Recipe: Fresh Peach Ice Cream

Image by karlo via Flickr

From Denny: It's been too hot to run the computer today so am late getting out my posts. Was able to get out a few this morning and the rest had to wait until it got cooler. Will be glad when fall comes! :)

In this heat all I think about are cooling foods - and ice cream sure is a treat! Enjoy this wonderful recipe as he gives lots of tips in this recipe. It's as if he is standing next to you, walking you through the recipe.

Fresh Peach Ice Cream

From: Ray Sonnier of Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Yield: 1 gallon. This is rich but good!

Ingredients:

2-1/4 cups sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 Tablespoons flour

6 extra large eggs

3 cups whole milk

2 cups half-and-half

1 (13-ounce) can evaporated milk

1-3/4 cups heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups chopped fresh or frozen peaches

1 cup sugar

Directions:


1. In mixer, combine sugar, salt and flour. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Blend well. Add milk, half-and-half and evaporated milk. Blend well.

2. Boil water to add to outer pan of double boiler. Add custard to inner pot. Heat water to boiling and stir custard as it heats up until thickened. Stir often with whisk to prevent lumps. Add whipping cream and vanilla, stir and cool in cool water in sink. Stir periodically to prevent skimming.

3. Use 3 cups of fruit. Peel and cut peaches into small pieces in a bowl. Add 1 cup sugar and microwave for about 2-1/2 minutes. Skip the microwaving if fruit is very ripe, but I would let fruit and sugar sit for about 1 hour.

4. Pour custard and fruit into freezer container with paddles inserted. Refrigerate or cool in ice water for several hours if possible.

5. Freeze until firm.

Note: This recipe works well in a 4-quart ice cream freezer. I adapted this recipe as best I could remember for a smaller freezer — my mother had a 1-1/2-gallon freezer.

Recipe: Dennys Decadent Brownies

From Denny: This is my personal brownie recipe I developed over the years of trying different kinds. We like more of a cake brownie in this house as opposed to the gooey kind, though you really can just undercook anything to get that consistency.

Unfortunately, any time you undercook flour for that gooey consistency you are creating something that isn't digested well, and, well, goes straight to fat in the body. Who wants to put on fat easily? No one is that answer! But I still love my chocolate and brownies, so a cake brownie is a (somewhat) healthier idea. :)

This recipe is quick and easy, as fast as pulling out a mix with preservatives, so why not control what goes into your chocolate food?

Dennys Decadent Cake Brownies

Yield: 16 (2-inch) squares

Ingredients:

3 squares unsweetened chocolate

1/3 cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

2 large AA eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup sour cream

(You can use full fat sour cream or the lite version we use in this recipe that is 50% less fat. Don't use no fat version as you need some of the oil to make the recipe work right.)

½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

½ cup chopped pecans (or left whole and placed on top instead on in the batter)


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. and grease an 8”x8”x2” square pan.

Melt chocolate and butter carefully in a double boiler over simmering hot water. If you are adept at melting in the microwave without burning the chocolate, this is a faster method – just make sure you stop it every 10 seconds or so to stir, otherwise the chocolate will either burn or separate.

Add sugar, then eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture, stirring well to incorporate. (Brownie dough is best mixed by hand as it becomes stiff dough.)

Add sour cream and stir just until incorporated; don’t over mix. Add chocolate chips and pecans – unless you want to place pecans, whole or chopped, on top.

Bake at 350° F. for 20 – 23 minutes, checking for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center of the pan. Some people like their brownies under cooked and others more so, your preference.

Frosting

In Louisiana, in lieu of frosting we like to sprinkle powdered sugar over everything: beignets (donuts), cakes, cookies, anything chocolate, especially brownies.

If you prefer a thin easy frosting here is a favorite.

Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:

1 square unsweetened chocolate

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

½ cup powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

A few Tablespoons hot water

Directions:

Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler or microwave, stirring well. When smooth, now remove from the heat and add the sugar, making a thick paste. Add the vanilla. Add hot water a little at a time until you have a spreadable consistency. Keep adding hot water 1 teaspoon at a time until you reach your desired level – thinner works better and spreads on faster. How much hot water you use will depend upon what time of year you are making this frosting because of the humidity in the air. Enjoy!

Recipe: Chocolate Revel Bars

Our regular chocolate chip cookie recipe made into a bar cookie version - Image by rachel is coconut&lime via Flickr

From Denny: This week is dedicated to brownie recipes! Yay!

Looking through one of my "elderly" cookbook finds from a book fair I was struck by how much cooking and baking has changed in the past 30 years or so. As we learn more about nutrition the recipes change. As new products, good or bad for us, come onto the market, the recipes of that time period reflect it. Usually, I look for timeless recipes where the ingredients will be easy to acquire and simple.

