Coffee Milkshake

Hey friends!

Still enjoying Portland... pretty sure I'm going to move here.  It's so beautiful and the weather is perfect!  I can't wait to tell you all about it.

Anyway, I'm pretty disappointed because I missed National Coffee Milkshake Day.  If you missed out, too, here's a delicious and refreshing recipe from KRUPS!

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National Coffee Milkshake Day was July 26th, giving you the perfect opportunity to indulge and cool off as the temperatures soar. Without having to leave your kitchen, the KRUPS KB710 Blender easily whips up this cool and sweet summer treat. 

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Celebrate the delicious holiday today with this 600 watt blender that will make that perfect coffee milkshake.  With 6 variable speeds plus an ice crusher, the KRUPS KB710 Blender  chops, purees, blends and whisks your food with ease. It has a 50 ounce durable and heat resistant borosilicate glass jar, detachable blade for easy cleaning and heavy-duty die cast metal base for stability and durability.

INGREDIENTS:

1 scoop vanilla ice cream

2 tablespoons strong brewed coffee, cold

1/4 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

PREPARATION:

In a blender, combine ice cream, coffee and cocoa. Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve.

(Photos, recipe, and article courtesy of KRUPS)

Fruity Banana Smoothie? Sorbet? Ice Cream?

Sometimes you just have to stop and relax.

It's harder to do than you think.  Most of us are constantly on the go and never have any down time.

Think about the last time that you just sat down for 20 minutes doing absolutely nothing but relaxing.

Was it a long time ago?

If so, I'd advise you to do some relaxing.  Just sit down for 20 minutes and maybe even meditate.  Meditating isn't some weird thing freaks do, I promise.  I do it all the time (not that that proves anything.)  Meditating is just controlling your breaths and releasing all thoughts.  It's been proven to reduce Cortisol levels and Cortisol is what (apparently) causes stress and mindless eating.  So, there you have it.  Take some time for yourself just to relax.  You deserve it!

And before you head off to relax, make a banana mango smoothie.  Check out the title... I wasn't quite sure what to call it because I couldn't decide if it's a smoothie, sorbet, or ice cream.  It's just like the "1 ingredient banana ice cream" except it's got 3 ingredients... so does that make it a smoothie?  Or a sorbet since one of the other ingredients is frozen fruit?!  Don't ask me; I'm obviously confused!  Whatever it is, it's so simple, delicious, and healthy.  I've made one almost every day for the past two weeks.  And if you make it, please tell me what you'd call it.  :)

Fruity Mango Smoothie/Sorbet/Ice Cream


1 frozen banana, chopped up
1/2 large frozen mango, chopped up (or fruit of choice)
1/4 cup yogurt

1.  Chop your banana and mango.
2.  Put in freezer a couple of hours or until frozen.
3.  Blend all ingredients in a food processor.
4.  Enjoy!

I also made one with about a cup of frozen strawberries.  Delicious!

Snow Cream Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich

Yesterday, I was on a mission to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie. 

I normally prefer my chocolate chip cookies super thin, but there are so many types, and after trying the cookies I just made, I'm still staying solid with my decision.  The only problem with this is that I'm biased because I always tend to bake thin cookies.  I should probably branch out a little bit, but for now I'm really enjoying these.

How are you supposed to just pick one kind when there are a jillion different types of cookies?  Geez, life and all of it's hard decisions. 

But, really, what components make a perfect chocolate chip cookie?  I feel like I should bake a different chocolate chip cookie every day to try and figure out this mystery.  For now, I'm just going to look at the pictures on other blogs.  A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Also, please, please, please, if you have snow in your area right now, make snow cream!!!!

The Great Debate: (Photos courtesy of each blog that is linked.  Not my pictures.)

The Puffy Chocolate Chip Cookie Buns in My Oven

The Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie  Eat at Allie's

The Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookie  Full Time Foodie

The Chocolate Choclate Chip Cookie  Yummly

The Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookie  Chow

And my current favorite, the chewy on the inside, crunchy on the outside, Super Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies: (my pictures):

Super Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from:  Salon.com

I was a little skeptical about making these because the ingredient list seemed a little weird, but they turned out just how I wanted them to.  

