Saltine Toffee Chocolate Peanut Ice Cream Sandwich

This is such a treat - a fancy, grown up ice cream sandwich. They're incredible messy (especially if you don't let them firm up enough) but oh my goodness, they are so good! I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and had to try it. Yum! The saltine/toffee/chocolate/peanut combo is amazing and so crunchy. If you want want to go through the trouble of making the sandwiches, you could also just crack it up and sprinkle it liberally over vanilla ice cream. It's addicting. I recommend making these the day before you want to eat them so they have a lot of time to firm up in the freezer - makes them a lot easier to eat. 

Ingredients:

36 saltines

1/2 cup butter cut into chunks

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

sea salt (or kosher salt if you don't have sea salt)

2 cups vanilla ice cream, slightly softened

Big handful roasted peanuts (or any other nut of your choice)

Fancy Birthday Cake

It's my dear friend Charlie's 25th birthday so I wanted to make him a special birthday cake. I rarely go on Pinterest, but there are fancy cakes all over the place. I love the look of the ombre cakes - where there are like 8 layers inside going from one shade gradually lighter, lighter, lighter. I saw this one and thought I could try to copy it, but make it a little easier. I loved the look of the sprinkles all over the outside. I opted for just three layers, and a simpler color scheme - red, orange, yellow. I think everyone liked it!

Ingredients:
2 boxes white cake mix (and whatever they require)
2 containers frosting
Food die
Rainbow nonpareil sprinkles

Profiteroles

If there are profiteroles on a menu, I will order them. I love them! (La Sirène in Soho has the best profiteroles - so chocolaty and rich.) Jamie's and my parents met for the first time last weekend, very exciting, and I decided on profiteroles for dessert. They're actually pretty easy - I've been making them since I was 12 - and always look impressive, and better still, taste amazing. This is a basic recipe, but feel free to jazz it up with peppermint ice cream instead of vanilla and crushed peppermints on top, or different flavors or ice cream, etc. Yum! (Also, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product covered in chocolate because of all the fun we were having at dinner - everyone got along, phew! - so you'll just have to imagine them covered in warm, gooey chocolate sauce.)

Serves 8
Ingredients:
vanilla ice cream, softened a little
3/4 cups water
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt and additional pinch of salt
4 large eggs
1 cup heavy whipping cream
9 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp instant coffee