Mommiedaze

Summer Chillers: Chunky Chocolate Cherry Ice Cream

I had cherries and whipping cream left over from last week’s Summer Chiller. I’ve made ice cream a few times this summer, and I thought I’d try making it with cherries. Nothing goes better with cherries than chocolate, so I threw in some milk chocolate chips. I actually cobbled together a few different recipes to come up with this. I also used a no-cook, eggless ice cream base this time.

Chunky Chocolate Cherry Ice Cream

2 cups milk

1 cup sugar

2 cups whipping cream or half and half

2 tbs almond extract

1 cup pitted and chopped cherries macerated in 1/4 cup of sugar

1 cup of milk chocolate chips

Pit and chop cherries. Stir in 1/4 a cup of sugar. Refrigerate for one hour.

Combine milk, cream, sugar and almond extract. Stir briskly, about two minutes until sugar is dissolved. (Undissolved sugar crystals may be a cause of large ice crystal formation.)  Pour into a 1-gallon ice cream freezer, and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. When ice cream is partially frozen, add in cherry mixture and chocolate chips. (Again make sure all the sugar in the cherry mixture is dissolved.) Finish freezing. Put in a covered container and place in the freezer several hours to harden.

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Summer Chillers: Blueberry Torte

You’ll have to fire up the oven and the stove for this one today, but it’s worth it.

Blueberry season is in full swing around here. I brought home 10 lbs from a local farm last week. Most are to freeze for winter. But I thought I’d enjoy a few now with this dessert.

Blueberry Torte Recipe

Graham Cracker Crust

1 1/2 C crushed Graham crackers

1/2 C margarine, melted

4 Tbs sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together graham crackers, margarine and sugar. Press into bottom of 9 x 13 inch pan. Par-bake 5 minutes. Leave oven on for the next step.

Filling

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 eggs

1/2 C sugar

1 tsp vanilla

While crust is par-baking, beat together cream cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Pour into par-baked crust. Return to oven for 15 minutes.

Blueberry Topping

1 quart blueberries

4 tbs corn starch

3/4 C sugar

While filling is baking, put corn starch and sugar in a large sauce pan. Add enough water to cover bottom of the pan. Put pan on a burner over medium heat. Stir until corn starch is dissolved. Add blueberries. Cook until thickened. Stir occasionally.

Let the blueberry mixture cool a bit then pour over cheese filling. Chill in fridge. Cut into squares and serve with whipped cream.

This is another fast, easy recipe. If you have all your ingredients close at hand, and remember to take the cream cheese out to soften ahead of time, this should take you about a half an hour to put together.

Kids love to help crush the graham crackers. I put the whole crackers in a large Ziploc bag then let my son pound away with the rolling pin. And any crumbs left over just store in the bag for another day.

Don’t have time to wait for the topping to cool? Take the pan off the stove and place on top of a large bowl of ice cubes. Stir the mixture. You won’t believe how fast this cools things down.

Recipe came from my Grandma Awald

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Summer Chillers: No-Bake Oreo Cheesecakes

When a friend passed this recipe on to me she had me at Oreo. It’s easy, delicious and as she said, “perfect for hot summer days.”

No-Bake Oreo Cheesecake Recipe

12 Oreo cookies (Double-Stuff recommended!!)
12 cupcake holders
1/2 cup white sugar
1 pkg cream cheese
1 tub Cool Whip

Place an Oreo cookie inside each cupcake holder. Mix together the sugar, cream cheese, and Cool Whip until smooth. Top each cookie and add sprinkles if desired.

Refrigerate at least an hour before serving.

I told you it was easy. There’s only problem with these. You’ll either have to make them right away, or hide Oreos after you bring them home from the store. Otherwise your family will eat all the cookies before you make the cheesecakes.

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Summer Chillers: Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

It was 90 degrees here today. Finally, a hot summer day! The kind of day where there’s nothing to do but spend it in the pool. We did drag ourselves back inside late in the afternoon once our skin was sufficiently pruney and bronzed.

When I started scratching up something to make for this week’s edition of Summer Chillers, I knew that I did not want to turn on the oven or the stove top.  So I called my mom to get this recipe. She informed me that this actually came from the school cafeteria where she taught before I was born. Don’t let that scare you though. It doesn’t taste anything like cafeteria food. That was back in the early 1970’s, and no one yet cared what their children were eating in school, so things still had sugar, fat and flavor in them.

