We go together like rama-lama-lama-ka-dinga-de-DING-de-DONG (ice cream)

My sister's first job was working at Marble Slab Creamery.  I remember this vividly because she came home every night smelling of waffle cones. (Hmm...now I'm thinking I know *just* the place for kiddo in a few years.)

Working at Marble Slab makes you kind of an ice cream expert...for life.  If Molly recommends an ice cream and mix-in topping, you go with it.

The combination Molly and her husband have been talking about for years? Coffee Ice Cream with Ding Dongs. If I'm remembering the story correctly, Molly and her hubby used to bring Ding-Dongs from home to Marble Slab.

When you're packing you're own ice cream mix-ins, that's dedication, people.  (Or insanity...I forget.)

Now, Ding Dongs are/were my favorite Hostess treat...and I hear they're making a comeback. Yay!  Until then though, don't bother carting your own mix-ins to Marble Slab; make your own ice cream at home.  This ice cream isn't straight-up coffee, instead I went with mocha.  You can never go wrong adding a little chocolate.

Since we've eaten through our stash of Ding Dongs, I made this ice cream with Little Debbie Cocoa Cremes; they're pretty darn close. You can use TastyKakes, Swiss Cake Rolls, whatever you want.  Oh, I just had a flash...ZINGERS!  Are those Hostess?  Must investigate. 

*I love this ice cream making method, but it does involve raw eggs.  If raw eggs make you squeamish, or you're serving this to someone with a compromised immune system, simply use pasteurized eggs.  You'll find them right next to the regular eggs in the grocery store.*

 
Mocha Ding Dong Ice Cream

2 eggs
3/4 cup + 2 TBSP sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
2 TBSP espresso powder
2 TBSP Dutch-process cocoa
4 Ding Dong-esque snack cakes, roughly chopped and chilled

First, make sure the bowl of your ice cream freezer is completely chilled (for at least 24 hours). 

Place your ice cream storage container in the freezer.

Whisk the eggs for 1-2 minutes until light and fluffy.

Gradually whisk in the sugar.  After all of the sugar has been added, whisk for another minute to blend completely.

Whisk in the cream and milk; then add the espresso powder and cocoa.  Whisk until combined.

Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and process.  Two minutes before the freezing cycle has ended, add in half of the chopped, chilled snack cakes.

{This is the ice cream maker I use...it comes in lots of adorable colors!}

Once the ice cream is finished, spoon into the chilled storage container, adding in the remaining snack cakes throughout. Press plastic wrap onto the ice cream to prevent freezer burn, cover and freeze for 4 hours or so until hardened.

Ding Dong, the witch has been fed...or something like that. 

What's your favorite ice cream/mix-in combo?

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Lazy Day Truffles

Say you want to make truffles, but...

A. ...you don't have any heavy cream,
B. ...you don't want to wait for ganache to cool,
C. ...you're feeling a little lazy.

Well, I have just the truffles for you.  Cocoa Almond Truffles.

Cocoa Almond Truffles are made from cocoa powder instead of ganache and mixed together with slivered almonds, espresso powder, vanilla and almond extracts.  They're not smooth like ganache truffles, but have a little crunch from the finely chopped almonds and are cocoa-y.  (I'm not sure cocoa-y is a word, but when you eat something cocoa-y, you know it.)

Roll them in powdered sugar, natural or Dutch-process cocoa, and voila!

I had the best of intentions of giving the majority of these truffles away, but was vetoed by the boys in my house.  Mr. E even added a few to his morning protein smoothies.  Yes, we're the epitome of health around here.

Hope you enjoy!  Click over to Imperial Sugar for the recipe. :)

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Gold Star for You, Grad!

Whether you're celebrating a Kindergarten or high school graduation, I have just the cookies for you! Heck, you moms out there are graduating from another year of packing lunches...and THAT deserves cookies!  Can I get an Amen?!?

Super simple to make, these cookies are a little special with the addition of gold...which really pops against the dark chocolate cookie.

{See the difference a little gold can make?}

Here's to celebrating gold stars, a school year finished, and new possibilities on the horizon! 

Cookie decorating tutorial over at Parade! 

Cookie Decorating Troubleshooting

{My original post on troubleshooting was published waaaay back in 2010. After asking on Facebook last week about what cookie decorating issues you're experiencing, I thought it was time for a reprise. I've also updated it a bit.}

Every single one of these things has happened to me, too.  Here are my fixes: 

My royal icing is staying "tacky" even after several hours and overnight...any ideas?

My experience is that this is due to flood icing that is thinned too much. When flooding cookies, if the icing runs quickly to fill the entire cookie with having to be spread with a toothpick, it's too thin. Pour your icing back into the bowl, sift in some powdered sugar and let sit again for several minutes.

