Sticky Toffee Pudding Ice Cream

I love it when the concoction I have in my head turns just as I had imagined. 

That photo above is exactly what I had envisioned when I set out to develop this ice cream. 

I searched the internet for a Sticky Toffee Pudding Ice Cream and could not find anything remotely close to what I wanted. I had seen a photo of  Haagen-Dazs sticky toffee pudding and knew I had to try it.

Had to.

Of course, the Haagen-Daz version is not available where I live. In fact, I believe it was a limited edition flavor so may not be available anywhere anymore. 

Anyway, I decided to make my own version. 

There are actually 3 separate recipes needed to make this come together but, TRUST ME, it is sooooo worth it. This may ruin you for any other dessert. 

Just warning you.

Sticky Toffee Pudding Ice Cream

Ingredients

Sticky Toffee Pudding

1/2 cup boiling water

8 oz dates

1 1/3 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

6 Tbsp butter, room temp

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Rum Sauce

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, cubed

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp rum

Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream

1 1/4 cup half & half cream

2 cups whipping cream

pinch salt

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 vanilla bean

5 egg yolks

Directions

Sticky Toffee Pudding - Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray, set aside.

In a small bowl, pour boiling water over dates and let sit for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, blend dates and liquid in blender until smooth.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together butter and dark brown sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Beat in vanilla. 

Beat in the blended date mixture to the butter and egg mixture until well combined, scraping sides a few times. 

Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined and no white streaks remain.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups. 

Bake at 350 until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean, about 18 - 20 minutes.

Let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edge and then invert onto a wire rack to let cool. Once cool you can cover these and set aside until later.

Rum Sauce - Place dark brown sugar, butter, whipping cream and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and stir in the 2 tbsp of rum. 

Let cool completely. (You can place in the fridge to speed process.)

Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream - In a medium saucepan, whisk together half & half, whipping cream, salt, and dark brown sugar. Split the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds. Add the seeds to the cream and then also add in the bean pod. 

Stir the cream over medium heat until mixture starts to steam. Remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes to let steep.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the 5 egg yolks until light and smooth,, about 2 minutes. After the cream has sat for 5 minutes, remove the bean pod and discard (or save for another use). Very slowly, with the mixer on medium speed, pour the cream into the egg yolks. (Not too fast or you will curdle your eggs.)

Once it is all mixed, pour it back into the sauce pan and place over medium heat. Cook and stir until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. 

Remove from heat and pour through a strainer into a bowl. Set the bowl in the fridge and let mixture chill completely, at least several hours.

Once chilled, pour mixture into an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions.

Assemble the ice cream - Spread the ice cream into a 9 X 13 pan. 

Crumble up 2 of the sticky toffee puddings into tiny bits. Sprinkle the bits over the ice cream in the pan.

Drizzle 2 generous spoonfuls of rum sauce over the crumbs.

Freeze, covered, until solid. At least several hours.

Now, there are several ways to enjoy this ice cream.

1. On it's own...

2. In an ice cream cone (can also drizzle more rum sauce on top)

3. On top of one of the sticky toffee puddings. This is my favorite way. 

First, you have to prepare the pudding:

Take a pudding and place it on a serving plate. Microwave it for 20 - 25 seconds to warm it up. Remove it from the microwave and, using a chopstick or something similar, poke several holes on the top of it.

Pour a generous spoonful of  rum sauce on top. Let it sit for 2 minutes to sink in.

Now, flip the pudding over and place it back in the microwave for another 10 seconds.

Remove it and poke several more holes in the bottom with the chopstick. Drizzle another generous spoonful of rum sauce over the bottom. Let sit for a moment to sink in.

Scoop some sticky toffee pudding ice cream on top and drizzle with a generous spoonful of rum sauce.

You can, of course, just make the sticky toffee pudding WITHOUT any ice cream and just enjoy it smothered in tons of rum sauce.

Also not a bad dessert. 

And, by "not a bad dessert" I mean a delicious, decadent, ridiculously rich, amazing dessert.

The addition of the sticky toffee pudding ice cream on top of the sticky toffee pudding is pretty much the best dessert ever.

Ever.

True story. 

A few notes -- Use DARK BROWN SUGAR not light brown sugar. You want the kind of molasses-y flavor the dark sugar brings. 

If you want to serve the remaining 10 puddings as a dessert after a dinner (instead of 1 or 2 at a time) you can heat them all up by placing them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Just pop them into a preheated oven for a few minutes until they are heated through. Place the caramel sauce back in a saucepan and place over medium heat for a few minutes to heat up.  Poke the holes, drizzle the caramel, flip them over. Poke more holes, drizzle more caramel, and then serve.  

For more fun food links, head over to Carole's Chatter!

