frozen desserts

As I neared the corner, I looked both ways. Certain no one was in eyeshot on what was a hail-ridden evening, I decided to jump with all my might into a rather large puddle in the crosswalk. Water splashed up the sides of my rain boots, narrowingly missing the edges, thankfully keeping my feet safe and dry.

I glanced up to see a gentleman diagonally across the street chuckling in my direction. I'd been busted and gave him an "I couldn't help myself grin" with a wink of the eye and shrug of the shoulders.

Then I walked the few blocks home, a pint of Ben & Jerry's Late Night Snack hidden in my purse, stomping some more puddles along the way. It felt good to act impulsive outside the kitchen. At that moment I understood exactly why my girls need those puddle stomps too. What a release, almost as good as screaming out loud, except people won't think you're quite as crazy.

Continue reading »

I've already mentioned the Mr. is the head ice cream maker here. He gets quite territorial when I pull out the machine but a few weeks ago there was no avoiding it—Cuisinart asked me to create some ice cream recipes for them. Why burnt caramel and why gelato? Well, it started with a glance at the lone banana sitting on my kitchen counter. I was in an ice cream-making mood and mulling over some flavor ideas. And that banana kept creeping into my thoughts. I flipped through some cookbooks for inspiration and came across a recipe for caramel ice cream. It got my attention but felt like it needed a companion – coffee beans, or chocolate chips. But that banana kept staring at me. Stuck with caramel and bananas on the brain, my mind drifted to bananas foster.

I diced up the banana and sautéed it in some sugar. After the pieces became gooey and caramelized I set them aside and went to work on a burnt caramel base for the gelato. In went  a fresh vanilla bean (I stock-piled some on my
last trip to the Atlantic Spice Company in Cape Cod and will be buying  more when I get there next week), but you can substitute one teaspoon of vanilla extract.

The day I made this it was brutally hot outside. I felt so bad for the gal delivering some work samples to my home office…in Brooklyn, that I gave her some gelato to cool off for the trip back to the city. The UPS guy would've been so jealous if he knew.

Continue reading »