Joy the Baker

I have this nasty little habit that shouldn’t bother you in the least… unless of course you’re one of the unlucky people in the world that might have to share a pint of ice cream with me.  

See… I’m a picker.  I will shamelessly pick out every good morsel of ice cream chunky goodness from a pint, leaving only half melted ice cream for you.  Cookie Dough Ice Cream is only Cookie Dough Ice Cream until I get my paws on it for five minutes.  After a cool five minutes, that pint is just a sad excuse for vanilla ice cream.  Don’t even get me started of Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream.  I’ve got enough skills to dig out every ounce of peanut butter in seconds flat.

It’s a shameless habit.  It’s terrible and selfish… and it’ll never change.  I can’t help myself. 

Cookie No-Dough Ice Cream may have just solved my ice cream picking issue.  Instead of having vanilla ice cream with chunks of cookie dough embedded within it, this ice cream… the entire ice cream is the flavor of cookie dough!  Holy heck balls!  That’s amazing.  Yea.. it is. 

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This deliciously light, sweet and refreshing Cantaloupe Sherbet has everything and nothing to do with what I’m about to say.

I do a lot of thinking in the shower. Why do you need to know that? Well, you probably don’t. Nevertheless, allow me to over share. I got this new minty shampoo and it works wonders in the thought department. I think the fresh minty smells might be penetrating my brain.

Last minty shower I got to thinking about my dream job. After I mulled over my dream job I got to thinking about you. Yes, you. I think about you. It’s true. What’s your dream job? Are you lucky enough to have it? Does it pay you the millions of dollars that you deserve? Are you paid in smiles from your little squirt? Do you wake up in the morning before the alarm goes off because you’re thrilled to get to work? If not, what’s the difference between what you do now and what you really want to do? What will it take to make your dreams your reality?

I know. Lots and lots of questions. I told you the minty shampoo was good!

In some ways, I think I have my dream job. I get to cook and write about food virtually every day of the week. If someone would have told me two years ago, while I was grinding away in college, that I would soon get to write about and photograph food, I would have said to them “Awesome Opossum!”

So I feel like I’m mostly living the good life. Of course there’s the day to day of life that sometimes seems daunting or downright annoying, but all things considered it’s a dreamy.

This can’t be it though. I’m not done dreaming it yet! I think one of my dream jobs would be working for Epicurious or Bon Appetit or Gourmet Magazine in some way. Dreamy right!? I’d also like some sort of television or Internet show. I know. I owe you another podcast. Long story. I’m working on that. Maybe more minty showers will lead me in the right direction.

You?

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We’re going back to the beginning with this cake. Ice Cream Cakes- that’s what started it all. Can I tell you a story?

I moved from Los Angeles, California to Burlington, Vermont when I was 18 and straight out of high school. I had it in my head that I didn’t want to go to college right away, and that I wanted to do some soul searching, as far away from my parents as I could get. I landed in Burlington with one suitcase and the phone number to one friend that I knew there. My friend Niki graciously let me stay in her apartment, and her Lisa friend gave me a job at the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream flagship store. Miracously I had it all worked out. I had a place to stay and a job. There was just one small hitch- I was TERRIFIED. I had never been so far away from home and out in the world on my own. I literally stayed in Niki’s apartment for a full week. I never even cracked the door open. I knew that I was in a strange place, surrounded by people I didn’t know and I, frankly, didn’t want anything to do with any of it. I stayed in that apartment listening to Niki’s entire music collection and taking lots of baths. That’s when I discovered I loved Billie Holiday and grapefruit bubble bath.

What finally drove me out of my cave? Food of course, I ran out of food and I’m no good with hunger pains.

Once I was out of the apartment and well fed, I realized that my new surroundings were actually pretty awesome. People acknowledged me as I walked down the street. I lived right around the corner from the most beautiful lake, a glass blowing studio, a picture perfect chapel and a culinary school that fed me samples of their student food every day. It was the most beautiful, friendly, warm and open place I’ve ever been.

My job scooping ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s quickly turned into the head cake decorator position. I could frost and decorate an ice cream cake like maniac. And because we’re talking about wild and wacky Ben and Jerry’s, the flavor combinations and signature tie dye frostings were completely over the top.

I loved my job. I loved Vermont. I met some characters that I won’t soon forget.

Once I stepped out of that apartment door, after a week of solitude and regret, I felt that I was blazing forward on the life I knew I wanted for myself. I also learned how to make a killer Ice Cream Cake along the way. That’s was almost ten years ago…. wow.

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A warning about this ice cream- don’t make it if you’re not prepared to eat the entire batch in one sitting and feel sick afterwards. Don’t do it. Don’t even think about making this ice cream if you think this is the kind of dessert that sits in the freezer waiting for after dinner, or company. This ice cream isn’t the one.

This Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream is the kind of summer time dessert that you eat, sitting on your patio at sunset saying hello to your neighbors as they come home from work while you watch episodes of Big Love on your laptop. This is that dessert.

If you’re trying to exercise self control, don’t make this ice cream. If you’re trying to set an example for your children about moderation, turn away now.

BUT! If you’re looking for the most amazingly decadent, lick your finger, lick the spoon, lick the scoop, lick the bowl, go back for more and lick it all again ice cream. Well friends, this is the one.

