Someone recently gave me a package of Chips Ahoy cookies. I didn’t really want to just eat them plain, as there are plenty of cookies I like better, so I turned them into the bottom crust for a simple but fantastic ice cream cake for my birthday. Even if you don’t want this in cake form, you should really make this ice cream, it’s Very Good!
Ingredients:
Crust:
- 6.5 ounces Chips Ahoy cookies (1/2 of a package)
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
Ice Cream:
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup malted milk powder
- 1 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 3/4 cup 2% milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- hot fudge ice cream topping, to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Crush the cookies – this goes super fast in a food processor!
Add the melted butter and combine until well mixed. Again, this takes just seconds in a food processor.
Transfer the crumb mixture into a 9″ springform pan and bake 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Once the crust has reached room temperature, you can store it in the freezer until the ice cream is ready.
To make the ice cream, place the yolks in a medium, heatproof bowl and whisk them to break them up. Whisk in the malted milk powder, then set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, combine the cream, milk, sugar, and salt, stirring to combine. Place the pan over medium-high heat until the mixture just begins to simmer, then reduce the heat to medium.
Scoop approximately 1/2 a cup of the hot cream mixture and drizzle it into the bowl with the egg yolks, while whisking the yolks constantly. Repeat with another 1/2 cup of hot cream, continuing to whisk the yolk mixture.
Stirring the cream mixture constantly with a rubber spatula, now drizzle the egg mixture into the rest of the cream mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the combined mixture coats the back of a spoon, holding a clear line when you run your finger through it.
Strain the mixture into a clean container (to catch any scrambled eggs that may have cooked a bit too much).
Put your clean container into an ice bath to cool the custard you’ve made, stirring occasionally. Once the custard has reached roughly room temperature, stir in the vanilla and then cover it with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap all the way down to the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming on the surface. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.
When the custard has been chilled, freeze it according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. You can add fudge sauce (however much you want, probably something like 6 ounces) to the end of the churning process, or add it to the ice cream as you put it in the pan – I went with the latter as I didn’t want brown ice cream, but either way is going to taste fantastic.
Remove the prepared crust from the freezer and scoop the soft ice cream from your ice cream maker, adding hot fudge sauce between scoops of ice cream if you haven’t already added it to the ice cream, then swirling a bit and smoothing the top.
Extra fudge? Don’t mind if I do!
Freeze at least a further 3 hours before serving.
Happy birthday to me!
Malt Vanilla Ice Cream Cake
Ice cream recipe adapted from Epicurious.
Crust:
- 6.5 ounces Chips Ahoy cookies (1/2 of a package)
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
Ice Cream:
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup malted milk powder
- 1 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 3/4 cup 2% milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- hot fudge ice cream topping, to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Crush the cookies, then mix in the melted butter. Transfer the crumb mixture into a 9″ springform pan and bake 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Once the crust has reached room temperature, you can store it in the freezer until the ice cream is ready.
To make the ice cream, place the yolks in a medium, heatproof bowl and whisk them to break them up. Whisk in the malted milk powder, then set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, combine the cream, milk, sugar, and salt, stirring to combine. Place the pan over medium-high heat until the mixture just begins to simmer, then reduce the heat to medium.
Scoop approximately 1/2 a cup of the hot cream mixture and drizzle it into the bowl with the egg yolks, while whisking the yolks constantly. Repeat with another 1/2 cup of hot cream, continuing to whisk the yolk mixture.
Stirring the cream mixture constantly with a rubber spatula, now drizzle the egg mixture into the rest of the cream mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the combined mixture coats the back of a spoon, holding a clear line when you run your finger through it. Strain the mixture into a clean container. Put your clean container into an ice bath to cool the custard you’ve made, stirring occasionally. Once the custard has reached roughly room temperature, stir in the vanilla and then cover it with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap all the way down to the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming on the surface. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.
When the custard has been chilled, freeze it according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Remove the prepared crust from the freezer. Add fudge sauce at the end of the freezing, or swirl into the ice cream as you transfer it into the crust. Smooth the surface and freeze an additional 3 hours before serving.
Ingredients:
Add the egg and vanilla, then the salt.
On low speed, add the flour 1/2 cup at the time.
Fold in the baking soda, cornstarch, and butterscotch chips by hand.
Either cover the dough in the bowl or place it on plastic wrap and shape into a log (like slice and bake dough you can buy in the dairy/eggs section of your supermarket) and wrap up tight. Refrigerate at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Spoon or slice cookie dough onto the lined sheets.
Bake 10-12 minutes, cool on the pans 2 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool.
Ingredients:
Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each.
Mix in the vanilla and cinnamon.
Finally, mix in the sour cream, then spread evenly in the prepared crust. Set aside to make the topping.
For the topping, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Use a pastry blender, fork, or your hands to mix the butter into the dry goods until the the butter is well distributed and has just small clumps throughout.
