Guinness Ice Cream

So, this recipe is from Suzanne Goin's book, Sunday Suppers at Lucque's (surprise, surprise...) However, I did change it up a bit for two reasons:
1. Laziness and 2. My lack of vanilla beans. Oops.
It did turn out amazing though- so so delicious that I would totally be lazy and forget to buy vanilla beans all over again.

Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup Guinness Stout
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons molasses
3 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method:
In a small saucepan whisk together the guinness stout and the molasses. Bring to a boil and the turn off the heat.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla extract. Next, slowly whisk a few tablespoons of the guinness mixture into the eggs to temper them. Very slowly, continue to add the rest of the warm guinness to the egg mixture, continuously whisking the mixture. Add the milk and cream and return the mixture back to the sauce pan and cook over medium heat for about 6- 8 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken. You will have to scrape the sides and bottom of the pan with a spatula as the custard gets thick.

Place the custard in the fridge for at least 2 hours until it is very cold. Then, put the custard in an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions.

Lavender and Honey Ice Cream.

Rich is away for his bachelor party, leaving me all alone for the weekend.....

I LOVE this. Don't get me wrong- I love living with Richard, obviously, but a little girly alone time is not something to be taken for granted! I have a very busy schedule of pedicures, shopping, puppy cuddling, and movie watching (rom-coms, of course) ahead of me this weekend. With only a little more than 5 weeks until our wedding, I am really looking forward to not doing one productive thing for 4 whole days! This morning, however, I began my first solo day in the best possible way with a one on one baking lesson from one of the most amazing southern exports living in Los Angeles.

Ms. Kathy Emerson, owner of La Weekend baked goods, is hands down the best baker I have ever met... not too mention one of the coolest women of all time. I met Kathy a few weeks ago at a wine tasting at Domaine LA Wine Shop where she was featuring some of her amazing southern baked goods. After expressing my love for southern food (and after indulging in a slice of buttermilk pie...or three) she offered to take me under her wing and teach me a thing or two. So, I showed up to her adorable loft this morning and was schooled in pie making, recipes, and lumples. Ohhhh lumples. A cross between a scone and a biscuit, lumples are my favorite new treat. It is taking every bit of will power I have to not eat the whole batch that is taunting me from the next room. D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.

Lavender and Blueberry Lumples.

Yes, Lavender. Let's talk about lavender for a moment.....

I know I have expressed my undying affection for it several times, but let's just make sure we are clear one more time.... I LOVE LAVENDER. 

I love them smell, the color, the taste.... all of it. I have found every way possible to incorporate it into our wedding, our house, and my cooking. I just can't get enough. 

Kathy, being the doll that she is, sent me home today with a jar of culinary lavender from North Carolina. 

Me, being the crazy person that I am, decided to go ahead and really put it to use. I may have gone a bit over board........

On the menu? Lavender and honey ice cream and lavender shortbread with lemon zest. 

I posted a recipe for Lavender ice cream a few months ago, but today I decided to step it up a notch and try a new recipe. Ice cream traditionally has eggs in it, but for the sake of ease (and calories) I usually leave the egg out when I make ice cream at home. Leaving the egg out creates a lighter, healthier frozen treat which is usually ideal for me.  However, having the house to myself today seemed like the perfect time to experiment a bit. 

Lavender and Honey Ice Cream

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk

3 Tablespoons culinary lavender buds

1/3 cup honey

5 large egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

Method

In a medium saucepan, combine lavender, honey and whole milk. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, cover, and remove from heat. Let steep for 5 minutes. Then strain the milk through a fine mesh sieve and discard the lavender buds. Set the milk aside. 

Combine the egg yolks and sugar. Whisk together for about 3 minutes until the eggs become thick and pale. 

Return the milk mixture to the stovetop and bring to a simmer over low-medium heat. Very slowly add a little of the hot milk to the egg mixture. Keep adding the hot milk until you have added half. Then stir the egg mixture into the remaining hot milk and continue to cook over medium heat while stirring constantly until the mixture has thickened a bit...enough to coat the back of a spoon. This process is called tempering.... and be sure to do it carefully or else you will end up with a bowl full of hot milk and scrambled eggs.

