Tag Archives: ice cream

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Vanilla Ice Cream with Salty Candied Peanuts and Dark Chocolate

September 1, 2016 Keep It Sweet 6 Comments

Super creamy no churn vanilla ice cream with salty candied peanuts and dark chocolate chunks.

I had to share just one more ice cream recipe with you before summer is (unofficially) over. Truth be told, I made this ice cream almost two months ago, and ate it so quickly I almost forgot about it. Don’t let that fool you, though, it’s not forgettable at all. This ice cream is creamy, delicious and full of sweet and salty crunch bites. The rich dark chocolate, the salty candied peanuts and the vanilla bean base make for a seriously delicious and satisfying treat.

So if you are like me and eat ice cream all year round, keep this recipe on hand. Otherwise, whip up a batch for the last hurrah and enjoy eating it all Labor Day Weekend long!

5.0 from 2 reviews

Vanilla Ice Cream with Salty Candied Peanuts and Dark Chocolate

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Super creamy no churn vanilla ice cream with salty candied peanuts and dark chocolate chunks.

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

16 fluid ounces (2 cups) heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
5 millimeters (1 teaspoon) vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
125g (1¼ cup) salty candied peanuts peanuts (see recipe below)
220g 55% dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Instructions

In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
While whipping cream, in a separate large bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk, candied peanuts and vanilla
Fold cream into sweetened condensed milk mixture
Pour half of ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan
In a small microwave-safe dish, heat chocolate in 30-second increments, stirring after each, until melted
Pour half of chocolate over ice cream; use a knife to marbleize chocolate and ice cream
Top with remaining ice cream and repeat
Wrap well with seran wrap or in an ice cream container and freeze for 6 hours or overnight

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5.0 from 2 reviews

Salty Candied Peanuts and Dark Chocolate

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Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: 2½ cups

Ingredients

150g (1 cup) chopped peanuts, roasted and unsalted
110g (~1/2 cup) granulated sugar
20 milliliters (4 teaspoons) water
2½g (1/2 teaspoon) table or kosher salt

Instructions

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside
Cook peanuts, sugar and water in a small heavy duty sauce pan over medium high heat, stirring regularly until sugar begins to caramelize
When mixture begins to bubble, stir quickly until sugar is completely crystalized (it will appear very sandy and dry), about 3 minutes
Continue to cook while stirring constantly until sugar re-melts and turns a dark golden brown (~3 minutes); be careful not to burn
Remove from heat and stir in salt
Spread nuts out onto prepared baking sheet and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes; break peanuts up into small chunks and place in an airtight container until ready to use (up to two weeks)

Notes

From Baking Bites

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Blog, Recipes

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

August 1, 2016 Keep It Sweet 1 Comment

Rich and creamy no-churn peanut butter ice cream with swirls of milk chocolate and peanut butter.

Part of me wants to apologize for the fact that all I want to make and eat is ice cream. I can’t even blame pregnancy or breastfeeding for this summer’s obsession. But you know what? No churn ice cream is freaking easy and so delicious. No apologies over here!

And since I did figure out the ultimate peanut butter ice cream recipe this past Spring, I figure I should really take advantage of that and make every single version of peanut butter ice cream I can think of. Makes sense, right? Well, this time around I kept it simple with a peanut butter base, peanut butter swirl and milk chocolate ripple. Okay, maybe that sounds complicated, but I promise it’s not. Just four ingredients is necessary to make an ice cream that tastes exactly like a peanut butter cup. Summer eating does not get much better than this!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

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Rich and creamy no-churn peanut butter ice cream with swirls of milk chocolate and peanut butter.

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

For the ice cream base:

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
130g (1/2 cup) salted creamy all-natural peanut butter
475 milliliters (2 cups) heavy cream

For the peanut butter swirl:

150 (~2/3 cup) salted creamy all-natural peanut butter

For the chocolate swirl:

240g good quality milk chocolate disks or bars, roughly chopped

Instructions

Make ice cream base:

In a large bowl, whisk together peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk and sea salt until smooth
In the separate bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
Once cream is ready, fold it into peanut butter mixture
Pour half of ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan or ice cream storage container
Make peanut butter swirl:
Microwave peanut butter for 15 seconds
Drizzle half of peanut butter swirl over top
Make chocolate swirl:
In a small microwave-safe dish, heat chocolate in 30-second increments, stirring after each, until melted
Pour half of milk chocolate over ice cream; use a knife to marbleize chocolate and peanut butter into ice cream
Repeat with remaining ice cream, peanut butter and chocolate
Wrap well with seran warp or tin foil and freeze for 6 hours or overnight

Notes

Base from Martha Stewart

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Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Covered Pretzel Ice Cream

Chocolate Ice Cream with Salty Candied Peanuts

Peanut Butter Ripple Chocolate Ice Cream

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Double Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

July 11, 2016 Keep It Sweet 2 Comments

Rich chocolate ice cream full of dark chocolate chunks; no churn ice cream for the chocolate lover!

Anyone who has raised a toddler knows that meal time can go in any direction. On a good day, your child will happily eat everything on his or her plate. On a bad day, a child yelling “no eat” or food tossed “accidentally” onto the floor may result. Some days a little game playing (“oh, do you want to use my fork today?” or “how about mommy gets you some special sauce?”) will do the trick. Then there are days when chicken is too much effort to chew and half of it gets spit out.

So when we recently had to give L a medicine that was combined with food, I decided ice cream would be the best bet if we wanted to be 100% sure he would finish it. He is my child, after all. So when I ran out of the all-natural Turkey Hill chocolate he’d been eating, I had to dig into my own stash (what, you think I share my ice cream?). I wasn’t so sure he’d be able to eat those big chocolate chunks but what do you know, my kid who can’t always chew his chicken made his way through every.single.bite. My child for sure!

And really, I can’t blame him. This double chocolate chunk ice cream is the ultimate ice cream flavor for the chocolate lover. The rich dark chocolate base is creamy and basically perfected with the addition of chocolate chunks. And since it’s toddler approved, you know it’s good.

Double Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

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Rich chocolate ice cream full of dark chocolate chunks; no churn ice cream for the chocolate lover!

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

473 milliliters (2 cups) heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
50g (½ cup + 2 tablespoons) dark unsweetened cocoa powder high quality
15 milliliters (1 tablespoon) pure vanilla extract
195g (1¼ cups) roughly chopped 55% dark chocolate

Instructions

In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together sweetened condensed milk, cocoa and vanilla; mixture will be very thick and you want to remove any cocoa clumps; set aside
In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
Once cream is ready, gently fold half of it into sweetened condensed milk mixture; gently fold in remaining cream until fully combined; fold in chocolate chunks
Pour ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan or ice cream storage container; wrap well with seran warp or tin foil and freeze for 6 hours or overnight

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Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.

You might also like:

Peanut Butter Ripple Chocolate Ice Cream

Oreo Fudge Swirl Ice Cream

Drumstick Ice Cream Cake

Blog, Recipes

Graham and Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

June 28, 2016 Keep It Sweet 4 Comments

No churn graham cracker ice cream with rich milk chocolate chunks.

I’m here! Our internet is fixed, I survived my sister’s bachelorette party (I came back in almost one piece), and I have so many recipes piling up and ready to be shared. There are a few that I’m quite in love with, but since the Fourth of July is this weekend, ice cream seemed like the first priority.

I almost don’t want anyone to know about this ice cream, because there’s a quart of it in my freezer and I”m not quite ready to share. It’s rich, creamy, loaded with graham cracker flavor (and pieces!) and swirled with pure milk chocolate. Important to note, per my usual, it’s an easy no-churn flavor. No ice cream maker needed. There’s so much goodness in every scoop, I’m most definitely in love.

If you want to go sundae crazy, I’d recommend a warm marshmallow sauce to get a s’mores-like impact. Or maybe pile it high with fresh whipped cream and some warm blueberry sauce. For now, I’ll be scooping bowlfuls sans topping to enjoy all the flavor and texture this ice cream has to offer.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Graham and Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

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No churn graham cracker ice cream with rich milk chocolate chunks.

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

475 milliliters (2 cups) heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
140g (~1 cup + 2 tablespoons) finely ground crackers (~ 12 sheets)
80g (1¾ cups) graham cracker broken into bite-sized pieces (~5 sheets)
5 milliliters (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract
240g good quality milk chocolate disks or bars, roughly chopped

Instructions

In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
While whipping cream, in a separate large bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk, graham cracker crumbs, graham cracker pieces and vanilla
Fold cream into sweetened condensed milk mixture
Pour half of ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan
In a small microwave-safe dish, heat chocolate in 30-second increments, stirring after each, until melted
Pour half of milk chocolate over ice cream; use a knife to marbleize chocolate and ice cream
Top with remaining ice cream and repeat
Wrap well with seran wrap or in an ice cream container and freeze for 6 hours or overnight

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Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it onInstagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.

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No Churn Cookie Butter Ice Cream

No Churn Pumpkin Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream

Gingersnap Peach Crumble Ice Cream

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Cinnamon Bun Cookie Ice Cream

May 24, 2016 Keep It Sweet 4 Comments

No churn ice cream swirled with cinnamon roll filling and full of cinnamon roll cookie pieces!

Every time I make a new ice cream flavor, I convince myself that it’s a new favorite and I can’t possibly come up with another that I will enjoy as much. The last batch, which was so good that I actually am not allowed to make it again (I had no self-control whatsoever!), was no different. However, this Cinnamon Bun Cookie Ice Cream is giving all previous ice cream experiences a run for their money!

Creamy no churn vanilla ice cream is the base. In that, we have cinnamon roll filling (uh, yes!) and chopped chunks of cinnamon bun Oreos (yes, they do exist). Is it me, or were Oreos created soley for being folded into ice cream? My husband might beg to disagree, but I will pile my Oreos into ice cream each and every chance I get!

I may have shed a small tear when I ate the last bowl of this cinnamon bun ice cream. It was that good, really.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Cinnamon Bun Cookie Ice Cream

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No churn ice cream swirled with cinnamon roll filling and full of cinnamon roll cookie pieces!

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

475 milliliters (2 cups) heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
15 milliliters (1 tablespoon) vanilla extract
230g (3 cups) roughly chopped cinnamon roll Oreos, roughly chopped (16 cookies)
120g (~1/2 cup tightly packed) light brown sugar
28g (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
6g (2 teaspoons) ground cinnamon

Instructions

In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
While whipping cream, in a separate large bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk and vanilla; stir in Oreos
In a separate small bowl, combine brown sugar, melted butter, cinnamon; set aside
Once cream is ready, fold it into sweetened condensed milk mixture
Pour half of ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan and drop half of brown sugar mixture over top; top with remaining ice cream and top with remaining brown sugar mixture; wrap well with seran wrap or tin foil
Freeze for 6 hours or overnight before serving

Notes

Base from Martha Stewart

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Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.

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New York Crumb Cake Ice Cream

Pumpkin Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream

Gingersnap Peach Crumble Ice Cream

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Covered Pretzel Ice Cream

May 2, 2016 Keep It Sweet 10 Comments

No churn peanut butter ice cream with peanut butter chunks and chocolate covered pretzel pieces.

I’ve been working very hard to bring you the very best no churn peanut butter ice cream you will ever eat. And by working hard, I mean eating my weight in peanut butter ice cream. No regrets over here!

While I basically eat and breathe peanut butter, I wanted to find a balance between incredible peanut butter flavor and whoa this is pure frozen peanut butter (<—- not that there’s anything wrong with that!). I found that in order to do that, dividing the peanut butter into two parts: 1) peanut butter ice cream base and 2) peanut butter ripple was necessary. I know, I really took one for the team figuring that out.

And while that was ultimately awesome on its own, I wanted to add a mix-in, because ice cream with mix-ins is almost always better than ice cream without! The peanut butter was just calling for something crunchy and chocolaty so chunks of chocolate covered pretzel were a clear choice. I chopped up some Bark Thins because I’m mildly obsessed with them and the chocolate is rich, dark and not too sweet. Peanut butter ice cream with peanut butter ripple and chocolate covered pretzel in almost every bite. Sweet, salty, indulgent.

In case it’s not already been made clear, this was complete peanut butter ice cream perfection.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Peanut Butter Chocolate Covered Pretzel Ice Cream

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No churn peanut butter ice cream with peanut butter chunks and chocolate covered pretzel pieces.

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

For the ice cream:

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
130g (1/2 cup) creamy peanut butter (if using salted natural peanut butter, omit sea salt)
3g (½ teaspoon) sea salt
210g (2 cups) chopped chocolate covered pretzels (I used Bark Thins because I’m obsessed with them)
475 milliliters (2 cups) heavy cream

For the peanut butter swirl:

130- 200g (1/2- ¾ cup) creamy peanut butter (see notes*) (if using salted natural peanut butter, omit sea salt)
1g (¼ teaspoon) sea salt

Instructions

Make ice cream base:

In a large bowl, whisk together peanut butter, sweetened condensed milk and sea salt until smooth; stir in chocolate covered pretzels
In the separate bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
Once cream is ready, fold it into peanut butter mixture
Pour half of ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan or ice cream storage container

Make peanut butter swirl:

Microwave peanut butter for 15 seconds and stir in salt
Drizzle half of peanut butter swirl over top then run a knife through peanut butter to marbleize; repeat with remaining ice cream and peanut butter
Wrap well with seran warp or tin foil and freeze for 6 hours or overnight

Notes

Base from Martha Stewart
*I prefer to use the full 200g of peanut butter but that can make the ice cream very peanut buttery; use less if you aren’t quite as peanut butter crazy as I am

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Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it onInstagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.