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I love comfort.  Ok.. I know that’s a stupid thing to say.  Who doesn’t like comfort?  That’s like saying that kittens are cute.  Not so controversial right?

Well, this Banana Pudding Ice Cream is an exploration in comfort.  I absolutely love banana pudding.  It not just the pudding, it’s the fresh whipped cream and vanilla wafers that just make the dessert feel like ultimate comfort.

Banana Pudding reminds me of laughter- comfortable summertime, gather in the backyard after a big summer meal- laughter.

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I absolutely LOVE Memorial Day weekend. It’s like all the good things in the world come together in one weekend. I look forward to this three day weekend at the start of May. Not only is it my birthday weekend, but it’s also the unofficial start of summer, the start of outdoor grilling and parties with friends, and just all around good times.

If I had a lake anywhere near me, I’d be down at the lake all the time, just so I could say, “I’m going down to the lake!” That feels like an ultra summer thing to say. Lake or no lake, I feel a beautiful summer coming on.

And as if I couldn’t get more excited, I’ve discovered I can make ice cream cupcakes! These little gems are really easy to throw together and you can make them with any flavor combination you can imagine. The only slight downside is that they melt (as ice cream tends to do) when they’re not in the freezer. Melting won’t be too much of an issue because these don’t tend to stick around long. I’ve already eaten 5, and the party isn’t until Sunday.

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There is something in the air this time of year. I’m as restless and a 12 year old girl waiting for summer break so she can go hang out at the community pool. Maybe it’s the impending 3 months of relentless, almost suffocating Los Angeles heat. Maybe I just yearn for the carefree days of summer. Maybe I just need a vacation. I’m completely restless these days, and with no real vacation in sight, what’s a girl to do but play with her ice cream maker.

Today I bring you Mango Lime Sorbet. It’s like going on vacation with your spoon. Just like going on vacation- minus those pesky airport lines, and the passports and the exciting new places to see, and delicious new food to eat. Why do all that, really, when you can stay at home and make sorbet…

Pardon me while I wallow in woe. But seriously… someone please take me away.

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I know.  I’ve been coming up with some pretty strange combinations lately.  This ice cream and hot fudge combination may be the strangest yet.  Remember that homemade hot fudge sauce from last week?  Well, after trying it on nearly everything in my kitchen, it seemed that the proper thing to do was make some ice cream.  Blueberry sour cream ice cream sounded perfect for the approaching summer, and I crossed my fingers that it would work with hot fudge.

The combination was unusual, but fantastic!!  The ice cream is a beautiful blue purple, and the blueberry flavors are highlighted by the light, slight tang of the sour cream.  Smothering that mess in dark chocolate hot fudge adds a depth and richness to the light ice cream.  It’s absolutely delicious!  Like one of those fancy, strange sounding desserts at a hip and trendy restuarant.   Read more »

Thanks to all of you for the kind words in my cookie giveaway.  I’m so glad I could lure some of you silent readers out into the commenting world with the chance at free cookies!

And the winners of fresh baked, express mail, Red Velvet Black and White Cookies are:

Megan of Meganscooking

Jennifer who is pregnant and probably really needs some black and whites

Tara who’s sister is a wiz at apron making

and Whitney in Chicago.  Good luck on your big test!!

I’ll be baking this week and ship those cookies off to you all soon.  And don’t fret, there are more yummy giveaways coming soon.  I just can’t help myself!

 What’s the strawberry treat above?  It’s a simple and surprisingly delicious dessert.  A bowl of quality vanilla ice cream, topped with sliced strawberries and drizzled with good aged balsamic vinegar.  I know it sounds a little crazy, but it’s a pretty incredible, fresh, perfect for summer dessert.  Go out on a limb and try this one.  Do it for me. 

I made some glorious dark chocolate hot fudge this afternoon.  In the 20 minutes it took me to whip it up, I looked around the kitchen and found countless things to douse in hot fudge.

Sliced bananas were a clear choice.  Simple and delicious and showed off the richness of the warm dark chocolate. Ice cream is an obvious choice, but you’ll have to hold your breath for a future post on that.

And then…. I started to lose my mind in hot fudge land.  How about hot fudge on black raspberry muffins?  cold cereal?   crackers?  sour dough bread? jasmine rice? waffles?

Yea.  I know.  A little out of control.  It’s just that this sauce was so easy to make, and seems to versatile.

What’s your favorite thing to smother in hot fudge?

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I’ll be the first to admit that I have gotten prematurely excited about strawberry season.  I’ve already played with strawberry sugar paper, and here I am with strawberry ice cream.  It’s not even April! Strawberries aren’t at their peak flavor yet, but I see baskets of them in every market I visit.  I just can’t help myself, so I buy and I bake.  I should tell you now-  it’s going to be a long berry season.  Long, glorious and delicious!

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I had a food fantasy yesterday, in the middle of my Monday workday.  My fantasy involved four things: me, my uber comfy Santa pajamas, a bowl of made-by-me ice cream, and my electric blanket.  I fantasized all the way home and skipped dinner to get my ice cream going.  I had all the fixins for coconut cardamom ice cream so  I thought I’d give it a go.  I like cardamom ice cream!  At least, that’s what I told myself… for as long as I could.

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