I’M KING OF THE WORLD!

At least that’s what I imagine the Teddy Graham at the top of the mountain ‘o chocolate ice cream saying if he could speak. I mean… Wouldn’t you?

Thank you to our Tuesdays With Dorie host this week, Katrina of Baking and Boys who picked Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream. You got me out of my funk. I should have known that CHOCOLATE would be the cure. Is there anything it can’t do? Click her blog link to to find the complete recipe.

I admit that what I’m about to say next is very arrogant.

I can’t do straight up recipes anymore. I have to spice it up! Repurpose it with my own twist. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it… sucks a$$. Hey! I’m only being real.

Since I just got back from camping in Yosemite I have s’mores on the brain. It was my favorite part of the camping day. At night after dinner and dishes were done (so bears wouldn’t be tempted to attack us for stray egg bits left on the pan) I loved settling in with my snuggie in front of the fire with our friends to make smores. So I knew for this chocolate ice cream I had to s’more it up.

What I learned this week:
I’m back bitches.

Chocolate Ganache [S'more] Ice Cream BFMHTY by Dorie Greenspan page 430

I used Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips. I was “this” close to switching out the bittersweet chocolate for milk chocolate to stay true to a real s’more but Dorie says that bittersweet is the way to go so I conceded to the master. I was not disappointed.

Obviously I am not a professional egg yolk separate-er. Only one stayed all perfectly round and bouncy. But who cares! Five seconds later it was all a mosh pit of egg yolk and sugar. Muhahaha…

Be careful tempering the egg yolk+sugar mixture. My hand got a little excited and slipped so more than 1/3 of the hot cream+milk mixture went into the egg yolk. No harm no foul b/c all of it went in eventually but I scared myself with the little scream I let out.

I poured the egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan and let it thicken up. I didn’t even use a thermometer. Just use Dorie’s hint about the custard coating the back of the spoon. Anything that keeps one less dish in the sink to wash makes this baker a happy camper.

Combine the egg yolk mixture with the chocolate mixture and chill in the refrigerator until cold. I like to make a little ice bowl nest for my chocolate ice cream base. Don’t ask me why. I just have to. Also I think dropping an ice cube, freaking out and fishing it out of the ice cream base also helps with the favor later. No really. It does. Next I transferred to KitchenAid ice cream maker. I set my KitchenAid to Stir (level 1) for about 15 minutes until it was soft serve yogurt consistency. Then I added the chotchkies (Jetpuff mini marshmallows and mini teddy graham crackers) and combined by hand. Then it’s off to a freezer safe container and let chill for 2 hours or overnight to meld all the fabulous ice cream flavors. Meld baby meld!

Husband rating: N/A
CB commentary: He’s on a damn diet. WTF??

Wifey rating: A/A+
Oh.My.God. I had reservations about the bittersweet vs milk chocolate but combine this ice cream with the marshmallows and teddy grahams and BAMM we have ourselves a winner. Yay me! (Can you tell I’m channeling my inner Emeril Lagasse? BAM BAM!)

Other rating: A/A+
My neighbors came over for an impromptu grill night for dinner and I served the s’more ice cream for dessert. Nothing but raves baby!

Next week: Oatmeal Breakfast Bread page 44

(Source)

How much do you tip your pizza delivery guy (or girl)?

As you’ve probably already noticed from my absence, I’m kinda in a cooking+baking summer funk but I can happily say I’m slowly getting back in the groove. (Looking forward to sharing this Tuesday’s TWD ice cream with ya’ll. Yum!) So there have been ALOT of pizza nights lately. And it got me thinking about tipping. I’m a tipper. Usually the standard 15%. Is that too much? Too little? Are pizza delivery guys like restaurant servers where they make less per hour b/c the business knows they get tips?

See? This is why I shouldn’t let my mind wander. I come up with weird questions.

Dear loyal IHFT readers,

I feel like I owe you all an apology. You have no idea how many times I’ve tried to write this blog entry. If I were writing this by pen there would be about 100 sheets of crumpled up paper at my feet by now.

If you would have told me 3 months ago that I had stopped writing in my blog I would have said “No way! No how! Blogging’s my life!” But never say never. Things can and do change. I’m not the person I use to be.

I wish I had a better excuse to give you all (No Janna, I’m not pregnant!) but unfortunately all I can tell you is I’m a private person which I realize is kind of ironic b/c I blog. If I need a break. I take a break. I don’t feel I need to announce to the blogiverse for permission, concern or advice b/c you all want to read happy things, happy thoughts, happy stories right? And right now in my current state of mind, it wouldn’t be cupcakes and rainbows. To be honest, in my current state of mind, I’d probably delete my blog.

I guess the best way to describe how I’m feeling is comparing it to trusting your friend with a rough draft of your manuscript and finding out later that they betrayed your trust and illegally distributed it. (For all the non-twinerds out there, you can read more about my comparison on Stephanie Meyer’s blog.) Ok maybe it’s not THAT dramatic but my trust has been betrayed and that’s always a devastating feeling. Something that takes time to heal.

Thank you for all the emails, tweets, phone calls, text messages, DMs and Facebook wall posts though. Even private ppl like to be missed.

I’m hoping to get out of this self-induced funk soon. Until then…

Cupcakes and love,
CB

What are the “best” pots+pans to buy?

I recently received an email from IHFT reader, Monica L., asking me to write a post on the “best” pots+pans to buy. Who me?? She gives me way too much credit. I have no idea what the “best” would be. Currently I use a Cuisinart non-stick set I got for my wedding. Is it the best? Who knows! But it works for me. I also just bought a couple of cast iron skillets from my local flea market but have yet to have the courage to actually use them. HA! And I am presently trying to build up my Le Creuset collection too. I heart my 6 qt French (Dutch) oven. Of course it’s red.

But I wasn’t satisfied with that as a reply to Monica so I’ll pose the question to my readers.

(1) What do you use?
(2) Do you like them?
(3) Do you covet something else?
(4) What do you recommend? and why?

(Thanks for your question suggestion, Monica!)

This is gonna have to be short and sweet. Kinda like this tart.

Thank you Cristine of Cooking with Cristine for hosting this week. You can find the recipe on her blog.

I love this tart b/c it’s so versatile. You can use practically any berry. Strawberries, blueberries raspberries or all three! In my case I went with strawberries, pistachios and raspberry jam glaze. I also went the mini tart route. FYI the Sweet Tart Dough recipe made 8-4″ mini tarts for me. Oh and a tip from fellow TWD baker, Barbara of Bungalow Barbara – brush a thin layer of white chocolate on the bottom if you wanna assemble these ahead of time. I took her advice and even though the tarts sat out for a few hours before guests arrived, the crust remain crispy and not soggy. w00t! Take my word for it. This one is a keeper.

Sorry no step-by-step pictures. I was in the middle of Mother’s Day Brunch chaos and pictures just weren’t happening. But here’s 2 more pictures since I couldn’t decide which one to use up top.

Husband rating: A/A+
He was a little leery of the strawberry+pistachio combination but he absolutely loved this tart. Score 1 for Wifey!

Wifey rating: A+
Sweet tart dough… good. Gorgeous fresh picked California strawberries… great. Pastry cream… FAN-FRIGGIN-TASTIC. Put it all together. How could it be bad? Another winner for Dorie!

Other: A+
I served this as part of Mother’s Day Brunch and EVERY.SINGLE.GUEST raved about them. Young, old, picky eaters. The tart won them all over.

Next week: Apple-Apple Bread Pudding pages 408-409