Anyway, class, the only heat source you will need for today’s lesson is a microwave.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar Recipe

3/4 C of Butter or Margarine, melted plus a little more

3 Cups of Peanut Butter

3 3/4 Cups of Powdered Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla

5 ounces of Chocolate Chips

Melt the butter in the microwave. Mix together the melted butter, peanut butter and powdered sugar. Press into the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan.

In the microwave melt the chocolate chips with a little bit of margarine. (This is how recipe was written. I used about a tablespoon.)

Spread the melted chocolate evenly over the peanut butter mixture. Refrigerate for two hours before cutting into squares and serving. And you must eat these things with milk. A LOT of milk. They’re good, but that’s a whole mess of peanut butter to wash down.

Melting Chocolate in the Microwave

Up until a few moths ago I melted chocolate the old fashioned way, in a double boiler. I got brave one day and decided to try it in the microwave. While it’s quicker and easier, it must be done very carefully. It takes only a few seconds too long to turn you chocolate into a hard, burned mess. How do I know? Let’s just say experience is the best teacher.

So put the chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Glass is better than plastic. Nuke it at 30 second intervals, stirring each time. Chocolate can deceive you by holding it’s shape even though it’s actually melting. When most of the chocolate is melted, take it out and stir until it’s smooth. A few remaining chunks will be dissolved by the chocolate that’s already hot and melted.

The same goes for melting butter in the microwave. It only takes about 30 seconds to a minute. You can melt it most of the way, then finish it up by taking it out and stirring. If you over cook the butter it will splatter, and you’ll have a nice greasy mess to clean up. I learned that hard way too.

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Summer Chiller: Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream with Blueberry Sauce

I guess I’ve been on summer vacation for a few days. I never did get around to doing last Thursday’s Girl Talk. And I didn’t plan ahead for this week’s Summer Chiller. When I finally decided I should make something last night, I had to make due with ingredients on hand. I had all the things to make vanilla ice cream.

A lot of vanilla ice cream recipes call for raw eggs. I don’t want to give my family salmonella, so I found a recipe with a cooked egg base which technically makes this a frozen custard.

Vanilla Ice Cream (Frozen Custard) Recipe

6 eggs
2 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups whipping cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
crushed ice (if required by manufacturer for your ice cream freezer)
rock salt (if required by manufacturer for your ice cream freezer)

1. In medium saucepan, beat together eggs, milk, sugar and salt. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat a metal spoon with a thin film and reaches at least 160 degrees F.

2. Cool quickly by setting pan in ice or cold water and stirring for a few minutes.

3. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least one hour.

4. When ready to freeze, pour chilled custard, whipping cream and vanilla into 1-gallon ice cream freezer can.

Freeze according to manufacturer’s directions using six parts ice to one part rock salt. Transfer to freezer containers and freeze until firm.

From the UNL Extension

I got this all cooked and cooled then realized I’d made an oversight. I have an electric ice cream maker that uses a frozen bowl instead of ice and rock salt to freeze the ice cream. The bowl is supposed to go in the freezer for 12 hours before making the ice cream. So although I had every intention of finishing this last night, I had to wait until this morning.

It took almost as long to find the other pieces to my ice cream maker, as it did for the ice cream to freeze. It was scattered all over the kitchen in different cupboards. But I finally got it put together. About 45 minutes later it was thick and creamy. It’s still pretty soft at this point, so it’s best to let it harden in the freezer for a few hours or overnight. But you can eat it right away too.

While the ice cream was churning, I made blueberry sauce for it.

Blueberry Sauce Recipe

1 C water

1 C sugar

1 C blueberries

Stir sugar and water together in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Add blueberries. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until liquid thickens to a thin syrup. If you get distracted like I did, and the sauce gets too thick, just add some water back in.

Now if you have the time and an ice cream maker, this is one food that if you make it yourself, you can definitely save money. A premium gallon of ice cream in the store can be over $5 these days. It only cost about $2.50 cents to make this. And if you’re worried about what’s in your food, you can control that too by using organic ingredients, and this of course has no preservatives in it. You could even make it sugar-free by substituting Splenda.

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Summer Chillers: Apple Pie Ala Mode Freezer Tart

Fourth of July is just a few days away, and as they say, what’s more American that apple pie? But I didn’t want to peel and cut up apples and make pie crust. I didn’t want to warm up the house by leaving the oven on for an hour either. So, I came with the Apple Pie Ala Mode Freezer Tart. I don’t often just make up my own dishes, but this one is a Mommie Daze original, sort of. It’s based on other frozen desserts I’ve had in the past.

Everything you need to make this you can buy pre-made from the store.