 Mix toasted oats and melted butter.

 Mix wet and dry ingredients.

 Fold in the best part.

 Bake until the edges are crispy.

Ingredients

    1 ¼ cups flour

    generous ½ teaspoon baking soda

    8 tablespoons unsalted butter

    ½ cup toasted instant oats

    heaping ½ cup white sugar

    ¼ cup brown sugar

    1/4 tsp cream of tartar

    1/4 cup milk or cream

    1/4 tsp salt

    1/2 tsp vanilla

    1/4 cup chocolate chips

    1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix flour, salt and baking soda together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Melt butter in microwave and let cool slightly. In a large bowl mix toasted oats and melted butter. Stir in sugar, cream of tartar, cream, vanilla and mix well. Stir in the flour mixture until incorporated. Make sure the dough is room temperature or cooler before adding the chocolate chunks, or they will melt.

Scoop tablespoon sized balls onto baking sheets. They spread. Flatten the cookies slightly.

Bake about 15 minutes until lightly browned and the edges are crisp. Carefully slide the parchment paper with cookies on it onto cooling racks.

Snow Cream  

(I made a regular batch and a "peppermint" batch.  For peppermint batch, heat 1/3 cup

Andes Peppermint Baking Pieces with a little bit of milk, stir until creamy, and fold into snow cream)

 Get your snow... BRR!

Mix until it looks like dough, kind of.

Ingredients

1 can sweetened condensed milk

8 cups CLEAN snow

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine until you reach desired consistency!

QUESTION:  What's your favorite chocolate chip cookie???

Candy Corn (Infused) Ice Cream

So, so much for that letter to fall.  I have been completely sucked in and that's that.  Don't leave me though, guys!  This too shall pass.

Also, I'm sure you don't want another cold recipe when it's getting colder outside.  I think I'm subconsciously doing this because I really wish that it was warm outside.

Or maybe I'm just doing it because I really love candy corn and I really love ice cream and the thought of mixing them together makes me swoon.

Either way, it doesn't matter, this is delicious and I'm a sucker for ANY candy corn recipe,(if you think I have a pumpkin obsession, let's not even talk about candy corn) so if you have some, please share.  They are pretty hard to come by. 

This recipe is genius, though.  First, there are only 3 ingredients.  Second, I never thought to dissolve candy corn...  now I have so many possibilities popping up in my head for other recipes.  I'm unstoppable, now!  My favorite part about this ice cream (besides the fact that it's candy corn flavored) is how creamy it is.  Not only that, but how creamy it is even after being in the freezer overnight.  It's magic ice cream!

After you have made and refrigerated the mixture, don't forget to strain it!

Add everything to the ice cream maker and watch it transform into this!

Candy Corn Ice Cream
Adapted by:  Peabody

(I was out of both heavy whipping cream AND whole milk, so I adapted the following recipe accordingly and it still turned out fantastically, and it's a bit 'lighter')

2 cups Half and Half (or heavy cream)
1 cup skim milk (or whole milk)
13 ounces candy corn

Pour 1 cup of the half and half into a medium saucepan and add the candy corn. Warm over medium heat, stirring, until you start to see the candy corn dissolve. It doesn't have to dissolve completely, just heat it until the half and half starts turning orange.  There will still be candy corn on the bottom.  Turn heat off and let half and half come to room temperature. Add the remaining cream and milk.
Put into an air tight container and refrigerate overnight, at least 12 hours. When you can remember to, shake the container up to get the candy corn loose, or stir the mixture.
Remove from refrigerator and strain the milk/cream mixture through a sieve or really small strainer to catch the candy corn pieces that did not disintegrate.
Freeze in your ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Top with extra candy corn if you would like.

