuts though--I think the balsamic might not meld well with peanuts.

dark chocolate balsamic truffles
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

8 1/2 ounces good quality dark chocolate (70% cacao), chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup cocoa powder (I did not roll them in cocoa powder, I rolled them in about ½ cup of chopped salty pistachios)

Melt the chocolate and cream in a double boiler over hot but not simmering water.
Place melted chocolate in a small bowl. Stir in the balsamic vinegar.
Cool the chocolate in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Remove from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 2 hours, until firm but moldable.
Use a teaspoon to scoop out chocolate. Use your fingertips to shape into balls about the size of a cherry. Set the chocolate balls on a parchment-lined tray.
Place the cocoa powder in a small shallow dish. (this is where I used my chopped salty pistachios instead of the cocoa powder).
Place 6 truffles at a time in the cocoa powder (or the chopped pistachios) and roll the truffles around to coat, and return the coated truffles to the baking sheet.
Continue with the remaining truffles. Place the truffles in a serving dish or airtight package.

devil's food cupcakes w/ salty mascarpone frosting

Is it just me or do you all love to use mascarpone cheese as much as I? Seriously I keep finding new uses for it, good yes, but bad because it's so expensive and I use it a lot in my experiments. Why is it so expensive? Is it hard to make and/or arduous to make? Well, I do love the flavor it brings out in frostings, glazes, and then we have the whole pasta-family too. What other uses am I missing here? Candy? I'm drawing a blank because of my lack of sleep. Well, anywho, it's obvious I love to bake and create with mascarpone cheese. I love that it has a slightly sweet flavor and not an overpowering cheese flavor, hence my latest creation. I came up with this frosting based on my never-ending love for the salty & sweet. This frosting is the show stopper here. It's not that salty, just a hint because the marscapone cheese has a nice delicate sweetness to it so I really didn't want to make it too salty. And the devil's food cake wasn't too chocolately. I wanted a mild chocolate cake base because the frosting has a delicate taste. I used a basic devil's food cupcake recipe from Bobby Flay (Note: when you click on the link you'll see Bobby Flay added in a peanut butter filling, I obviously didn't do that, but let me know if you try it--it sounded good though). If you don't want to use his recipe you can use your own, but I do suggest trying to keep with the devils food theme.

devil's food cupcakes w/ salty mascarpone frosting
cupcakes adapted from Bobby Flay
print recipe

1 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 cup Dutch processed unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup strong, hot coffee

Set rack in the middle of oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Line a 12 slot muffin pan with large paper or foil cupcake liners.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt together 3 times. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together at high speed for 15 seconds until combined. Add the eggs 1 at a time beating until each is incorporated. Continue beating until light and fluffy, about 6 minutes longer. With the mixer at its lowest speed, beat in 1/3 the flour mixture. Beat in the buttermilk and vanilla, then another third of the flour. Beat in the coffee and then the remaining flour. Fill the sections of the muffin tin 1/2 full and bake for 15 minutes or until the centers spring back when lightly pressed. Set pan on a rack to cool.

Salty Mascarpone Frosting
By Dawn

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, very soft/room temp
½ box of confectioners' sugar, sifted (16 oz box, used half)
8 ounces of mascarpone cheese, slightly room temp.
½ TB sea salt
1 TB flour
1 - 1 ½ TB half & half

In a mixing bowl, cream butter until smooth, slowly add in sifted confectioners sugar, the sea salt, the flour and mix; you should add in a touch of the half & half--you might not need all the 1 and ½ TB of half & half. Start with a little at a time, I used “barely” 1 TB, but I like my frosting very thick. So use your own judgment and preference.

