This ice cream was really EASY to make. If you don’t have any kind of stand mixer to make this you could use a hand mixer. If you don’t have a hand mixer you could use a wire whisk and beat the crap out of the whip cream until the peaks form. If you choose that method, you’d get your exercise in, and that really wouldn’t be considered easy then, now would it?

Ben’s aunt had given us a jar of blueberry jam for Christmas and I finally got around to using it in this ice cream. I didn’t take the extra step to make the blueberry sauce I cheated and used that jam. You can do that to if you want, I won’t tell anyone. I pretty much love anything with cheese cake in it. I think this ice cream would be even better with chunks of cheese cake diced up and thrown into it. Yum. The batter is kind of stiff, and not like a regular ice cream batter. I would set it out on the counter and let it thaw for a bit before scooping it out of the container.

Be prepared for a lot of recipes coming that use a smoker!

Recipe from Just Putzing Around in the Kitchen

Ingredients:

(Ice cream base)

2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
7 oz cream cheese, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla

(Blueberry swirl)

2 cups fresh blueberries
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

Combine blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a pan over medium-high heat. Cook until berries burst and release juices.
** Use your spatula or spoon to gently smoosh some of your berries to release more juices.
Allow berry mixture to simmer for a few minutes, until mixture thickens. Remove pan from heat, pour mixture into a bowl, and stick your bowl in the fridge to chill.
In a large bowl, beat your cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth.
If you’re not already using them, change your mixer attachments to use whisk attachments.
Slowly add condensed milk and vanilla, and whisk mixture until smooth.
Add heavy cream and keep whisking until stiff peaks form.
** This will take longer than usual b/c of all the other ingredients. Be patient and keep whisking!
Spoon about half of your whipped cream mixture into a standard sized loaf pan.
Remove your chilled berry sauce from the fridge and spoon about half of it over your whipped cream mixture in the loaf pan.
** Drop blobs of sauce in spoonfuls over the top of the cream. Doesn’t have to be pretty.
Cover with your remaining whipped cream mixture, and top with your remaining berry mixture.
Use a butter knife to drag/swirl your blueberry mixture into your cream mixture.
Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil, and stick it in the freezer for about 6 hours, or until ice cream is firm enough to scoop.
Enjoy!

Two months ago I joined the gym, and I am so glad that I did! I like to exercise in the pool on the weekdays and do classes like Cycling and Zumba on the weekends. So far since joining the gym, I’ve lost almost 2 inches around my waste and I now can fit into a size 8 jean. Used to be 10. That is pretty awesome I think. I haven’t changed much of my eating habits, and just eating what I normally ate before. Made me wonder why I wasn’t losing any weight, but now I’m losing inches and that makes me happy, happy for swim suit season to come too.

If you’re looking to lighten this dessert up you could go ahead and do that. They have reduced fat oreos, cream cheese, and cool whip but I just don’t think it would be the same. I saw this on foodgawker a couple weeks ago and my friend had shared the recipe on her facbeook page. Made me want to try making it this weekend and I’m glad I did. I liked the different textures from the layers. I’ve seen chefs on Food Network make real chocolate pasta and now I’m really wanting to try that as well. I have a pasta machine. Just trying to think of different fillings you could put in the middle of the layers.

Recipe from centercutcook.com

Ingredients

1 package regular Oreo cookies (Not Double Stuff) – about 36 cookies
6 Tablespoon butter, melted
1- 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons cold milk
1- 12 ounce tub Cool Whip, divided
2 – 3.9 ounce packages Chocolate Instant Pudding.
3 1/4 cups cold milk
1 and 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Begin by crushing 36 Oreo cookies. I used my food processor for this, but you could also place them in a large ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin. When the Oreos have turned into fine crumbs, you are done.

Transfer the Oreo crumbs to a large bowl. Stir in 6 tablespoons melted butter and use a fork to incorporate the butter into the cookie crumbs. When the butter is distributed, transfer the mixture to a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan. Place the pan in the refrigerator while you work on the additional layers.

Mix the cream cheese with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add in 2 Tablespoons of milk, and sugar, and mix well. Stir in 1 and 1/4 cups Cool Whip. Spread this mixture over the crust.

