Frozen Desserts

Top 10 Recipes of 2011

December 29, 2011 by Amy 6 Comments

Am I the only person who is shocked that Christmas just passed? I can’t believe it. Neighbors are taking down lights, and our tree looks SO empty without gifts under it. My favorite holiday is over, and crazy enough, it’s time for a new year. 2012.

Time to take the shrink wrap off of the new planner and get used to writing “2012” on papers/emails/etc. This is just crazy.

Also crazy…sometime in 2012, my 4 year blogiversary is happening and my 3 year wedding anniversary is happening too. WHAT?

It’s a lot to look forward to, but before everyone rings in the new year, I just wanted to share with y’all the top 10 posts of 2011. 🙂

10. Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream – This was my first time making SMBC, and I swear, if you haven’t tried SMBC before, just do it. Please?

9. Pecan Pie Macarons – Gotta love macarons. These were really a huge favorite for Thanksgiving, and the star shape (which was a happy accident) made them super cute and festive!

8. Restaurant Style Queso Blanco – This is it. The ultimate queso blanco. If you’re as addicted to queso as me, you’d understand how wonderful it is to FINALLY have a recipe for this!

7. Strawberry Cream Cake – I’m actually glad I compiled this top 10, because I sort of forgot about this cake. Since it’s currently strawberry season in Louisiana, I think I MUST make this cake again. Yum!

6. Peppermint Bark Cheesecake Truffles – This is the recipe that made my year, basically. I still can’t believe I won that recipe contest, and I’ve been told by a few friends who made this that these little truffles were a hit at their holiday parties! So happy to hear that!

5. Banana Nutella “Ice Cream” – Two ingredient “ice cream”. It’s basically awesome and couldn’t be any easier. Your food processor does all the work!

4. Grilled Corn Grits – I can’t be from the South, and not have a post about grits. I promise you if you make this, your hips may never be the same again, but your taste buds will tell you it’s completely worth it!

3. Easy Pasta Salad – My first (and so far, only) vlog. I might get the courage to make one again, since you guys seemed to like it so much!

2. Cooking For Kids – The infamous post. Yup, who’da thought that a soda cupcake would get so much response from you guys (both good and bad)…yikes!

1. S’mores for a Shower – Nutella S’mores. I can see why you guys loved this one so much. I’m sort of craving s’mores right now, actually. 😛

I hope you have a wonderful New Year with your family and friends, and thank you so much for reading The Nifty Foodie! See y’all in 2012!

Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream

August 19, 2011 by Amy 8 Comments

I absolutely love coffee, but this is actually the first time in a couple of months that I have enjoyed any type of coffee. A couple of months ago, I realized that my body was way too dependent on caffeine, and I just couldn’t stand having caffeine headaches that resulted if I didn’t drink a cup of coffee before a certain time in the morning. So, yeah…I gave up caffeine. I even sold our coffee machine at a garage sale. I’m crazy like that. I will admit, it took my body a whopping 3 weeks for the headaches to stop, and during those three weeks, it was SO hard not to just grab a small cup of coffee to avoid those headaches. Looking back, it’s worth it. SO worth it. I’ve been slowly phasing caffeine back in every so often, because I can’t not have caffeine for the rest of my life (hi chocolate!), and I’m pleased to say that I haven’t experience a caffeine headache in almost a month!

Since I’m a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher, there are times where publishers are offered free products through their Tastemaker program to try if you post an honest review on the product. I sort of forgot that I signed up for this product before I kicked the caffeine habit: Godiva coffee.

I actually received the package the second week that I gave up caffeine. It was so hard to see those coffee bags in the house, so I placed them in the pantry and told myself I’d make a recipe with this stuff once the headaches were gone.

I decided to make this recipe, because I’ve always been curious about Vietnamese coffee. I love condensed milk. LOVE the stuff. Around here, during snowball season, you can ask for them to top your snowball with condensed milk, and it just takes that dessert to a whole different level. So, I had a feeling the condensed milk would work some miracles on this coffee. 🙂

As always, when it comes to an ice cream recipe, I turn to The Perfect Scoop, and once again, this recipe totally delivered. The recipe called for some ground coffee, which weirded me out, but it totally worked in this recipe! I also thought the flavor was perfect and the texture of the ice cream was surprisingly pretty soft to scoop, for a homemade ice cream. To brew the strong coffee, I used the same technique as highlighted in One Particular Kitchen’s blog (no coffee machine required!).

Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream
Source: slightly adapted from The Perfect Scoop

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of strongly brewed coffee

1 1/2 cups of condensed milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

big pinch of ground coffee

Directions:

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl until well incorporated. Chill the mixture thoroughly in your refrigerator.

Using the directions that your ice cream maker has, churn the ice cream. Enjoy immediately for a more soft serve texture or freeze for a few hours to enjoy as a scoopable ice cream.

FTC Disclosure: I was provided two bags of Godiva Coffee by the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program in exchange for a review and recipe idea using the coffee. My opinions are my own, as always.

Mango Sorbet

July 13, 2011 by Amy 3 Comments

I absolutely love the flavor of mangoes. I actually didn’t have fresh mango up until about 3 years ago, but it was totally love at first bite! I’ve been eating them every summer ever since!

So, when I saw a case of mangoes on sale at the store, I knew I had to give mango sorbet a try.