Why is my royal icing pitted looking and still wet?

Same answer as above...it's happened to me before, too. I'm crying with you.

Help! My cookies dried overnight and now they have dark splotches all over them!

Yeah...you know how humidity is so lovely for your hair? It's just the same with cookies. Close the windows, run the A/C...do whatever you can to make your cookie drying area humidity-free. The good news is, the splotches will normally spread across the entire cookie to darken the icing to a consistent color.

See that horse cookie in the collage above? This is also known as "the day I almost divorced my husband." I kid, I kid! BUT, he did open the windows in the room where the cookies were drying, right after the sprinklers had run outside. Take my advice...have a heart-to-heart with hubby about humidity.

Why do my cookies have white splotches on them?

When stirring in water to flood the cookies, be sure to fully incorporate the water. Those white splotches are water. Also, if you are using a squeeze bottle, make sure it is completely dry before adding your flood icing. If a drop of water is in your bottle, it will come out on your cookie. If you notice a drop of water, grab a paper towel, blot it out and re-coat the area with icing. It will smooth out.

Why is my royal icing full of bubbles?

Two hints here...ONE: Stir in the water for flooding gently with a rubber spatula, not a mixer.  TWO: once the water is incorporated, cover with a damp dish towel and let sit several minutes. Most of the bubbles will rise to the surface. Stir gently again and you're good to go. Any other stray bubbles can be popped with a toothpick or a pin.

Do not ever, EVER add water to a squeeze bottle of icing and shake. EVER. 

I've tried royal frosting once and it hurt my hands so bad I swore never to do it again.

Try filling your icing bags only 1/2 full. I know it sounds strange, but it makes such a difference!

Why does my red or black icing taste terrible?

My guess is that you are using the food coloring brand sold in craft/grocery stores. While this company does a lot of things right....red and black food coloring are not those things. I strongly recommend AmeriColor Super Red and Super Black. You can find them here, in my Amazon shop, or in many online baking supply stores.

Why does my piped icing...you know...the outline...or maybe just some piping done on gingerbread men...well...why does it dry up and just fall off in little bits.

I think this is from overbeating. It's happened to me, too. Try to beat it until it's glossy and just coming to a stiff peak. Also, use the paddle attachment of your mixer. (Check the Royal Icing 102 post for more info.)

I can not write names or outline without the icing breaking.

This just takes practice...lots and lots of practice. Try getting used to your icing bag and printing on a plate or sheet of wax paper before going to your cookies. It's possible that your royal icing may be a little overbeaten. Check out the Royal Icing 102 post, too.

Why are my colors bleeding?

Well, that happens to me, too, sometimes. First, try to use AmeriColor food colorings. I had this problem a lot more when I used "the other guy's" food coloring. Second, when using a wet-on-wet technique for something like flat dots, let the base color sit for a few minutes before adding the dots. And sometimes, especially with the flat dots, it just happens. What helps me deal with it is to know that it WILL BE EATEN and there will be no evidence. People will just remember "cute cookie."

My icing consistency is never right.

Try reading this post on royal icing....both piping and flooding consistency are covered. 

Why doesn't my royal icing dry shiny?

I know it IS disappointing because it looks SO shiny when it is wet. Two tips: ONE. Try drying the cookies while an oscillating fan blows over them. TWO. Food dehydrator.  More on this coming soon! They'll never look as shiny as they do wet, but those two techniques will help.

Help! The small filled areas on my cookies are drying with craters!

Ugh.  Yes...it's happened to me, too.  Try not to overfill small areas; just flood until the area is covered. Also, even though it looks like you don't need to, run a toothpick through the wet icing. This seems to dislodge air bubbles.

Why are my cookies spreading while baking?

I always freeze my cut-out shapes for 5-10 minutes before baking to prevent spreading.

Why is my icing separating?

Piping consistency royal icing can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge. You may see a little liquid in the bottom of the bowl, just stir it together. Flood icing, on the other hand, needs to be used the day you make it or is will separate and become unusable. If you'll be decorating for many hours using the same icing bottles, stir occasionally, very gently, using a chopstick or knife to swirl the icing in the bottle.

My piping icing is spreading and won't hold the pattern from a star tip.

More than likely, your icing has loosened up over time...either from being made ahead of time, or from sitting out for several hours.  Squeeze all of the icing back into a bowl and add sifted powdered sugar. Stir until stiff again.  The icing can even be re-beaten.  Test the consistency by pushing a little icing through the tip onto a plate to see if it is still spreading.  If so, just keep adding more powdered sugar.

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Please be sure to check out the previous two F.A.Q. installments...

