Skip to main content

Ice Cream

Pumpkin Porter Beer Brownies Sundaes

Pumpkin Porter Brownies Sundaes1

Pumpkin things are upon us.

Of course we have those pumpkin spice lattes that the weather is far too warm to warrant, and the overly orange plastic pumpkins that Target is trying to push on us, but it’s the beer that gets me most excited. It can be a triple digit August afternoon when a package of pumpkin porter arrives and I’ll still break into it as soon as I can open the box.

As early as July those hotly anticipated squash infused brews start to hit bottle shops and brew pubs across the land. From a pale lager to a deep stout, every style of beer has had a tryst with a pumpkin. Every brewer has a different take. Some like to spice it up, others favor a drinkable pumpkin pie, while some want the flavor to be a subtle background note you should have to work at identifying. Whatever you prefer when it comes to this super special release category, there is a beer that will suit your mood.

Pumpkin Porter Brownies Sundaes2

A box of He Said Baltic Porter brewed with pumpkin and spice arrived on my door step last week reminding me that the days of driving with the windows down and eating ice cream outdoors are rapidly coming to a close. So I did what any rational person would do: I made brownies. But, somehow, that didn’t seem like enough. So I made a pumpkin porter infused chocolate sauce and added in the more weather appropriate giant scoop of cold ice cream. Which makes this the perfect transitional recipe from the heat wave afternoons to the fireside evenings. It’s both pumpkin and ice cream, regardless of the weather in your town, this recipe fits.

Porters are a great vehicle for the flavors of pumpkin. The deep earthiness is delivered well with the roast notes of the darker beers and this beer is no exception. The flavors of pumpkin in He Said are perfectly mild in a way that I prefer, these beers can often be treated heavy handed. This Baltic porter delivers the flavors of pumpkin and spice without molesting you with them, it’s more seductive. It’s a deep, smooth porter that draws you in. And, apparently, makes you bake things. Or maybe that’s just me.

Pumpkin Porter 21st

 

Pumpkin Porter Brownies Sundaes

Ingredients
  

For the brownies:

  • 1 ½ cups unsalted butter cut into cubes
  • 10 wt ounces 60% chocolate about 2 cups
  • 1 cup pumpkin porter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 ½ cups white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 cup bread flour
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp espresso powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

For the Sundae:

  • 10 wt oz dark chocolate 53% cocoa
  • 2 tbs light corn syrup
  • 1/3 cup pumpkin porter
  • 1 quart vanilla ice cream

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 400. In the top of a double boiler, or metal bowl set over (but not touching) gently simmering water, add the butter and the chocolate. Stir occasionally until just melted. Remove from heat, stir in 1 cup pumpkin porter and vanilla extract.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the eggs on high until light and frothy, about 2 minutes. Add both kinds of sugar and beat for 6 full minutes. Add the pumpkin puree, stir until combined.
  • In a separate bowl add the flour, cinnamon, espresso powder, salt and cocoa powder, whisk until well combined.
  • While the mixer is on low, add the chocolate mixture to the eggs. Mix until well incorporated, stopping to scrape the bottom of the bowl to insure the batter is fully combined.
  • Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, sprinkle with dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.
  • Grease a 9x13 baking dish, or spray with butter flavored cooking spray, pour in batter.
  • Place in the oven and immediately reduce to 350. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. The top should look completely dry but the center should still be fudgy. Don’t over bake. Remove from oven and allow to cool until set and come to room temperature before attempting to cut, about 1 hour.
  • Add the dark chocolate, corn syrup, and 1/3 cup pumpkin porter to the top of a double boiler over medium heat.
  • Stir until melted and well combined, remove from heat, pour over ice cream.

 

Pumpkin Porter Brownies Sundaes3

 

 

 

Blackberry Basil Belgian Ale Milkshake

Blackberry Basil Belgian Ale Milkshake

I’m going to confess to you the least foodie thing I’ve ever done.

A few years ago I was in Spain, I’d missed my flight out of Madrid because of an ill-timed visit to the Prado, some churros, and a bullfighting poster and I was stuck for an indefinite amount of time. I wanted some comfort food.

Blackberry Basil Belgian Ale Milkshake

I wanted something familiar to help me deal with the fact that I was stuck half way across the world, dealing with an airline that was refusing to help, and all the budget hotels and hostels were sold out for the night. So I went to McDonald’s.

I was in one of the most culinary rich countries in the world and I went right past all those great markets and family run cafes right to the American capital of sub-mediocre food to order a milkshake and some french fries.

And it worked. It was bland, and salty and creamy and reminded me of my processed food childhood and made me feel like everything was going to be OK. I’m not proud of myself, I could have had cured meats and cheese and fresh bread.

