Cookie no-dough ice cream and bake it pretty giveaway

Bake it pretty giveaway after recipe!

Sugar. It's my weakness. For the past few months (read: years) I've been battling the addiction. I really love my sweets. I love ice cream, cookies, cakes, muffins, and candy. Even really cheap "gross" candy.

I don't want to be addicted to the stuff but I also don't want to give up something that I get so much enjoyment from. That is where balance comes in.

I'm sugar "fasting" for six days a week. No brown sugar on my steel-cut oats in the morning, no sweet and sour tofu, no spaghetti sauce (unless homemade without sugar), ect. But one day a week I'll bake and eat whatever sweet I desire.

As a result, I don't feel sluggish all day, everyday. But I still get to indulge once a week. It's been working out great.

This week I could not decide for the life of me what I wanted to make. I had about 1001 ideas but nothing was popping out at me. Until I remembered this recipe I had bookmarked. I guess I have a thing for chocolate chip cookie dough.

Cookie no-dough ice cream
(adapted from joythebaker)

Note #1 from Abi: I used whole milk instead of half and half. I understood this would result in a less creamy ice cream but I was okay with that. And it was still absolutely divine. But if you want super creamy ice cream, go with the half and half.

Note #2 from Abi: After you pour the egg mixture back into the sauce pan, keep stirring the entire time! otherwise you might end up cooking some of the egg. If you do end up with some graininess (cooked egg), no worries. Just strain through a fine mesh strainer a few times until smooth.

1 cup chopped dark or semi-sweet chocolate

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

4 large egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups half and half

1 1/2 cups whole milk (or reduced fat, if you prefer)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

pinch of salt

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter until it is a deep golden brown color. There will be charming little brown bits at the bottom of the pan. You don’t want it too burnt, otherwise it’ll taste, for lack of a better word, weird. Add the half and half and heat until scalding (not quite boiling).

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks until pale and fluffy. Take the half and half mixture off the heat, and add a little to the egg mixture while mixing. This is called tempering the eggs: introducing hot liquid a little at a time to eggs while stirring, as to not cook the eggs with the hot liquid. Add a little more (just over half of the hot mixture total) and the healthy pinch of salt, then pour everything back into the sauce pan.

Heat, stirring very often or constantly, until about 170 degrees, or until it coats a metal spoon. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and chill. Once the mixture is chilled, whisk in the additional 1 1/2 cups of milk and add it to your ice cream machine. When it’s almost fully churned, add your chopped chocolate. Eat directly from the ice cream maker or freeze overnight. Enjoy!


Now for the best part of this post.

I am sure many of you already know and love bake it pretty. If you don't, click on that link and you'll see what I'm talking about.

It is the cutest store you'll ever see. I seriously want ten of EVERYTHING they sell.

On bake it pretty, you'll find tons of cute cupcake liners like these: (Pictures via bakeitpretty.com)

ever adorable cookie cutters like these:






and even cute cupcake toppers like these

Plus sprinkles, cupcake kits, and tons more


To enter:

Head on over to bake it pretty and have a peek, then come back and leave a comment to tell me which item/s you'd want. And be sure to leave an email address so we can contact you if you win.

If you want to double your chances, post a link on twitter or your blog and link it back here in an additional comment.

The giveaway will be open until Sunday (3/21) at 9pm EST. I'll select the winner randomly, and announce on Monday.