You might also like:

No Churn Chocolate Ice Cream with Salty Candied Peanuts

No Churn Peanut Butter Ripple Chocolate Ice Cream

Drumstick Ice Cream Cake

Blog

Keeping it Sweet with Milk Sugar Love

December 11, 2015 Keep It Sweet 1 Comment

An interview with Emma Taylor of Milk Sugar Love!

I’ve known Emma, the creative and talented owner of Milk Sugar Love, my very favorite ice cream store in Jersey City, for a few years now. We met while working in a shared commercial kitchen (I still remember the day I fell in love with her lemon olive oil ice cream ice cream). She had just left her corporate job and completed culinary school to start an ice cream business. At the time, she was just managing a cart at farmers markets and events but dreaming of a storefront. Since then, she opened her beautiful shop in Jersey City, featuring a plethora of incredible ice cream flavors and sweet treats. Her warm and welcoming personality is part of what has made Milk Sugar Love a neighborhood favorite among the locals, but the unique artisanal organic sweets are what keep them coming back. I’m so happy to be able to feature her and her business on the blog. Bonus: In case you missed it in the gift guide, Emma is offering a special discount for KISD readers! Just mention Keep It Sweet Desserts at your next visit for 20% off any single holiday menu item! One discount per person.

KISD: What did you do before Milk Sugar Love and what made you want to leave your career for the food world?

MSL: I began my career as a graphic designer. I enjoyed generating ideas but I did not enjoy the corporate atmosphere. I wanted to be more hands-on with my creativity, so I quit my job and went to culinary school.

KISD: What is so special about the ice cream you make?

MSL: Our ice cream is special (and delicious!) because we use only grass-fed, organic milk and cream in our ice cream. We also churn it in a gelato machine so the ice cream tastes extra creamy because it has less air incorporated into it. We also like to create more modern flavors, like Lemon Olive Oil, Earl Grey Fudge and Non-Dairy Cookie Butter. We keep a few of the old-school classics around, but mainly we offer more inventive flavors.

KISD: How do you decide which flavors to offer and how do you come up with new ideas?

MSL: We rotate all our flavors based on what produce is available seasonally. The seasons also inspire the majority of our flavors. I also had a chance to come up with new flavors in a series of collaborations this past year. We ran a special series of sundaes this summer (Summer of Sundaes) where I created an ice cream flavor and toppings in partnership with other local Jersey City chefs. It was a great chance for me to explore some unique international flavor profiles.

KISD: How do you keep yourself from eating all of your products? (I got asked this all the time!) And on that note, what’s your favorite flavor?

MSL: Because I am tasting all the time (for flavor, for freshness, for recipe testing), I am less inclined to go ahead and eat more at the end of the day. My favorite flavor changes frequently. I am currently loving one of our Holiday flavors, Chocolate Rosemary. (<——-note from KISD: I tasted it, AMAZING)

KISD: What’s the most rewarding part of having your own business?

MSL: The most rewarding part is getting to call all the shots. I enjoy having the final say on things and having my vision executed exactly as I see it.

KISD: What’s the downside to owning your own business?

MSL: The downside is that it is all-consuming. I think about my business all the time and I am working all the time even if I don’t realize it. My goal this past year was to create some separation and start reclaiming some personal time to refresh and rest, which is so important in any creative process.

KISD: Are there any entrepreneurs or other companies that you look to for inspiration?

MSL: Jeni’s. I have followed her entire career and I think her brand and her ice cream are both amazing. I also admire how she has made sustainability a priority in her business.

KISD: What do you envision for the future of Milk Sugar

MSL: This summer we will be launching our truck! The truck will be at all the large events in the state as well as parked throughout Jersey City during the week. The truck will also be available to rent for private parties or corporate events. We will serve ice cream by the scoop as well well as pre-made and make-your-own ice cream sandwiches.

At Milk Sugar Love, we churn delicious ice cream made form organic milk and cream and all the best New Jersey produce. We craft all our ice cream and sweets by hand in our kitchen in Jersey City. We proudly work with fantastic farmers and local artisan producers to create our delicious, chef-driven flavors. Local orders can be placed online or by phone.

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Keeping it Sweet With DO Cookie Dough

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Pumpkin Cookie Ice Cream

October 12, 2015 Keep It Sweet 3 Comments

Creamy pumpkin ice cream with huge chunks of pumpkin sandwich cookies. You don’t need an ice cream maker for this fun fall treat!

The other week I picked up a bunch of fun fall treats from Trader Joe’s and Target. When I got home, I set them on my counter and said, “inspire me”.

And while this move usually works pretty well with me, I ended up with a million ideas that just didn’t seem interesting enough. But then I thought, what do I always like to make and eat? Ice cream, obviously. And thanks to a few big can’s of pumpkin and some pumpkin sandwich cookies (you can find Oreo and Trader Joe’s versions), a new no churn ice cream was born.

This no churn ice cream recipe is so easy to make (as usual). It starts with the typical whipped cream and sweetened condensed milk combo but is enhanced with canned, pumpkin, a couple of different spices and huge chunks of cookies. Fall ice cream for the win! And if you are smart, you might just stock up on your pumpkin sandwich cookies so you can make this all year round.

And just so you know, some things I bake for the blog and give away or use for entertaining. This ice cream? I ate the whole batch myself. I’m not sure if that should be embarrassing or not.

Pumpkin Cookie Ice Cream

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Super creamy pumpkin ice cream filled with pumpkin sandwich cookies. No ice cream maker needed for this recipe!

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~2 quarts

Ingredients

475 milliliters (2 cups) heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
160g (2/3 cup) canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
10 milliliters (2 teaspoons) vanilla extract
2g (3/4 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
½g (1/4 teaspoon) ground nutmeg
218g (~2 cups) chopped pumpkin sandwich cookies (14 cookies)

Instructions

In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
While whipping cream, in a separate large bowl, whisk together sweetened condensed milk, pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg
Once cream is ready, fold it into sweetened condensed milk mixture; stir in cookies
Pour ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan; wrap well with seran wrap or tin foil
Freeze for 10 hours or overnight before serving

Notes

Base from Martha Stewart

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Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.

This post contains affiliate links.

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Pumpkin Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream

Pumpkin & Ginger Ice Cream Sandwich Cookie Cake

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Gingersnap Peach Crumble Ice Cream

August 17, 2015 Keep It Sweet 14 Comments

Other title considerations: Brown Butter Gingersnap Crumble Ice Cream; Peach Cobbler Ice Cream with Gingersnap Crumbs; Gingersnap Crunch Ice Cream with Peach Filling; Peach Cobbler Ice Cream; Bourbon Peach Crumble Ice Cream with Gingersnap Crumbs. Decisions, decisions.

It’s my birthday week which means that nothing but ice cream will do! I wanted to make one more batch of homemade ice cream before the summer ended (though I have a few other ideas so it might not be my last) and asked on Facebook what it should be. A few of you had some good ideas so I combined a couple of them into one!

It actually was the perfect week to make peach ice cream because Matt had bought the biggest white peaches I’ve ever seen at Costco. No joke, these peaches were as big as grapefruits. My mom actually walked into my apartment and asked “what are these?!”

The gingersnap crumble is all sorts of awesome… it’s just brown butter and and gingersnap crumbs. Thank you, Gerry, for the fabulous idea! The peach filling is easy to make, barely any sugar, just the sweetness of perfect late summer peaches to carry it. And then the no churn ice cream base, you know the drill: cream, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla. Oh yeah, and bourbon. Because with peach and ginger it just seemed right!

Gingersnap Peach Crumble Ice Cream

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Author: Lauren Lilling

Makes: ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

Crumble:

120g (~1 cup) ground gingersnaps* (16 cookies)
71g (5 tablespoons ) unsalted butter

Peach filling:

360g (~2½ cups) fresh peeled and chopped ripe peaches (~2-3 medium peaches)
16g (~1 tablespoon, packed) light brown sugar
15 millimeters (1 tablespoon) fresh lemon juice (about ½ lemon)
10g (~1 tablespoon) cornstarch
1g (1/2 teaspoon) ground cinnamon

Ice cream:

237 millimeters (2 cups) heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
30 millimeters (2 tablespoons) bourbon
5 millimeters (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract

Instructions

Make crumble
Melt butter in a heavy-duty pan over medium heat; once melted, stir constantly until browned and then remove from heat; stir in gingersnap crumbs; set aside to cool
Make peach filling
Place peaches, sugar and lemon juice in a medium pot stove with medium heat
Stir occasionally for several minutes until some of the fruit begins to break down and juice begins to form
Turn the heat to high, add cornstarch and stir quickly until sauce reaches desired thickness (1-2 minutes); stir in cinnamon
Place sauce in refrigerator to cool for 30 minutes
Once ready, finish making ice cream
In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
While whipping cream, in a separate large bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and bourbon
Once cream is ready, fold it into sweetened condensed milk mixture
Fold in peach filling
Pour half of ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan and drop one half of crumble over top; top with remaining ice cream and then with remaining crumble; wrap well with seran wrap or tin foil
Freeze for 6 hours or overnight

Notes

*Can easily be adapted to be gluten-free by using gluten-free gingersnaps
Sauce and crumble can be made up to one day before putting ice cream together, refrigerate the filling in an airtight container until ready to use and store the gingersnap crumble in an airtight container at room temperature

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Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.

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No Churn Cookie Butter Ice Cream

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No Churn New York Crumb Cake Ice Cream

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No Churn Blueberry Crisp Ice Cream

August 3, 2015 Keep It Sweet 9 Comments

Another amazing no churn ice cream recipe full of homemade blueberry sauce and buttery crisp topping. No ice cream maker, no problem!

Sometimes weeks are just insane. Last week was crazy for numerous reasons, add to that, my husband didn’t have an operating cell phone for five days, but I managed to make this ice cream and that made everything better.

That’s a lie, it didn’t fix everything, but it made the stress of what we were going through much more palatable. Besides, this isn’t any old ice cream. This ice cream is basically two desserts in one.

So if you are completely strange anything like my sister, and you like fruit crisp and you like ice cream but DON’T like them together because of the contrasting temperatures (seriously, who are you?), this ice cream pretty much has solved your life’s biggest problem.

No Churn Blueberry Crisp Ice Cream

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Another amazing no churn ice cream recipe full of homemade blueberry sauce and buttery crisp topping. No ice cream maker, no problem!

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

Crumble:

55g (~1/2 cup) oat flour* (I pulsed my oatmeal in the food processor until it was the consistency of flour)
40g (~1/2 cup) old fashioned oatmeal*
70g (~1/3 cup, tightly packed) light brown sugar
1g (1/2 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
55g (1/4 cup / ½ stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

Blueberry filling:

140g (~1 cup) fresh blueberries (frozen can be substituted for slightly longer cooking time)
25g (~2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
15 milliliters (1 tablespoon) fresh lemon juice (about ½ lemon)
5g (~1/2 tablespoon) cornstarch

Ice cream:

16 fluid ounces (2 cups) heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
5 millimeters (1 teaspoon) vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

Instructions

Make crumble

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees; line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside
In a medium bowl, prepare topping; mix together oat flour, oatmeal, brown sugar and cinnamon
Add butter and use fingers to combine until mixture is slightly lumpy
Spread mixture out in parchment paper and bake for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned; set aside to cool

While crumble is baking, make blueberry sauce

Place blueberries, sugar and lemon juice in a medium pot stove with medium heat
Stir occasionally until some of the berries begin to break down and juice begins to form (~4 minutes)
Turn the heat to high, add cornstarch and stir quickly until sauce reaches desired thickness (1-2 minutes)
Place sauce in refrigerator to cool for 30 minutes

Once ready, finish making ice cream

In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
While whipping cream, in a separate large bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk and vanilla bean; fold in blueberry sauce
Once cream is ready, fold it into sweetened condensed milk mixture
Pour half of ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan and drop one third of crumble over top (use fingers to break into pieces); top with remaining ice cream and then with half of remaining crumble; wrap well with seran wrap or tin foil
Freeze for 6 hours or overnight before serving
Use remaining crumble for serving

Notes

Sauce and crumble can be made up to one week before putting ice cream together, refrigerate each in an airtight container until ready to use
Blueberry filling from this mixed berry sauce
Topping from this fruit crisp

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Blueberry White Chocolate Brown Butter Cookies

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Drumstick Ice Cream Cake

July 27, 2015 Keep It Sweet 13 Comments

An ice cream cake with all the important components of the classic Drumstick treat!