But I don’t care. Sometimes, you just need a milkshake.

Blackberry Basil Belgian Ale Milkshake

 

Blackberry Basil Belgian Ale Milkshake

Servings 2 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 3 cups vanilla ice cream
  • 1 cup belgain ale
  • 5 leaves basil chopped
  • 1 cup blackberries

Instructions
 

  • Put all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.

 

Easy Homemade Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches

Easy Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches. Three ingredients no ice cream maker.

Three Ingredients, No Ice Cream Maker, Crazy Delicious Ice Cream Sandwiches was the first name for this recipe, although that did seem a bit long for a recipe that’s so short.

If you know me at all, you’ll know that I’m not a girl that goes for the Quick & Easy recipes, but sometimes I hear of a recipe that just seems too tempting not to try. I stole this recipe for an 80 year old woman I know. She made a version of these (that involved Cool-Whip) for a bingo game she was hosting, and told me all about how easy they were, and how everyone loved them. Easy, you say? None left, you say? I must try these easy and delicious treats, although I will be skipping that blue and white plastic tub.

She was right: easy, delicious and none left. The moral of the story is always listen to your elders.

And eat ice cream.

Easy Homemade Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches. Three ingredients, no ice cream maker.

Easy Homemade Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ingredients

  • 2 cups heavy cream, chilled
  • 2/3 cup prepared caramel sauce, room temperature
  • 12 standard sized graham crackers

Instructions

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer add the cream, whip on high until soft peaks start to form, slowly add the caramel sauce, mixing until well combined.
  2. Spread the caramel whipped cream in a thick layer between two graham crackers, scraping off excess with a butter knife.
  3. Place ice cream sandwiches on a large plate or baking sheet. Freeze until set, about 1 hour.

Easy Homemade Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches. Three ingredients, no ice cream maker.

 

Grilled Peach Ice Cream

Grilled Peach Ice Cream

I’m really hard on myself, I’ve told you that before. I’m a nothing-is-ever-good-enough kind of person. Lately, my photos have been in my line of fire when it comes to Stuff I’m Not Good Enough At. I can’t figure it out, why the light is never that beautiful, why the images aren’t compelling enough, why the heck I can NEVER master the over head shot. By the way, this all drives my husband crazy, because in the Grand Tradition of Amazing Husbands, he thinks I’m the most talented person in the world, let’s not disrupt that delusion, I sort of like it.

So, one of my tangible fixation for resolving at least some of the issues I have with my sub par photos was this slightly deranged idea that I NEEDED a reclaimed wood table. I NEEDED it (#firstworldproblems). I priced this absolutely necessary item, and in the Los Angeles area, this need could be fulfilled for the low, low price of about $2000. My aforementioned Amazing Husband disagreed that this was an actual need after seeing the price tag for such items.

I couldn’t stop thinking about such a need, and scoured Craigslist for the possibility that I might be able to pick one up. But as luck might have it, an old house in my neighborhood started to get torn apart. It was a 1920’s California Bungalow and the sight of it being ripped apart made me a little heartsick.

As I drove home one night, I noticed a stack of gorgeous antique wood, full of age and scars that I couldn’t get out of my mind. After dinner I pulled on a pair of old boots, waited for the workmen to leave for the day, and began to dig the gorgeous planks out of the trash piles.

I had two very specific feelings about this slightly insane venture of trespassing to dig through a trash pile, at dusk, in East Los Angeles. First, I felt like a crazy person (and clearly an amateur who didn’t think to bring gloves to dig through construction waste and old wood) as I tried to ignore the freaked out looks from passers by. Second, that I was heroically saving this amazing wood from the fate of a land fill (also slightly insane that I was heroizing myself for something so selfish).

Grilled Peach Ice Cream2

After I got home with Heroically Aquired Gorgeous Wood, I used actual real life and potentially dangerous power tools to nail it together, saw off the excess and I then had myself a Personally Reclaimed Wood (prop) Table. And posted the picture of my slightly insane venture on Instagram.

Although I’m fairly certain that my newly acquired fake table did not improve my photos, I’m still happy to have him in my house instead of a landfill.

Grilled Peach Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 cups cream
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 4 yellow peaches cut in half, pit removed

Grape seed or canola oil

Instructions

  1. In a sauce pan off heat whisk together the sugar, cream, milk, vanilla, and egg yolks until very well combined.
  2. Place the saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spatula.
  3. Transfer to an airtight container (strain through a fine mesh strainer if any lumps were created), refrigerate until chilled, about 4 hours and up to 24.
  4. Preheat the grill to medium high heat (alternately, a cast iron grill pan can be used).
  5. Brush the cut side of the peaches with oil. Place, cut side down, on a hot grill. Close the lid and allow to grill until deep grill marks appear, about 4 minutes.
  6. Remove from grill and gently peel the skin away (should remove easily).
  7. Chop the peaches.
  8. Add the peaches and the ice cream base to your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Freeze until set, about 2 hours.
  9. Remove from freezer about 5 minutes prior to serving to make scooping easier.

