SpiceDish Saturday {January}: Espresso Chip Frozen Yogurt

When EB of SpiceDish sent this recipe she said: “I HIGHLY recommend [this recipe]. I was kind of shocked how well it came out. Had it for breakfast this morning!” If I liked anything in the coffee family, I certainly would have, but I'll have to trust EB's opinion -- which is usually spot on...

It's that paradoxical time of year when our bodies crave lighter foods after months of feasting but we still have those cravings for sweet treats that became habitual. This is the perfect thing for these January days. It's sweet, but not too sweet, tart but not too tart, creamy but not too creamy.... you get the idea. It's also possibly one of the easiest recipes ever!

Espresso Chip Frozen Yogurt
1cup greek yogurt (either plain or vanilla)
¾ cup powdered sugar
pinch of salt
¾ cup whole milk
1 cup cold espresso
1 tbs crushed chocolate covered coffee beans

Whisk together all ingredients and chill completely. Freeze in your ice cream maker, 10 minutes for a shake, 20 for frozen yogurt.

Enjoy!

Fried Ice Cream Friday

I had never had fried ice cream until New Year's Eve. You would think I would have tried it a the Minnesota State Fair where everything is deep fried, but I didn't see it when I went. Luckily, I have a new source. My brother-in-law is the king of deep frying! ☺ Since almost no one in my family is really that into New Year's, we've kind of started this tradition of "Deep Fried New Year's" -- yep, we go out with a bang, before starting afresh in the New Year.

This year, the hit of the party was fried ice cream. Deep fried ice cream takes commitment. You can't just decide you want deep fried ice cream. It takes preparation. Though I wasn't there for the prep, there's a lot of scooping, coating, and freezing to be done.

My brother-in-law used Rick Browne's The Frequent Fryers Cookbook, which apparently hasn't been purchased by the public that frequently because it is unfortunately out of print.

Anyway, I urge you to try fried ice cream at the store. Order it next time it is offered at a restaurant or find a recipe online (perhaps this one by Emeril?) if you can't procure a copy of The Frequent Fryers Cookbook. I can't quite explain the goodness of fried ice cream, but it's truly worth trying.

Deep fried photo courtesy of Larry Schlegel © 2011.

Happy National Irish Cream Day!

Sorry I happened to stumble across a National Food and Drink Day calendar and it inspired me for posts! So today happens to be National Irish Cream day...hmmm...gotta say I love it with coffee but that has nothing to do with ice cream. Recently Baileys Coffee Creamers contacted us to see if we wanted to promote their Coffee creamers and the both of us scratched our head thinking but how do we incorporate it into ice cream. We all love free samples but really it has to be relevant, right?! My first thought was a mocha milk shake with irish cream creamer mixed in YUM! Hopefully you'll see  a future post on that but in the mean time we've also found some great recipes using the true thing. Here's a recipe straight from Ice Cream Ireland for some great Irish Cream Liqueur Ice Cream...enjoy!

Happy National Peanut Butter Day!

Just in the nick of time to wish you all a Happy National Peanut Butter Day! If you didn't get your PB fill today there is always tomorrow! Here are some of our favorites plus an awesome recipe we found on Annie's Eats.

Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Tracks

Breyers Blasts! Reeses Peanut Butter Cup

Turkey Hill's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup

RECIPE: Annie's Eats Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Look what I got for xmas

The fun begins and I say fun because I think my addiction is more in designing than popsicles. The Zoku popsicle maker instantly freezes liquid and you can make really cool designed popsicles. Well so the recipe book shows at least but honestly I am not sure if I will ever achieve this after my first take. 

Cherry and Grape Koolaid

Vanilla and Fudge with cookies in the middle

I've only tried this thing out once and think its going to be a playdate staple...that is how this got its first test run. The girls thought it was so cool to instantly make popsicles. Mom thought it was cool to make fun designs or at least attempt because really these aren't so cool! 

All in all I think its a fun product but I am sure the novelty will wear off. Or hopefully not. I know Bethany got one, had issues, got another, had more issues and finally threw the towel in and Zoku then sent her a free one. Wow...a company that really stands behind their product with customer service. So they get an A for that. Mine worked totally fine out of the box. Oh and they get an A for a nicely designed product too. It's pretty sleek and very compact. It makes three pops at a time (7-10 minutes per 3) and you can get about 9 pops before they just won't freeze anymore. It's probably the size of a Turkey Hill quart.

Expect to see future posts with my creations!