crispy chicken rollups w/ buttermilk-blue cheese dressing

Not a very glamorous post indeed, but lately I've been strapped for time. Quick meals are my thing lately. When you get strapped for time, stressed, over-worked, etc... you tend to want to eat more comfort foods to well, comfort you. I'm in the process of finding a new home to buy to call my own (yeah!). No more crappy landlords, no more small kitchens, no more burning your money away on rentals.
I'm so guilty of eating bad foods when I'm stressed or lacking time. I've been trying to be good about it by making the comfort foods at home that are semi-healthy, but still tasty so I don't pig out. With all the working out I do I also have to make sure I get enough protein to help stop those cravings of being "prison hungry" and eating everything in sight. Granted this rollup isn't the healthiest, but it's better than my other choice of food which is a bag of salty pistachio's with a couple cans of ginger ale and some dark chocolate. Nice eh?
For me, nothing says quick, satisfying comfort food like fried chicken breasts with crisp veggies, cheddar cheese and a good sauce, all rolled up in warm flatbread. There is this sauce/dressing that is always my go-to. I got it from Martha Stewart. It's good, it's really good, one of those dressings that keep you coming back for more, and finding new ways to use it.
So all I did was deep fry some battered up chicken breasts, let them cool, slice into strips. (I like to fry up a large batch and make them last throughout the rest of the week). Then pile them into a warm flatbread, add any veggies you crave, then that tasty sauce. (I did not add the chives to this, and I pureed the sauce it in a blender--wasn't up to having chunks this time around).

Buttermilk-blue cheese dressing
by Martha Stewart

3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup finely chopped shallot (about 1 shallot)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 cup crumbled domestic blue cheese

Whisk together buttermilk, mayonnaise, shallot, chives, lemon juice, coarse salt, pepper, and celery salt in a small bowl. Fold in blue cheese. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cold, about 30 minutes.

I didn't even give you what fried chicken recipe I use. Sorry--see how busy and fried my brain is? I use Ms. Paula Deen's recipe found here . I double dip mine in the batter so I get twice the batter on the chicken as the crispy crust is the best part. Make a largee batch of them once, keep what you don't eat in the fridge, and use the rest (cold is great) for the next few rollups and/or sammies for the upcoming week. I've also just bought some of those chicken strips at Whole Foods and used them in this rollup when time is short.

pumpkin scones w/ cinnamon-cider cream cheese glaze

Wouldn't that be cool if you could scratch and sniff this? I used to love those scratch & sniff books as a young kid. You know you're going to be a foodie when you had a collection of the 'scratch & sniff' books as a youngster. Didn't matter that the sniff part lost it's 'sniff'--you could still smell it, no matter what. I had 'pat the bunny' book too; loved the part of dad's rough skin.
I hate to be one-sided here, I know the scone is supposed to be the best in show here, but in all honesty the cinnamon-cider cream cheese glaze just steals it. Not too sweet, and just the right amount of cinnamon to cider to cream cheese ratio. I love when it all balances out. Try these, that cider bite with the gentle pumpkin scone? Oh heavenly.



Don't get me wrong, the pumpkin scone is stellar, I'm just bragging about the glaze--it melds perfectly with the slightly sweet-pumpkiney scone. Of course I had to add sprinkles. I know scones don't really call for sprinkles, but I got these all natural sprinkles from Whole Foods. There's no dye, no chemicals, no junk--love that. That orange color is just so fabulous for these scones. And they have a taste to them as well. Look for them at Whole Foods as they have beautiful array of colors.



pumpkin scones with cinnamon-cider cream cheese glaze
print recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 TB baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
¾ ts salt
¾ ts ground cinnamon
½ ts ground nutmeg
¼ ts ground all spice
6 ½ TB cold butter, grated with cheese grater (store in freezer till ready to use)
½ cup canned pumpkin (not the pie filling, just plain old pumpkin puree)
7 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
3 TB heavy cream
1 large egg

Glaze:
¾ cup +/- confectioners sugar, sifted
4 oz. cream cheese, room temp (nice & soft)
1 ts ground cinnamon
A dash or three of pure apple cider

