Dark Chocolate Cherry Ice Cream

I have been having so much fun with my ice cream maker. And with the privilege of living on a cherry farm, I knew I would have to take advantage of the fresh fruit for ice cream. Last week, Katie and I made this delicious creation! We each enjoyed a bowl or two and the rest went in the freezer to satisfy my sweet tooth every now and again.

Dark Chocolate Cherry Ice Cream
2 cups half and half
1 cup whipping cream
3/4 cups sugar
4 tsp vanilla
1 cup fresh sweet cherries, pitted and quartered
1 dark chocolate bar

1. Coarsely chop chocolate into chunks and quarter cherries.

2. Mix together remaining ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Place frozen mixing bowl and turn ice cream maker on. Pour all ingredients, except cherries and chocolate in, and let the ice cream maker make for 25-35 minutes, until desired consistency is reached.

4. Add cherries and chocolate and mix for 10 minutes more.

5. Serve immediately as soft serve, or place in the freezer in freezer safe containers for at least 2 hours to allow ice cream to harden.

I tried this ice cream both ways, and personally, I thought that the hardened version was much better.

Strawberry Peach Frozen Yogurt

Attempt #2 with the ice cream maker: success!

Strawberry Peach Frozen Yogurt
3 cups fruit: peaches and strawberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup milk
2 cups low fat vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup sugar

1. Puree peaches and strawberries.

2. Mix milk, yogurt and sugar in mixer.

3. Mix on low speed until sugar is dissolved.

4. Add fruit and continue mixing until well combined.


5. Remove freezer bowl from freezer and place on base of ice cream maker. Press start and turn on.

6. Pour half of yogurt into maker and make for 25-30 minutes, until thickened. Put the remaining yogurt in the fridge until the first batch is done and then repeat. (This actually made way too much, so I had to do it in two rounds).

7. Eat right away or freeze in serving size portions for future use. Thaw 30-40 minutes before eating.

Thin Mint Ice Cream

On the weekend, we got to try out our new ice cream maker for the first time! It was so quick, easy and delicious!

I used SnoWhite's vanilla ice cream recipe for the base and added thin mints for a little flair!

Thin Mint Ice Cream - modified from SnoWhite
3/4 cups sugar
2 cups half and half
1 cup whipping cream
3 tsp vanilla
1 cup crushed thin mints (about 10 cookies)
Extra thin mints for garnishing if desired

1. Break cookies into chunks.

2. Mix together all remaining ingredients until sugar is dissolved.

3. Place frozen mixing bowl on base of ice cream maker. Insert mixing arm and place lid on top. Turn on machine and immediately pour in liquid ingredients (no cookies yet).

4. Let the ice cream maker mix for about 30 minutes, until desired thickness is almost reached.

5. Add cookies and continue mixing for 5-10 minutes.

6. Scoop into serving bowls and serve immediately as soft serve or freeze in freezer safe containers for at least 2 hours to harden it up.

Makes 6 servings.

This was such a tasty treat and definitely a hit for our first try at homemade ice cream. The only thing I will do differently next time is perhaps add a hint of mint flavoring to the ice cream base itself as the thin mints made a yummy cookies and cream ice cream but the mint flavor could have been stronger for my liking.

Be prepared for lots of ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet recipes coming over the next few months. I plan on getting plenty of use out of this new toy ... especially if the heat keeps up!

Chocolate Cobbler

It has been a long time since you've seen me around here. My apologies. I really got out of the habit of being creative in the kitchen while I was struggling progressing through the first trimester and now, even though I am feeling LOADS better and finding myself with much more energy than before, I just haven't gotten my groove back. I have been cooking and baking - mostly everyday - but I have been sticking with a lot of my old, tried and true recipes that are already posted here - which doesn't give me a lot of new material. I do have a few recipes saved up that need to be posted so I am going to try to get some of them organized and ready to go this weekend. Check back next week!

