Green Tea Ice Cream!

When you think of ice cream you probably think of chocolate, vanilla or strawberry right?  Those are the common favorites.  But when I think of ice cream I think of green tea, coffee, and lavender!  So anyway since green tea is my FAVORITE ice cream ever, I decided to make some myself!  I got this recipe online on the website http://japanesefood.about.com OK here's the recipe for this awesome dessert!!


INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup milk
2 egg yolks
5 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream, whipped
1 tablespoon matcha green tea powder
3 tablespoons hot water


Directions:
OK, before I start this recipe I just to make sure everyone knows to put your ice cream maker into the freezer for 24 hours before starting this recipe!


Mix the hot water and green tea powder together in a bowl and set aside. Lightly whisk egg yolks in a large pan.  Add sugar in the pan and mix well.  Put the pan on low heat and heat the mixture, stirring constantly.  Once the mixture is thickened, remove the pan from the heat.  Soak the bottom of the pan in ice water and cool the mixture.  Add the green tea into the egg mixture and mix well, cooling in ice water.  Then add the whipped heavy cream in the mixture and stir gently.  Then pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and let it churn for about 20-25 minutes.  You can also pour the mixture in a container and freeze, stirring the ice cream a few times.  I also added some green food coloring because the ice cream was mostly white.  Enjoy!! :)


Thanks
Alyssa :)

Smith Island Cake

Cake from top view

I got this amazing cake recipe from a book called, United Cakes of America by Warren Brown.  This cake is usually eaten in Maryland, and goes great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!  OK, here are the ingredients!
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
1/2 cup whole milk

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 sticks unsalted butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil. (I used olive oil, it's way better for you and it tastes really good in this cake!)

 1 1/2 cups superfine granulated sugar
5 eggs


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place the oven rack in the middle position.  Line the bottoms of up to six 8 or 9 inch round pans with parchment.
2. Measure the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients into separate bowls.  Whisk each to combine.
3. Measure the butter, vegetable shortening/olive oil and superfine sugar into the bowl of a electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Combine on medium to low speed for about 5 minutes.
4. Add the eggs one at a time to the well-creamed butter mixture.
5. Alternately add the dry and wet ingredients about a quarter at a time.  Scrape the sides of the bowl with a flexible spatula and beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds.
6. Pour about 2 cups of batter into each prepared pan
7. Bake the cakes for approximately 12 minutes, or until the top surface looks blond with slightly browned edges
8. Immediately flip each layer out onto wax or parchment paper.  I necessary, reline and reuse the cake pans to make all the layers.
9. Lightly cover each cake layer with plastic wrap as it cools to prevent it from drying out as you make the icing.
10.  Assemble the cake by spreading 1/4-inch layer of icing onto the between all cake layers and swirling a good amount of icing onto the outside of the cake.  If you'd like like an even more decorative look, you can apply piped borders of frosting using a pastry bag or a parchment cone.


Recipe for the Smith Island Cake Icing!
4 cups of confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder (I made it 2!)
1/2 stick of unsalted butter
3/4 cups whole milk
4 ounces of unsweetened, melted chocolate.


1. Sift the confectioners sugar and cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
2.  In a large saucepan set over medium heat, bring the butter and the milk to a rolling boil, stirring often.
3. Reduce the temperature to low and whisk the boiling liquid into the confectioners sugar.  Scrape this back into the same saucepan and bring to a simmer for about 15 minutes.  Add more milk if the mixture thickens too much.  It should not get pasty.
4. Scrape the hot mixture onto a large bowl.  Fold in the melted chocolate with a spatula until the frosting takes on a deep, even color.
5. Allow it to cool to room temperature.  Give it a few stirs with the spatula to smooth it out.


I added some pink sugar pearls for decoration as well!  Hope you enjoy! :)


Thanks
Alyssa :)

Lava cake

Yesterday I made a lava cake.  I guess you could't call what I made an actual lava cake because there was no chocolate flowing out of it!  I made a really stupid mistake and only put in 1 stick of butter rather than two.  Don't make my same mistake! :(  But the cake itself was really good!!  I got this recipe from a book called Delicious Disney by the Disney chefs and Pam Brandon.  OK, here's the recipe and ingredients!
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or 8 1-ounce squares semisweet chocolate, chopped. ( I used chocolate chips.)
1 cup (2 sticks!!) of butter.
5 egg yolks
4 whole eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour




1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly butter the sides of 6 individual (3/4) ramekins.  Lightly coat sides with a pinch of sugar, then shake out the excess.
2. Melt chocolate and butter on top of a double boiler set over simmering water. Stir until smooth.  Remove from water and let cool for 10 minutes.
3. Beat egg yolks and whole eggs together in a large bowl.  Add sugar and beat about 2 minutes.
4. Fold in chocolate mixture
5. Sift flour, then fold into batter, mixing until smooth.


6. Divide batter among the prepared ramekins, filling 3/4 fill.
7. Place on a baking sheet and bake about 35 to 40 minutes, or until the sides of the cakes are set and the middle is soft.  Do not overbake!!
8. Using a small knife cut around the sides of the cakes to loosen them out of the ramekins.
My extra special:  I add some vanilla ice cream on the side, a fresh mint leaf on top and a dash of powdered sugar :)


Thanks,
Alyssa :)

Peach Puff Pastry

Hi everyone!  Here is my first recipe on this blog.  The picture below is my peach puff pastry.  Here are the ingredients:

1 large peach
¼ cup of apricot jam
¼ cup unsweetened coconut
¼ cup slivered almonds
½ cup sugar
flour for dusting pan
pie pan
1 sheet of puff pastry

OK! Now, here's what you do!

This is a fun quick and easy recipe that takes only about 30 minutes!  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Take out a large cutting board and lay out one sheet of puff pastry onto it.  If your puff pastry is frozen then easy answer...thaw it!  Once you have it on the cutting board then roll it out with a rolling pin.  Take the rolling pin and wrap the puff pastry around the rolling pin.  Once it’s wrapped around, unwrap it onto the pie pan that is lightly dusted with flour.  This is a quicker and cleaner way to get the puff pastry onto the pie pan without making a big mess.  Then you sprinkle the sugar all over the puff pastry making it have a little bit of sweetness in every bite.  After you are done with the sugar, cut up the peach in crescent moon shapes and lie them going all the way around the pastry till you get to the middle.  Then again add the same amount of sugar to the peach slices.  Then to make this pie even better add the unsweetened coconut flakes, and the slivered almonds.   Once the oven is ready just pop this pie in, and cook it for about 30 minutes.  Now, take out your apricot jam and heat it up in the microwave for about 20 seconds and then take it out and stir it up.  Make sure most of the chunks from the jam are all blended in.  When the pie is done, simply spread the jam over the top!  And there you have it my Peach Puff Pastry!!