Grate your butter with the large holes of a cheese grater. Then back into the freezer until you’re ready to use them. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. (I have a confection so I did 400 degrees). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and all the spices, set aside.
In a medium bowl combine the pumpkin, sugar, cream and egg. Beat well until nice and combined.
Get out your butter from the freezer, and add that to the flour mixture. Mix with fork or pastry cutter until you have bread-like crumbs.
Then fold the wet ingredients, in 2 batches into the butter/flour mixture. Use a wooden spoon or spatula. Make sure to not overbeat and get all the dry crumbly bits at the bottom of the bowl.
Dust your work space with generous amounts of flour and place dough down. You might want to dust your hands with flour as you will need to shape this dough into a large circle. Dough will be sticky. Once you have a ball, gently press down and out, forming the dough into a flattened circle. About 8-10 inches round. Dough will crack when you press down, just pinch & repair as you go along.
Dust a large, sharp knife with flour and cut the dough into six triangles. Slide the knife under each triangle to help you lift and transfer it to the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 14 – 16 minutes, or until the scones begin to turn light brown in color. Mine were done at the 12 minute mark so check them at 10 or 12 minutes.
While scones are baking assemble the glaze by adding in the soft cream cheese to a medium size bowl, add in the sifted confectioners sugar, cinnamon, and a couple dashes of the apple cider. Don’t add in all the cider at once; it’s better to add in small doses than larger ones. Get out the handheld mixer and beat until well mixed, no lumps are present. You can add as much or as little apple cider depending on how thick you like your glaze.
Let scones cool a bit on a rack before glazing.

tangy meatloaf bread

I love meatloaf I do, but I hate it. I hate plain old meatloaf: a loaf of meat blah. I will eat meatloaf if it has a nice thick char-crust, full of flavor inside, and a lot of texture on the top. I've always felt that meatloaf needs something else: a coat, a jacket or something to add to it. Like a coat of bread. Just a plain old loaf of meat is, well, ick. Am I explaining this right? All mushy tasting with nothing to help it out. So I love to make my meatloaf enclosed in bread, BUT I still want that nice sticky, salty, sweet char-like topping--so I put that on the bread because if you put it on the meatloaf inside the bread it will just dissappear, melt away. The tanginess of the sauce on top of the bread is wonderful. Even if you don't eat meat you can fill this loaf with veggies and cheese, but use that tangy glaze! OK?

That end piece? Totally mine.

tangy meatloaf bread
print recipe

1 (1 pound) loaf frozen bread dough, thawed
Some EV olive oil
1 lb. 85 lean ground beef
Few dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1 sweet onion chopped, lightly sautéed
1 green pepper chopped, lightly sautéed
1 cup +/- shredded mild cheddar or whatever cheese you like
¾ cup to 1 cup of caramelized onions, optional but wonderful
Cornmeal (for bottom of bread dough)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a skillet heat up a little bit of extra virgin olive oil, lightly sauté the onions & peppers; add some salt & pepper. Remove from pan then thoroughly cook the ground beef; season with salt & pepper. You want to cook the beef till almost done, not all the way as it will finish cooking in the oven. At the last minute of cooking the ground beef drain off the fat, leave a bit in there for flavor, then add in a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Then add back in the sautéed peppers & onions; mix all together; turn off heat; set aside. Get out your silpat and jellyroll pan and sprinkle with a bit of cornmeal (optional). Roll thawed bread dough out into a rectangle onto a silpat sheet.
I place the filling on one side of the dough, I don’t sprinkle it around as I want the center to be one layer. But feel free to do as you like. Place the cooked meat mixture on the dough, then add a layer of caramelized onions, then top off with cheese. Roll up dough like a jelly roll and pinch seams to seal; place, seam side down. If dough is really sticky dip your fingers into some flour, repeat if necessary as you continue to roll. Bake for about 30 – 40 minutes, depending on your oven. While this is baking mix up the tangy glaze and get it ready to put on the loaf. At the 15 – 20 minute mark use a pastry brush and smear the tangy glaze over the top of the loaf. Bake for remaining time or until the bread crust is lightly golden brown.
You need to wait about 10 minutes before slicing this bad boy.