During the 1960's and 1970's making "bar" cookies (a type of brownie in our minds today) was most popular mainly because it saved time from forming the cookie dough, just bake and cut into serving sizes was faster. Women were entering the work force then and needed to speed up their recipes as they only had so much time in a day. (Sound familiar?)

I chose this recipe for today as I'm always thinking of how to use up something out of the pantry, like sweetened condensed milk, that I bought for last Thanksgiving holiday and never got around to using it for anything. Do you suffer from those pantry extras too? Well, this recipe looked like a tasty idea to meet my needs. It might even end up on this Thanksgiving's table! :)

Note: You can substitute half of the butter here for canola oil. If you make it all canola oil it will lose that buttery flavor. Well, at least the oats are a healthy addition! :)

There wasn't a good enough photo provided for this recipe - that's the only thing about older cookbooks, it was before quality digital photography that gives clear photos. Just imagine a triple layer brownie with the oatmeal crust, a layer of dark chocolate goodness and then dots of oatmeal crust on the top, almost like a miniature chocolate pie idea cut into bars!

Chocolate Revel Bars

From: Better Homes and Gardens All-Time Favorite Cake & Cookie Recipes, published 1980

Yield: 48 (2-inch) squares

Ingredients:

3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup unsalted butter (can substitute margarine)

2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 (14 ounce) can (1 1/4 cups) sweetened condensed milk

2 Tablespoons butter (can substitute margarine)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

2 teaspoons vanilla


Directions:

Stir together oats, flour, baking soda, and 1 teaspoon salt. In mixer bowl beat 1 cup butter or margarine on medium speed of electric mixer for 30 seconds.

Add brown sugar and beat till fluffy. Add eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla; beat well. Add dry ingredients to to beaten mixture and beat till well blended.

In heavy saucepan heat together chocolate pieces, sweetened condensed milk, 2 Tablespoon butter or margarine and 1/2 teaspoon salt over low heat, stirring till smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in nuts and 2 more teaspoons vanilla.

Pat 2/3 of the oat mixture into bottom of an ungreased 15"x10"x1" baking pan, saving enough to spread on top too. Spread with chocolate mixture. Dot with remaining oat mixture.

Bake in 350 degree F. oven for 25 to 30 minutes or till done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, no dough sticking to it. Cool on wire rack. Cut into bars.


Thanks for visiting! Happy Baking today!



Cookie, Cooking, Chocolate chip, chocolate bars, brownies, Brown sugar, Butter, baking, Home, dessert, baking and confections, chocolate brownie

3 Octupi Videos: Escape of the Shapeshifting Octupus

Image by dontdothisathome via Flickr

From Denny: I was looking around Digg today in the Science section for my science blog, The Soul Calendar,where I park all things science that interest me. Blogs really are like a long version of a social site of things you want to share with others.

Remembering our trip to Greece a few years back and how awesome the grilled octupus and calamari tasted because it was so fresh, I guess I just had octupus on the brain. It's wonderful protein and no bones.

These videos are fascinating to watch. One is about a 600 pound octupus who can squeeze into a small space the size of a mere tiny quarter. The second one is a contest in an aquarium between a hungry shark and a giant octupus who were well matched. The third is about a BBC crew going down deep after a giant octupus to film it and saw a huge monster of an octupus wrap itself around one of the divers while filming!

You have to see these creatures. Unbelievable. Sure gives you new respect for the fishermen who go after these scary animals just to serve it up in restaurants. Fishing octupi must be an extreme sport.

To get you over to The Soul Calendar for the 3 video post, go here.

Thanks for visiting!

octupus, National Geographic, video, ocean, Greece, fishing

Joke: Smart Dog Goes Meat Shopping

Smart Dog

A dog walks into a butcher shop with a purse strapped around his neck. He walks up to the meat case and calmly sits there until it's his turn to be helped. A man, who was already in the butcher shop, finished his purchase and noticed the dog. The butcher leaned over the counter and asked the dog what it wanted today. The dog put its paw on the glass case in front of the ground beef, and the butcher said, "How many pounds?"
The dog barked twice, so the butcher made a package of two pounds ground beef.

He then said, "Anything else?"

The dog pointed to the pork chops, and the butcher said, "How many?"

The dog barked four times, and the butcher made up a package of four pork chops.

The dog then walked around behind the counter, so the butcher could get at the purse. The butcher took out the appropriate amount of money and tied two packages of meat around the dog's neck. The man, who had been watching all of this, decided to follow the dog. It walked for several blocks and then walked up to a house and began to scratch at the door to be let in. As the owner opened the door, the man said to the owner, "That's a really smart dog you have there."

The owner said, "He's not really all that smart. This is the second time this week he forgot his key."


Ground beef, Dogbert, Pork chop, Butcher, Home, Food, Cooking, Meat, Pork, smart dog, jokes, dog, dog joke, Dogbert