Pumpkin Pie Shake

Dear Fall,

Remember a couple weeks ago when I expressed my love for you?  Well, now I'm kind of upset with you.  Do you see this obsession that has come over me?  I drove an hour today just to get snacks that are affiliated with you.  I bought a bag of Hershey's Candy Corn Kisses, a bag of Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses, and a bag of pumpkin spice candy corn, and had to get ahold of myself when I searched forever only to find that the Pumpkin Pie Poptarts weren't being sold.  (Seriously Target?) I dedicated a day to finding fall treats that aren't sold anywhere near here just to find out that the Pumpkin Pie Poptarts weren't there, Fall.  If it weren't for the Hershey's Kisses and candy corn, I may have thrown a fit, right there in the middle of the store.  Anyway, I would greatly appreciate it if you would help me control this obsession because it's getting a bit ridiculous.

Love
Katie

P.S.  The orange stain on the letter?  Oh yeah, sorry, that's the pumpkin pie shake.  It's your fault. 

Pumpkin Pie Shake
Adapted from: Our Best Bites

1/3 C pumpkin puree
1/4 C milk
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 T sugar or brown sugar
2 C vanilla ice cream
1-2 graham crackers, nilla wafers, etc.  I used leftover pie crust.

I started out by trying to put this in the blender.  That didn't work out so well for me, so I pretty much ended up doing it all by hand.  Just mix everything together! (You can stir the graham crackers/nilla wafers/pie crust in or crumble on top.  I stirred mine in)  Top with whipped cream.

Creamy Homemade Blueberry Pie Ice Cream

I have a corny sense of humor.

I love jokes that are so stupid you just have to laugh at them.

Why did the golfer wear two pairs of paints?
In case he got a hole-in-one.

Haha!  Funny, right?

Well anyway, you can imagine my disappointment when, on Sunday, I tried making this ice cream concoction and my (moms) ice cream machine wasn't cold enough so I wasn't able to name this post "Ice Cream Sunday".

I'm sorry that I wasn't able to provide you all with such a clever title, which I'm sure has never been used before.

What I can provide you with, though, is an extremely delicious ice cream recipe!  We had some blueberries in the fridge and I still hadn't thought of an ice cream to make yet, and from there it's all history.  The pieces of frozen pie crust in this are so delicious, and the whole blueberries/blueberry sauce add a very nice touch to the whole thing.  Mmm!

Put together oil and water.

Roll out dough and poke holes in it.

Baked pie crust.

Break cooled pie crust into pieces.

Somewhere in between here, make the blueberry filling.

Make Ice Cream mixture

Make ice cream according to ice cream maker's instructions.

Put in a cup.

Admire the gobs of blueberries and broken pie crust.

Devour!

Blueberry Pie Ice Cream

Ingredients

Mom's Pie Crust:
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour
(Or use a store bought pie crust/your own recipe)
**You will probably only use half of this recipe.

Blueberry Filling:
1 cup blueberries
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

Ice Cream:
Adapted From:  Cuisinart
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375.
First, make the pie crust.  Fill a measuring cup 1/3 cup full with water.  Add 2/3 cup oil, add in a couple of ice cubes, and mix until combined and cold.  Put flour in a bowl and slowly pour the oil/water mixture into the flour, combining with your hands.  Mix with hands until just combined. Do not overmix!
Let dough chill in the fridge while you make blueberry sauce.
For the blueberry sauce, combine all ingredients in a small saucepan on low heat until the mixture thickens a bit, adding more water if needed.
Once your blueberry mixture is finished, chill in the refrigerator.
Get out the pie crust.  **You will only need half, unless you want your ice cream to consist mostly of crust.  Freeze the other half or refrigerate for later use... like for this!: Delicious Symphony Bar Pie.  Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface.  Once rolled out, place on a cookie sheet and poke holes in the dough.  Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until dough is firm.  It will not be darker.
Let the crust cool, break into small pieces and store in freezer for later use in ice cream.
Now, make the ice cream.
In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed to combine the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Turn the machine on; pour the mixture into freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 20 to 25 minutes. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture.
At this point, go ahead and pour in your chilled blueberry mixture and desired amount of broken up crust.
If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.
Enjoy! :)