In a bowl, combine chocolate instant pudding with 3 and 1/4 cups cold milk. Whisk for several minutes until the pudding starts to thicken. Use a spatula to spread the mixture over the previous cream cheese layer. Allow the dessert to rest for about 5 minutes so that the pudding can firm up further.

Spread the remaining Cool Whip over the top. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips evenly over the top. Place in the freezer for 1
hour, or the refrigerator for 4 hours before serving.

Cheesecake has become pretty easy for me to make. The hardest part about making this cheese cake was the mousse. I’ve never made mousse before and that was a first for for me. All you do is melt some chocolate and quickly stir in the egg yolks. While the chocolate is melting beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Gently fold in everything together. The mousse thickens in the fridge as it sets.

Do you have to use a water bath when making cheese cake? No. I don’t bother messing with that. The cheese cake seems to cook just fine without one. I still get cracks but every cheese cake isn’t perfect. Do you have to wait for the eggs and cream cheese to come to room temperature? I actually use my food processor to make cheese cake. I think the food processor helps everything to combine easier. There have been times when I make cheese cake the cream cheese ended up looking like cottage cheese for some reason. So, I just use a food processor pretty much. I love my food processor.

This cheesecake has raw eggs in it. If you don’t like eating raw eggs, then there’s another chocolate mousse recipe I found which you can find here. It is an Alton Brown recipe and instead of raw eggs he uses gelatin to thicken the mousse mixture up. Is it safe to eat raw eggs? Yes, people put them in protein shakes and how many times have you eaten raw cookie dough and lived to see the next day?

I loved this cheese cake. I think the mousse layer makes it and I love all the different colored layers you see when you cut into the cheese cake.

Recipe from Mangio de Sola (slightly adapted)

Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake

Print recipe

Ingredients

• 32 sandwich cookies (oreos)
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 pound cream cheese (2 8oz cream cheese)
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cups sour cream (or heavy cream)
• 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs (seperated)
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4.5 ounces bitter sweet chocolate
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Step 1

Crush cookies in a food processor or in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin or mallet. In a bowl or food processor, pour melted butter on top of the crushed cookies and add the espresso powder (optional), and mix or pulse well. Place the oreo mixture at the bottom of a springform pan. Smooth out the mixture with the bottom of a measuring cup or glass. Wrap the bottom of the pan in a double layer of aluminum foil. Place the crust in the freezer while you make the cheesecake

Step 2

Put a kettle or pot of water on to boil. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 3

Working in a stand mixer (or large bowl with hand mixer), preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese at medium speed until it is soft for about 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt, and continue to beat another 4 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is light. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition to yield a well-aerated batter. Reduce the mixer speed to low, and stir in the heavy cream or sour cream.

Step 4

Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula, just to make sure that nothing has been left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl, and scrape the batter into the springform pan. The batter should fill only half of the pan. Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour the the boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan. (I pour half of the boiling water before putting in the pan to reduce my chances of dripping water in the cheesecake.)

Step 5

Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 15-30 minutes, at which point the top will be lightly browned and may have risen just a little above the rim of the pan. Turn off the oven's heat, and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.

Step 6

After 1 hour, carefully pull the roast pan/springform pan setup out of the oven, lift the springform pan out of the roaster—be careful, there WILL be some hot water in the aluminum foil—remove the foil. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.

Step 7

When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and chill the cake for at least 4 hours or overnight. Make the mousse once the cheesecake has cooled.

Step 8

Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl, and place over a saucepan containing barely simmering water (or use a double boiler). Melt the chocolate and butter together and stir with a whisk until smooth. Add in the espresso powder. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Add the egg yolks to the chocolate, 1 by 1, beating with a whisk until incorporated. Set aside.

Step 9

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar, and continue to beat. Gradually whisk in 1/4 cup sugar, and continue beating until stiff peaks form

Step 10

Beat heavy cream in a chilled bowl with chilled beaters until it begins to foam and thicken up. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and vanilla. Continue to whip the cream until it holds soft peaks. Gradually and gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Then, delicately fold in the whipped cream. Take care not over work the mousse but make sure you blend in the cream well. Place the mousse on top of the cooled cheesecake while still in the springform pan.

