homemade ice cream sandwiches: tied up with strings.

For me, ice cream sandwiches always signal the beginning of summer in Big City, NS. For the past two summers, I was lucky enough to live a short walk from the greatest late-night corner store in the city: nay, the WORLD!

I spent my junior high years visiting this store in search of lunchtime penny candy, and after school JonesSoda. In high school we waited until the evening to stock up on orange juice to go with our stolen vodka and to try and buy cigarettes from the shifty-eyed guy who manned the store after dark. Then, 10 years later,  having moved back into the neighborhood as an adult, it was the homemade ice cream sandwiches that lured me from my humid, over-heated apartment and over to the store of cool delights.

It may not surprise you to hear that Small Town, NS is lacking in the perfect-homemade-ice-cream-sandwich-corner-store department. Unacceptable. With summer just around the corner (right? RIGHT?) it seems evident that I'll be forced to fulfill my cravings on my own... I'd better start practicing now!

So, here they are. A slight variation on my favorite Big City summer cooling agent - guaranteed to fill my freezer all summer long.

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

{cookie recipe adapted from Tartlette}

{the stuff} 

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

{how to do it}

Using an electric mixer or food processor fitted with a dough blade, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Lower the speed and add the vanilla and two eggs one at a time. Continue beating for two minutes until the mixture is smooth and fluffy.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix just until the dough starts to come together. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead by hand until the dough is dark, moist and shiny. Refrigerate the dough until firm, but still easy to work with.

Once the dough has firmed up, roll out to 1/4 inch thick and use cookie cutters to cut out your desired shapes. Bake on a parchment cover baking sheet for 9 minutes at 350 degrees, rotating half way through.

Once the cookies are completely cooled, you're ready to assemble your sandwiches!

 

Choose a brand of ice cream that comes in a brick rather than a tub. Slice the brick into pieces 3/4 inch thick and use the same cookie cutter to cut out shapes. Sandwich the ice cream between two cookies, wrap them and freeze until solid.

Eat.

Often.

x. {B}

 

frrrr-ench bread.

The yeasty smell while baking.
The hollow sound when thumped.
The crunch of the crust when torn into.

These are just a few of the things that make me wish for the sort of lifestyle where I'm able to get up at the crack of dawn and bake fresh bread every morning. Alas, that lifestyle is - for the time being - far from my grasp. So, when a day comes along where I find myself with little to do besides wander about town with camera, or putter around my kitchen, my brain starts screaming BAKE SOMETHING!!!

This week I decided to try my hand at French bread - something I've always been terrified to make, despite my father always making it look as simple as toasting a freezer waffle. Having had such success with Peter Reinhart's bagel recipe, I searched through his Artisan Breads Every Day for the perfect French bread. Guess what? Not so scary! And I didn't have to whip out my junior high français once!

frrrr-ench bread

recipe borrowed from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day

{the stuff}

5 1/3 cups unbleached bread flour

2 tsp salt

2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

2 cups lukewarm water

{how to do it}

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. If using a mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix on the lowest speed for one minute. If mixing by hand, use a large spoon and stir for one minute until well blended and smooth. The dough should form a coarse, shaggy ball.

Let rest - uncovered - for five minutes.

Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium-low speed, or knead by hand, for two minutes. Add flour or water as needed until the dough is supple and smooth, and tacky but not sticky. The closest comparison I can make is to one of those dense, foamy stress balls - the dough should have some give, but you should have to use a little muscle to squish it much.

Knead the dough by hand for one or two minutes more on a lightly floured work surface, then transfer to a clean, lightly oiled mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and immediately refrigerate overnight or for up to four days.

Remove the dough from the fridge about two hours before you plan to bake. Taking care to degas it as little as possible, transfer the dough to your lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into baguettes (10 oz,) boules (19oz,) or freestanding loaves of whatever size you like. Cover the loaves with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature (or beside a warm stove) for an hour and a half. In this time the dough should grow to one and a half times its original size.

About 45 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 550 degrees. (Having been unable to located a baking stone, I opted to use the back of a cookie sheet as my baking surface, and it worked just fine!) A heavy duty skillet or other pan filled with an inch or two of water and placed close to the upper element will generate steam which helps to give the bread its signature crust.

Remove the plastic wrap 15 minutes prior to baking, and score the loaves 1/2 inch deep with a serrated knife. Lower the oven temperature to 450 degrees and slide the loaves onto the baking stone or cookie sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes, rotate the pan, then bake for another 15 to 25 minutes - until the crust is a rich, golden brown and the loaves sound hollow when thumped. Cool the bread on a wire rack for at least 45 minutes before slicing and serving. 