Quinoa Cranberry Coconut Almond Cookies (vegan)

Sometimes when I experiment with recipes they turn out great and sometimes they turn out so so. (Okay, yes, sometimes they also do not turn out at all!)

This recipe needs a little tweaking but, as is, I absolutely love the flavor. Even the texture is nice. The problem is that it is too delicate. It needs something to make it stronger so it won't crumble. Normally I would say to add an egg - but that would defeat the purpose of making this a vegan cookie. 

Here is how you can get this cookie to work - make small cookies (about 1 Tbsp balls) and chill the dough for at least 30 minutes before baking it. 

Keep reading after the recipe to see what happens if you don't do these 2 things!

P.S. - We would love to hear from seasoned vegan cookie bakers about tips for making stronger cookies!

Quinoa Cranberry Coconut Almond Cookies (vegan)

Ingredients

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup peanut butter 

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup coconut milk

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup quinoa flakes

1 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup almonds, toasted & chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, wheat germ, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, using electric beaters, beat together coconut oil and peanut butter until smooth. Beat in brown sugar until fluffy.

Beat in the coconut milk and vanilla until well blended. 

With the beaters on low, beat in the dry ingredients.

Stir in the quinoa flakes, cranberries, and almonds.

**Chill dough for at least 30 minutes.**

After dough has chilled; using a small cookie scoop, or spoon, drop rounds of cookie dough about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. 

Bake at 350 until cookies are golden brown around the edges, about 10 minutes. 

Remove from oven, let cool on cookie sheet for 8 - 10 minutes, then remove to wire rack and let cool completely. 

Now...if you decide to make the cookies bigger - say the size of a large cookie scoop - and you decide not to chill the dough, here is what may happen...

See, they look okay on the cookie sheet. But....

They spread like crazy. 

Also.... they are super de duper crumbly. I got them off the cookie sheet onto the wire rack using a spatula but once they cooled and I went to pick one up. 

*pffft*

Cookie explosions happened. 

Now let me tell you how to turn a cookie lose into an apple crumble win:

Take 3 - 4 apples, peel them, core them, and chop them. Place them into an 8 - 9 inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake in a 375 oven until apples are fork tender. 

Once tender, crumble the cookies over the top.

But back in the oven for another 10 - 15 minutes, until heated through and bubbly.

Remove from heat and serve warm.

I prefer mine with a bit of whipped cream, of course...

So, there you have it.

Chill the dough and make small cookies OR don't chill the dough, make large cookies, and end up with tasty, tasty apple crumble topping.

Up to you.

It's win-win baby.

Gluten Free Quinoa Crackers And Curried Carrot Lentil Dip

The girls at my office decided to make tomorrow "Dip Day". 

I like where I work.

We have A LOT of food days.

Anyway, I decided to try and be a bit healthier. We're going to be having creamy spinach dip, chips and dip, chili and cheese dip, etc...etc.... I figured I may as well go the healthy route at least once in my life. 

I looked up a few recipes online to get an idea of how I could make the dip I wanted but couldn't find a recipe with the ingredients I wanted to use. I mixed and matched a few recipes together to come up with this one. Same thing with the crackers. 

They could be called "a little of this and a little of that" crackers. I have to be honest and say that they aren't my favorite crackers in the world...I found them a little bland...but they work pretty good as dip transport vessels.  Plus, they are gluten free (if that is a concern for you). 

The dip is vegan. The crackers are almost vegan...they do have a spoonful of honey in them. I'm sure you could sub maple syrup or something similar to make it completely vegan. 

Curried Carrot Lentil Dip

Ingredients

2 medium carrots, peeled

1 medium onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp coriander

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

sprinkle of black pepper

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 can (540 ml) lentils, rinsed & drained

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9 X 9 baking dish with cooking spray. 

Chop the carrot into 1/2 inch chunks. Place in baking dish.

Coarsely chop the onion. Place in baking dish.

Sprinkle with the minced garlic and spices. Drizzle with the oil. Stir together in the pan. 

Cover dish with tinfoil. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove tinfoil and bake another 10 - 15 minutes, until veggies are soft.

Remove from oven and let cool for 15 - 20 minutes. When no longer steaming hot, place veggies into a food processor with the rinsed & drained lentils. 

Process until smooth. (You can decide how smooth you want it to be. Process it less if you like chunky dip.)

Serve dip warm or at room temp. 

Gluten Free Quinoa Crackers

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa flour

1/4 cup ground flax

1 Tbsp dried parsley

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp honey

7 Tbsp cold water

seasoning salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

In a food processor, combine the quinoa flour, flax, parsley, garlic powder, salt, and pumpkin seeds. Process until smooth.

Move dry ingredients to a bowl.