You didn’t think I’d let National Ice Cream Month pass without a new ice cream related recipe on the blog, did you? Please, I wouldn’t dare! Actually, I almost forgot, but last week I finally got around to making this pretty epic ice cream cake.

This cake was entirely inspired by the Drumstick cake that Kristan made a couple of months ago. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to do an ice cream version and I’m so glad that I finally did!

This ice cream cake uses one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes (I wanted something on the fudgier side), store-bought vanilla ice cream (homemade would be even better), rich chocolate ganache (the unexpected mvp?), and a mix of crushed peanuts and ice cream cones. So much good stuff, such a good cake. I keep on cutting myself massive slices and rationalize that I won’t be burning breastfeeding calories forever so I might as well live it up.

So I realize that the recipe looks long, but it really isn’t all that hard. It just takes a little bit of planning ahead for freezer time and you can actually do 90% of the work while your chocolate cake is baking / cooling. As a mom of a 9-month old that does not stop moving and climbing and crawling, I have to do my baking during naps. I actually did the ice cream and cake prep one day and then finished everything else plus took photos the next. Poor little L doesn’t know what he’s missing while he sleeps!

Drumstick Ice Cream Cake

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Fudgy Chocolate Cake Barely adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey Make ahead note: chocolate cake can be made and frozen for up to two weeks before putting cake together

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: 12

Ingredients

1 recipe for fudgy chocolate cake (see below)
½ gallon vanilla ice cream
1 recipe for chocolate ganache (see below)
62g (~1½ cup crushed) ice cream cones (5 cones) plus one optional additional cone for decoration
90g (~3/4 cup) chopped peanuts (use salted and roasted for the most flavor)
56g dark chocolate (I used 72%) roughly chopped (optional for decorating)

Instructions

Bake cake according to below directions and do the following steps while cake layers are cooling
Line a 9-inch cake pan with seran wrap and press ice cream down into pan; cover completely and then put this layer in the freezer until firm, about 1 hour
Combine crushed ice cream cones and peanuts and set aside
Make chocolate ganache and set aside to cool
Optional: Place dark chocolate in small heat-safe dish and melt by microwaving in 30-second increments and stirring between each; dip open end of cone into chocolate and coat with spoon so that a some of the outside of the cone is covered; sprinkle with peanut and cone pieces and then set aside on wax or parchment paper to dry
Once cake has cooled completely, you will start to put your full cake together (do these steps quickly)
Place first layer of cake down on a cake plate; top cake with unwrapped ice cream layer; top ice cream with second layer of cake and press down lightly
Cover cake with saran wrap and re-freeze until ice cream is frozen again, about 20 minutes
Once cake has frozen, remove from freezer to finish
Remove seran wrap and spread ganache over top of cake with some dripping down the sides
Coat sides of cake with chopped cone and peanut mixture
Place entire cake back in freezer to chill for one hour or until ready to serve
Optional: Place decorated ice cream cone on top of cake for serving
Allow a few minutes for cake to soften before slicing
Store in freezer for up to two weeks

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Fudgy Chocolate Cake

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Ingredients

43g (~1/3 cup) good quality dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1g (1 teaspoon) instant espresso powder
112g dark chocolate (I used 72%), roughly chopped
240 milliliters (1 cup) ounces boiling water
10 milliliters (2 teaspoons) vanilla extract
227g (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
232g (~1 cup, tightly packed) light brown sugar
210g (~1 cup) granulated sugar
150g (~3 large) whole eggs, at room temperature
246g (~2¼ cups) cake flour
5g (1 teaspoon) baking soda
4g (1/2 teaspoon) salt
240 millilters (1 cup) buttermilk

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans and line bottoms with parchment paper
In a medium heat-proof bowl, combine the cocoa powder, espresso powder and chocolate; pour boiling water over mixture and whisk together until melted and smooth; stir in vanilla; set aside to cool
In the large bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter until light and creamy; add sugars and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy; add eggs, one at a time, mixing at medium speed between each
Sift cake flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and set aside
Whisk buttermilk into cooled chocolate mixture
Add about ⅓ of the flour mixture to mixing bowl and mix on low speed just until combined; add half of chocolate mixture and mix on low again, just until combined; scrape the sides of the mixing bowl and repeat with ⅓ of flour mixture remaining chocolate mixture; remove bowl from mixer and fold in remaining dry ingredients; be careful not to overmix the batter
Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from center of cakes
Set cake layers aside to cool for 10 minutes then carefully remove each layer from pans; run a knife around the edge of each layer for easier removal
Allow to cool completely before building cake

Notes

Barely adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey
Make ahead note: chocolate cake can be made and frozen for up to two weeks before putting cake together

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Chocolate Ganache

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Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

225g dark chocolate (I used 72%), finely chopped
237 milliliters (1 cup) heavy cream
28 g (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter at room temperature
30 milliliters (2 tablespoons) light corn syrup

Instructions

Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set aside
Put remaining ingredients in a heavy saucepan and place over medium-high heat; stir constantly until butter is melted
When cream mixture comes to a boil and bubbles begin to rise on entire surface, remove from heat and pour over chocolate
Allow chocolate to sit for one minute then stir to combine until smooth and creamy
Allow to cool before using on ice cream cake

Notes

Source: Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey

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You know you want that slice.

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Sublime Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Pie

June 1, 2015 Keep It Sweet 8 Comments

This no-bake ice cream pie is the ultimate summer dessert! Oreo crust, peanut butter ripple ice cream, tons of peanut butter cups and whipped cream!

This dessert wavers back and forth between hot mess and best thing ever. I’m going with best thing ever.

This ice cream I shared with you? It was already pretty heavenly but I just had to take it even further. All my life I’ve been a pretty big ice cream pie fanatic (as a kid I used to get one every year for my birthday from Baskin Robbins). It makes sense. You usually start with an Oreo crust (always, always good) and then load it up with your favorite ice cream. Here I decided a full pound of peanut butter cups should be used as well, because why not? Make this dessert when you are having some friends over for a barbeque because it’s something worth sharing. Just know that it may be a little messy to cut. Call it “homey” if you will.

Sublime Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Pie

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This no-bake ice cream pie is the ultimate summer dessert! Oreo crust, peanut butter ripple ice cream, tons of peanut butter cups and whipped cream!

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: 12 servings

Ingredients

285g (~2¼ cups / 25 cookies) finely crushed Oreos
71g (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
1 Recipe for Peanut Butter Ripple Chocolate Ice Cream
454g (~3 ½ cups) chopped peanut butter cups (from about 22 large)
2 cups Stabilized Whipped Cream (recipe here)

Instructions

In a medium bowl, combine Oreo crumbs and melted butter; press mixture down evenly into the bottom of a spring form pan; chill in refrigerator for thirty minutes
A few minutes before crust is ready to fill, take ice cream out of freezer to soften slightly
Carefully spread half of ice cream over crust; top with chopped peanut butter cups
Cover pan with foil and freeze; make stabilized whipped cream
Spread whipped cream over peanut butter cup layer and place pie back in freezer for at least one hour or until ready to serve

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Chocolate Pound Cake with Peanut Butter Whipped Cream

Peanut Butter Caramel Candy Cups

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Peanut Butter Ripple Chocolate Ice Cream

May 26, 2015 Keep It Sweet 18 Comments

You don’t need an ice cream maker to make this ice cream! Rich chocolate ice cream with a ribbon of salty peanut butter.

If you love chocolate and peanut butter as much as I do, you’ve no doubt had a variation of this ice cream flavor before. I know, not as creative as this recipe or this one, but trust me, necessary. Because, one: you can always use another no churn ice cream recipe and two: I have a follow-up dessert that revolves around this one and trust me, you don’t want to miss it.

Peanut Butter Ripple Chocolate Ice Cream

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You don’t need an ice cream maker to make this ice cream! Rich chocolate ice cream with a ribbon of salty peanut butter.

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

16 fluid ounces (2 cups) heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
50g (½ cup + 2 tablespoons) unsweetened cocoa powder (any kind will work, I used a lighter cocoa powder for a more milk-chocolatey flavor)
15 milliliters 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
200g (~¾ cup) creamy peanut butter
1g (¼ teaspoon) salt

Instructions

In a large bowl, whisk together sweetened condensed milk, cocoa and vanilla; mixture will be very thick; set aside
In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
Once cream is ready, gently fold ⅓ of it into sweetened condensed milk mixture; gently fold in remaining cream until fully combined
Pour half of ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan or ice cream storage container; microwave peanut butter for 15 seconds and stir in salt; drizzle half of salted peanut butter over top then run a knife through peanut butter to marbleize; repeat with remaining ice cream and peanut butter
Wrap well with seran warp or tin foil and freeze for 6 hours or overnight

Notes

Base from Martha Stewart

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Thin Mint Ice Cream

May 12, 2015 Keep It Sweet 10 Comments

Creamy no-churn ice cream full of huge Thin Mint cookie chunks.

Recently I found myself in a disappointing situation. The ice cream selection in my freezer was boring the heck out of me.

To remedy the situation I decided to take matters into my own hands and make some no churn ice cream. You all know I’m obsessed, it’s kind of becoming a problem the best thing ever. You probably should make it too. Head over to Meyer’s Styles for all the details!

Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.

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Double Dip Mints

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Monster Cookie Dough Ice Cream (No Churn!)

March 9, 2015 Keep It Sweet 17 Comments

Vanilla ice cream loaded with monster cookie dough (peanut butter oatmeal cookie dough with M&Ms and chocolate chips!). You will enjoy cookie dough in every bite!

I think the deep freeze is over (said crossing fingers and knocking on wood). And in case it’s not obvious, I (and everyone else in the northeast) am more than ready. I’m ready for shorts, flip-flops (okay, I’d settle for being outside without a puffy coat), walks with L and warm weather food. I’m ready for ice cream, lots of it.

Okay, let’s be real. I’ve been eating ice cream all winter long. Maybe not quite as much ice cream as I ate last summer, but plenty still. The main difference is that I currently eat it with the heat turned up while wearing a massive sweatshirt and wool socks. Last week, when I remembered that I had some heavy cream about to expire, I was inspired to go churn up make some super easy and delicious ice cream once again. I asked on Facebook and Twitter what flavor I should make and Erin suggested monster cookie dough. Genius much?

Monster cookies are typically peanut butter oatmeal cookies loaded with M&Ms. How could that possibly be a bad thing? And what tastes good as a cookie almost always tastes better as cookie dough. So translated into ice cream we are in clear delicious territory. Not to mention that this ice cream really is LOADED with cookie dough. No searching with the spoon to find the little chunks (don’t pretend you don’t do that). Seriously, cookie dough in every bite.

Monster Cookie Dough Ice Cream (No Churn!)

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Vanilla ice cream loaded with monster cookie dough (peanut butter oatmeal cookie dough with M&Ms and chocolate chips!). You will enjoy cookie dough in every bite!

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: Makes ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

16 fluid ounces (2 cups) heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
15 milliliters (1 tablespoon) vanilla extract
1 recipe for oatmeal cookie dough (see below)

Instructions

In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
While whipping cream, pour sweetened condensed milk into a separate large bowl and mix with vanilla
Once cream is ready, fold it into sweetened condensed milk mixture; fold in cookie dough
Pour ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan
Wrap well with seran warp or tin foil and freeze for 6 hours or overnight

Notes

Base from Martha Stewart

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Monster Cookie Dough Ice Cream (No Churn!)

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Edible Monster Cookie Dough

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

65g (~1/4 cup) creamy peanut butter
14g (1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
28 g (~2 tablespoons packed) light brown sugar, firmly packed
25g (~2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
5 milliliters / 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
60g (~¾ cup) rolled oats
½g (¼ teaspoon) ground cinnamon
½g (1/8 teaspoon) salt
56g (~1/4 cup) mini M&Ms
53g (~1/4 cup) mini chocolate chips

Instructions

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy; stir in vanilla
Gradually stir in oats, cinnamon salt just until combined
Stir in M&Ms and chocolate chips
Set aside to make ice cream

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No Churn Peanut Butter Ripple Chocolate Ice Cream

No Churn Chocolate Ice Cream with Salty Candied Peanuts

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Pumpkin and Ginger Ice Cream Sandwich Cookie Cake {Guest Post}

November 3, 2014 Keep It Sweet 7 Comments

Today I have a guest post from my friend Erin. If you don’t know her blog, The Spiffy Cookie, you definitely need to head over there and explore. Erin and I both have a big love of chocolate, peanut butter and all things sweet. Some of my favorite recipes of hers are the Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies, Biscoff Cheesecake Ice Cream and the Mini Chocolate Caramel Peanut Butter Cheesecakes. Also, Erin is awesome. She is seriously smart (she just got her PhD!) and does things like die her hair purple. Now if only she was smart enough to make this gigantic ice cream sandwich appear before my eyes… PS feel free to flashback to this guest post Erin shared over THREE years ago:-)

Hello Keep It Sweet readers! My name is Erin and I blog over on The Spiffy Cookie. While Lauren takes a break to soak up every last minute with her adorable new baby son, I am here to distract you with delicious sweets.