2 Pre-made graham cracker pie crusts

1 can of apple pie filling

1 gallon of vanilla ice cream

1 jar of caramel sauce

1 tub of Cool Whip

I  did actually make my own crust, because I wanted to put it in a 9×13 dish instead of two separate pie tins. And since it was only 50 degrees when we woke up this morning, I didn’t mind turning the oven on for 10 minutes. It’s summer, but it’s felt more like apple pickin’ season around here lately.

Graham Cracker Crust for 9×13 Pan

2 c. crushed graham crackers
1/4 c. white sugar
1/2 c. melted butter

Stir together. Press into bottom of baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

In the past, I crushed graham crackers in my food processor. It gets the job done fast, but digging it out of the the cupboard and washing it afterward is a pain. It’s a lot easier to put the crackers in a big Ziploc bag, and crush them with a rolling pin. I let my son do that part. It’s a good outlet for a three-year-old boy who likes to pound on things.

Either you’ve got the store bought crust or your homemade one ready to go. Now you need to soften the ice cream, and chill your can of apple pie filling in the fridge. Sit the ice cream out on the counter for about a half an hour. It may take a little longer or a little less, depending on the room temperature.

Once the ice cream is soft spread it in a layer about 1/2 to inch think. (If you make your own crust, make sure it’s completely cooled first.) I found it easier to  press the ice cream down into the crust with a spatula rather than actually spread it. I only ended up using about 2/3 of the gallon. Once the ice cream is spread out, put the tart in the freezer for an hour to let the ice cream firm up.

After an hour take the tart out of the freezer, and the pie filling out of the fridge. Spread the filling over the ice cream. Then spread the Cool Whip over the pie filling. Cover and return to the freezer for about six hours until firm or overnight.

When ready to serve, top with caramel sauce. (Mine actually has butterscotch on it, because I accidentally grabbed the wrong jar at the grocery and didn’t notice until I got home. Still tastes good!)

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Summer Chillers: Frosty Peanut Butter Pie and Potato Salad

We are having unseasonably cool temps here in Michigan. It’s only 65 degrees today, and feels more like the end of September than the middle of June. But I’m thinking warm thoughts, and have two recipes for this first weekly installment of Summer Chillers, one sweet and one savory.

Let’s throw all caution to the wind and have dessert first. Frosty Peanut Butter Pie. This would be the perfect ending to a summer BBQ. I made this one for my husband who loves peanut butter.

Frosty Peanut Butter Pie Recipe

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

8 oz. frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 chocolate crumb crust (Get pre-made in you grocery’s baking aisle.)

2 tsp chocolate syrup

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Fold in the whipped topping. Spoon into crust. Drizzle with chocolate syrup. Cover and freeze 4 hours or until set. Remove from freezer 30 minutes before serving.

From The Busy Family Cookbook by Taste of Home

This was so quick and easy. No oven, no stove. Mix it all up in one bowl, so hardly any dirty dishes to wash. It’s what a summer dessert should be. Fast, simple and did I mention it’s really yummy? Need to entertain board kids that are out of school? They can help make this too since there isn’t any heat or dangerous kitchen tools involved. My son David who’s three and a half helped. Of course they’ll want to lick everything when you’re done. And don’t worry about all those calories. You’ll burn them off making the next dish.

I love potato salad. Since it got warm, (Well, it was until yesterday.) I’ve been craving it. I don’t really like to make it though, because it seems like is a lot of work. Store bought is O.K. sometimes, but you never know what you’re gonna get. Homemade is almost always better. I finally gave in and got out the potato peeler. There are a hundred different ways to make potato salad. This is my mom’s recipe.

Mom’s Potato Salad

Hard boil 3 eggs, cool, peel and chop into small pieces. Wash and peel 5 to 7 potatoes, then cut up into small chunks. Boil 20 to 30 minutes. (Hint, you can save a pot to wash if you boil the eggs while you’re peeling and cutting up the potatoes. Just use a pot big enough to hold the potatoes. By the time the eggs are done, the potatoes are ready to cook and you’ve already got a pot of boiling water.) When both are cool put the eggs and potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Add to it 2 dill pickles, 2 stalks of celery and one small onion all chopped small. Stir together. In a separate bowl mix together 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of sugar, (It depends on how sweet you want your potato salad) 1/2 a cup of Miracle Whip and one TBS of mustard. Stir Miracle Whip mixture into potato mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. This is best made the day before. Flavor improves when refrigerated overnight.

It’s the peeling and boiling and waiting and chopping and chopping and chopping that gets me. But homemade potato salad is worth it. Even if you only make it once a year.

Enjoy and stay cool! I’m gonna go put on sweater now so I can eat some of that pie.

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