Tangy Glaze
1/2 cup ketchup
4 TB dark brown sugar
4 ts cider vinegar
Couple dashes of hot sauce, optional but wonderful

Mix all together in a dish. Put on the loaf about halfway thru its cooking time.

pb fudge puddles

Time for a cavity? One or two?

Bad way to introduce a cookie? Kidding, but this is SUPER sweet and super GOOEY! And has without a doubt, a very funky name. Something named with this much 'funk' in the title, I, of course, had to make it. Really easy to make and really tasty. I already said that, but it truly is. It will take your worst pb & chocolate craving straight away. The original recipe calls for shaping them into cups, I wanted squares so I could have bigger 'puddles of fudge' <---smart right? Yeah, I know what I'm doing in the kitchen, I'm good. This dough can be shaped into anything, but make sure to leave a well for the fudge filling--ok?



pb fudge puddle cookies
from sunday baker blog
print recipe

Cookie Crust:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 ts vanilla extract
1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 ts baking soda
1/2 ts salt

In a large mixer bowl, combine butter, peanut butter, and both sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry to the wet mixtures.
Chill in the fridge for at least one hour. Remove from fridge and form into 1" balls. Grease a mini-muffin pan and add 1 ball to each muffin cup. Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until very lightly browned. Remove from oven and make an indentation in the center of each ball, big enough to fill the middles with the fudge filling. Let them cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes and then move to a cooling rack. Once all of the cookies are done baking, it's time to make the fudge filling:

Filling:
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips (I used milk chocolate chips)
1-14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 ts vanilla
chopped nuts or sprinkles(optional)

In a microwave safe bowl or saucepan, combine all of the ingredients except the nuts/sprinkles. Microwave for 1 minute, stir well. If there are still unmelted chips, continue to melt in microwave for 15 second increments until all smooth:
Immediately start filling the cookie cups with the filling. It will start to harden just a bit as you do it, so make sure to give it a good stir once in awhile. Sprinkle with the nuts or just leave plain. Let set for an hour or so.

crème brûlée ice cream w/ rum-soaked black cherries

Who doesn't love crème brûlée? That crunchy top, that perfect ratio of cream to vanilla to sugar? Perfect. I've always wanted to try Pierre Herme's recipe for crème brûlée ice cream. It truly is wonderful. I know my boring words sound like everyone else, but seriously it's that good, and it's that easy to make. Don't be intimidated because it's the famous Pierre Herme, no no, it's easy. Have you ever been to his little shop in Paris? Here is a couple fun photos to get you tickled about it here . There really is always a long line to get in there.
With this recipe I had to kick it up a notch by adding in my own touch, you don't have to. But I just thought the addition of fresh black cherries would be perfect, and it was. The sweet black cherries melded perfectly with the caramel, and I think it's because the texture of the cherries was just right. I don't know about you but I love a little texture in my ice cream. I had made this recipe back in August when the black cherries were nice and ripe. This past summer I ate a lot of ice cream and a lot of hot fudge sauce, bad I know. But looking back, it was worth it. There is this little hole-in-the-wall place on cape cod that sells the best hot fudge sauce, to be honest their ice cream isn't that great, but the hot fudge sauce, oh man does it satisfy. It's so thick, and so fudgey and always nice and warm. Alright that's enough...I'm getting hungry!
We have a winner in my giveaway. Kirsten of More Cheese More Chocolate was the lucky winner. Congrats to you Kirsten! Please email me your address and which cookbook you would like.

crème brûlée ice cream
by pierre herme
print recipe

custard
2 ¼ cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
5 plump/moist vanilla beans, split lengthwise & scraped (save pulps & pods)
10 large egg yolks
1 cup + 2 tb white sugar

(I added in about 1 cup of rum soaked black cherries to the ice cream mix: 1 cup chopped black cherries soaked overnight in about 3 TB of dark rum)

