Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Bizzerko remake

My husband and I are a bit obsessed with Amy's Ice Cream if we ever happen to be in Texas. In particular, they have a flavor, I don't know the exact name, with Bizzerko in the title. It is amazing. Amazing as in the best ice cream flavor I can remember having. I liked it best with a teeny bit of Chunky Natural Peanut Butter mixed in.

So that I don't have to go to Texas and hope this flavor is featured to get another taste of this, I'm going to attempt to replicate it for my husband's birthday. Since I don't have an ice cream maker, I'm going to have to do this by mixing what I think are the key elements into store-bought vanilla.

The elements are:
Cream cheese/cheesecake
Hazelnuts
A teeny bit of cinnamon
Graham Crackers
Pecan Praline

So in the name of "science" I'm actually going to try 3 things:
1) Make a cheesecake with all of these elements and mix into ice cream. I'm going to use this crust with a bit of cinnamon added in and the filling from this cheesecake with hazelnut in place of most of the peanut butter.
2) Since I loved the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cream Cheese Bars from Bakingblonde so much, I am going to make some, but use the crust from above. Instead of chocolate chips in the dough, I'll use hazelnut butter, and top with the extra pecans from the crust. I'll bake as cupcakes again.
3) Make this cream cheese, but use hazelnut butter instead of hazelnuts, and add a bit of cinnamon. Make these Praline Pecan Squares, and pulse in food processor. Mix both into ice cream.

I cannot wait to bake, taste test, and help pick the winner!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Lucky Charms Cupcakes

I wanted a St. Patrick's themed treat for my niece, nephew, and sister who are coming tonight for a sleepover.

Because my husband and I both still have a soft-spot for the cereals of our youth, I was sold on idea of Lucky Charms Cupcakes from the Cupcake Project.

However, I couldn't wrap my mind around the homemade corn syrup and homemade Lucky Charms. For one, I'm trying to be a little less crazy with the time I spend in the kitchen. For another, as a born and raised Midwestern girl, I could not get my mind around corn on the cob in March.

So I went the lazy way, and just followed the ideas from the Cupcake Project:
1) I used the Lucky Charms crust (doubled) in the recipe. However, I left lots of the marshmallows in the cereal mix (store-bought), only taking out some for the cupcake topping. I realized after I got the crust in the food processor that it turned an eery green. My husband taste-tested just the crust, and said it was delicious so I proceeded. Once I tasted the crust baked on the cupcake I also loved it, and I think the marshmallows must have added to the chewy sweetness. So if you do remove all marshmallows to avoid a funky color, maybe replace them with chopped white mini-marshmallows?

The doubled crust recipe filled 24 cupcakes + 4 star shaped cupcakes in my silicone mold.

2) I folded 2+ cups of Lucky Charms into the prepared batter of a Betty Crocker yellow cake mix.

The batter with the extra cereal filled 24 cupcakes + 6 stars, but the cupcakes were not overly-filled (I could have made fewer, bigger cupcakes).

3) Normally I love chocolate frosting on yellow cupcakes. So I made the sticky chocolate icing, that I've mentioned here before.

My husband and I each tried 1) a quarter of a cupcake with the sticky chocolate, and 2) a quarter of a cupcake with this buttercream frosting, leftover from yesterday's brownie pie.

The buttercream won hands down!!!

So I frosted the rest with green buttercream and topped with the reserved Lucky Charms marshmallows.

Next up? If I have the energy after the sleepover, I'll make the kids either green or rainbow pancakes for St. Patrick's day tomorrow!

Frosted Oreo Brownie Pie

With my husband home on spring break and lots of recent family gatherings, I have a few new recipes to share before I forget what I did!:
The first:
Frosted Oreo Brownie Pie
A) I used this Oreo crust recipe.
I made 1.5 times the crust recipe, and used a 9" in pie plate + 1 cupcake to bake these in (that way my husband and I got to try these the night before!!!)
B) I used the Betty Crocker Brownie mix with the syrup pouch. I also added a bit more (maybe around 2 tbls. ?? Hershey's syrup), and a few handfuls of chopped semi-sweet chocolate chips (mini would have been perfect) folded into the batter.
C) I layered half the batter into the pans, and then spread about 5 crushed Oreos over the batter, topped with the remaining batter, and baked until a toothpick barely came clean (no idea how long this was!)
D) I put a thin layer of this buttercream, a new favorite, on top of the brownies the same night they were baked. The frosting was quickly melting so I covered up the brownies, and made a nice, thin smooth layer of frosting on top the next day.

It was absolutely sinful (maybe the wrong dessert for a confirmation dinner??) and delicious! But it was super rich, so it is best enjoyed with a scoop of ice cream.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Lemon Tahini dressing

This dressing is AMAZING. I literally licked the food processor clean after making this!
Recipe is from Oh She Glows:
Lightened Up Protein Power Goddess Bowl

I haven't made the protein power bowl, just the dressing. I put it on green salads and steamed veggies, and since I am a meat eater, on top of grilled fish, chicken, seriously anything would taste good with this stuff on top!

I made mine with no water, 2 tbls. olive oil, almost 3/4 c. lemon juice, 1/3 c tahini, 4 garlic cloves and 1/3 c. nutritional yeast.

I also wanted to post today because I saw a quote on a food blog I had to share:
"Remember, a balanced meal is a cookie in each hand!" - Anonymous

Of course, my husband added--And a cookie in your mouth!