Once thickened, remove the mixture from heat and strain it one more time. Place mixture in an ice bath or in the refrigerator until chilled. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions. 

Enjoy... I know I will!!

Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake Pots.

I have kind of lost myself lately with what I like to refer to as "wedding brain." This is something that happens when you AND your best friend are both getting married in the next 6 months so the only topic of conversation becomes wedding based. Seriously. Dresses, flowers, parties, airfares, decor, food.... absolutely non-stop. Unfortunately, I hate to consider my self one of "THOSE BRIDES," but it just happened... and let's be honest... I secretly love it.

However, on the downside.....the afternoons that I used to spend in the kitchen making soups and sauces and pastries are now spent cutting out tiny little panty silhouettes for Emily's bridal shower invitations and finalizing guest lists. It's a dirty job and I highly doubt Richard is going to do it.

So, in an effort to preserve my once self proclaimed title of "at home chef...." I woke up this morning with a goal:

One new soup and one new dessert, both to be prepared, photographed, and devoured before noon.
(I also managed to get a 3 cheese and meat lasagna in the oven for dinner during all of this chaos.)

The simplest of ingredients can really knock your socks off. 

For the crust:

1/2 cup of graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons of melted butter

For the filling:

8 ounces cream cheese

1/4 cup Nutella (or more to taste)

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

2 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

Divide graham cracker crumbs and 1/2 tablespoon of melted butter into the bottom of 4 ramekins (or small serving dishes....glasses would work, too) Press down lightly to form a crust. 

In a food processor combine cream cheese, Nutella, brown sugar, and chocolate chips and whip together until smooth and chocolate chips are finely chopped (the chips add a nice texture, but can be left out if you choose.)

Spoon the cream cheese mixture into the ramekins and smooth it out with the back of a spoon. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving. 

Makes 4 Cheesecake Pots. 

Creme Brulee

I have not posted in weeks (which may feel like years because you have missed me so much)
I was going through a very very traumatic time.... actually two traumatic times.

I lost my sense of taste.
After being sick for almost a month my body decided to torture me and not let me taste a GD thing for 6 days. 6 days is almost a week and that is like an eternity, let me tell you. A chef losing their sense of taste is like Richard Keith becoming a mute..... or like a singer having their vocal chords ripped out. It was a really hard time for me. I would look at the chocolate souffle that I had flawlessly created and taste it with my mind....... it was like a death sentence. A culinary tragedy of the worst kind. I missed out on pulled pork, birthday cake, BBQ, and everything else wonderful.

Then after finally making amends with my body and being able to taste..... I chopped my finger off. Ok... not my finger, but I chopped off half of my nail, which is the very best part of a girl's finger-- especially right before having a week off from school when I am actually aloud to have a manicure. Ugh. I am sorry to all of the people that I have previously made fun of for bleeding at school.... owwwwie. I should not have made fun of you (behind your back) for hurting yourself because it really hurts and I have a very bandaged up finger to prove it.

So, while all of this drama was going on I managed to make it through the last week of my baking class and ace my finals (duh)
Even better than getting A's on all of my finals was biting into a creme brulee and actually tasting it.
I really love creme brulee.

(really delicious) creme brulee.

Ingredients:

1 quart of heavy cream

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1/2 cup of sugar, split

6 large egg yolks

Method:

Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out all of the pulp. Combine the pulp and the whole bean with the heavy cream in a sauce pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Take off of heat and let the cream and vanilla bean steep (infuse) for about 10 minutes. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks until the color begins to lighten a little bit. This makes my arm hurt. Temper in the cream very slowly..... like a few drops at a time. Whisk mixture together and strain. 

Pour the mixture into ramekins. Place the ramekins into a shallow baking dish or cake pan and fill the dish with enough water to come half way up the ramekins. Cover the dish with foil and place in a 325 degree oven for about 25 minutes until the custard has set, but is still loose in the center.... kind of like jello. Cool and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight. 

Once cooled, dust the top of each creme brulee with sugar. Using a torch, scorch the sugar until evenly brown on top and very crispy. Let sit for a few minutes before serving so that the sugar hardens.

If you do not have a torch, you can put the creme brulees under the broiler in an oven, but this heats up the custard and does not work as well.