Sprinkle the prepared oat mixture on top of the pears.
Bake for 15 minutes at 350, then reduce the temperature to 200 and bake a further 2 hours and 10 minutes. Turn off the oven, remove the cheesecake, and run a knife around the inside edge of the pan. Return the cheesecake to the oven with the door shut and let it sit in the still-warm oven for a further 2 hours. Remove from the oven, cover, and chill overnight.
My coworker Carol said this was the best thing I’ve made yet, which is a no small feat!
First, though, a 2-picture tutorial on cutting lemons to juice them, which I learned from the side of a lime box:
Transfer to a dish with a lid and freeze several more hours until firm.
Super simple, super flavorful
If you’re unsure how to get prepared spaghetti squash, cut a spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds and glop in the middle with a spoon. Either bake, face down, at 350 degrees for an hour, or microwave each half, again face down, for 10 minutes. Either way, once they are cooked you just scrape out the insides with a fork or two, and it’s all set! What you don’t use for the cheesecake, you can eat for dinner with some spaghetti sauce!
Add the pudding mix and process again until evenly combined.
Dot the surface with the jam, in this case blueberry, and swirl it with a knife.
Chill at least 1 hour before serving.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Serve either with a spoon, sliced fruit, or cookies for dipping.
This recipe calls for white wine. I don’t drink, and don’t need most of a bottle of wine sitting around, so I was going to go with one of the normal substitutions (grape juice or additional broth) but I decided to use this as an excuse to get a bottle of sparkling grape juice. The bubbles cooked out, but I thought it added a nice tangyness I enjoyed – maybe wine would do this as well, I don’t know – I really don’t ever drink!
Add the carrots, salt, and pepper, and cook an additional 2 minutes, continuing to stir occasionally.
Add the wine and stock, increase the heat to bring the mixture to a boil, then bring it back down to simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the beans and zucchini and simmer another 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
Add the peas, spinach, and Parmesan, and cook until they are warmed through and the spinach is wilted.
Serve with additional black pepper on top. Actually, or extra Parmesan? Why not.
Ingredients:
Add the butter and sugar and pulse until evenly combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared pie pan and press evenly into the sides and bottom of the pan.
Bake for 10 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.
Once the pie crust and strawberry mixture have been cooling for a while (10-15 minutes), cut the remaining strawberries into slices, then set aside. Beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar. Transfer the cream cheese mixture into the crust. Although the crust is pretty sturdy once it has chilled, I found it better at this point to drop the cream cheese in small blobs to distribute it widely, rather than trying to smear the cream cheese evenly and messing up the crust in the process.
Scatter the sliced strawberries over the cream cheese mixture.
Spoon the cooked/cooled strawberry mixture on top.
Refrigerate for 1 hour. Melt the chocolate chips, drizzle the chocolate over the top of the pie, and refrigerate a further 15 minutes. Then slice, serve, and do your own shouting about your pie prowess!
Ingredients:
Add the egg and vanilla, and beat again until combined. Reducing mixer speed to low, gradually add the flour mixture until just combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.
Transfer the dough to the prepared tart pan. Spread the dough evenly to cover the bottom and sides of the pan – if you don’t spread it up the sides too, you’ll have so much in the bottom that there’s nowhere for your filling to go!
Refrigerate the crust for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Remove the chilled crust from the refrigerator, and use a fork to poke holes all over the surface of the dough covering the bottom of the pan, but not the sides. Bake 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned, then set aside to cool.
Add approximately 1/2 cup of milk and whisk until combined. Stir in the remaining milk and the cream, then place over medium heat and bring to a boil, whisking frequently.
Boil, whisking constantly, for 1 minute, then remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla. Pour the hot pudding into the prepared crust, then cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic directly down onto the surface of the pudding. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. If you have the freezer space, in this time freeze the bowl and beaters you will make the whipped cream with.
When the pudding and crust are chilled, make the whipped cream. Using your chilled bowl and beaters, if possible, beat the cream on high speed until it begins to thicken. Add the sugar and vanilla, if using, and beat until soft peaks form.
Spread the whipped cream over the pudding layer, and serve.
While the ideal is certainly to share this with friends and eat it all in the first day or two, I was pleasantly surprised to find that even 5 days in (I need more friends, clearly), neither the pudding nor whipped cream had started to seep liquid – this stayed in great shape until the whole thing was gone. Yum!
Ingredients:
Stir the sugar and vanilla into the browned butter.
Add the white chocolate and stir until just combined. The still-warm butter will probably melt the chocolate chips some – I was fine with this, if you don’t want it to happen you can just let the butter cool some. Spoon the dough onto the prepared sheets in roughly golf-ball sized portions.
Bake for 9 minutes, rotating the pans and switching racks half-way through.
Cool on the pan briefly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
