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)

Butterscotch Bourbon Ice Cream

This homemade ice cream is so creamy and perfect. I stupidly forgot to take a picture of it scooped out, so you'll just have to take this one of it churning. A few summers ago, the New York Times came out with a fantastic ice cream article and recipe with a basic base and a whole bunch of ways to customize it with different flavors, aptly titled, "The Only Ice Cream Recipe You'll Ever Need." They had a butterscotch bourbon flavor that I tried last weekend - yum! It's really, really good and I will definitely make it again. It's rich and creamy and has just a hint of bourbon - it's not overwhelming at all. (I don't like my desserts to taste like booze).

Ice Cream Cake

This ice cream cake is delicious. The crushed up Oreos mixed with magical shell make the perfect crispy filling. So decadent and sweet. Who doesn't love ice cream cake? It takes a while to make it with all the freezing, but if you're home for most of the day it's not bad. You can do it over the course of a couple of days, too. It's so good! I ate mine and half of Jamie's.

Ingredients:

2 quarts ice cream, whatever flavors you want (I used chocolate and Oreo)

1.5 sleeves Oreos, filling removed (or if you can find them, chocolate wafers)

A few tbsp magic shell

Hot fudge (I used Hershey's but you can also make your own)

Whipped cream

Cherries and sprinkles (optional)

Ample Hills

This little ice cream stand in Brooklyn Bridge Park has really fabulous flavors. I am kicking myself for not trying to sooner. (I had my first cone there last week after passing it a million times.) We had their version of cookies and cream, which was incredible. There was some spice in the cookies, maybe marjoram, and the ice cream itself had some salt in it. It was just really, really tasty. Some of the crazier flavor options were stour and pretzel and one that was bourbon flavored with candied bacon. I will definitely be stopping there again after our next BBQ. 

Nutella Ice Cream

I wanted to make banana ice cream, but the grocery store had no ripe bananas. I made a quick decision to grab nutella and just add it to a basic ice cream recipe, and add some hazelnuts. It's so rich and creamy, and who doesn't love nutella?

Ingredients:

2 cups milk

2 cups heavy cream

8 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup nutella

1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts

Directions:

Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until a little bit frothy.

Brooklyn Farmacy

Brooklyn Farmacy is so adorable. It's an old-timey diner in a space that used to be a pharmacy. They have delicious milk shakes and the food is excellent. Jamie and I went on Saturday and had a great lunch. I had the pastrami sandwich and it was incredible. It was a pastrami sandwich on thin rye toast with melted cheddar cheese and sour kraut. It was so delicious and the cheese was gooey and it was so flavorful. It came with a little mustard to dip. Yum! If you're in the Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens, stop by for lunch. I also can't wait to try one of the sundaes. We were eyeing the people next to us who had some sort of peanut butter sundae that looked fantastic.

Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

I was lucky enough to visit the stunning One&Only Palmilla for work a few weeks ago. It's such a beautiful spot, and the food is really incredible. We peeked into the kitchen at Market one afternoon and saw Sean, the pastry chef, create this beautiful dessert that consisted of mint ice cream, made that morning with mint picked in the herb garden, topped with dehydrated chocolate mousse, these pretty flowers, and some chocolate shavings. Basically, the fanciest mint chocolate chip ice cream around. It was amazing.

I've been dreaming about it. It inspired me to make my own fresh mint chocolate chip ice cream. I used this recipe from Isaac Mizrahi on Epicurious. Yum! It has a completely different flavor than store bought mint chocolate chip ice cream, more akin to a mojito. It's such a treat, and if you have an ice cream maker, I highly recommend it. Also, the chocolate chunks can be as big and as good a brand of chocolate as you want.

Ingredients:

6 lark egg yolks

3/4 cups sugar

2 cups whole milk

2 cups fresh mint leaves, loosely packed

1 cup heavy cream

4 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

4 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used Cote d'Or 86% - I looove Cote d'Or)

Berry Ice Cream Sauce

 

Jamie loves berries, so I made some berry syrup to go over vanilla ice cream. Wow! Huge success. This is simple and makes for an incredible dessert.

Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
1/2 bag of frozen berries
Sugar (about 1/4 cup, to taste)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp butter
(vanilla ice cream)

Rhubarb Ice Cream with Caramel Swirl

Since I'm a sucker for rhubarb, I couldn't resist trying this recipe from the New York Times. It was great! The sour cream gives a unique richness and creamy texture, the rhubarb is tart and awesome, and the caramel adds extra sweetness and something toothsome. The chunks of rhubarb are great, too. It's a little bit of a labor of love, but if you love rhubarb, ice cream, and time consuming weekend cooking projects (guilty), then this is perfect!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 3/4 cup plus 6 tbsp granulated sugar
pinch kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3/4 pounds rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/2 cup heavy cream

Chocolate Meringue and Mint Chip Ice Cream Cake

I've been drooling over this recipe since last summer and finally pulled my act together this weekend to make it. Yum! I love ice cream cake, I love mint chocolate chip ice cream, I love meringues. It's a win, win, win. The meringues are light and fluffy and chocolatey and the whole combination is great. Also looks super impressive. I halved the original recipe because there were only three of us and made it round.

Ingredients:
5 1/4 tbsp sugar, divided
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 large egg whites
1 pint mint chocolate chip ice cream, softened

1/4 cup chilled whipping cream
powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

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

Big Gay Ice Cream Truck

I just went to the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck for the first time - amazing! I'm known to dabble at Mr. Softee, but this is definitely the more grown up option. With the same blank canvas (a cone of vanilla or chocolate soft serve), they have amazing toppings that transform an average cone. I got the Salty Pimp, a vanilla cone dappled with caramel, sprinkled with sea salt, then dipped in hardening chocolate. So delicious (I love salty and sweet). Next time I may try the kitschy Bea Arthur w dolce de lece and crushed Nilla wafers, or something drizzled with a pomegranate balsamic reduction. If you're around Union Square on a warm day, definitely give it a try! 

Invent your own ice cream

I've been trying to get down to Lulu and Mooky's for months. I was finally in the neighborhood last Thursday and after a delicious pork bun lunch at Baohaus, I indulged in some ice cream. It's a teeny hole in the wall on Allen Street (129, between Rivington and Delancey). When you walk in, you're met by two kitchen aids, a nice man behind the counter, and hand written signs on the wall filled with possible flavors. There are numerous kinds of fruits, then there are the go-to chocolates, vanillas, and staples of that ilk, and there are also herbs and spices like rosemary, cinnamon, and cardamom. You can invent your own, or you can pick from the Customer Combinations that others have already crafted. Once you pick your flavors, he mixes them into a little cup of cream and then pours the concoction into the kitchen aid. After all the flavors have blended, in goes liquid nitrogen, which causes the silver bowl to spill over with eerie Halloween fog. When the fog subsides and the potion seems done, you are presented with your own hand crafted cup of creamy, delicious (depending on your flavor combination) ice cream.
I mixed fresh cherries with almond extract and cinnamon, which resulted in an ice cream that tasted like cherry pie. My friend Pete got peanut butter, cardamom, and M&Ms. His tasted like a savory Indian treat with a nice sweet smattering of M&Ms.
You may not have the same obsession with ice cream that I do, but if you do get down there before this summer. They just opened in October and in the colder months, there's no wait, but I bet the summer will be lines out the door.

Also, I saw a sign that they cater and I would love to hire them for a summer cocktail party