New Projects and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

First, some projects I have been working on for the last couple of weeks...

A quilt for an upcoming quilt class...

My embroidery design for the upcoming Seasons At Home magazine. We will have more pictures of these later! I love the new embroidery designs we've been working on.  

Now for some ice cream. Recently, I bought something at Williams-Sonoma that I liked as soon as I saw it - ground vanilla bean. Almost all recipes that call for whole vanilla bean require all of the extra steps of steeping the vanilla bean in milk and then scraping the seeds out. This was a perfect easy substitute and far less expensive than whole vanilla beans.

I love simple ice cream recipes, and almost never make a custard base. Cream and sugar recipes always come out so well, there's no need to make a custard. I love this combination of almond milk and half & half! The almond milk gives the ice cream an almost buttery taste (yummy), and it's so easy.

Simple Vanilla Bean Ice Cream 

(with almond milk!)

Combine the following in a large glass measuring bowl:

     2/3 cup sugar
     3/4 tsp. ground vanilla bean (or 1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract)
     3 1/2 cups Silk Original almond milk
   
 Whisk together until the sugar is dissolved. Whisk in 2 1/2 cups half & half. Freeze in ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's directions (I use the Cuisinart ice cream maker).

 Hmm, where's a spoon? 

My Hot Fudge Recipe

In a small pan combine: 

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup half & half

1/3 cup dark corn syrup

1 cup semi-sweet, dark or bittersweet chocolate chips

Heat over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until the chocolate chips are melted. Bring to a gentle boil, and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes. Stir in 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract and 3 tbsp. unsalted butter, chopped into small pieces. Stir until butter melts completely, and fudge is smooth. Use immediately and store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. Reheat before using. You can add 1/2 tsp. of peppermint extract along with the vanilla to make peppermint hot fudge.

We ate this while we waited for a blizzard to come in... 

Many blessings! Jessica

Apple Streusel Cake

The beautiful tulips my husband brought me today... makes me happy to think about the Spring season coming!

Saturdays will always seem like a good day to make a coffee cake to me, and this morning I had been thinking about how good a moist, streusel-topped apple cake sounded. 

I had used the rest of my wheat flour pizza crust last night, so I had to go with white flour today. I've included both white and wheat flour measurements though, as I do prefer wheat flour! If you use wheat flour, I recommend letting the batter sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour before baking. I've found that this gives the grain a chance to absorb some of the moisture in the batter and helps prevent the cake from falling the center. You can even make this the night before and refrigerate until ready to pop in the oven the next morning! 

This recipe is for an 8" x 8" pan, which is good size for just us two, but if you double the recipe, you will have a beautifully high 9" x 13" cake. This recipe came out so good!

Apple Streusel Cake

Peel and finely chop 3 medium-size, sweet apples, or enough for 2 cups of chopped apples. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together:
    1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour, or 2 cups soft wheat flour
    1/2 cup sugar
    1/4 cup brown sugar
    2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
    3/4 tsp. sea salt
    1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Make a well in the center of the mixture and add:
    1 large egg
    3/4 cup milk
    1/4 cup melted butter
    3/4 tsp. almond extract
    1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix until almost combined, then add the chopped apples. Finish mixing just until moist. Scrape batter into a greased 8" x 8" baking pan and top with streusel. 

 Streusel Topping:

In a small bowl combine:
    3 1/2 tbsp. soft butter
    2/3 cup brown sugar
    1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. unbleached white flour or wheat flour
    1 tsp. ground cinnamon 

 1/2 tsp. sea salt

Mix with a fork, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle evenly over cake batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 15-20 minutes before serving. This cake makes a delicious dessert too with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Have a blessed weekend! ~ Jessica

Frozen Tiramisu Pie

This is a simple ice cream pie, but it's so good you could almost skip cutting a piece and just eat it right from the pan with a spoon! You could even add a little drizzle of caramel or hot fudge on top...

For the instant coffee in the filling, I used Starbucks VIA mocha flavor instant coffee. So good! I also made this with an easy "crust" of vanilla wafers, but next time I'm going to make a chocolate graham cracker crust for it. For the topping, I broke up the extra toffee from Christmas baking. Yummy!

Frozen Tiramisu Pie

To make the crust:  

Butter the sides and bottom of a 9" springform pan well with soft butter. Line the bottom first, then the sides, with vanilla wafers as shown (one package is plenty for one pie). Crush up about 1 cup more and sprinkle them around the bottom to fill in some of the gaps. Set aside.

 

 

To make the filling:

 In a large bowl, combine:
     1.5 qt. vanilla ice cream, softened
     1 tbsp. of instant mocha coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp. hot water, cooled
     1/3 crushed toffee pieces
     1/4 cup rum or 1 tbsp. rum extract

Stir and fold together until thoroughly combined. Work quickly because the more you mix the more it melts! Scrape mixture into prepared springform pan and smooth out evenly over cookies. Immediately place in the freezer. Freeze until firm, about 1 1/2 hours.

Top with 1 cup whipped cream and extra broken toffee pieces. Remove pie from freezer 15 minutes before serving. Enjoy!