I actually had the pleasure of meeting Lauren last year and got to try many of her amazing cookies and bars available through her former baking business. She’s also the culprit who got me hooked on caramelized white chocolate! Obviously she knows her stuff and I am honored to be guest posting for her today.

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying ice cream during the fall and winter months especially when it can be transformed into any flavor you would like, including all your favorite fall flavors. Ginger may not be one that first comes to mind but it is a wonderful flavor to add to others such as pumpkin, which is why I didn’t stop after making the candied ginger ice cream.

Pumpkin and Ginger Ice Cream Sandwich Cookie Cake {Guest Post}

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Author: Erin Vasicek

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: 8-12 servings

Ingredients

Ice Cream
1 cup heavy cream
¼ tsp ground ginger
½ can sweetened condensed milk (about ¾ cup)
¼ cup chopped candied ginger
Cookie Cake
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp nutmeg
⅛ tsp allspice
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
½ cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
4 oz. (1/2 cup) chopped dark chocolate

Instructions

Line a 10-inch (or 9-inch) cake pan or springform pan with plastic wrap and set aside.
In a large, chilled bowl, whip heavy cream to soft peaks. Add the ground ginger and whip to stiff peaks.
Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the sweetened condensed milk into the whipped cream. Fold in chopped candied ginger.
Pour ice cream into the plastic lined cake pan, cover with more plastic wrap and freeze for 6 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place parchment paper in the bottom of two 10-inch (or 9-inch) cake pans or springform pans. Grease the sides.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and allspice. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until creamy, about 3-4 minutes. Mix in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract. Add flour mixture until combined. Fold in chopped chocolate.
Divide and spread the cookie dough out evenly into the pans. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until set.
Remove from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
Once completely cooled, arrange one layer of the cookie cake on a large plate or platter. Remove ice cream from freezer, unwrap, and place on top. Sandwich with the second layer of the cookie cake. Slice and serve immediately. Store any leftovers in the freezer covered in foil or plastic wrap.

Notes

Source: Ice cream adapted from my No-Churn Chocolate Almond Ice Cream. Cookie Cake adapted from my Reese's Peanut Butter Cookie Cake.

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Sandwiched around the ice cream is a pumpkin dark chocolate chip cookie cake creating in one giant ice cream cookie sandwich. Slice it up, serve, and devour!

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Fudgy Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

August 21, 2014 Keep It Sweet 19 Comments

This ice cream sandwich recipe is perfect for summer entertaining! The brownie and ice cream combination is one of my favorites.

Since it is my 30th birthday, I thought I should share a recipe that includes one of my favorite things in the whole world… ice cream (hello, obvious). These Fudgy Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches were no let down. The brownie layers are thick, and are definitely the standout part of the sandwich. The flavor and richness of them is the perfect balance to a light and creamy ice cream (I wouldn’t use a super premium heavy variety). I used the Turkey Hill All Natural vanilla and chocolate to keep it classic, that brand is my current favorite super market option (no weird ingredients and super creamy).

Wrapping the ice cream sandwiches in parchment paper and tying them with cute little ribbons makes them the perfect late summer party treat. Or if you are me, this is an any time of year treat… You can even make them half the size if you are feeding kids. Hello perfect birthday party dessert!

Fudgy Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

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This ice cream sandwich recipe is perfect for summer entertaining! The brownie and ice cream combination is one of my favorites.

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: 6 sandwiches

Ingredients

90g (~2/3 cup) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
150g (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter
72g semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
155g unsweetened chocolate, chopped
55g (~2 large) whole eggs at room temperature
5 milliliters (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract
177g (~3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon) granulated sugar
78g (~1/3 cup tightly packed) light packed brown sugar
3 cups ice cream of choice (I used vanilla on half and chocolate on the other half, the classics!)

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line a 13x9 pan with parchment paper
Whisk flour and salt in a medium bowl; set aside
Melt butter and chocolate in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly
Remove from heat and whisk in sugars
Whisk in eggs, one at a time; whisk in vanilla
Fold in flour mixture; do not overmix
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 18-20 min or until edges appear a little firm and knife comes out clean from center
Allow to cool and then cover pan and freeze for 2 hours before preparing sandwiches
Once chilled, cut brownie in half horizontally
Turn one half of brownie upside down on a large piece of foil on top of a cutting board
Note: for following steps move quickly to avoid your ice cream melting too much
Spread a layer about ½ – 1 inch thick of ice cream; top with other half of brownie and press down to flatten evenly; you will want to do this
With a sharp knife, cut into sandwiches (cut once in half across and then in thirds in the other direction) but do NOT separate
Wrap tightly with foil and place in freezer at least one hour before serving
While sandwiches are freezing, cut parchment paper into pieces that are about 8 x 5 inches inches
Wrap sandwiches with parchment prior to serving to keep them together and avoid major dripping

Notes

You will need several hours of freezing brownie and sandwiches for best results

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The 30 Best Ice Cream Recipes To Make WITHOUT an Ice Cream Maker

August 18, 2014 Keep It Sweet 13 Comments

The 30 best ice cream reccipes that don’t require an ice cream maker!

In case it isn’t obvious, I love ice cream. Like, if I had to replace one meal a day with ice cream for the rest of my life, I think I could do that. Besides, as I’ve discovered this summer, there are so many fun flavors and variations that I really don’t think I could ever get bored. Since this week is my birthday it only seemed fair to have a couple of posts highlighting my favorite food group (like I said, meal replacement). So without further ado, take a look at these amazing recipes. There is so much creativity listed below and the best part? No fancy machine required!

3-Ingredient No Churn Vanilla Ice Cream from Growing Up Gabel

Banana Fudge Swirl Ice Cream from Chocolate Moosey (blender)

Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Blender Ice Cream from Savory Simple (blender)

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream from Cravings of a Lunatic

Chocolate Chunk Banana Ice Cream with Chocolate Fudge Ripple from Keep It Sweet Desserts

Chocolate Ice Cream with Salty Candied Peanuts from Keep It Sweet Desserts

Chocolate Mint Chip Ice Cream from The Kitchen is my Playground

Creamy and Refreshing Lemon Ice Cream from Keep It Sweet Desserts

Easy Chocolate Ice Cream from Chocolate, Chocolate and More

Easy Blackberry Ice Cream from The View from Great Island (blender)

Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free S’mores Ice Cream from Petite Allergy Treats (blender)

How to Make Banana Ice Cream from Beard & Bonnet (blender)

Ice Cream in a Bag from Mommy of Two Little Monkeys

Low Fat 3-Ingredient No Churn Ice Cream from Call Me PMC

Mango Margarita Ice Cream from Sweet Life

Monster Cookie Dough Ice Cream from Mom on Time Out

New York Crumb Cake Ice Cream from Keep It Sweet Desserts

No Churn Cookie Butter Ice Cream from Keep It Sweet Desserts

No Churn Grapefruit Gelato from Apron Strings

No Machine Caramel Swirl Ice Cream from Wine and Glue

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream from Life, Love and Sugar

Oreo Fudge Swirl Ice Cream from Keep It Sweet Desserts

Peanut Butter Fudge Swirl Ice Cream from Chocolate, Chocolate and More

Pomegranate Sorbet from The View from Great Island (blender)

Pumpkin Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream from Keep It Sweet Desserts

Salted Ripple Chip Ice Cream from Cupcakes and Kale Chips

Salted Watermelon Ice Cream from Pint Sized Baker

Sea Salt & Honey Ice Cream from Kitchen Treaty

S’mores Semifreddo from I Heart Eating

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream from The Lemon Bowl (blender)

Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.

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Ginger and Lemon Ice Cream Sandwiches

August 7, 2014 Keep It Sweet 11 Comments

Chewy ginger cookies sandwiched with homemade creamy lemon ice cream make amazing ice cream sandwiches!

I sure hope you listened to me on Monday and got your lemon ice cream ready! If so, time to whip up these chewy ginger cookies and prepare for ice cream sandwich heaven. If not, get to the ice cream stat. Lucky for you it’s easy to make, you just need to be patient during the freezing time.

Anyway, I’m pretty obsessed with these sandwiches. The ginger cookies are chewy, even after freezing, and just so delicious. If you eat a few while making the ice cream sandwiches, I won’t tell anyone. Just don’t mistake them for a traditional gingersnap. These are more like a brown sugar cookie with a nice ginger flavor. No overpowering ginger to be found.

Ginger and Lemon Ice Cream Sandwiches

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Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: 16 ice cream sandwiches

Ingredients

32 chewy ginger cookies (recipe below)
1 batch (6 cups) lemon ice cream

Instructions

Pair cookies so that they are closely matching in size; turn one cookie from each pair upside down
Place a scoop of ice cream (about ⅓ cup) on top of an upside down cookie; press matching cookie down to form an ice cream sandwich; repeat with a few ice cream sandwiches and then place in in the freezer (in a ziplock bag or tupperware) while making remaining ice cream sandwiches; repeat until finished
Store ice cream sandwiches in a ziplock bag or airtight container in freezer up to one month; keep frozen until serving

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Chewy Ginger Cookies

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Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: 32 cookies for 16 ice cream sandwiches

Ingredients

260g (~2 cups) all-purpose flour
7 ½g (1 ½ teaspoons) salt
2g (1 teaspoon) ground ginger
2 ½g (½ teaspoon) baking soda
170g (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
350g (~1½ cup packed) light brown sugar
5g (1 teaspoon) minced ginger
100g (2 large) whole eggs
15 milliliters (1 tablespoon) vanilla extract

Instructions

Whisk together flour, salt, ginger and baking soda; set aside
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and minced ginger on medium-high speed until light and well mixed; scrape sides of bowl
Add eggs and vanilla, mix well; scrape sides of bowl
Add flour mixture and mix on low speed just until combined (do not overmix)
Chill dough for 2 – 24 hours
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees
Use a medium cookie dough scoop or tablespoon to make cookie dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (about 1½ tablespoons each) about 2 inches apart from one another
Bake 13-14 minutes or until cookies are set on top and very lightly brown around the edges

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Creamy and Refreshing Lemon Ice Cream (No Churn)

August 4, 2014 Keep It Sweet 18 Comments

Another ice cream recipe that doesn’t require an ice cream maker! This Lemon Ice Cream is super creamy and quite refreshing, a wonderful summer treat!

Sometimes when I enjoy a lemon dessert, I feel like a traitor to my former self. I was so sworn against lemon anything forever and now I feel like such a hypocrite. But you know what, I’ll get over that, because now is the time to embrace new tastes and delicious, refreshing summer flavors.

That isn’t to say that I’m not ultra picky about lemon sweets (even more picky than I am about all sweets, hard to believe). Lemon bars still kind of gross me out, as does lemon meringue pie. But when lemon desserts are done right, they can be quite delicious. Not too sweet and not too tart are the most important factors. And then there is texture. This ice cream for example, has just enough lemon flavor to make it a refreshing treat, but it is also ultra creamy and has the potential to fulfill all of your ice cream loving needs. Have a small scoop on a hot night or use it in an ice cream sundae. This blueberry sauce would probably be perfect for that. If you are really smart, you will make this ice cream right now so it’s ready for my recipe that’s coming on Thursday. Hint, hint!

5.0 from 3 reviews

No Churn Lemon Ice Cream

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Another ice cream recipe that doesn’t require an ice cream maker! This Lemon Ice Cream is super creamy and quite refreshing, a wonderful summer treat!

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: 1½ quarts

Ingredients

(2 cups heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6g (~2 tablespoons) lemon zest (from ~2 lemons)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from ~1 lemon)

Instructions

In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
While whipping cream, in a separate large bowl, whisk together sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, lemon zest, and lemon juice
Once cream is ready, fold it into sweetened condensed milk mixture
Pour ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan or ice cream storage container
Freeze for 6 hours or overnight before serving

Notes

Base from Martha Stewart

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No Churn Chocolate Ice Cream with Salty Candied Peanuts

July 24, 2014 Keep It Sweet 20 Comments

Creamy chocolate ice cream filled with crunchy sweet and salty candied peanuts. No ice cream maker needed!

I was hesitant to make an ice cream that Matt wouldn’t like (ahem, peanut hater), but ultimately I couldn’t resist. Besides, he’d choose a vanilla base any day while I am a sucker for chocolate. Especially when that chocolate has something fun in it. These crunchy chunks of candied peanuts are the perfect compliment to the creamy chocolate base. Again, this ice cream is so easy to make. It’s joining my ever-growing list of no-churn obsessions.

No Churn Chocolate Ice Cream with Salty Candied Peanuts

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Creamy chocolate ice cream filled with crunchy sweet and salty candied peanuts. No ice cream maker needed!