Step 11

Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Heat it up just BEFORE it boils. Place the chocolate in the cream, and remove from heat. Stir the mixture until smooth. Stir in the espresso powder and rum or vanilla extract. Allow the ganache to cool for about 15 minutes before pouring the mixture on top of the mousse cheesecake.

My husband was out of town this weekend and I thought it would be a good time to make a cheesecake. He doesn’t like cheesecake at all. I also made a lot of food with cilantro in it this weekend since he doesn’t like that either. It’s always nice when the husband goes away for the weekend so I can make foods that he doesn’t like. However, there are some draw backs of him leaving too. Like… loud scary noises coming from the heater that won’t go away. That kept me up all night long….

I wanted to make something for Halloween and normally if it’s a type of food that’s supposed to look like something gross, I normally don’t have any of the ingredients on hand. Everyone has leftover Halloween candy or has eaten a ton of it already before they have to go back to the  store and get some more. I just decided to top my cheesecake with chocolate candy bars and caramel sauce. I used 4 snicker’s bars, 4 Milky way’s, and 4 Reese’s Peanut Butter cups (the fun size kind). It’s a good way of getting rid of that left over Halloween candy in your kid’s trick-or-treat bag. I had the girls over Saturday night and they loved it. Hope you do too!

Candy Bar Cheesecake

Print recipe

Ingredients

• 32 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 fun-size assorted candy bars
• 1-2 tablespoons caramel sauce (for topping)
• 1 package oreos
• 4 tablespoons butter

Directions

Step 1

In a food processor pulse the oreos until crumbly. Add in melted butter and pulse a few more times until well combined. Place oreos in bottom of a cheese cake pan.

Step 2

In the same food processor (clean) combine cream cheese, eggs, sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Pour the cheese cake batter on top of the oreo crust.

Step 3

Preheat oven to 325. Bake cheese cake for 55 minutes or until the center is no longer wobbly. Let cool.

Step 4

Cut up candy bars into small bite size pieces and sprinkle them on top of the cheese once cooled. Drizzle cheese cake with caramel sauce and enjoy.

After making this recipe, I’m never making my own caramel sauce again. I’ve tried making caramel sauce so many times before, and every time the caramel doesn’t set right. The pan ends up burning. It may take some time to unwrap 32 caramel pieces, but let me tell you something…. in the end it’s worth it. No messy clean ups or burnt pans to scrub and scrub until the pan comes out clean.

I wish I had the chocolate chips to make these bars, but I was all out. I ended up only having about maybe an 1/8 of a cup of chocolate chips and these bars would be good with out the chocolate chips.

Funny thing about chocolate chips… My husband and I normally buy big bags of them at Sam’s Club and this paticular bag of chocolate chips disappeared really fast. The only thing I remember making with them was granola bars. I think there’s a little chocolate chip gremlin running around in our house somewhere eating all the chocolate chips. Maybe I won’t buy them at Sam’s Club anymore, cause they don’t seem to last long.

Recipe from Lulu the Baker

Carmelitas

Print recipe

Ingredients

• 32 caramel squares (unwrapped)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cups butter (melted)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 6oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Step 1

Combine caramels and cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until completely smooth; set aside. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, oats, and baking soda. Pat half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of an 8x8" pan.

Step 2

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture over caramel. Return to oven and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.

Step 3

A stint in the fridge will help them cool off if you're pinched for time. They shouldn't be served cold, but all of that molten caramel takes a long time to cool down. They should be stored and served at room temperature.

Yesterday was my birthday, and it ended up being a pretty good birthday. While we were sitting around waiting for some people, my friend was telling me I should try making this cake that her mom would make her. She started describing what was all in it. I go hey, Ben’s Mom makes that for birthday’s too! She had also talked about a popcorn cake that I think I may have to try and make myself one time. I’ve seen different versions of it on the Internet.

We ended up going out for frozen yogurt that night and the sky looked pretty cool.

