FINALLY.

The sun has graced us with it’s presence in Vancouver.

After a long weekend, rather a very long month, of rain it appears that Summer has officially arrived. I woke up this morning with a glimmer of light shining through the blinds. There are a few clouds in the sky, but there are giant pockets of blue sky that we have not seen in some time now.

This morning I’m baking a carrot cake for a family dinner tonight with Adam’s family, his aunt and uncle are visiting from out of town. I made a three layer, and one of the layers got stuck in the pan. I’ll just piece it back together with frosting later. There’s nothing more cream cheese frosting can’t fix.

At this very moment our house is a mess. I usually can’t stand it when everything is all over the place, and have to clean up asap. But right now, I’m packing for my trip (any travel advice?? tips for packing??), and for the house move. So, our condo looks a little like an episode of hoarders. I did manage to vacuum this morning, because I really can’t stand walking on bits and pieces of things. I also may have spilled some sugar in the kitchen. Walking on sugar is a pet peeve. Can anyone relate?

We’ve already packed a lot of boxes, and now we’re on the constant search of boxes. We’re frequently asking at grocery stores when we’re shopping. Produce boxes are great, because the fruit packaging helps insulate and protect things like dishes and serving ware.

These cupcakes are part of my ‘summer cupcake series.’ Another summer staple besides Watermelon, are drumsticks. I remember walking to the corner store when I was younger and getting a Drumstick. Last week we were at my Zia’s for dinner and my little twin cousins were eating drumsticks, one Strawberry Vanilla, and one original with Caramel. The cupcakes are vanilla, stuffed with Caramel like in the cones, topped with vanilla swiss meringue like the ‘vanilla ice cream,’ dipped in chocolate and topped in peanuts, just like the real thing. They are also sort of like a Dairy Queen Peanut Buster Bar – which are equally delicious. Though I think I would need a different caramel, a stickier, harder caramel unlike this one, which is more liquid.

I refrigerated them to allow the chocolate to harden, and I had to ‘taste test’ one, and they are actually quite good cold. I love anything crunchy, and the crunch of chocolate and peanuts is perfect. Although I was paying for it later, due to my peanut/wheat allergy :S
I gave these away to a friend, and to my mom. She likes to microwave hers for a few seconds as well.

Do you have any nostalgic summertime treats?

Drumstick Cupcakes

You will need:

24 vanilla cupcakes, baked and cooled.

-Caramel sauce, I used the pre-made in the squeeze bottle, for extra convenience
-1/2 cup chocolate chips, baking chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
-1/2 cup peanuts, chopped

Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients:

5 large egg whites

1 cup sugar

3 sticks butter, chilled, cut into cubes

Directions: 

In a metal mixing bowl, preferably from your stand mixer, place over a pot of simmering water, not boiling. Add sugar and egg whites. Be sure there is no yolk or oil in the egg whites, they will not whip properly otherwise.

Whisk constantly, until thermometer reads between 140-160 degrees F. If you do not have a thermometer, heat until sugar is completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot. This takes about 7-10 minutes.

Transfer metal bowl back to stand mixer, with whisk attachment and whip until the egg whites are thick and glossy and cool. The bowl itself should be cool to the touch, again this takes about 7-10 minutes on high.

Once the glossy thick texture is achieved, switch to a paddle attachment, and on medium add the chilled cubes of butter, one at a time, until fully incorporated.

The texture will begin to change, to a heavier, silky texture. It may look curdled, but continue to mix and it will become smooth once again. This time my butter was a bit too warm, and my frosting was curdling and soupy. I place it in the fridge for 15 minutes, added a couple more pieces of chilled butter and began to whip again. It became smooth once again.

To Assemble:

Using an apple corer, or a knife, cut a circle in the middle of the cupcake, and fill with caramel. Replace a bit of the core of the cupcake back on top to ‘seal’ the cupcake and caramel.

Pipe, using a large open tip, vanilla frosting onto cupcakes. You want them sort of rounded, so I just make mine regularly, and once you cover them in chocolate you sort of round them out.

After you pipe each cupcake, place in freezer to chill for a few minutes.

Once cupcakes are chilled, dip into chocolate, you can reference this post here  and sort of press the icing into the chocolate to round it out. Once it is fully covered let excess chocolate drip off, and immediately sprinkle chopped peanuts on top. Place into fridge to harden.

Repeat with remaining cupcakes. Chill in fridge until chocolate has hardened. Serve room temperature or chilled. Can be kept in fridge for up to three days.

Happy summer!

{And if you want a little more caramel… }

Happy Birthday To… Me :) 24… yikes!

I wanted to celebrate with some cake of course, but wasn’t so keen on making an entire cake. I’ve seen cakes baked in jar’s, so I thought why not a mini-birthday cake for one (maybe I’ll share with Adam..) Simple chocolate cake with vanilla swiss-meringue buttercream, depending on jar size, bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. And bonus, it’s portable! You can make this for someone special on their birthday :)

Make a wish…

… until next year!

.. Stay tuned this afternoon for another, outrageous, birthday treat I created.

I wrote this whole post, and went to press ‘save draft’ about the same time my computer decided to freeze. I had to write it again, and hopefully it’s just the same as when I first did it. I’m going to go eat some ice cream now.