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

473 milliliters (2 cups) heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
50g (½ cup + 2 tablespoons) unsweetened cocoa powder (any kind will work, I used a lighter cocoa powder for a more milk-chocolatey flavor)
15 milliliters (1 tablespoon) vanilla extract
1¼ cups Salty Candied Peanuts (recipe below)

Instructions

In a large bowl, whisk together sweetened condensed milk, cocoa and vanilla; mixture will be very thick; set aside
In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
Once cream is ready, gently fold ⅓ of it into sweetened condensed milk mixture; gently fold in remaining cream until fully combined; fold in candied peanuts
Pour ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan or ice cream storage container; wrap well with seran warp or tin foil and freeze for 6 hours or overnight

Notes

Base from Martha Stewart

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Salty Candied Peanuts

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Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: 2½ cups

Ingredients

150g (1 cup) chopped peanuts, roasted and unsalted
110g (~1/2 cup) granulated sugar
20 milliliters 4 teaspoons water
2½g (1/2 teaspoon) table or kosher salt

Instructions

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside
Cook peanuts, sugar and water in a small heavy duty sauce pan over medium high heat, stirring regularly until sugar begins to caramelize
When mixture begins to bubble, stir quickly until sugar is completely crystalized (it will appear very sandy and dry), about 3 minutes
Continue to cook while stirring constantly until sugar re-melts and turns a dark golden brown (~3 minutes); be careful not to burn
Remove from heat and stir in salt
Spread nuts out onto prepared baking sheet and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes; break peanuts up into small chunks and place in an airtight container until ready to use (up to two weeks)

Notes

From Baking Bites

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I hope you aren’t sick of the ice cream recipes yet…

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Pumpkin Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream (No Churn)

July 14, 2014 Keep It Sweet 30 Comments

Super creamy pumpkin ice cream with a cinnamon brown sugar swirl. No ice cream maker needed for this recipe!

It was so much fun reconnecting with my best friends from childhood this weekend. I was only with them for one night but we had such a good time. We had dinner at Amada and then a few of us were up talking for a couple of hours in the room. I stayed up to the record hour of 1am (well, I didn’t really sleep much so it was practically an all-nighter for me). Only someone you know from the age of seven can get away with trying to wake up a baby in your belly. Ha! And only someone you’ve been best friends with since fourth grade knows that all you want after a night out is to get back to the room, change into PJs and have the options of many snacks.

But this ice cream… I made it a few weeks ago, shared a little bit, and then ate most of it myself. Matt doesn’t love pumpkin but did admit that it was pretty darn good. Pretty darn good is an understatement. The flavor was fantastic, the texture was so creamy and the cinnamon bun swirl… well, what do you think?! Make this immediately so that you can enjoy it later. Trust me.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream (No Churn)

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Super creamy pumpkin ice cream with a cinnamon brown sugar swirl. No ice cream maker needed for this recipe!

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

475 milliliters (2 cups) heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
160g (2/3 cup) canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
10 milliliters (2 teaspoons) vanilla extract
2g (3/4 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
½g (1/4 teaspoon) ground nutmeg
120g (~1/2 cup tightly packed) light brown sugar
28g (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
6g (2 teaspoons) ground cinnamon

Instructions

In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
While whipping cream, in a separate large bowl, whisk together sweetened condensed milk, pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg
In a separate small bowl, combine brown sugar, melted butter, cinnamon; set aside
Once cream is ready, fold it into sweetened condensed milk mixture
Pour half of ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan and drop half of brown sugar mixture over top; top with remaining ice cream and top with remaining brown sugar mixture; wrap well with seran wrap or tin foil
Freeze for 10 hours or overnight before serving

Notes

Base from Martha Stewart

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Chocolate Chunk Banana Ice Cream with Chocolate Fudge Ripple

July 3, 2014 Keep It Sweet 14 Comments

This healthy version of ice cream is naturally vegan and gluten-free.

I’ve got another ice cream recipe for you that doesn’t require an ice cream maker! Although, this one is a little different. When I was in the midst of a baking rampage a few weeks ago, Matt asked if I could try to make something healthy. Well, wish granted! This isn’t your typical ice cream, and I’m not going to lie, it’s not as creamy as the fat-filled regular version. But when you want a sweet frozen treat that is on the healthier side, this banana ice cream is perfect.

I’m not the first person to make banana ice cream in a blender, I’ve seen it done about four million times before. But for my purposes, I wanted a flavor that felt a little more indulgent and didn’t leave my sweet tooth and cravings completely unsatisfied. The fudge ripple and chocolate chunks through definitely do the trick!

2.0 from 1 reviews

Chocolate Chunk Banana Ice Cream with Chocolate Fudge Ripple

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Fudge Ripple Makes ½ cup Recipe from David Lebovitz via Epicurious

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~3/4 quart (3-6 servings)

Ingredients

610g (~4 large) frozen bananas, sliced
60 milliliters (1/4 cup) almond milk
5 milliliters (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract
65g dark chocolate, chopped (check to make sure dairy-free if Vegan)
¼ cup chocolate ripple (see below)

Instructions

In a high-speed blender (I used a Vitamix) combine frozen bananas, almond milk and vanilla for several minutes or until completely combined; should be the consistency of soft serve yogurt
Fold in chopped chocolate and pour into a regular sized loaf pan
Drizzle with fudge ripple; cover with seran wrap or tin foil and freeze for at least 6 hours before serving

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2.0 from 1 reviews

Chocolate Chunk Banana Ice Cream with Chocolate Fudge Ripple

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Fudge Ripple Makes ½ cup Recipe from David Lebovitz via Epicurious

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ½ cup

Ingredients

50g (~1/4 cup) granulated sugar
50 milliliters (2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons) light corn syrup
60 milliliters (1/4 cup) water
25g (~1/4 cup) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
1 milliliter (1/4 teaspoon) vanilla extract

Instructions

In a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, whisk together sugar, corn syrup, water and cocoa powder; whisk constantly until mixture comes to a low boil
Cook for one additional minute, still whisking and then remove from heat
Stir in vanilla
Chill in refrigerator for at least one hour or until ready to use (up to two weeks)

Notes

Recipe from David Lebovitz via Epicurious

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No guilt necessary!

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No Churn Oreo Fudge Swirl Ice Cream

June 26, 2014 Keep It Sweet 17 Comments

This easy no-churn Vanilla bean ice cream is full of Oreo chunks and a delicious ribbon of fudge.

Other than the part where my tripod fell over and knocked my camera directly into the ice cream, I loved this. After a slight moment of panic, I gently wiped the mess off of my lens and then used some windex on a soft cloth. Phew! So even though I’m not completely thrilled with the resulting photos, I think they will suffice because this ice cream is so good it shouldn’t even matter what it looks like. Besides, I couldn’t wait another 24 hours for a new photo shoot, this ice cream needed to be eaten (Matt could barely wait the first night for the freezing process!).

This has officially become the summer of “how much ice cream can I possibly eat?” This is only the third ice cream I’ve made, but I’ve been enjoying my fair share of store bought and specialty shop ice creams as well. And I don’t know if there will be an official ice cream tour this summer, but I do have a few new places that I’m dying to try. So between the collection of other flavors floating through my head and all of the above, this summer is already one of my favorites. <—– I wonder how I’ll feel about that statement at the end of Summer when I’m 8 months pregnant and huge.

Anyway, I digress, back to this Oreo Fudge Swirl Ice Cream. Matt had originally requested Cookies and Cream, but I didn’t want to do an old standard, hence the addition of a fudge ripple. It is just enough to really satisfy a chocolate craving but doesn’t take over the entire ice cream flavor. That’s a very good thing because the vanilla base is vanilla bean all the way. Those two factors plus the big Oreo cookie chunks… this is an ice cream that is worth waiting for (even if six hours does feel forever).

No Churn Oreo Fudge Swirl Ice Cream

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This easy no-churn Vanilla bean ice cream is full of Oreo chunks and a delicious ribbon of fudge.

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

475 milliliters ( 2 cups) heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
Inside of one vanilla bean
15 milliliters (1 tablespoon) vanilla extract
110g (~1 cup) roughly chopped Oreos (about 10 cookies)
1 recipe for fudge ripple, chilled (see below)

Instructions

In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
While whipping cream, in a separate large bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk, vanilla bean, vanilla extract and Oreos
Once cream is ready, fold it into sweetened condensed milk mixture
Pour half of ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan; drizzle with half of fudge ripple and carefully use a knife to cut through the fudge for a light swirl effect; repeat with remaining ice cream mixture and fudge ripple
Wrap well with seran warp or tin foil and freeze for 6 hours or overnight

Notes

Base from Martha Stewart

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Fudge Ripple

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Author: Lauren Liling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ½ cup

Ingredients

50g (~1/4 cup) granulated sugar
40 milliliters (2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons) light corn syrup
60 milliliters (1/4 cup) water
25g (~1/4 cup) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
1 milliliter (1/4 teaspoon) vanilla extract

Instructions

In a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, whisk together sugar, corn syrup, water and cocoa powder; whisk constantly until mixture comes to a low boil
Cook for one additional minute, still whisking and then remove from heat
Stir in vanilla
Chill in refrigerator for at least one hour or until ready to use (up to two weeks)

Notes

Recipe from David Lebovitz via Epicurious

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New York Crumb Cake Ice Cream

June 19, 2014 Keep It Sweet 23 Comments

No-churn vanilla ice cream filled with the best coffee cake crumb topping and brown sugar cinnamon swirls. You don’t need an ice cream maker to make this fantastic recipe!

I’ve talked a little about how my eating has changed since I’ve been pregnant. It is so liberating to be able to enjoy food and worry less about the calories, more about what I’m putting into my body. Not that ice cream and the myriad of other desserts I’ve enjoyed are the healthiest things to consume, but really truly enjoying them without guilt about exactly how many calories is in any single bite is quite freeing. For example, I used to be pretty “strict” when getting frozen yogurt. I often stuck with things like fruit and graham cracker crumbs because I knew they were the least caloric of the toppings. Obviously frozen yogurt was still a treat, but the way I did it, there was a hard limit. Now, I don’t go too crazy, but I’ve definitely been more liberal when it comes to the toppings bar. Peanut butter sauce? It’s a must. Heath bar? Almost always. And one of my new favorites? The coffee cake crumb topping that they have at 16 Handles. I mean, it’s pure butter and sugar, how could it possibly be bad?

Well, if I can enjoy coffee cake crumbs on my fro yo, why can’t I take things one step further and really enjoy them in my ice cream? Let’s just say this was a very good move. Vanilla ice cream + LOTS of crumb topping + cinnamon brown sugar swirl = some sort of heaven. Again, I’m going with an easy no-churn (aka NO ice cream maker needed) approach. Your patience for allowing the ice cream for freezing will be rewarded, I promise.

New York Crumb Cake Ice Cream

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No-churn vanilla ice cream filled with the best coffee cake crumb topping and brown sugar cinnamon swirls. You don’t need an ice cream maker to make this fantastic recipe!

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

Crumb topping:

60g (~1/4 cup tightly packed) light brown sugar
½g (1/8 teaspoon) salt
½g (1/4 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
42g (3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
60g (~6 tablespoon) all-purpose flour

Ice Cream:

475 milliliters (2 cups) heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
15 milliliters (1 tablespoon vanilla extract
120g (~1/2 cup tightly packed) light brown sugar
28g (2 tablespoon) unsalted butter, melted
6g (2 teaspoons) ground cinnamon

Instructions

Make the crumb topping

Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees; line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside
In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, salt and cinnamon; whisk in melted butter
Stir in flour until it is completely absorbed; Spread topping mix out on a parchment paper using your fingers to break it into clumps
Bake topping for five minutes; do not overbake

Make ice cream:

In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
While whipping cream, in a separate large bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk and vanilla
In a separate small bowl, combine brown sugar, melted butter, cinnamon; set aside
Once cream is ready, fold it into sweetened condensed milk mixture; fold in one cup of crumb topping
Pour half of ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan and drop half of brown sugar mixture over top; top with remaining ice cream and top with remaining brown sugar mixture and crumb topping; wrap well with seran wrap or tin foil
Freeze for 6 hours or overnight before serving

Notes

Base from Martha Stewart
Crumb topping adapted from this Apple Cinnamon Crumb Cake
Topping can be kept in an airtight container or bag for up to a week at room temperature before using

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Speculoos Sundae with Warm Blueberry Sauce

June 5, 2014 Keep It Sweet 6 Comments

Homemade speculoos (or Cookie Butter) ice cream layered with crushed speculoos cookies and a warm homemade blueberry sauce.

This ice cream is now a serious obsession. In case you couldn’t tell in Monday’s post.

The thing is, despite the fact that it has so much flavor you can most definitely enjoy it thoroughly on its own, I couldn’t leave well enough alone. So I dressed it up with a sauce made from my favorite summer fruit (seriously, I might turn blue this summer) and some cookie crumbs for extra texture. The blueberry sauce is so pretty that this sundae will brighten up your summer table. You can even make a few sundaes ahead of time for entertaining (just wrap and freeze), though, I definitely prefer the blueberry sauce warmed up before serving. It’s sweet but definitely not too sweet (you wouldn’t want an ultra sweet sauce for the cookie butter ice cream) and since you are adding a fruit so high in antioxidants to your ice cream, an extra-large sundae is perfectly acceptable.

Speculoos Sundae with Warm Blueberry Sauce

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Homemade speculoos (or Cookie Butter) ice cream layered with crushed speculoos cookies and a warm homemade blueberry sauce.