(Ha! Right. I think I lasted maybe 15 minutes before tearing in and buttering up!)

{notes}

 

So, here's the thing. Sometimes the life of a full-time waitress doesn't allow for preparing things ahead of time. Suddenly, its Sunday morning, you have company coming for dinner, and you haven't given two thoughts to the fresh bread which is supposed to be accompanying the delicious, homemade beef stew you with be preparing shortly.

I admit it - I'm a cheater. I mixed my dough, tossed it in the fridge, headed out for a greasy pub breakfast complete with Bailey's & coffee and two crossword puzzles, returned home and immediately continued with the next step in the bread-making process. But, guess what?? The bread was still delicious! Crisp and crusty on the outside, soft and dense on the inside. My only complaint? It wasn't quite as chewy as I like, and was lacking the requisite French bread holes.

So, lesson learned I suppose. Next time around I will get my act together and dough up the night before!

brunch bubbles.

While preparing for Easter Brunch, I was thrilled to find blood oranges on sale for $1.79 a pound! Cheaper, in fact, than navel oranges. I was on drink duty and could think of nothing better than Blood Orange Mimosas to complement homemade Eggs Benedict on a sunny Sunday morning.

Blood Orange Mimosas

{the stuff}

the juice of 5 - or so - Blood Oranges

the juice of 3 - or so - navel, or juicing oranges

one bottle sparkling wine, (my favorite is Jacob's Creek Sparkling Chardonnay-Pinot Noir)

{how to do it}

When it comes to cocktails, my belief is that personal preference rules. I like my caesars not too spicy, but loaded up with celery salt; my gin martinis on the rocks with a fat ol' twist of lime; and my amaretto sours, SOUR! Taste rules -  and with these mimosas its the only rule you need.

Start with a chilled glass, add orange juices, and top up with bubbly until the mix suits you. 

Garnish with a wedge of sugar-dipped orange and maybe a sprig of mint.

Drink up!

{just add bubbles}

bagel update.

A trip home last weekend resulted in an all-day bagel-making-marathon with my dear mama...

Check these babies out!

 Love you, Mom!

x. {B}

bagel bagel bagel bagel.

It's hard to recall when my love affair with bagels began. As far as I'm concerned I entered the world with a bagel in my hand. {Mom, perhaps you can clear up any confusion here?} But, in the past few years when scanning my grocery store shelves, I've found only gigantic buns with holes in them staring back at me. Even the bagel shops in my city featured bread-like, cookie-cuttered impostors, chock full of add-ins like raisins, cheddar, jalapenos and everything else under the sun.

People. I just want a bagel! A palm-sized, slightly misshapen, chewy little gem ready to be sliced open, toasted and slathered with butter (or, maybe cream cheese with tomato and cuke slices perched on top *drool*).

So, when my friend and baking mentor announced she would be producing homemade bagels (!) from her paradise of a kitchen, I nearly stroked out. The only thing that excited me more was sampling

one of her perfect, sesame topped wonders with my morning coffee. "I want more!" was all my stomach could squeak out; so with borrowed recipe in hand, I tied on my apron and set to work.

bagels, baby!

 {recipe borrowed - with love - from A at kempt kitchen}

{the stuff}

For the sponge:
1 tsp instant yeast
4 cups unbleached bread flour (or high gluten flour)
2 1/2 cups water

For the dough:
1/2 tsp instant yeast
3 cups bread flour (or high gluten flour) 

(up to 3/4 cup more, if needed)
2 3/4 tsp salt

To top it all off:
Sesame seeds
Poppy seeds
Rock salt
Egg wash, if you choose to swing that way

{how to do it}

Day One:

For the sponge, stir the yeast into the flour in a large bowl. Add the water and whisk until you've formed a smooth, sticky batter (just a bit thicker than pancake batter). Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for around 2 hours.  The mixture should become quite foamy and bubbly and swell to nearly double it's size.

Once the sponge is ready, add the additional yeast and stir well. Then add 3 cups of the flour and the salt. Other recipes instruct you to now stir with a dough hook, but A and I both found our hands to work just fine. As you stir, add as much of the extra 3/4 cup flour as needed. I bailed after 1/4 cup; my dough was perfect at that point.

Knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes, until it is firm (and your arms are aching!). Other recipes suggest the dough is ready when "firm, stiffer than French bread dough" *blank stare*, or "pliable and smooth" and "satiny, but not tacky." If your dough is ready, there should be no dry flour and everything should be blended to perfection. Add more water or flour if the dough is too dry or moist. When your dough passes the windowpane test, you're ready to go.