Adam bought me a KitchenAid Ice cream attachment for Christmas. However, I have yet to use it. Most people are not making ice cream in the middle of winter. Though some people would think otherwise; Adam has been asking me to make it ever since. I guess he thought since he bought me it I would use it or something. Hmm..

But, we finally we have some sun in Vancouver. July has been so rainy! Unlike our counterpart in the East, the West coast has had a horrible summer thus far. I hope the sun is planning on sticking around for a while!! We needed it! Adam and I are also looking forward to celebrating his cousins wedding this weekend and I think the sun is going to stick around for it!

I was so glad to be able to try out the new attachment. Of course, I could not choose which flavour to make first. I was going to make ice cream with mini-chocolate peanut butter cups in it that I bought from Trader Joes. But they mysteriously disappeard…

So, I decided to start off with a bang. Three at once! Who doesn’t love the appearance and taste of Neapolitan ice cream? Do you? I do.

I’ve only made ice cream on two other occasions, Blackberry ice cream without a machine here, and once with my friend Justine using a 15$ ice cream maker we bought from WalMart. It was pretty delicious, but took a lot more work. It was also Mint Chocolate Chip. Yum.

I must admit I do have a slight dairy allergy. And by slight, I mean I’m naughty and still eat things like Mayo, Sour Cream, and Cheese. Not on their own of course. Cause that’d be gross. Oh, except the cheese I guess. Thats ok. Anyways, things that do not like me are milk, eggs (on their own) and heavy creams. I stopped eating my beloved Special K and switched to oatmeal last december. Thus, no ice cream or omelettes for me! How gross would that combo be??

Anyways, I love ice cream but hate feeling sick afterwards. So, I decided I would try to make ice cream a little *healthier* by omitting some of the heavier ingredients. I only used one cup of half & half, and replaced the other ingredients with Coconut Milk and Almond Milk. The result? Perfection. I was going to leave the eggs out, but as per suggestions I kept them to thicken the mixture up a bit. Next time I may try not adding them and see what happens!

This ice cream is absolutely-freaking-delicious. It is just as creamy as the real thing. And healthier..ish. Hey, its still dessert! But, no preservatives, no added dyes, no extra ingredientsneeded. Just simple natural ingredients. Using real strawberries instead of ‘strawberry flavour’ and pink dye makes all the difference. No need for adding food colouring here! It is naturally pink baby.

Though the list of instructions seems daunting, I assure you it does not take that long. Alternatively, you can make an all-vanilla, all-chocolate, or all-strawberry ice cream as one large batch and enjoy it as is.

The strawberry is definitely my favourite. Though, the chocolate with the chocolate shavings is a close second. And, did you know July is National Ice Cream month?? Good timing huh?

** Make sure your ice cream maker is fully frozen/chilled before making each batch. It may begin to thaw, and therefore not freeze the mixture while churning. Place it in the freezeragain before starting the next one to make sure it turns out correctly. **

Vanilla Ice Cream Base
makes approx. 1 1/2 quarts
Adapted to be more dairy free from here 

1 cup half and half
1 1/2 cups almond milk
2 cups (1 can) coconut milk
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp. sugar
dash of sea salt
3 egg yolks
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, combine half and half, almond milk, coconut milk, 1 cup of sugar, and salt. Whisk to combine.
2. In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 2 tablespoons of sugar.
3. Over medium-high heat, heat milk mixture until sugar dissolves and begins to simmer. Slowly pour about one cup of the simmering milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly to temper the eggs (a.k.a. cook the eggs without scrambling them). Add egg mixture to sauce pan, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. Turn heat off. Add vanilla extract.

4. Pour mixture in a large bowl. Cover and place in fridge to cool, about 3 hours. To speed up the cooling process, place bowl in an ice bath in the fridge, or place in the freezer sans ice bath.

To Make Neapolitan Ice cream…

1. Divide the chilled mixture into three bowls.
2. Return two of the bowls to the freezer.
3. Using the first bowl continue to prepare as per your ice cream makers instructions for the Vanilla ice cream.
4. Once you have finished making the Vanilla ice cream, it will resemble soft serve, scoop the finished mixture into an air tight container and return to the freezer to harden.

Strawberry Ice Cream:

Approx. 5-7 strawberries, hulled and diced into small pieces.
2 tbsp. sugar

1. Remove one of the remaining two batches from the freezer.
2. Using a food processor, or by mashing the strawberries by hand, gently puree the strawberries and sugar until only a few remaining pieces of strawberry remain whole.
3. Pour the strawberry puree into the vanilla ice cream base.
4. Continue to make as per your ice cream makers instructions for the Strawberry ice cream. Scoop the finished mixture int another air tight container and place in freezer.

Chocolate Ice Cream:

2 squares of good quality chocolate

1. Melt the chocolate carefully, as not to burn it, and allow to cool.
2. Remove the final batch of ice cream base from the freezer. Slowly stir in the chocolate with a whisk (you may add some cocoa powder as well if you like)
3. Continue to make as per your ice cream makers instructions for the chocolate ice cream.
4. To gain a chocolate stracciatella like ice cream, melt some more chocolate, and drizzle it slowly into the ice cream as it is being churned. It will harden on contact and create the string like chocolate shavings. Transfer the chocolate ice cream to another container, and freeze until hardened.

Have you made ice cream before? What are your favourite recipes/flavours?? Have you made a Dairy Free version??