In a small bowl, stir together the oil, honey, and 2 Tbsp of water. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and, with a plastic/silicone spatula, combine the ingredients.

Add remaining water, 1 Tbsp at a time, until you have a thick dough.

Place the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper and roll to about 1/8 of an inch thickness. Cut out the shape of the crackers you would like (using a cookie cutter or simply a knife). Place on prepared cookie sheet. They can be very close together on the sheet as they don't spread. Sprinkle with the seasoning salt. (If you are wondering why some of the crackers are white in the photo below - it is extra quinoa flour that I used to roll them out.)

Bake at 350 for 15 or so minutes, they will be going a golden brown.

When done, remove to a wire rack and let cool.

It might not be the prettiest dip out there but it is really, really tasty. Plus, the house smells AMAZING while the carrots and onions and garlic are roasting with the spices. 

The crackers need a little somethin' somethin' to up their taste but, with the dip, they are really good. On their own, I'm not so crazy about them. If you give them a try, please let us know what you think or if you made any changes. 

Be sure to visit Adorned From Above and My Sweet Mission and Dizzy Busy & Hungry and Carole's Chatter for some fantastic links!!

Spaghetti Squash Quinoa "Ground Beef" Casserole (vegan)

It's been a while since I've posted something completely healthy on the blog. All of those tasty Halloween treats derailed my veggie cooking for a little while. 

I wanted to come up with something hearty and filling with a low calorie count that also was full of yummy deliciousness. I decided to see if I could keep it vegan too. 

I'm nowhere near an expert when it comes to vegan or vegetarian cooking but I am pretty sure this is completely vegan. Please correct me if I am mistaken!

Sue's daughter, Kenzie, went through a period where she wanted to try being vegetarian. She tried Yves brand Mexican Ground Round and really enjoyed it so I decided to give it a try in my casserole. 

This turned out sooooo tasty! 

I plugged the ingredients into Myfitnesspal and I have some good news!!

For 1/4th of the recipe, the nutritional info is: 200 calories, 29 carbs, 3 fat, and 18 protein. 

200 calories for 1/4 of a 9 X 9 pan of casserole?? Crazy, right?

Spaghetti Squash, Quinoa, "Ground Beef" Casserole

Ingredients

1/2 small tomato

4 cups spaghetti squash, cooked and shredded

1 pkg (340 gr) Yves Mexican Veggie Ground Round 

1/2 green pepper, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup onion, diced

1 small carrot, diced

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/2 cup black quinoa (cooked)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9 X 9 baking dish with cooking spray, set aside.

In a Magic Bullet (or blender), blend the 1/2 of a small tomato until smooth. Pour the tomato puree into the 9X9 pan and spread evenly. Set aside.

Top with 2 cups of the spaghetti squash.

Crumble the Veggie Ground Round and sprinkle on top of the squash.

Layer the remaining 2 cups of spaghetti squash on top of the ground round.

In a frying pan - cook the green pepper, garlic, onion, carrots, and mushrooms over medium heat. Add in the chili powder, cumin, garlic & onion powder. Cook and stir until veggies have softened, about 5 - 7 minutes. Add the cooked quinoa into the veggies and stir to combine. 

Spread the veggie quinoa mixture over the layer of spaghetti squash.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, until dish is heated through. Remove from oven and serve hot.

Yay to healthy AND tasty!

If you want to make this with lean ground beef or ground turkey you certainly could. The veggie ground round is flavored with "taco" seasonings so if you went with the beef or turkey you would probably want to up the spices in the recipe above - probably by double. 

Oh, I used black quinoa in this recipe but you can use regular or red quinoa with no problems. 

Please let us know if you give it a try. We'd love to hear from you!

Don't forget to visit Carole's Chatter for some fun food links!

Baked "Rats"

Sue here today. I wanted to quickly post our Baked "Rats" to wrap up our Halloween recipes for 2013. 

We had so much fun, once again, coming up with our Halloween Dinner 2013. We hope you click over to that post and let us know what you think!

These were inspired by the Kentucky Fried WTF we found on Instructables. 

Ours turned out a little more frog-ish than rat-ish but I think that's just because we kept breaking off the tails. The tails definitely help to make these look more rat-like.

I was surprised how easy they were to make, well, except for the stupid tails. 

I would like to try these again but next time I think I will also cut the tip of the chicken breast off to form a separate head shape and then reattach the head like we did the other appendages. I think that would help it look less frog-like as well.

Baked "Rats"

Ingredients

4 - 6 chicken breasts, boneless/skinless

a good handful pretzel sticks (~30)

1 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup Panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup crushed black tortilla chips

salt & pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

8 - 12 strands of spaghetti, cooked

1 cup BBQ sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 400. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

For each rat - cut a chicken breast in a tear drop shape (this will be the body of the rat). Cut the excess chicken into 4 equal size rectangle shapes (these will be the legs/arms)

Place the body on a flat work surface. Stick 4 pretzel sticks into the body where you want the legs and arms to go. Gently squish the pieces of chicken you cut for the appendages onto each pretzel. It's okay if the pretzel pokes out a bit.