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: 1 sundae

Ingredients

2 scoops Cookie Butter Ice Cream
2-3 tablespoons Blueberry Sauce (see below)
1-2 speculoos cookies broken into small pieces

Instructions

Layer ice cream, warmed blueberry sauce, and broken cookies; serve and enjoy!

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Speculoos Sundae with Warm Blueberry Sauce

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Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

285g (~2 cups) fresh blueberries (frozen can be substituted for slightly longer cooking time)
70g (~1/3 cup) granulated sugar
15 milliliters (1 tablespoon) fresh lemon juice (about ½ lemon)
10g (~1 tablespoon) cornstarch

Instructions

Place blueberries, sugar and lemon juice in a medium pot stove with medium heat
Stir occasionally until some of the berries begin to break down and juice begins to form (~4 minutes)
Turn the heat to high, add cornstarch and stir quickly until sauce reaches desired thickness (1-2 minutes)
Serve immediately or reheat gently before using; store leftovers covered or in an airtight container up to one week

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You might also like:

No Churn Cookie Butter Ice Cream

Extra Dark Chocolate Cake with Cookie Butter Buttercream

Cookie Butter Pumpkin Bites

Blog, Recipes

No-Churn Cookie Butter Ice Cream

June 2, 2014 Keep It Sweet 34 Comments

You don’t need an ice cream maker to churn a batch of this delicious ice cream! Packed with Cookie Butter, rich and creamy, this is an ice cram that you will love.

Apparently no-churn ice cream is a thing, a big thing. This might be the most dangerous fact I’ve ever learned. In the past I’ve nearly broken an old ice cream maker in frustration. I had no idea how easy it would be to make the real deal sans fancy machine. Seriously, you whip some cream, combine it with a sweetened condensed milk / flavor mixture and freeze for a few hours. I actually stopped myself from buying more than one large container of heavy whipping cream at Costco on Saturday for fear of my baby turning into a giant ice cream cone.

Luckily I did have some help from Matt in eating this batch of Cookie Butter Ice Cream. Infused with cookie butter AND speculoos crumbs, it is heavy on the cookie butter flavor in a very good way. I used it for ice cream sundaes (recipe coming later this week), a fruit crumble (recipe also coming soon) and Matt made a couple of milkshakes (just some skim milk and ice cream blended together). Part of me wants to make this recipe over and over again throughout the summer, but I have too many other flavors I’m dying to try. Although, I would love to have a giant scoop of this ice cream stuffed into these cookies. Um, how many weeks away is my glucose test?

No-Churn Cookie Butter Ice Cream

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You don’t need an ice cream maker to churn a batch of this delicious ice cream! Packed with Cookie Butter, rich and creamy, this is an ice cram that you will love.

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: ~1½ quarts

Ingredients

475 milliliters (2 cups) heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free, but any type would work)
200g (~1/2 cup) Cookie Butter (or other speculoos of choice)
84g (~2/3 cup) finely ground speculoos cookies (approximately 10 cookies)
5 milliliters (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract

Instructions

In the large bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat cream on high speed for several minutes, just until stiff peaks form
While whipping cream, in a separate large bowl, stir together remaining ingredients
Once cream is ready, fold it into Cookie Butter mixture
Pour ice cream into a regular-sized loaf pan and wrap well with seran wrap or tin foil
Freeze for 6 hours or overnight

Notes

Base from Martha Stewart

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If you love Cookie Butter as much as I do, be sure to check out my growing list of speculoos-based recipes!

Oh, and I also spotted this version of Cookie Butter s’more ice cream last week on Baheaholic Mama, I’ll take both!

Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.

Banana Brownie Chunk Greek Frozen Yogurt

August 17, 2012 Keep It Sweet 26 Comments

Well, I think I am officially old.

My 28th birthday is on Tuesday and while I know that in the big picture that really isn’t old, I certainly feel it. After a late night out in the city last night, my body is just begging for a day of rest. A big difference from when I moved to New York six years ago.

In fact, a lot of things have changed in those six years. Jobs, twice. Boyfriend turned fiance turned husband. Sister turned real life best friend.* Studio turned one bedroom then into two. Jean size. Insecurities faded**. Passions realized. Parents seen more as equals. Views on life. Priorities. Dislike of goat cheese to love of goat cheese. Suits to chef coats.

*Well, that wasn’t exactly a change, just more of a realization

**Some

It is actually amazing how much has changed but then again there is a lot that stayed the same. Love of dessert. Partner in life. Balance of health and pleasure. Love of family. Drive, motivation, determination. Heart. Morals. Devotion to peanut butter, pumpkin, and fresh baked cookies. Joy in baking for others. Desire to eat only worth-it foods. And of course, a love of frozen yogurt.

You knew I’d tie this recipe in somehow. I’ve actually been meaning to make this recipe since the last frozen yogurt I made. It just took most of the summer for me to remember to put the ice cream maker bowl back in the freezer. Matt gets credit for that reminder.

This frozen yogurt is creamy and full of fudgy brownie chunks to add the perfect indulgent touch. The only thing missing is a little peanut butter swirl but I figured I’d be better off if I made a dessert my husband would also eat.

Banana Brownie Chunk Greek Frozen Yogurt

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Caramelized bananas and fudgy brownies make the best frozen yogurt!

Author: Lauren Lilling

Recipe type: Dessert

Makes: 1 quart

Ingredients

3 large brown bananas cut into slices (about ¼ inch thick)
2 tablespoons light brown sugar, tightly packed
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon unsalted butter
1½ cups fat free plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
⅓ cup fudgy brownie pieces, size based on preference

Instructions

Place banana slices, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter in a heavy duty saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until bananas and sauce are very thick, stirring occasionally; remove from heat
Place two thirds of the banana mixture in a food processor or blender and puree
In a large bowl, combine yogurt, sugar and pureed bananas; fold in remaining banana mixture and brownies
Place in refrigerator for one hour or until mixture has cooled
Once cooled, freeze yogurt in ice cream maker as directed by manufacturer's instructions
Serve immediately or store prepared frozen yogurt in freezer until ready to eat (allow to defrost and soften a few minutes before serving)

Notes

Already frozen ripe bananas will work just as well as fresh
This frozen yogurt isn't overly sweet making it the perfect base for a touch of hot fudge or peanut butter sauce and whipped cream

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Oh, and beware. This yogurt barely lasted a full day in my house.

Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.

You might also like:

Blueberry Chocolate Chunk Frozen Yogurt

Gingersnap Peach Crumble Ice Cream

Fudgy Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

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A Week in Wine Country

July 23, 2012 Keep It Sweet 16 Comments

Last week in Napa was amazing! I didn’t realize how much I needed a vacation until I got back and found myself refreshed and energized in a way I haven’t been in a few months. Sometimes you just need that. Here are some highlights from our eating, drinking and relaxing. I’ll be sharing some more details on some of the places we visited in California in coming posts.

I love you Bi-Rite.

First meal in San Fran had to be tacos

Pretty winery

One of our favorite wineries, Matt is obsessed with their ‘05 Cab

Necessary

Before dinner at Farm

Good hiking

We made a friend

9 miles of hiking followed by a bottle of champagne = perfection (don’t worry, we hydrated too)

Ad Hoc make-your-own sundae, yes!

Mature.

What do you do when you have nothing to do? Drink champagne with a view

Bucket of donuts, enough said.

While in Napa, we stayed at the Old World Inn. This was our second visit so they welcomed us with a bottle of champagne! The people there are very nice and we had a great time on our trip, but I have to say, the inn wasn’t quite as wonderful as it was on our first visit three years ago.

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Salted Caramel & Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Bars

July 17, 2012 Keep It Sweet 27 Comments

I may be on vacation this week eating and drinking my way through Napa, but I’d still stop everything if I had more of these ice cream bars to eat. These Salted Caramel and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Bars were an upgrade or shall I say “how can I make an amazing dessert the best it can be?” to the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Bars I made last summer. By adding a layer of gooey salted caramel and swapping a hard chocolate shell for a soft layer of chocolate ganache I made something that I find myself craving again and again.

This recipe is actually one that I developed months ago and have been dying to share. To make this heavenly dessert yourself, flip through the beautiful new Foodie Crush Magazine!

Blog, Recipes

Fudgy Brownie Crunch Banana Ice Cream Pie

June 19, 2012 Keep It Sweet 36 Comments

I was talking to some friends a few weeks ago about working out, eating healthy, etc. For as long as I remember I’ve worked out hard most days of the week and watched what I ate 80% of the time.

But when I started running a bakery full-time, things changed. My days got longer and I started spending most of them on my feet. My legs ache when I wake up in the morning and sometimes I’m too busy to care if I eat an extra broken cookie or five.

They said to me, “but I’m sure you get sick of the desserts.”

I wish. Sure, every once and a while I’ll get sick of one item. For instance, I always have extra brownie edges, so for a few days I got sick of the brownies. But then there were the oatmeal cookies to go to… and then the triple chocolates. There is no getting “sick” of sweets in my world. It is either a curse or a blessing.

For the most part, I put those extra pieces on reserve in my freezer for friends and family, but every once and a while a few times a week I break into the stash. Last week I even told Matt, “I accidentally ate a cookie.”

Is that even possible?

So now that I know giving up dessert is pretty much impossible for this sugaraholic, I’m trying to find some items that are a good middle ground. Not so healthy and fake-tasting that I end up eating what I was avoiding to begin with, but almost good for you but really satisfying so you think you are eating something else.

This pie is the perfect example of that. There is an indulgent crunchy chocolate filling on the inside, but the other layers are lower in fat, including an “ice cream” made with bananas. Fruit on the ingredient list means I can have an extra slice, right? I also used a No Pudge brownie mix as well as fat free cool whip but you can use whatever you prefer.

Fudgy Brownie Crunch Banana Ice Cream Pie
This pie is adapted and inspired by an ice cream pie my mom used to make for me us. When she finally gave me the recipe for the addicting crunchy filling I couldn’t wait to make a batch!
Serves 12

Ingredients:
1 package brownie mix plus ingredients called for on box
1/3 cup hot fudge, homemade or store bought
1 1/2 cups Chocolate Pie Crunch (below)
3 cups cool whip (1 1/2 8-ounce containers)
3 ripe medium bananas, broken into chunks and frozen

Directions:
Pre-heat oven according to brownie mix instructions
Grease or spray a 9-inch spring-form pan and set aside (if you pan is prone to leaking, wrap tin foil tightly around the bottom half)
Prepare brownie batter as directed on box; spread into prepared pan
Bake brownie for 20-25 minutes or until a knife comes out clean
While brownie is baking, prepare Chocolate Pie Crunch
When brownie is done, allow to cool for several minutes and then gently spread hot fudge over brownie while it is still warm
Sprinkle with 1 1/2 cups Chocolate Pie Crunch
When brownie has completely cooled, spread cool whip over top; cover pan with foil and freeze for 30 minutes or until cool whip layer is firm
Once cool whip layer is firm, make the banana “ice cream’; place frozen bananas in a food processor and run on high for a few minutes until mixture is thick and creamy
Spread banana ice cream over cool whip
Cover pan with foil and place back in freezer 2 hours or until banana ice cream is firm

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Chocolate Pie Crunch
Makes 5 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

1 9-ounce package chocolate wafers
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil

Directions:

Line a baking sheet with wax paper and set aside
Crush chocolate wafers into small pieces and place in a large bowl
Heat chocolate and oil in a small saucepan over low-medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture is melted and smooth
Pour over crushed wafers immediately and stir until all cookie pieces are coated
Spread mixture out on baking sheet and freeze for 10 minutes or until firm
Break into pea-sized pieces and store in a ziplock bag in freezer until ready for use

Extra can be stored in a ziplock bag in the freezer up to one month

Recipe courtesy of my mom who got it from a friend…

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This post is for PIE DAY (tomorrow June 20th)! How are you celebrating?

Blog, Recipes

Blueberry Chocolate Chunk Frozen Yogurt

May 24, 2012 Keep It Sweet 29 Comments

This week has been full of ice cream but I’m sending you off on a long weekend with a real bang – I made something frozen and delicious and dare I say it…. healthy! This frozen yogurt is full of great things like nonfat greek yogurt and blueberries, but even better than that it is full of flavor. In an effort to kick off summer eating dessert while having clothes that fit I’ll be filling up on lots of this yogurt over the next few weeks. While blueberry and chocolate are one of my favorite combinations, I see many more flavors happening very soon.

So many of you have left me extremely supportive comments, facebook messages, tweets and Instagram notes over the last few weeks and it is just so overwhelming. I know a lot of you are curious as to what is going on behind the scenes with my business. I’m thinking about posting a “day in the life” if that interests you.

As for how things are going… I am pleased to say that I couldn’t be happier. The site launched just over two months ago and already I’ve processed over 100 online orders, catered several events, provided favors and gift fillers to a few different people and delivered desserts to a TV show’s cast and crew. In the few moments that I’m not baking, I’m networking and and strategizing ways to grow the business. When I’m not doing either of those things, I’m brainstorming new recipes for the blog, Seasonal Desserts and Cookie of the Month Club.