A few weeks ago I, like many of you, saw and drooled over the Chocolate Cobbler recipe posted on Pioneer Woman's website. Over the next few days, I saw so many of my beeps, tweeps and feeps (that's my blogger peeps, twitter peeps and facebook peeps, FYI) posting and tweeting about this recipe that I knew I just had to have it. Immediately.

I was instructed by many that if I were to indulge in this decadent dessert, I must serve it with ice cream. Unfortunately, I hadn't received my free ice cream maker from CSN yet, so I rushed to the store to pick up some vanilla ice cream.

This recipe most certainly did not disappoint. And the best part - there are no eggs in the batter so you better believe that this pregnant mama was licking the bowls, the beaters, the spoon, her fingers -anything that had a hint of batter on it. I loveeeeeeeeeee eating raw batter and cookie dough, and I have missed being able to do so because of the raw eggs that is included in most of these things.

If you love chocolate and haven't tried this recipe - you must go make it. Now. And serve it warm with ice cream. Trust me.

Chocolate Cobbler - from Tasty Kitchen
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
7 T cocoa powder, Divided
1-¼ cup sugar, Divided
½ cups milk
⅓ cups melted mutter
1-½ tsp vanilla
½ cups Light Brown Sugar, Packed
1-½ cup Hot Tap Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, 3 tablespoons of the cocoa, and 3/4 cup of the white sugar. Reserve the remaining cocoa and sugar.

Stir in the milk, melted butter, and vanilla to the flour mixture. Mix until smooth.

Pour the mixture into an ungreased pie plate.

In a separate small bowl, mix the remaining 1/2 cup of white sugar, the brown sugar, and remaining 4 tablespoons of cocoa.

Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the batter.

Pour the hot tap water over all. DO NOT STIR!

Bake for about 40 minutes or until the center is set.

Let stand for a few minutes and serve with ice cream.

Enjoy the ooey gooey deliciousness!

Lemon Squares

Lemon squares are one of my very favorite desserts, so I decided to make them for a bridal shower I was hosting this past weekend. As I was making them, I realized I have not yet posted my recipe on my blog. Today is the day!
Lemon Squares - from BHG Cookbook
2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 T cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 T flour
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
3/4 cup lemon juice (the juice from 3 lemons)
1/4 cup half and half (can also use light cream, or milk)
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cornstarch and salt.

Cut in butter until dough resembles coarse crumbs.

Press firmly into a well greased 9x13 baking dish.

Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes until golden.

Meanwhile, make filling.

Mix together eggs, sugar, flour, lemon zest, lemon juice, and half-and half.

Pour over hot crust immediately out of the oven.

Continue baking for 15-20 minutes until center is set.

Cool. Dust with powdered sugar. Cut into bars and store covered in refrigerator.

Makes 3 dozen bars.

Stewed Rhubarb

Growing up, I always enjoyed the many many different rhubarb treats that my mom and grandmothers made. I get to enjoy rhubarb less often now, since we haven't started growing it and there is no longer a patch at my parent's house. However, I did have some in the freezer from last summer and got it out this weekend to make some stewed rhubarb. A delicious, delicious treat!

Stewed Rhubarb
5 cups rhubarb, chopped (can be frozen)
3/4 cup sugar (more or less to taste - I like mine quite tart so it blends well with ice cream)
2 T water
2 T strawberry jam

1. Combine rhubarb, sugar and water in saucepan. Heat over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved.

2. Reduce heat to medium. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until slightly thickened and rhubarb is in shreds. Stir in strawberry jam and continue heating for 2-3 minutes.

Serve over vanilla ice cream.

Makes 6 servings.

Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp
4-5 apples, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup melted butter

1. Arrange apples in a greased 8x8 baking pan. (I made a double batch in these photos)

2. Combine dry ingredients.

3. Stir in butter until well coated and crumbly.

4. Spread crisp over apples.

5. Bake at 375 for approximately 30 minutes, until apples are soft and crisp is crispy.

Makes 6 servings.