1. F.A.Q.'s
2. Royal Icing 102, or 201, or whatever comes after 101

Baby Got Track.

{Molly, that post title is for you.}

Kiddo was on the track team this year...and as much as I admired the kids who practiced four days a week after school for what felt like months on end, I was just floored by the commitment of their coach. Not a school employee, but a dad, who was out there EVERY DAY after school and at EVERY track meet.

If you've never been to a track meet, let me fill you in.  They're outside.  (You probably knew that.)  In the heat, in the sun, and, yes, sometimes even in the rain. From 8am to 5pm. Your child will compete for, oh, a total of 4 minutes?

Suggestion for track venues: tacos. And possibly margaritas.  

So anyway, obviously coach needed some cookies.  And not just any cookies, the most brightly colored running shoe cookies in the universe.

The shape was made from a template.  I used it to make these cookies last year.
Here it is for you to use:

(Just save this image on your computer and resize it as you wish. Click here for info on how to use a template.)

To make obnoxiously colored running shoe cookies, you'll need:

• sugar cookies cut with the template above
• royal icing, divided and tinted with AmeriColor Electric Green, Sky Blue mixed with Turquoise, and Orange mixed with Red Red (or any colors you want)
• disposable icing bags
• coupler and tips: #2
• squeeze bottles 
• toothpicks

Outline cookies in the base color and the sole color using #2 tips, sectioning off areas to be filled with contrasting colors.  Reserve some of each of the piping consistency icing.

Thin all of the icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup.  (Reserve some of the blue icing for piping details later.) You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin.  Count of 2-3 is good.  Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed.  Pour into squeeze bottles as needed.

Flood the cookies, filling in the outlines. Use toothpicks to spread the icing and pop any large air bubbles that have formed.

In the very small areas, take care not to overfill, and run a toothpick through the area to dislodge air bubbles.  Overfilling and not using a toothpick can lead to craters as the icing dries. Let the cookies dry at least one hour.

Again with #2 tips, add the laces and shoe details.

Let the cookies dry, uncovered, 6-8 hours or overnight. 

A big thank you to ALL of you coaches out there...especially volunteer coaches!  You are appreciated! 

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How to Make Red and Black Icing (without losing your mind)

Psst....if you're having trouble making red or black icing, I have what you need right here.  The good stuff.

AmeriColor Super Red & Super Black gel paste food colorings.  

Yep, that's it.

No adding cherry juice to red icing.  No mixing of every color in your arsenal to make black.  No stirring 2 containers of red food coloring into icing and still winding up with pink.  (When I first started decorating cookies, I tried it all.)

 {strawberries, scotties, double-decker hearts, batman}

All you need is AmeriColor Super.  What I love about these colors is that you don't need the entire bottle to make a true red and true black.  Both colors will darken over time and while drying, so try tinting your icing *just about* to the color you want, then stop.  You can even tint your icing a few days ahead and store it in the fridge until you need it.

Oh, did I mention these have no yucky aftertaste like some other colors?  

You can find it many places online: Bake It Pretty, Layer Cake Shop, Sweet Baking Supply, Copper Gifts and, of course, Amazon.  If you have a bakery supply store in your town, I bet they'll have it, too.  I almost forgot...Hobby Lobby!!!

Making red & black icing the easy way...works for me!

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Mother Knows Best: Italian Cream Cake

Back when I was in first or second grade, a boy in my class decided to start calling me "Bridget Tee-tee."
{Potty humor is all the rage with the elementary set.}

See, my first name ended with a T and my last name started with a T.  Get it?  What a clever guy.  I didn't find it so funny.

I came home from school crying to my mom about the unfortunate "tee-tee" teasing going on.  My mom asked who was saying it.  I told her...Guy Hartfield.  She gave me some sage advice,
"The next time he says that, call him Guy FARTfield."

Now, I grew up in a house where *ahem* farts were referred to as toots, so I had no idea what it even meant.  Sure enough, the next day at school as we lined up for music class, Guy sidled up along side me and called me "Bridget Tee-tee" just loud enough where the other kids could hear.  Unsure, I told him to "Be quiet, Guy Fartfield!" The other kids laughed and I never, ever heard a word about "tee-tee" again.

Morals of the story:

• Don't mess with the girl with curly hair...or her mom.
• Mother knows best.

Which brings me to this Italian Cream Cake.  My mother made it a lot when we were growing up.  I grumbled and complained because, hello?  You're making a cake without any chocolate?!?

Turns out, mom was right.  This cake is utterly delicious.  Now, Italian?  I'm not so sure.  I mean, when I think of pecans, coconut, and cream cheese, Italy doesn't immediately spring to mind. 