The best part of everything has been the feedback that Keep It Sweet Desserts has received thus far. It seems a bit silly that I am still nervous every time I send a package or deliver an order, because people are really loving my sweets. While there has been a little bit of PR, most of the business so far is word of mouth. Many customers are those who have received a box of cookies as a gift and are now passing on the sweets to someone else. I could not ask for much more satisfaction than that.

Thank you again for being there for me through all of this!

Get the recipe for Blueberry Chocolate Chunk Frozen Yogurt here!

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Summer Fun with Nestle Drumsticks and a Giveaway!

May 23, 2012 Keep It Sweet 47 Comments

<Giveaway details at the end of the post>

So clearly I like ice cream. And while I love coming up with different types of ice cream cakes, pies, etc., sometimes it is nice to have someone else do the work for you. Because on an ideal summer day, I’m not standing by a hot oven. I’m going for a morning walk, grabbing an iced coffee, sitting by the pool or the beach with a good book and ending the day with a barbeque and ice cream or frozen yogurt.

And while in our area we haven’t had too many beach days yet, we have had a few warm sunny days here there that were perfect for long walks and dinner made on the grill. Sometimes there is nothing better than a night full of friends, good (low maintenance) food and a big bottle of wine.

As soon as I found out I was being given an opportunity to host a dinner party to try out Nestle’s new Drumstick Pretzel Dipped Cones, we invited our friends Matt and Deena over. My Matt loves to grill so he made the call on making steak and lobster tails (but really, who am I to object to that?) so that left me on call for some veggies and dessert. I made a big salad, steamed some corn and called it a day. The food prep took far less time than hiding all of my baking tools and ingredients.

We might have reached a minor hiccup in the plans when we temporarily locked ourselves out of the apartment with nothing but the proteins to grill, but minor details.

Dinner was delicious! Matt spent a few minutes seasoning the food ahead of time, but was at the grill for less than 20 minutes. Good food with more time for friends and relaxing = win.

Dessert obviously revolved around the Nestle ice cream cones. My friend, Matt, was very excited about this.

But I am a baker/food blogger after all so who am I to just serve pre-made ice cream cones for dessert? Instead I threw together a make-your-own ice cream bar with the cones as one of the options. In addition, we had brownies, hot fudge (recipe below), peanut butter sauce (recipe below), oreo crumbs and jimmies. The ice cream sundaes were the perfect end to a perfect day, thank you Nestle for this opportunity!

Homemade Peanut Butter Sauce
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2/3 cup natural salted creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
In a small saucepan, whisk ingredients together over low heat; continue to whisk until smooth and creamy
Best served immediately
Adapted from the Joy the Baker Cookbook

Homemade Hot Fudge
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, whisk ingredients together over low heat; continue to whisk until smooth and creamy
Best served immediately
Adapted from Serendipity Sundaes

Do you want to to try out Nestle Drumstick Pretzel Dipped Cones or one of their other varieties? I’m giving away coupons for two free boxes for you to enjoy. Just leave a comment below saying anything by Thursday, May 24th at midnight est.

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Fun and Easy Ice Cream Desserts to Start Your Summer

May 21, 2012 Keep It Sweet 18 Comments

Is Memorial Day really this weekend?! Since I don’t want to think about wearing a bathing suit just yet, I’ll think about one of my favorite parts of summer… ice cream. Well, I eat ice cream all year round, but there is something so nostalgic about going out for an ice cream cone on a summer night. Whenever I do any summer entertaining, I can’t help but come up with a fun ice cream dessert to share. Here are a few favorites that I’ve shared in the past:

Black Bottom Ice Cream Cupcakes

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Bars

Frozen Pumpkin and Chocolate Yogurt Pie with Salted Caramel Cream Sauce

Ice Cream Brownie

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Pie

Root Beer Float Ice Cream Cake

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Franklin Fountain in Philadelphia

May 2, 2012 Keep It Sweet 10 Comments

You remember that trip we took to Philadelphia a few weeks ago where we ate our way through the weekend?

Well, given the fact that I could live on ice cream, I was most excited for our trip to Franklin Fountain. An old school ice cream shop that models itself from the soda shops that used to be popular, what could be bad?

Well, you know how when you are excited about going to a restaurant and you quadruple check the menu online to decide what you want to order and you read every.single.review. to make sure you are getting the right thing? Wait, you don’t do that?

Well, that is the basic preparation I made for our trip to Franklin Fountain. I studied the sundae menu like it was my job (hmm as a food blogger, isn’t it?) and strategized on the exact best time to go during the weekend. Note to Philly fans – Sunday shortly after opening seems to be ideal, no lines at all!

I thought about what the ideal combination of ice cream flavors plus sundae toppings I could get that Matt would also enjoy. Aka, no peanut butter.

So when we finally were ready for our ice cream indulgence, I was imagining the ice cream of all ice creams and sundae of all sundaes in my head. This dessert (lunch?) was going to be mind-blowing.

Well, as much as I hate to admit it, I was really disappointed. I loved the décor, loved the menu, loved all of the old school details that were incorporated into Franklin Fountain… but when it came down to what really matters, the ice cream, I have to give it a “meh.”

Don’t get me wrong, the ice cream wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t mindblowing. As someone who would fly across the country solely for the purpose of some Bi Rite the ice cream just wasn’t up to par. I kind of felt like I’d rather be indulging in a big bowl of slow churned if the real stuff wasn’t going to be outrageously good.

We had the Vesuvius and the hot fudge and whipped cream were certainly delicious additions, but the coffee and cookies ‘n cream ice creams underneath were as standard as Breyer’s from the super market. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but after a few bites of the sub-par ice cream I called it quits and satisfied my craving with frozen yogurt instead. Crazy? Probably.

Have you ever looked forward to a meal so much that your expectations could not possibly be met?

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Ice Cream, Pizza, Cupcakes and Why My Pants are Tight

September 13, 2011 Keep It Sweet Leave a comment

This past weekend was pretty amazing.

After a fun summer of spending weekends with our respective families, it was a nice change of pace to have a weekend getaway just the two of us.

We headed up to Lenox, Massachusetts on Saturday courtesy of a wedding gift from Matt’s brother and his wife. We had two nights there and used every minute of Saturday-Monday doing something fun and out of the norm or just relaxing.

After getting settled in, we went on a hike in the area. I’ve never been hiking before, but now I have a new favorite form of exercise. Too bad NYC isn’t known for its trails;-) Other than the hike, we made it to the gym on Sunday for a spin class and Monday for another workout. It’s a good thing because the rest of our weekend pretty much revolved around indulging in the local eateries.

One of my favorite local vendors was SoCo Creamery. I’m pretty sure that their ice cream was made for me. I’m not sure I should tell you how many ice creams Matt and I had between the two of us over 2 1/2 days. If I could, I would have stayed in Lenox just so I could try their entire ever-expanding list of flavors.

On this particular visit, I had an order of Espresso Cookie and Dirty Chocolate, by far my favorites.

The ice creams are all rich and creamy with a real quality flavor component. On another visit I had blueberry with strawberry cheesecake. The blueberry looked and tasted like it was made from fresh blueberries that day.

Apparently I can find SoCo at some stores in NYC, not sure if that is a good or very dangerous thing. I’m trying to make myself forget before I get myself into trouble!

The way Matt and I ate on Sunday, you would have thought we were carb loading for a marathon. Really we were just carb loading for fun.

The day started with a visit to Berkshire Mountain Bakery. A special thanks to Brian for his recommendation! We tried both sweet and savory mini ciabattas to share. The Jalapeno & Cheese was amazing- fresh and chewy with the perfect amount of heat.

And of course I loved the Dark Chocolate! The bread wasn’t too sweet so you could really savor the rich dark chocolate chunks.

As we continued towards the town of Great Barrington, we stopped at a local farm.

I was so excited to see all of my favorite fall things!

They even still had some fresh-from-the-farm summer produce.

And of course baked goods.

Matt tried their famous Tangleberry Pie (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries).

Nothing like a piece of pie for a mid-morning snack!

One of my favorite things about the towns we explored was the focus on local food and fresh ingredients. Matt and I explored Berkshire Co-op Market, what I think of as a local Whole Foods.

The massive vat of organic peanut butter was enough for me to fall in love.

They also had a ton of options for bulk flours, beans, nuts, seeds, etc. More than I’ve seen in any Whole Foods!

Since they were dispensing Kombucha in fountain form, I figured I should finally give this hyped-up drink a try. Verdict? I liked it, but not enough to pay the normal $2.50+/bottle

After a couple of hours of strolling and exploring the town, I was very excited to be hungry for lunch. We ate at the infamous Baba Louie’s. They actually use sourdough crust made by Berkshire Mountain Bakery (where we stopped for breakfast) and have a ton of creative topping combinations.

We shared a small pizza that was one half Isabella (roasted sweet potatoes, roasted parsnips, caramelized onions, roasted garlic, fresh mozzarella and shaved fennel, drizzled with reduced balsamic vinegar and parmesan) and half Pomodoro Bianco (Fresh mozzarella, roasted portabellas, roasted garlic, tomatoes, red onions, chêvre, pesto and parmesan). The chewy crust was nice for a change but it really was all about the toppings for me. I loved the sweet potato mix.

While walking around the area after lunch, we stopped at the local kitchen supply store. What do you know, they sold cupcakes!

Barrington Bites is another local business. One of the owners was in the store baking her cupcakes and piping them for customers to see.

If I hadn’t been stuffed, I would have ordered a Peanut Butter & Jelly or French Toast with Bacon. Matt had a little room in his stomach, though, and chose lemon and strawberry cupcakes.

Both were moist with a very buttery buttercream frosting. I tasted the strawberry and couldn’t believe how wonderfully the fresh strawberry flavor came through.

By the time Sunday rolled around, I was sad to leave the area. It seemed like there were still lots of local restaurants and foods to try. Luckily we picked up a small stash of local candies to take home. Ok, I actually ate the bark Sunday night, but I tried!

What we did end up taking home was a massive amount of apples! More on that and some recipes to come:-)

I really enjoyed every minute of the weekend. My pants may be a little tight, but it was well worth it.

How do you recover from a weekend of indulgence?

Blog

Root Beer Float Ice Cream Cake

July 11, 2011 Keep It Sweet 36 Comments

I’m guest posting for sweet Madison of Espresso and Cream while she is off getting married and honeymooning.

Head to her blog to get my Root Beer Float Ice Cream Cake recipe!

Blog

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Bars

June 21, 2011 Keep It Sweet 69 Comments

What a whirlwind couple of weeks it has been!

I skipped my Sunday post this week and haven’t done a real recipe post in almost 2 weeks! Since then, we spent a weekend celebrating our anniversary (think lots of delicious food, including top tier of our cake!) and this past weekend we celebrated Adam and Sara’s wedding. It has been a fun year from their engagement, to the bachelorette party, and then the shower. The weekend was perfect night for the two of them and it was wonderful to see how in love they are.

Keeping up with baking has been a little tough given everything going on, but I managed to squeeze in this delicious no-bake dessert. Plus, I have baking to do almost every night this week. I’m especially excited about something I made last night, but you will have to wait a few days for that one;-)

But I digress… tonight’s dessert is the perfect way to honor the official start of summer! These bars are a play on cookie dough ice cream. I’ve always loved cookie dough ice cream, but there is just never enough cookie dough to go around. I may be known to pick all the cookie dough out of the carton only to be left with a melted mess of vanilla ice cream. The beauty of these bars is that you get all the good stuff in every bite, chocolate chip cookie dough, vanilla bean ice cream and chocolate.

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Bars

Yield: 12-16

Ingredients

1 batch prepared chocolate chip cookie dough (recipe below)
3 cups vanilla bean ice cream
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cooking Directions

Cover prepared cookie dough layer with vanilla ice cream; cover and freeze for an hour
Once ice cream is frozen, place chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl
Melt chocolate in microwave in 30-second increments, stirring in-between
When chocolate is melted, spread evenly over ice cream layer, cover and re-freeze for an hour or until ready to serve
Cut into bars and enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons milk (I use skim)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cooking Directions

To Make the Cookie Dough:
Beat butter and sugar until fluffy
Mix in milk
Gradually mix in flour and salt
Stir in chocolate chips
Press into a 9×9 pan lined with wax paper

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Cookie Dough recipe adapted from these brownies

I have to admit, these busy summer days away from the computer are refreshing. What’s keeping you busy this summer?

*There is still time to donate baked goods for next week’s online bake sale*

Blog

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Pie

May 25, 2011 Keep It Sweet 65 Comments

I have to tell you, the pictures don’t do this dessert justice. Whoever has tips for taking pictures of ice cream please send them my way!

So lately I haven’t been showing enough love to my two favorite food groups: peanut butter and ice cream

What, those aren’t food groups? Could have fooled me!

Does peanut butter combined with chocolate make up a food group?

Protein, healthy fats, antioxidants? Am I close?