Divide the dough into balls. I highly recommend weighing your dough balls.  I do not own a scale (a situation which will soon be remedied,) so I decided going with my gut was ok.  Not. Ok. I

ended up with monster bagels! These guys rise! A suggests 65 grams as an appropriate per bagel weight, and I defer to her. Place the dough balls on a parchment covered baking sheet and cover with a warm, damp tea towel. Let them rest for approximately 20 minutes before uncovering. 

It's time to roll. Take each ball and roll it into a sluggy worm shape, about 2/3 the thickness as your bagels will eventually be, and a bit longer than the width of your hand. Wrap the worm around your hand, joining the two ends in your palm, and roll your hand back and forth on the countertop to seal them. Return your shaped dough to the baking sheet, lightly oiling the parchment.  Cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for another 20 minutes at room temperature.

It is now time for the "float test". Drop each bagel into a bowl of room temperature water and wait for it to float. If the bagel surfaces within 10 seconds, you're ready to go. If your bagels are reluctant to come up for air, let them rest another 10 minutes, and try again. When they're ready, dry the bagels off and park the trays in the fridge overnight.

Day Two:

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F with the two racks set in the middle, and bring a large pot of water to a boil. In small batches drop the bagels into the water and boil for one minute on each side. The longer you boil them, the chewier your bagels will be. I think I will extend the boiling time a bit on my next batch... as I like a super chewy bagel.

Once the bagels are boiled, put them back on the oiled parchment on your baking sheets. Bake for 5 minutes then rotate the pans 180 degrees and back for an additional 5 minutes or until golden - mine took about 11-13 minutes in total.

If you like, brush the tops wish egg wash at the halfway point and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds (or my favorite, rock salt) before rotating and returning to the oven. When the bagels are golden, take them out of the oven and let cool for as long as you can keep your hands off them.

Then butter those babies up, and take a bite!

Happy bagel-ing!!
x. {B}

compost cookies. not for the green bin.

I put Reese's Pieces in my popcorn at the movies. When I put honey on a bagel, salted butter goes on first. Not to mention my long standing love affair with the Max-5 chocolate bar until the day it was unceremoniously ripped from the candy store shelves.  So, dear reader, I ask you, if I wear two different colored socks because I just can't choose which one I'm in the mood to wear, how can I possibly be expected to exert decisive power over the age old question: Salty? Or sweet?

When I came across the recipe for Momofuku Milk Bar's Compost Cookie, I knew I had hit the motherload. A chewy, buttery cookie with and abundance of contradictory add-ins. Its where leftover snack foods find their final resting place. Those chips at the bottom of the bag? Toss 'em in! Half eaten bar discovered in the depths of your purse? In she goes!

The recipe was developed by Christina Tosi and the other chef's at NYC's Momofuku Milk Bar, as a way to use up all the leftovers lying around the kitchen. It's like when your mom took all the week's leftovers and created a 'magic casserole' for dinner on Saturday (well, not my mom, thank goodness!) - but, in a cookie. Mmmm... cookie....

So here it is - the dream-come-true dessert for those of us who refuse to choose.

Happy Composting!

The Compost Cookie
{adapted from Momofuku Milk Bar's famous recipe}

{the stuff}

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sweet bits 

{I used milk chocolate chips, chopped up Skor bar, 

and next time definitely Glossette Raisins and maybe French Toast Crunch... (!)}

1 1/2 cups salty stuff 

{I used crushed pretzels, plain potato chips, and I hear Goldfish and Ritz crackers are great too!}

*for my next batch I will be adding oats, and perhaps the original recipe's used coffee grounds...

{how to do it}

First, cream butter, white sugar, and brown sugar.  The original recipe instructs you to use a stand mixer (which I may never afford!) so I used my food processor's dough blade. When the butter and sugars are fluffy and pale yellow, add the 2 eggs and vanilla and continue mixing for ten minutes. (Yeah, I thought this was excessive too. But, the mixture becomes super light and creamy and takes on a totally different consistency than after just 2 minutes, so I'm sticking to my instructions.)

While the mixer does its thing, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Next, add your sweet bits and salty stuff. When the butter-sugar mixture is ready fold it into the snack food mixture just until all the dry bits are incorporated.

Scoop the dough onto a parchement lined baking sheet, placing balls about 1 1/2 inches apart - these babies spread!

Bake at 400 degrees for 9-11 minutes.  Keep a close eye on them - once the edges look crispy they are done.

Take a bite.

x. {b}