Grilled Peach Ice Cream3

Smoky Chocolate Porter Ice Cream with Beer Candied Bacon

Smoky Porter Ice Cream with Beer Candied Bacon4

Yesterday I was a guest on KCRW’s St. Patricks day episode of Good Food. The host was Evan Kleiman, a chef, author and Los Angeles food scene legend. She called my recipes, "smart," which if you are a home cook, sitting in front of an accomplished chef, is the best word you can hear.

Smoky Porter Ice Cream with Beer Candied Bacon3

We chatted about stouts, one of my favorite beer topics. Forget about pale lagers and green food dye, stouts are the life blood of St. Patrick’s day. In preparation for our stout conversation, I asked my Facebook readers what their favorite stouts are, and the response was amazing. My non-scientific poll concluded the most popular stouts among those who have clicked "like" on The Beeroness Facebook page are: Old Rasputin, Souther Tier Choklat, Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout and Founders Breakfast Stout. All of which would be amazing in this recipes, but I used Alaskan Brewing Smoked Porter. Just goes to show how many amazing dark craft beers there are in this nation. If you have a stout or porter that you love, let me know about it. I’m always up for a tall glass of dark beer.

Whatever you use, don’t forget to make it a chocolate bacon beer float.

Smoky Porter Ice Cream with Beer Candied Bacon5

Beer Candied Bacon

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup brown sugar packed
  • 3 tbs stout
  • pinch cayenne
  • 12 thick cut strips of bacon

Instructions
 

  • Combine the brown sugar, stout and cayenne until thick and syrupy.
  • Lay bacon on a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet.
  • Brush bacon with beer syrup on both sides.
  • Cook at 350 for ten minutes, flip and re-brush with beer syrup.
  • Cook for 8 to 10 more minutes or until the bacon is an amber color.
  • Remove from oven and allow to cool. Bacon will harden as it cools.

Beer Candied Bacon

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup brown sugar packed
  • 3 tbs stout
  • pinch cayenne
  • 12 thick cut strips of bacon

Instructions
 

  • Combine the brown sugar, stout and cayenne until thick and syrupy.
  • Lay bacon on a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet.
  • Brush bacon with beer syrup on both sides.
  • Cook at 350 for ten minutes, flip and re-brush with beer syrup.
  • Cook for 8 to 10 more minutes or until the bacon is an amber color.
  • Remove from oven and allow to cool. Bacon will harden as it cools.

Beer Candied Bacon Adapted from Oskar Blues via Tide and Thyme.

 Smoky Porter Ice Cream with Beer Candied Bacon2

Baked Apple Pie Ice Cream Bowls

Baked Apple Pie Ice Cream Bowls

Maybe this isn’t Valentinesy in that "Heart Shaped Red Velvet Conversations Heart Aphrodisiac Cheesecake " sort of way,  but it is a fun way to eat ice cream.

And really, who doesn’t need that in their lives? I’m at the very end of writing this book, that’s due to my publisher in just three weeks. I vacillate between sheer panic, absolute gratitude for this opportunity, and utter exhaustion. I’m not sure which I am most looking forward to: sleeping again, being a normal human, or the ability to refer to myself as a publisher author (!!!).

In other news, my husband deserves an award. And a lot of that Valentinesy type wifeish attention that I’ll have more mental capacity for once I’m a normal human again.

We are both looking forward to that.

In the meantime, here is a not-as-bad-for-you ice cream dish. Because when your bowl is half full of fruit, it’s pretty much like health food.

Baked Apple Pie Ice Cream Bowl

 

3 granny smith apples (granny smith hold their shape the best, other apples will likely get soggy, but still taste great).

Cinnamon & Brown sugar

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

1 tbs butter, melted

6 scoops vanilla ice cream

 

Preheat oven to 375.

Cut the apples in half the wrong way (as in, the way that seems to be counter to all of your apple cutting instincts).

Baked Apple Pie Ice Cream Bowl2

Use a mellon baller to remove most of the center, leaving about 1/2 inch of the walls in tact.

Baked Apple Pie Ice Cream Bowl3

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray.

Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon, rub in. (really, there isn’t a need to measure the amounts but if you are a "I MUST MEASURE!" person, count on about 1/8 tsp cinnamon and 2 tsp brown sugar per apple half. But really, just sprinkle, you’ll do fine.)

Baked Apple Pie Ice Cream Bowl4

Place apples, cut side down, on the baking sheet.

Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface. Cut into six equal sized squares.

Cover each apples with puff pastry and roll the excess pastry around the apples to resemble a pie crust.

Baked Apple Pie Ice Cream Bowl5

 

Brush with melted butter and cut two or three small slits with a sharp knife.

Baked Apple Pie Ice Cream Bowl6

 

Bake at 375 until puff pastry has turned golden brown, about 18 to 20 minutes.

Fill with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Now, if you are a civilized human, you can go at this with a knife and fork. But if you’re me, you’ll pick it up and eat it like the ice cream filled Apple Pie Taco is was born to be. (*The second option is way better, but you’ll need napkins)

Baked Apple Pie Ice Cream Bowl7

 

 

 

Chocolate Mint Stout Ice Cream

There are two ways to look at this.

It’s either the summer death rattle manifesting itself in an ice cream during the first week of fall, or it’s the nexus of the best of summer treats and the best of fall beers joining forces at the perfect moment.

For this, I used Bison Chocolate Stout. Rich, dark and beautiful. Although I did try and hold out for the Stone Chocolate Mint Stout that I’ve been teased with for months now, I may have to give this recipe another try when the red tape is lifted and the world is able to indulge in that.

I also used Green & Blacks Mint Dark Chocolate, adding a smooth peppermint flavor.

Resulting in a rich, smooth ice cream that’s like a Girl Scout Thin Mint, but with beer. And, that’s really what those cookies need: beer.

 

 

Chocolate Mint Stout Ice Cream

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 3 fresh mint leaves
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup chocolate stout or chocolate mint stout
  • 7 ounces of 60% dark chocolate with peppermint oil such as Dark Chocolate Mint from Green & Blacks, broken into chunks
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 1/4 cup white sugar

Instructions
 

  • In a pot over medium high heat, add the cream, milk, mint leaves cream and stout. Bring to a gentle simmer. Remove from heat, remove and discard mint leaves, and stir in the chocolate until melted.
  • In a separate bowl, add the egg yolks and the sugar, whisk until well combined. Slowly add the chocolate milk, whisking continually, until about 1/2 the mixture has been added to the egg yolks. Add the egg yolk mixture back into pot, whisk until well combined. Return pot to heat and bring to a mild simmer.
  • Refrigerator until chilled, about 3 hours.
  • Churn in ice cream maker according to manufactures directions. Chill until firm.

 

 

 

Green & Blacks provided me with a sample of chocolates used in this post. I was not monetarily compensated for this recipe. All thoughts, opinions and ideas are my own. 

Apricot Basil Ice Cream

I’ve always defined the "Perfect Gift" as something you want but would never spend the money to buy for yourself. Things that may not be expensive, but because money is a limited resource no matter who you are , these things just don’t make that "Must Buy Today" list. Things you quietly (or possibly aggressively) lust after but there are always other things that take top billing in your budget.

A few years ago I was given a KitchenAid Ice Cream maker (affiliate link). for Christmas. Perfect. I wanted it, but don’t make enough ice cream to really justify the purchase. I’d see it at Sur La Table, pause for a moment and then end up with something a bit more practical in that brown and purple bag.

Now that I have it, it makes me feel like a brilliant hostess. "You MADE ice cream? From scratch?" it sounds so luxurious  and ambitious. Even though I only break it out a few times a year, I am always so glad I have it. If you agree not to tell anyone how easy it is to make ice cream from scratch, I won’t either. And we can continue to impress people with the long hours we slaved away to bring them such a momentous dessert.

Apricot Basil Ice Cream

Apricot add in:

 4 cups soft apricots, pitted

1 tbs fresh lemon juice

4 large basil leaves

1/4 cup sugar

Ice Cream Base:

2 cups whole milk

4 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup heavy cream

Place the bowl of your ice cream maker in the freezer for at least 8 hours (I store mine in the freezer so it’s always ready to go) or freeze according to manufacturer specifications.

In a food processor, add the apricots, lemon juice, basil leaves and 1/4 cup sugar, puree until smooth, some chunks of apricot are fine.

To make the ice cream base, add the milk, egg yolks, vanilla and remaining sugar  to a cold sauce pan and whisk until the mixture is well combined. Place the pan over medium high heat and stir until the mixture has thickened slightly (will coat a spoon), about 10 minutes, remove from heat. Stir in the cream.

Add the apricot puree and mix until combined. Add to an air tight container and place in the fridge and allow to cool for at least 4 hours.

Add to the frozen ice cream bowl and churn according to manufactures specifications, about 12 minutes in my Kitchen Aid Ice Cream Maker. Place in an air tight container and freeze until firm, about 2 additional hours.

{Pin This Post!}

Follow me on Twitter

Follow me on Pinterest

Domestic Fits on Facebook