This cake is so simple to make. It’s really easy if you use one of those box containers that ice cream normally comes in and not the big tub. You can cut it into 3 different equal size rectangles so that it fits in a 9 X 13 pan and there’s enough left over for the sides where there’s still room left. Just pick your favorite type of ice cream, I really wanted birthday cake ice cream since that is my favorite but I settled for moose track ice cream. We usually have mint chocolate chip at the lake.

If you want to make this cake on the lighter side, I’d use low fat or fat free frozen yogurt, reduced fat oreos, no sugar added fudge, and fat free cool whip. Not sure what the calories would be on that though.

Ingredients from Ben’s Mom

30 oreo cookies, crushed
½ c melted butter
½ gallon ice cream (any flavor), slightly softened
1 jar hot fudge sauce
2 – 8 oz. containers cool whip, softened

Mix melted butter & oreos.  Press into a 9×13 inch pan. Soften fudge in microwave.  Smooth softened ice cream over cookie mixture.  Smooth fudge sauce over ice cream.  Spread cool whip over the ice cream.  Sprinkle with additional crushed oreos.  Freeze at least 2 hours.  Keep frozen until 15 minutes before serving.

You’re probably wondering how I stay so thin making treats like this all the time, aren’t you? I’ll try to answer that as best as I can. During the week, I’ll cook healthy meals. I also run 3 days a week. I’m doing the c25k workout and can run up to 28 minutes without stopping now. By this time next year, I’m hoping to be able to run in a 10 k in the Fargo marathon. A friend inspired me to do that.

If you love scotcheroos and Biscoff, then you’ll really like these. I really wanted to make these because I was playing around with the wording for this and liked Biscofferoos. Scotcheroos are just like this, but instead of Biscoff spread, use peanut butter. Oh sweet Biscoff, what have you done to me?!

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup Biscoff spread
6 cups crispy rice cereal
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions

Butter a 9×13 inch baking pan.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar and corn syrup, and bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat, and stir in Biscoff spread. Mix in the rice cereal until evenly coated. Press the mixture into the prepared pan.

In a glass bowl in the microwave, melt the chocolate and butterscotch chips, stirring occasionally until smooth and well blended. Spread over the top of the bars. Chill until set, then cut into bars.

I’ve never made anything with vanilla beans before. Thought they were too expensive to begin with. My friend wanted to place an order for some online and I asked if I could order some too.  The smell was almost intoxicating when opening up the package. The vanilla beans smelled way better than vanilla extract. They’re kind of hard to work with, and you should have a really sharp knife.

I wanted to make vanilla ice cream. The real stuff, with heavy whipping cream, egg yolks, and half and half. Perfect ingredients for an expensive spice! Wouldn’t you say so? My search for vanilla bean ice cream ended when binging (yes I Bing) and there was a recipe for vanilla bean ice cream at my favorite food blog: the Pioneer Woman. Woohoo, this ice cream did not disappoint either.

The first time I tried making this with my ice cream machine the mixture didn’t get cold enough, and I had to wait another day. Then when the ice cream finally was ready it had to set for another day. Booo, it was well worth the wait though. So rich and creamy.You know, I like to try the full fat on version of something before I like to try to and make it lighter. So, even though this may have 6,000 calories per serving be on the look out for a lighter version later on down the road.

I’ve been really obsessed with the sky lightly. I took this picture of Venus and Crescent moon last night. Been trying to get a shot of the Northern Lights lately and on Tuesday I missed a chance. They’ve been really active around where I live for the last couple of nights. Last night was cloudy though.

Recipe from the Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

1 whole Vanilla Bean, Split And Scraped
3 cups Half-and-half
2 cups Sugar
8 whole (up To 9) Large Egg Yolks
3 cups Heavy Cream

Preparation Instructions

Heat half-and-half and 2 cups sugar in a saucepan over low heat, adding vanilla “caviar” to the mixture. (You can also drop in the scraped vanilla bean, just to extract all the flavor. Make sure to discard the bean before moving to the next step.) Turn off heat when mixture is totally heated.

Beat egg yolks by hand or with an electric mixer until yolks are pale yellow and slightly thick. Temper the egg yolks by slowly drizzling into the 1 1/2 cups of hot half-and-half mixture, whisking constantly. After that, pour the egg yolk/half-and-half mixture into the pan containing the rest of the half-and-half mixture. Cook over low to medium-low heat (depending on how hot your stove gets) until quite thick, stirring constantly. Drain custard using a fine mesh strainer, then pour into a bowl with the heavy cream. Stir to combine.