Next: place the 1 cup of flour in a shallow pan. Place the beaten eggs in a separate shallow pan. In a third shallow pan stir together the bread crumbs, black tortilla crumbs, salt & pepper, and garlic and onion powder. 

Dip each rat, first in the flour - then in the egg, and then in the crumbs. Be sure to coat the entire surface of the rat. Place back on cookie sheet. 

Dip 2 strands of spaghetti in the egg and then the crumbs. Insert into the butt end of one of the rats. Repeat with the rest of the rats. 

Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and, using a basting or pastry brush, cover each rat in BBQ sauce. Be sure to coat the entire surface (bottom side of the rat is optional). 

Cook an additional 10 or so minutes, until chicken is completely cooked through.

Remove from oven and serve hot. We served them on skewers.

Initially we hadn't planned on adding the BBQ sauce but they just were not baking up very dark. We decided to add the sauce to up the gross-ness factor.

Can you see what I mean about maybe cutting off a piece of the body and then reattaching it with a pretzel to make the head look more separate? I think that would look a bit better. 

As is, they still grossed out a few people. 

They taste delicious, by the way. Chicken in a crunchy coating and then BBQ sauce.....what's not to love?

Spooky Stuffed Spider Buns

Ooooooh! Spoooooooky!

Well, maybe not terribly spooky...more like super de duper cute. 

Sue and I made these pizza stuffed spiders for our Halloween Dinner 2013. They are a little fiddly to make but really do make a big impact on the table. 

We have provided the recipe for our bread but you can use pretty much any recipe you like....even store bought. 

These would make a great lunch for the kids.

Spooky Stuffed Spider Buns

Ingredients

Bread Dough

4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast 

1/2 cup very warm water (110 degrees)

1/2 cup very warm milk (110 degrees)

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp poppy seeds

4 - 5 cups flour

Filling

1/2 cup pizza sauce

1 cup Mozza cheese, shredded

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, cheese

Olive slices for eyes.

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, mix together yeast and warm water. Let stand 5 minutes to proof.

In a separate bowl, place warm milk and butter. Let stand so butter melts (it's okay if butter does not melt completely, you just want it mostly melted.)

Mix together yeast, milk, sugar, salt, and poppy seeds. Whisk vigorously for a minute. 

Add in 1 cup of flour at a time, stirring well in between, until you have a soft dough. 

Place on a well floured work surface and knead for 1 - 2 minutes. 

Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover.

Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside. Tear tinfoil into strips about 6 inches long and 3 inches wide. Fold the strips in half horizontally and then in half horizontally again until you have a long, thin strip. You will need 2 of these strips for each spider you plan to make. 

Punch down the dough and dived into 12 equal sized balls.

Instructions for each of the 12 balls.- Cut the ball in half. Then cut one of the halves in half again. 

Take the largest piece and flatten it into a circle about the size of the palm of your hand. Place a small spoonful of pizza sauce and a sprinkle of both cheeses in the middle. Pinch the edges of the dough together and then shape into an egg shape. (This is the body of the spider)

Take one of the smaller balls and roll it into a ball. (This is the head.)

Take the other small ball and cut it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece between your hands until you have 8 long pieces. (These are the legs.)

To assemble the spider - place 2 of the tinfoil strips you had folded up on the cookie sheet about 2 - 3 inches apart. Lay the legs over the strips to leave a little bump. Place the body and head of the spider on top of the legs in between the two tinfoil strips. (Please see photo below for clarification)

Repeat with the rest of the dough. (I got 6 per cookie sheet)

Bake at 375 until tops are golden brown and bread is cooked, about 15 - 20 minutes. 

Let cool on sheet for about 5 - 10 minutes before gently wiggling the tinfoil strips loose. Serve warm or let cool on wire racks. You can serve them without eyes....

Or place 2 olive slices on the head...

A couple of notes about this recipe -- 

1. You can use pretty much any bread recipe for this. Just remember you don't have to do a second rising.

2. You can fill these with pretty much anything you like - pizza, ham & cheese, BBQ chicken, etc.

3. If you find the legs are too small - only make 10 or 11 spiders and use the 1 or 2 extra dough balls to add extra dough for the legs. 

4. The tinfoil strips are not totally necessary - you can make these and just place the legs flat - but I really think the legs looks like they have more "movement" with the bends in them. 

 

Be sure to check out Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons and My Turn (for us) and Horrific Knits for tons of fun and crafty links!