Bring the milk, cream and vanilla beans (pulp & pods) to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan. Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and set the mixture aside for 1 hor.
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 210 F or as close to the temp as possible – 200 F or 22 F will still be fine. Set aside 2 – 11 by 7 by 2-inch pans. (the pan size is not crucial – what’s important is to use a pan or pans in which, when you add the custard, the mixture will form a layer that’s only ¾ inch thick).
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar together until the mixture thickens slightly. Slowly strain the vanilla-infused liquid over the yolks, whisking to blend the ingredients but taking care not to beat in lots of air. Discard the vanilla bean pods.
Pour the mixture into the pans and slide them into the oven. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the custard is just set, at which point it will still shimmy when shifted but a knife inserted in it will come out clean. Transfer the pans to cooling racks and allow the custard to cool to room temp., then refrigerate the custard for 2 hours, or until thoroughly chilled.

the caramel
1/3 cup + 1 ½ tb white sugar
4 ts salted butter, room temp
1/3 cup heavy cream

Working in a deep saucepan, caramelize the sugar: place the pan over medium heat. Sprinkle about 2 tb of the sugar over the center of the pan and when the sugar starts to melt and color, stir it with a wooden spoon. When all the sugar is caramel colored, add another 2 tb of sugar and cook and stir as before. Continue until all of the sugar is cooked and the caramel is a deep mahogany color – test the color by dropping a bit on a white plate. Careful with this next step! Standing away from the pan, stir in the butter. Then, still standing back, add the heavy cream. Don’t be alarmed if the caramel erupts in big bubbles – it’s normal. Stir the caramel until well blended and smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the caramel into a heatproof container: a glass measuring cup with a spout is perfect. Set aside at room temp until needed.

finishing
1. Pour the chilled custard into the container of a blender (or use a food processor or immersion blender) and whir until the cream is smooth and once again liquid. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker, following the manufacturer’s directions. Remove the ice cream from the machine, pack it into a freezer container, and place it in the freezer for about 30 minutes to an hour before proceeding. (You can freeze the ice cream longer, but it’s easier to mix with the caramel when it’s still in the soft-freeze stage).
2. To turn the crème into creme brulee, you can add the caramel in one of two ways. The most elegant way to combine the two elements and prepare the ice cream for serving is to layer the ice cream and caramel in a terrine. (see step 3. for the second way of adding the caramel to the ice cream). If you have a metal terrine made especially for ice cream, one with a lid, use it; if not, a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan will be fine. Line the bottom of the terrine with a layer of ice cream – don’t worry about getting a smooth layer – then drizzle a layer of caramel over the cream. Continue in this way until the terrine is filled; aim for about four layers ice cream and three of caramel. Cover the terrine tightly with its lid or a double layer of plastic wrap and store in the freezer until set. To serve, you can either scoop or slice. If you decide to scoop the ice cream out of the terrine, dig into the terrine so that each scoop has both ice cream & caramel. If you’re going to slice the terrine, it’s best to unmold it first. Dip the terrine briefly into a basin of hot water, then turn it out onto a serving plate and cut into slices.
3. Alternatively, you can swirl the caramel into the ice cream into a large mixing bowl. Spoon about a quarter of the ice cream into the bowl, drizzle over about a third of the caramel, add more ice cream, and then add more caramel; continue in this fashion until all the ingredients are used. Now using a large, sturdy rubber spatula or metal serving spoon, fold the caramel into the ice cream. Don’t be too thorough – you want the ice cream to be swirled with caramel. (If you end up incorporating the caramel evenly throughout the ice cream, you’ll produce the world’s best caramel ice cream). Pack the ice cream into a freezer container, seal tightly, and store in the freezer until set. Keeps in freezer for about 1 week. Makes 1 ½ quarts.
Note: I added in my chopped black cherries soaked in rum when I added in the caramel, about 3/4 cup.