Chill mixture completely, then freeze in an ice cream maker until thick. Place container in freezer to harden for at least eight hours.

Easter is already here next weekend. I thought this bunny bark looked super cute when I saw it on pinterest. It’s not only super cute but super good. I like the fact that it’s sweet, but when you bite into … Continue reading →

There’s another pie contest at work, and I’m thinking about entering this one. How could you not win, with this? Graham cracker crust, chocolate filling, and melted marshmallows on top? That screams first place to me. The recipe doesn’t even have to be your own either.  The last time there was a pie contest,  I won first place. I got a trophy for it too. It was pretty fun.

This recipe isn’t point friendly by the way. Ben figured it out and it’s 18 points a slice. But… don’t worry I’m going to be making a lighter version of this. Just you wait. In the mean time, you can drool over the picture.  I really like how pretty this pie is with the toasted marshmallows on top.

Recipe from Pixelated Crumb

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

2 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 16 whole graham cracker rectangles)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted

Chocolate Filling

3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup milk
10 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
Pinch of salt
2 eggs, whisked
1 bag of large marshmallows (you’ll only need about half of the bag)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C).
In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter until evenly coated. Press mixture into a 9 inch pie plate (I used a shallow pie plate and didn’t need all of the crumb mixture). Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until fragrant. Keep the oven running.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together cream and milk. Warm over medium-low heat. Add in chocolate and stir until chocolate has melted and is smooth. Slowly add the whisked eggs and mix until smooth.

Pour the chocolate filling into baked pie crust. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until chocolate filling is set and does not move when pie is lightly shaken. Remove from oven.

Using kitchen shears, cut marshmallows in half. Place halves in concentric circles over the top of the pie until it’s covered.
Set oven to broil. Place pie under the broiler and lightly toast the marshmallows. This can take anywhere from 1-5 minutes, so watch those marshmallows very closely!

Chill the pie in the refrigerator to set for at least 2-3 hours.
To serve, spray a knife with non-stick cooking spray and cut the cold pie into slices. While the pie can be eaten cold, it’s really best when slightly warmed. Heat the pie slices in a microwave for 8-12 seconds before serving for the best results. Drizzle with chocolate sauce, if desired.

Number of servings: 8-10

My friends and I went to the street fair this weekend. There’s a bunch of artists and crafters that come from different areas of Minnesota, ND, and SD, etc…  My favorite ones to look at are the photography booths. Normally, I don’t end up buying any of the art. I go straight to all the food vendors.

Don’t you just love fair food? Cheese curds, fried bread tacos, kettle corn, gyros, etc… I had a fried bread taco and pina colada smoothie. That pina colada smoothie was so good and hit the spot, because it was hot and humid. I think all we did was complain about how hot it was when we were there.

At the street fair they had cheesecake on a stick. That intrigued me to make my own version. It’s kind of a long but easy process. You make a batch of cheesecake and freeze it. Or… if you’re really lazy like I am sometimes or don’t want to heat up your house baking cheesecake, go to the store and get a frozen one. Melt some chocolate in the microwave and dip the cheese cake in whatever you like. Sound simple enough, you don’t really need a recipe for that.

Next, I might attempt to make my own gyros.

Ingredients

2 1/3 less fat cream cheese
2 eggs
3/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons of melted butter
2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips
popsicle sticks
coocnut, sprinkles, or any candy topping you want.

Directions:
In a stand mixer beat cream cheese and sugar and grdually add the eggs and vanilla. Crush graham crackers in zip lock bag and crush them with a rolling pin or your food professor. Add the melted butter.

In an 8 in baking dish add the graham crust first and then the cream cheese mixture. I baked mine at 350 for about an hour.

Once the cheese cake has cooled. Divide evenly and place a popsicle
stick in there. You can make small or larger pieces.

Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave and dip the cheese cake
in the chocolate. Coat with coconut, sprinkles, or whatever you chose.