Showing posts with label ice cream. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ice cream. Show all posts

Liege Waffles


Believe it or not, there is actually a waffle under that big mountain of goodness. Here is the story behind this waffle.

The other night my husband and I were watching the Travel Channel where they were featuring all of the most unusual fast food joints in the country. One of them was a "waffle cart" where genuine Belgium waffles were sold, some as breakfast waffles, and others as dessert waffles.

If I remember right (and feel free to correct me), the traditional Belgium waffles that we're used to is from Brussels and is light, fluffy and has the thin batter. That is the waffle that is usually served for breakfast. And then there is a waffle that we don't see quite as much, from Liege, in southern Belgium. The batter is much thicker, more like a sticky dough that has much more sugar. This waffle, while I'm sure would still be delicious covered in syrup (what isn't?), is much better as a dessert, covered in things like chocolate, ice cream and...stuff like that.

About two and a half minutes after watching this special, my husband had a printed recipe in his hand and a smile on his face. Needless to say, we enjoy the famous Liege waffles at home that night, and they are delicious! Much sweeter, denser and cake-like, they are the perfect pallet for any embellishments you want to add. This would be a lot of fun to entertain with, especially if your guests had a nice choice of toppings. Either way you should give it a try. It's a fun new way to use that waffle iron!

Liege Waffles
Source Unknown

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 cup pearl sugar (regular granulated is fine)
1 cup melted butter
3 eggs
1 (1/4 ounce) package yeast
1/3 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar (add some vanilla sugar)
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Take the lukewarm water and mix in yeast, 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar and salt. Let the yeast develop for 15 minutes. In the meanwhile you can melt the butter, but be careful - do not burn it.

2. Now take a large bowl and put in the flour, make a hole in the middle, pour in the yeast that you made in step one. Also add eggs and melted butter and knead until you get nice and even dough. Then let it rest so the yeast does it's magic and the dough doubles.

3. Now take pearl sugar and gently mix it in.

4. Again, let it rest for 15 minutes, in the meanwhile you can turn on the waffle maker so its nice and hot.

5. All there is left is to pour the waffle dough into the waffle maker and bake for 3-5 minutes (it's going to be thick and sticky, so there's going to be less pouring and more scooping). Because we mixed in the sugar late in the process it will melt and caramelize and give that special Liege waffle taste. Just be careful when you take them out of the waffle maker, caramelized sugar can make them sticky.

Peanut Buster Bars






If you haven't figured it out by now, I'll go ahead and admit it, Glenn is quite the star in our kitchen. What makes him so popular is that while I prepare most of our healthy meals, he gets to make the fun things that I have no business eating! Here is a picture of him...hot stuff no?



And of course I kind of have to hate him because he has the metabolism to sustain a healthy pan of brownies three times a week without gaining a pound, what is up with that!

But on this particular dish, I have the split the credit between Glenn and his mom. After Glenn moved out of his parent's house, his mom handed him a binder full of all of her tried and true recipes that has been a lot of fun to explore. When I first saw this recipe, I have to admit to feeling a bit underwhelmed. It just didn't look that exciting to me, especially since I'm not much of an ice cream lover to begin with. BUT, now that it's a regular in our house, I'll tell you that it definitely falls in my top ten of favorite desserts. The best part of these ice cream bars is the chocolate topping, I've honestly never had anything so delicious, I would pour this on my cereal if I could get away with it!. A lot of times Glenn will even make extra to pour on top!

These bars take a few steps and a little bit of time, but the good news is you can make it days in advance. And I promise it's worth every second!


Peanut Buster Bars

Ingredients

1 16 oz package Oreo cookies
1/2 cup margarine
1 gallon Vanilla ice cream
1 1/2 cup salted peanuts
chocolate sauce (recipe below)

Directions

Crush cookies fine (we use our food processor). Mix well with melted margarine. Put in 2 pans- 1 (9x13) and 1 (8x8). We actually do this because it saves for a long time, and trust me, it will get eaten. If you don't have the freezer space, just halve it and put it all into 1 9x13. Refrigerate one hour. Slice ice cream in 3/4 inch slices. Lay over the crust. Pack seams together. Sprinkle nuts over and put into freezer. Prepare chocolate sauce and, when cool, pour over ice cream.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup margarine

Combine sugar, margarine, milk and chocolate chips in saucepan. Boil 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; add vanilla. Cool completely. Pour over ice cream and freeze again. Serve right from the freezer (it may not hurt to let it sit for five minutes in room temp before serving though, just to let soften a bit).

Molten Chocolate Cakes



Okay, I'm definitely holding my breath, but I think my trusty computer might make it after all. It has been requiring a bit more TLC than normal, but hopefully with a bit of pampering it will pull through for me afterall...please!

I love these cakes for so many reasons. They're rather impressive, a bit fancy and great for entertaining. But, they're also great when you're a lazy baker like me. They require very few ingredients, all thrown into the same bowl, mixed and poured into muffin tins, and voila! Delicious chewy cake on the outside, rich, molten chocolate pouring out of the inside. Serve with ice cream, and you'll have a happy crowd on your hands. Plus, the fact that they're fairly small won't make you feel TOO guilty when you have more than one!

Molten Chocolate Cakes
Great Food Fast, By Martha Stewart

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, with extra for greasing muffin pan
1/3 cup granulated sugar, with extra for dusting pan
3 large eggs
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Generously butter 4 cups of a standard muffin tin. Dust with granulated sugar, and tap out excess. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the flour and salt until just combined. Beat in the chocolate (do not overmix). Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.

3. Place the muffin tin on a baking sheet; bake just until the tops of the cakes no longer jiggle when the pan is lightly shaken, 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand for 10 minutes.

4. To serve, turn out the cakes and place on serving plates, top sides up.
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