Mom's recipe came from the River Road Recipes 2 cookbook.  If you're from the south, I bet you or your mom have at least one RRR cookbook in your collection. They're the Junior League of Baton Rouge cookbooks, and they are winners.

I changed the recipe up a bit...replacing the margarine with butter, adding a little salt, toasting the pecans, etc.  Oh, and since this IS Italian Cream Cake, I updated the frosting with lots of creamy mascarpone.

Italian Cream Cake
{3-layer cake, serves 12}

for the cake:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
5 eggs, separated and at room temperature
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup angel flake coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla

for the frosting:
1 & 1/2 cups chopped pecans
12 oz mascarpone, room temperature
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
2 TBSP unsalted butter, room temperature
1 lb. + 1/4 cup powdered sugar, divided
pinch kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Butter three 9" round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment.  Butter the parchment and flour the pans.  Set aside.  Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together the sugar, butter and oil.  Add in the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir the soda into the buttermilk.  Add the flour and buttermilk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour.  Add the salt with the last addition of  the flour.  Fold in the coconut and vanilla.

Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form.  In three additions, fold into the batter.

Pour into the prepared pans and bake for 25 minutes or until done.  Remove to wire cooling racks and let cool in the pans for 10 minutes.  Remove from the pans and let cool completely.

make the frosting:
Place the pecans on a cookie sheet in a single layer.  Bake at 350 for 4-6 minutes, until fragrant and toasted.  Remove from the pan and let cool completely.

Cream together the mascarpone, cream cheese and butter.   Beat in the 1 pound of sugar, pinch salt and vanilla until smooth and combined.  Remove 1/2 cup of frosting for piping and stir in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar to thicken.

Stir the pecans into the remaining frosting.

Spread about 1/2 cup of frosting between each layer of the cake.  Use the remaining to go around the sides and top of the cake.  Pipe a border with the reserved frosting.

(Note: this frosting makes just enough to cover the cake.  You will not have thick layers of frosting, but it is very rich, so that's ok.)

Mom, you were right.  I should have never doubted you. {About anything.}

***Guy Hartfield, wherever you are, sorry to out you on a baking blog.  I'm sure we've all learned from this experience.***

You spin me right round, baby, right round...

Oh, how I wish you could come over and have a bite of this before you see what exactly is in it.  It tastes like a Wendy's Frosty, but chocolate-ier.  Chocolate-ier is better-ier.  It's my motto.

{More on this recipe in a minute.}

Have you seen Blendtec blenders on other food blogs?  Me, too.  I know it was wrong, but I coveted them.  Our blender, let's just say, was no bueno.  It lived in the dark recesses of a cabinet between the George Foreman grill and the salad spinner.

So, one glorious day, Blendtec emailed and asked if I might like to try their new blender AND give one away, too.  I did a happy dance right there in my kitchen.

You know what's amazing?  This Designer Series blender has gotten more use in the past 2 weeks than my KitchenAid mixer...and that is saying something.

Where are the buttons, you ask?  Oh, there ARE NO BUTTONS.  Seriously.  It's a touch screen...look:

Ta-da!!!  It's like a blender from the future...and is the easiest thing ever to wipe clean.  Oh, and the touch screen has preset buttons.  Making a dressing?  Press the dressing/sauce button.  Making a smoothie?  Press the smoothie button.  Making ice cream? Press the...and so on and so on.

The jar is called the WildSide Jar.  It has a 5th side...WILD!  What's wild about it is, everything comes out perfectly blended.

There's also the Twister Jar which is just the thing for nut butters, thick dips, baby food, and pasta.  Yes, pasta.

OK...are you ready for the recipe?  I promise, all of these ingredients come together for a delicious frozen chocolate treat.  You're going to flip when you see what's in it.  (And what's not.)

Fudgesicle Frosty
{from Blendtec, serves 3-4}

2/3 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup natural cocoa powder
4 Medjool dates, pitted
1/2 large ripe avocado, peeled & pitted
3 cups ice cubes

Add the first 5 ingredients in the blender jar and secure lid.  Select the "sauces" option.  Add ice cubes to the jar and select "ice cream."

Bada-bing. Bada-boom.  Done.  Serve immediately.

To enter to win a Designer Series Blendtec blender, leave a comment on this post (if you're reading in an email, click the post title to open this post in your browser) answering the following question:

"What would you blend first?  Fudgesicle Frosty? Green Smoothie? Almond Butter? Margarita?"

For an extra entry, sign up for Blendtec's weekly blog email and leave a separate comment letting me know that you did. 

Giveaway closed! Congrats to Abigail!!! :)

Entries accepted through midnight CST, May 15th.  US residences only.  Good luck! :)