Oh well, because you know what, when it comes to dessert you just have to enjoy what you love. Personally, I’m good at that…

…just need to work on eating one slice, one scoop or one cookie and being satisfied. I’ll get there one day.

But in the meantime, send over some self-restraint so that I don’t eat this entire Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie in one sitting

To make the crust, grind up about 8 Nutter Butters in a food processor until fine

Add melted butter and stir to combine

Press crust mixture into a prepared 9-inch springform pan

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until crust darkens around the edges and allow crust to cool

When ready, layer half of chocolate ice cream over crust

Next cover the entire layer with large peanut butter cups

Then, cover peanut butter cup layer completely with chocolate ice cream (shh I ran out of peanut butter cups); Freeze until ready to serve

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Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Pie

Yield: Serves 12

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups Nutter Butter crumbs (about 8 cookies)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 quarts your favorite chocolate ice cream or frozen yogurt (I used Edyâ€™s slow churned)
24 large peanut butter cups

Cooking Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray, set aside
To make the crust, grind up about 8 Nutter Butters in a food processor until fine; add melted butter and stir to combine
Press mixture into prepared pan
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until crust darkens around the edges and allow crust to cool
When ready, layer half of chocolate ice cream over crust
Layer peanut butter cups over ice cream and then cover them with remaining ice cream

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If you could create a new food group, what would it be?

Blog

Ice Cream Inspiration

March 3, 2011 Keep It Sweet 43 Comments

Did you know that Cold Stone sells ice cream cupcakes? They do. Did you know that ice cream is my ultimate portion control weakness? It is. If you put this in front of me and left me alone, it would be gone when you came back.

Individual ice cream cupcakes, however, this is portion control I can live with. Using Cold Stone as my inspiration, I created Black Bottom Ice Cream Cupcakes, a dessert that combines the sweet crunch of chocolate, creamy ice cream and and soft spongy cake!

I used a white cake mix (gasp), made with applesauce and egg whites, fat free strawberry ice cream, and semi-sweet chocolate chips. The combinations of flavors are endless and I can’t wait to make different versions of these cupcakes. They would be a perfect dessert for a child’s birthday party or for an adult like me who has no control around ice cream.

There are a few components to this recipe, but are really easy to make.

Start by making the “cake” of the cupcake; use a cookie dough scoop (about 2 tablespoons) to place batter into cupcake tins

The cupcakes are small so they will bake quickly, 8-10 minutes

While cupcakes are cooling, melt chocolate and coat the bottom of separate cupcake baking cups (1-2 tablespoons of chocolate each); freeze for about 10 minutes or until chocolate is hard

Meanwhile, remove ice cream from freezer to soften

When chocolate has hardened, scoop about a quarter of a cup of ice cream into each cup

Place cakes on top of ice cream and push down to secure

Cover with saran wrap and freeze cupcakes for at least one hour

Carefully unwrap frozen cupcake

Top with whipped cream

And jimmies (yes, that’s what I call them)

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Black Bottom Ice Cream Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 Prepared white cake batter from 1 box mix
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 gallon strawberry ice cream

Directions:

Pre-heat oven as directed on cake mix box
Prepare cake batter
Use a cookie dough scoop (about 2 tablespoons) to place batter into cupcake tins filled with paper cup holders or sprayed with cooking spray
Bake cake 8-10 minutes or until a knife comes out clean
While cupcakes are cooling, melt chocolate in the microwave or on the stove
Coat the bottom of separate cupcake baking cups with melted chocolate (about 1-2 tablespoons of chocolate each)
Freeze for about 10 minutes or until chocolate is hard
While chocolate is chilling, remove ice cream from freezer to soften
When chocolate has hardened, scoop about a quarter of a cup of ice cream into each cup
Place cakes on top of ice cream and push down to secure cupcakes
Cover cupcakes with saran wrap and freeze for at least one hour
Serve topped with whipped cream and jimmies

Notes:

If your freezer is not very cold, make sure to serve immediately or cupcakes will melt

You can control the ingredients and make them as light or as decadent as you’d like

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Black Bottom Ice Cream Cupcakes

What is your favorite way to eat ice cream?

Blog

Delicious End to 2010

January 4, 2011 Keep It Sweet 36 Comments

As I take a look at some of the last month’s activities I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that my pants don’t fit…

We had our 5th annual Thanksgiving with Friends

(the infamous dinner with 8 desserts)

Had and fulfilled intense cookie cravings

Tried to make the perfect cookie

Baked the Brown Eyed Baker’s Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Not pictured but worth mentioning, made Jessica’s Cookie Dough Dip in Chocolate Chip, Snickerdoodle and Chocolate Fudge

Went home to visit with family

The sister made chocolate covered pretzels

Dad gave me photography lessons

Mom made a zillion cakes

(Outrageous Brownie with Peanut Butter Icing and Chocolate Ganache)

(Pumpkin Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream and Cinnamon Whipped Cream)

(The third cake was a Chocolate Cake with Vanilla and Chocolate Buttercream)

Went home again for the 14th Annual Christmas Eve Brunch with my best friends from home

It snowed, so I rushed to the train to beat the blizzard

And since it was snowing, I had to make a trifle

We celebrated New Year’s Eve

With Frozen Yogurt Pie

And Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Sandwiches

This delicious food and the fun events with family and friends was definitely worth gaining a few pounds. Better keep reminding myself as I fill up on vegetables over the next few weeks;-)

What memorable food did you eat this holiday season?

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Ice Cream Pie with a New Year’s Eve Worthy Topping

January 1, 2011 Keep It Sweet 37 Comments

A few months ago I received a few coupons for free Stonyfield’s ice cream or frozen yogurt. I finally used the coupons just in time for their expiration date and was inspired to use my frozen yogurts to make a New Year’s Eve dessert. I’ll leave a full review of the yogurt for a separate post, but I am very happy with the delicious dessert I came up with.

You are looking at layers of crunchy gingersnap crust, pumpkin frozen yogurt, and chocolate frozen yogurt topped with a salted caramel cream sauce. I came up with the dessert because chocolate and pumpkin are some of my favorite flavors, but as soon as I created it I realized that this mimics my favorite cheesecake bar. Ok, so it wasn’t the first time using these flavors, but I promise that it was worth the lack of creativity for an excuse to make the topping. This Frozen Pumpkin and Chocolate Yogurt Pie with Salted Caramel Cream Sauce was a very worthy end to 2010.

I love that the filling to this pie is fat free frozen yogurt, because it makes you think you are being really healthy. Never mind that the crust has half a stick of butter in it and the sauce is based on sugar, butter and heavy whipping cream. Details, details. Moderation is key, or so they say.

The pie is really easy to make. The sauce is a little more challenging. I simplified it after my first attempt where I ended up with rock-hard chunks of sugar and butter. It took a lot of soaking to clean that pot!

First thing to do is run your gingersnap crumbs through a food processor

Grind until the cookies are mostly fine crumbs

Melt the butter

And mix it with the cookie crumbs

Next, add sugar

When the crust is fully mixed, press it down into a 9-inch spring-form pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray

Bake for about 8 minutes or until firm

Allow the crust to cool and put the vanilla frozen yogurt in a medium bowl

The vanilla is the base for your pumpkin layer

Fold in the pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice until well combined

Spread pumpkin layer over crust and freeze for about 10 minutes

Meanwhile, remove the chocolate frozen yogurt from the freezer so that it is softened

Spread chocolate yogurt over the pumpkin and freeze covered with foil until ready to serve

To make the caramel, begin by heating sugar over low to medium heat in a small sauce pan

Add butter

Stir butter and sugar until butter is melted and fully combined with sugar

Reduce the heat to low and add cream

Stir continuously until mixture bubbles

Then remove pot from heat and stir in corn syrup

Add salt and stir

The sauce will be a thick liquid that hardens as it cools; store it in the refrigerator and microwave on a low setting to re-heat

When it is time to serve the dessert, carefully remove outside of springform pan

Cut slices and drizzle with caramel cream sauce

When no one is looking, steal some extra sauce for cookies, fruit, your finger…

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Frozen Pumpkin and Chocolate Yogurt Pie with Salted Caramel Cream Sauce

Sauce adapted from the Serendipity Sundaes cookbook

Serves 8-12

Pie Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups of gingersnap cookie crumbs (about 25 cookies)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

2 cups vanilla frozen yogurt (I used Stonyfield fat free vanilla)

1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie seasoning

2 cups chocolate frozen yogurt (I used Stonyfield fat free chocolate)

Pie Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray, set aside

To make the crust, grind up about 25 gingersnaps in a food processor until fine; set cookie crumbs aside

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in the microwave and pour over cookie crumbs

Add 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar and mix until well combined

Pour mixture into springform pan

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until firm

Remove from oven and allow to cool

Remove vanilla frozen yogurt from freezer a few minutes before use

Place the yogurt into a bowl and fold in the pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice until well combined

Spread pumpkin layer over crust and freeze for about 10 minutes

Meanwhile, remove the chocolate frozen yogurt from the freezer so that it is softened

Spread chocolate yogurt over the pumpkin and freeze covered with foil until ready to serve

Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 teaspoon sea salt

Sauce Directions:

Heat sugar over low to medium heat in a small sauce pan

Add butter; stir until butter is melted and fully combined with sugar

Reduce the heat to low and add cream; stir continuously until mixture bubbles

Remove pot from heat and stir in corn syrup

Add salt and stir

When it is time to serve the dessert, carefully remove outside of springform pan

Cut slices and drizzle with caramel cream sauce

Notes:

The sauce is best served immediately; if not, store it in the refrigerator and microwave on a low setting to re-heat at 15 second intervals stirring in-between

The sauce will firm up over the ice cream, don’t worry, that is supposed to happen!

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I hope that everyone enjoys a happy and healthy New Year!

What dessert did you have for New Year’s Eve?

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My Favorite Ice Cream Brownie

October 23, 2010 Keep It Sweet 40 Comments

Last weekend was very exciting, we celebrated the engagement of Adam and Sara (my brother-in-law and future sister-in-law)! Lots of champagne was involved and of course I had to bake for the occasion.

The happy couple:

Me with the new member of the family:

Looks like Matt and I are now the old married couple of the group;-)

The celebration was just a few days after my father-in-law’s birthday so I made this cake for him. For the new engaged couple, I made a personalized Ice Cream Brownie. I was very excited when Adam decided to propose to Sara. When I asked what Sara’s favorite dessert is, he said she loves brownies with ice cream. It didn’t take me more than a minute to decide what to make.

This is a dessert I’ve made often in the past, but the flavors always change depending on who I am baking for. The basics stay the same: brownie bottom, hot fudge and oreos on top of that, then cool whip and an ice cream of choice. Pretty easy and oh so delicious. ALWAYS a big hit.

Like I’ve said in the past, when there are enough tasty ingredients, lower fat parts don’t take away from the final product. These No Pudge brownies are perfect for this recipe. They are chewy and chocolaty, even when frozen, but not too rich to layer in this dessert.

Brownie mix + yogurt + stir = easy!

Spread batter thinly in a 13 x 9 pan sprayed with cooking spray

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until knife comes out clean

Next step- hot fudge and oreos

You can crush the oreos in a ziploc bag by hand while your brownie is baking

Spread the brownie with hot fudge before it is completely cool, it will be very easy to spread that way

Then cover the hot fudge with a full layer of crushed oreos

Then cover this entire layer in cool whip

Since Adam and Sara have different favorite flavors that don’t really go together, mint and peanut butter, I spilt the dessert in half with a wall of oreos

Once you have a full layer of cool whip, freeze the dessert for about a half hour

Next layer is ice cream

Spread your ice cream over the layer of cool whip

While I was planning the dessert, I realized we might want a way to identify each side before digging in

Pepperment patties and peanut butter cups

Once all of the ice cream is covered in cool whip, sprinkle the corresponding candy flavors on each side

And serve to the happy couple

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Ice Cream Brownie

Adapted from the Original Baker

Serves 12, generously

Ingredients:

1 box No Pudge Brownie (or brownie mix of choice) and ingredients listed on box

1 cup hot fudge

12 oreos

4 8 ounce containers of cool whip, defrosted

1/2 gallon ice cream (or 1/2 container each of 2 different flavors), slightly softened

20 pieces chocolate candy

Directions:

Bake brownie in a 13×9 baking pan sprayed with cooking spray, following instructions on box; bake for about 20 minutes or until knife comes out clean

While brownie is baking, crush oreos in a ziploc bag and set aside

Allow brownie to cool for about 10 minutes and then spread full layer of hot fudge

Layer crushed oreos over hot fudge

Spread 3 of the 4 containers of cool whip over oreos

Freeze layered dessert for about 30 minutes, or until cool whip layer is firm

Chop candy pieces while dessert is in freezer and set aside

Spread ice cream over top of cool whip

Cover ice cream with a thin layer of cool whip using 4th container

Sprinkle candy pieces over cool whip

Serve immediately or cover baking pan with tightly foil and freeze until serving

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Have you celebrated anyone’s engagement recently?

Cookie cakes, dessert platters, pop-ups and more!

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