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.

Kitchenaid White wheat bread

I'm on the hunt for a go-to wheat bread recipe. I've been testing out a new one each week and most of them have been okay, while only one has been flat out disgusting. By the way, few things are worse than spending 3 hours working on bread and it turning out nearly inedible.

I came across this one last week in a Williams sonoma cookbook. When I saw it made the kitchenaid do all the work I was sold. It came together easy and tastes great. Finally!

I'm keeping this one around, however I'm still working on the perfect 100% whole wheat bread. If you have one you love please let me know!







White wheat bread
makes 2 loaves

1 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
pinch of brown sugar
1 cup (250ml) warm water (105-115 degrees)
1 1/2 cups (375ml) tepid milk (90 degrees)
1/4 cup (75g) pure maple syrup, honey or light molasses
1/4 cup (60ml) canola oil
1 Tbsp salt
3 cups (470g) whole wheat flour
3 1/2 - 4 cups bread flour, or more if needed

In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast andbrown sugar over the water and stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine milk, maple syrup, oil, salt and 2 cups of the whole wheat flour. Beat on medium-low speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in the yeast mixture and the remaining whole wheat flour and beat for 1 minute. Beat in the bread flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Switch to the dough hook. Knead on low speed, adding bread flour 1 tbsp at a time if the dough sticks, until smooth but slightly sticky when pressed, about 5 minutes.

Transfer the dough to an oiled deep bowl and turn the dough once to coat it. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1-1 1/2 hours.

Lightly grease two loaf pans. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and divide it in half. Flatten into a rectangle that measures about 14"x9" with your hands, and roll like you would when making cinnamon rolls. And place into loaf pans. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until about 1 inch above the rim of each pan, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake until the loaves are golden brown and pull away from the sides of the pan, 35-40 minutes. Turn out onto racks and let cool completely.

this weekend

this weekend I ate these

drank this. (Oh kombucha, i love to hate you)

and made these.

I also saw alice in wonderland (which was so pretty, I loved it), organized my kitchen, and put a dent in the 30+ library books I currently have checked out.

about me

My name is Abi.

I live in Portland, OR with my husband and our two kitties. 

I run a photography business + and a clothing shop.

When I'm not doing those things I enjoy baking, running, crafting, and exploring new towns. 

Thanks for stopping by!

if you have a question or just want to say hello, please email me. I'd love to hear from you!

vanillaandlace(at)gmail . com

Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles

I've been in a cooking rut for the past two weeks. It isn't that I can't find inspiration, my bookmarks folder is bursting at the seams with delicious recipes for goodness sakes. It has much to do with the fact that I'm still (after over two years!) getting used to juggling two dinners a night. You see, I am a long time vegetarian gone mostly vegan, and my husband is a carnivore who hates cheese and garlic, (however he does love every vegetable, which is more than I can say). So this leaves me with cooking two separate meals each night. Good thing I like to cook, right?

Well sort of.

Most days I plan our menu with all the same elements, subbing orange tofu with brown rice for his orange chicken with white rice. Lasagna means cheese-less, just meat sauce in between noodles for him. Cheese-less, meatless, add eggplant, spinach and pine-nut spread for myself.

But lately I haven't done so well at the planning and by the time I've prepped, started and finished his dinner I have absolutely no energy to make mine. Then I sit down with pretzels and a small dish of melted chocolate chips and call it a night.

And it was two of these cookie dough truffles that made up the majority of my dinner on valentines day. And for once I was quite okay with being tuckered out after fixing dinner for my husband.

It is exactly what you think it is. Chocolate chip cookie dough, dipped in chocolate. And they are egg-free for those who worry (and easily adapted to be vegan). My chocolate coating doesn't look perfect but that was okay with me cause once in my mouth they were nothing short of perfect, and cut me a break, as I was dipping them in the chocolate I was balancing the phone on my shoulder so I could chat with my mom about a future vacation. And that night I found chocolate in my hair.



Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles (a love and olive oil recipe)
makes 3-4 dozen, depending on size.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk or soy milk
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, or small chocolate chunks.

14 oz dark chocolate candy coating, (i didnt have any so i used chocolate chips)

Directions
Beat butter and sugars and in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add soymilk and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed (or by hand) until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.

When dough is firm enough to handle (it may help to lightly flour your hands), form dough into 1″ balls and arrange on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Place sheets in freezer and let chill for 30 minutes.

Melt chocolate candy coating in a double boiler or in microwave according to package directions. Using forks or a dipping tool, dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover. Tap fork on side of pan to remove any excess coating, and return to waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Chill until set. Store, chilled, in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Or freeze for frozen treats.

A homemade life

I've been slacking in the blog updating department. I have plenty of posts lined up, pictures taken and ready to go but for some reason I don't think to do it until the end of the night when all I want to do is lay in bed and read. I checked a large chunk off my to-do list today so hopefully i'll be back to the normal routine tomorrow.



But for now I wanted to leave you with this book recommendation. I'm positive many of you read her blog, Orangette, and may have already read her book A homemade life. I checked it out at the library a week ago and I couldn't put it down! It it written somewhat blog style with a chapter containing stories about her life mostly pertaining to food (but also about relationships, living in paris, her father dying, and more) and at the end of each chapter is a recipe. It is a roller coaster ride of emotions and it made me long to go back to Paris. I also craved crusty, chewy french bread throughout the ENTIRE book, so beware.

The one downside is no pictures. But the recipes sound amazing and her writing is descriptive enough that you almost forget there aren't beautiful pictures to look at.

I highly recommend it, especially to foodies, avid blog readers and people who love Paris.

English Scones with devonshire cream

Teas were a huge part of my childhood. There were fancy birthday teas, the annual ladie's christmas tea at church, and every so often mom and the girls (I have 2 sisters) would go to the Pomeroy House tea room to have afternoon tea. It is one of my most beloved memories about childhood and I cherish every cucumber sandwich, scone and drop of tea. So of course, when I planned our trip to Washington scones with devonshire cream and lemon curd and jam were top priority. Right up there with shopping at H&M.

These scones and devonshire cream are about as close as you can get to the ones in England, without being there. I prefer to break them apart bite by bite with my fingers and layer on the jam or lemon curd, and top with a generous dollop of devonshire cream. Or you can always slice it like you would a roll and spread the jam and cream as pictured.



Either way, you will be biting into heaven on earth. The scones are soft, buttery pillows and when layered with jam and cream they become divine. And ohhh, devonshire cream. It makes them. I'm telling ya, you are missing out on something great if you don't eat it all together.




English Scones
Makes 16

4 cups Flour
3 tablespoons Sugar
4 teaspooons Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 cups Half and half
1 1/2 sticks of butter - chilled
1 large egg yolk (save white for brushing)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cream of tartar. Cut in butter, until combined and resembles a course meal. (the butter lumps should not be pea sized)
Add egg yolk to half and half. Stir half and half mixture into dry ingredients. Knead slightly in the bowl to combine. Divide dough in half. Form each half into a round, slightly dome shape about 1 inch thick. Cut the round into 8 wedges. Brush tops with egg white. Place the wedges on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes, tops will be golden brown.


Devonshire cream

1 cup Whipping cream
2 tablespoons Powdered sugar
1/2 cup Sour cream

Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Stir in powdered sugar and sour cream.

Black raspberry thumbprint cookies

We had an amazing visit to the pacific northwest to start off our February. Just about everyone in my immediate and extended family, as well as many friends live in Washington and Oregon. So our (much-too-short) 10 days were jammed packed with plenty of laughs and good times. (And good food.)

I'll share a couple posts about our visit, but I wanted to start out with these cookies.



I woke up the morning after getting into town and my mom was baking these. A classic staple to the many teas I grew up around. (I'll be going into more details about those teas this week)



They are simple, and stunning and delicious. If you're hosting/attending a tea in the near future, I would urge you to make these.




Black raspberry thumbprint cookies

1 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

2 Cups Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt

Black raspberry jelly (or jelly of choice)

Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Add flour and salt.
Roll into small 3/4 inch balls and use your thumb to press down center.
Use a small spoon (We found using a baby spoon works great) to fill center with the jelly.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until just SLIGHTLY darker than the raw dough. Once thoroughly cooled, dust with powdered sugar.