As much as I love strawberry and watermelon sorbet, I was very surprised to find that this mango sorbet had a very silky, rich texture. It was absolutely delicious, and I think this fruit sorbet is my favorite so far. Another hit from the infamous ice cream book, The Perfect Scoop. (I highly recommend this book if you own an ice cream maker, by the way!) My family absolutely loved this sorbet too…it was such a refreshing dessert to serve in this crazy heat that we’re experiencing lately!

Mango Sorbet
Source: mildly adapted from The Perfect Scoop

Ingredients:

2 large, ripe mangoes (about 2 lbs.), peeled and pitted

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup water

4 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

1 tbsp. light rum

Pinch of salt

Directions:

Cut the fruit of the mango into chunks and place them in a blender or food processor with the sugar, water, lime juice, rum and salt.

Puree the sorbet mixture until completely smooth.

Add rum/lime juice to taste, after tasting the pureed mixture. Chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.

Banana Nutella “Ice Cream”

June 1, 2011 by Amy 15 Comments

About a year ago, I bookmarked the popular one ingredient banana ice cream recipe. I usually don’t let bananas get super ripe in my house, because we go through them fairly quickly, but a couple of weeks ago, we forgot that I purchased a bunch to eat, and they were far too ripe to just eat on their own. I was about to make banana bread when I remembered this idea.

If you’re on a diet and you miss ice cream, I can tell you the texture is spot-on. It’s soft, creamy, frozen and very sweet, since the bananas are ripe. Since I’m a dieting rebel, though, I added a few tbsp. of nutella to the soft serve mixture. It was like eating marbled ice cream…very yummy and not too too bad for you!

If you have ripe bananas and a few extra minutes on your hands, definitely try this banana “ice cream”. It’s just too easy not to!

Banana Nutella “Ice Cream”
Source: adapted from The Kitchn

Ingredients:

4-6 very ripe bananas

3 tbsp. nutella

Directions:

Slice bananas into small bites and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Freeze the bananas for 2-3 hours or overnight.

Place the banana slices in a food processor and pulse until smooth.

Place the “ice cream” in a bowl and swirl in the nutella.

Freeze for a couple of hours until set, if you’d prefer a scoop-able ice cream. Eat immediately if you prefer soft serve.

Strawberry Orange Frozen Yogurt

April 3, 2011 by Amy 3 Comments

This past weekend, I bought a flat of strawberries. Since it’s the peak of the season, how could I not? It took me about an hour to slice up a flat of strawberries, and as delicious as they are on their own, I figured I had to make SOMETHING with them!

Well, a couple of weeks ago, one of my awesome food blogger friends, Serena of Big Apple Nosh, filled me in on a new challenge that she’s doing on her blog: The NoshGirl Chef Challenge! The challenge features two common ingredients, and each blogger has to come up with a recipe idea using those ingredients. The two ingredients for the challenge were plain yogurt and brown sugar. Since I had these strawberries on hand, I definitely wanted to also feature them in my recipe.

I really didn’t come up with the idea until this morning. Talk about last minute! I was debating between a coffee cake, a cookie or something frozen. Well, it’s already feeling like summer out here, so I had to do the frozen idea. I was worried about using brown sugar instead of regular sugar, but it really goes well with the strawberries. The addition of orange zest and juice also brings out the flavor of the strawberries really well. I really love how this turned out!

Strawberry-Orange Frozen Yogurt
Source: an original

Ingredients:

1 lb. strawberries, chopped and hulled

1 5 oz. container of plain greek yogurt

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp. orange zest

1 tsp. orange juice

1 tsp. vodka

Directions:

Place the chopped strawberries and brown sugar in a bowl, stir the mixture together and allow to chill in the refrigerator for about an hour for the sugar to sort of dissolve into the strawberries.

Place the strawberry mixture, yogurt, heavy cream, zest, juice and vodka in a blender and blend until pureed.

Pour the mixture in an ice cream maker and mix according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Let the frozen yogurt set in the freezer for a couple of hours, and enjoy! (Note: If you serve this a couple of hours out of the freezer, it will be the perfect texture. I found that the longer I left it in the freezer, the icier the frozen yogurt became, because strawberries tend to contain a lot of water and can contribute to an icier texture when pureed.)

Strawberry Sorbet

March 22, 2011 by Amy 6 Comments

I’m so excited about the Spring! The gorgeous flowers, extra daylight (hello, natural light!) and of course, strawberry season. Strawberry is my favorite fruit–hands down. Give me a bowl of strawberries and I’m a happy woman (ok, and perhaps a bowl of chocolate to dip them in?). Here in Louisiana, the strawberries are just amazing. They are super sweet and absolutely perfect.

A few weeks ago, the hubs and I went to Houston for a mini vacation and to see family. We ended up at this make your own frozen yogurt place, and the hubs went crazy over this strawberry kiwi sorbet that they offered. So of course, I had to show him that we could easily make our own sorbet at home. If y’all have an ice cream maker at home, seriously consider making sorbets. You’d be surprised at how quickly it comes together and how few ingredients you need!

Strawberry Sorbet
Source: The Perfect Scoop

Ingredients:

1 lb. fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

pinch of salt

1 tsp. kirsch (optional)

Directions:

Slice the strawberries and toss them in a medium bowl with the sugar and kirsch (if you’re using it), stirring until the sugar begins to dissolve. Cover and let stand for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Puree the strawberries and their liquid with the lemon juice and salt in a blender (or food processor) until well blended and smooth. If you’d rather not deal with the seeds, you can strain them out at this point.

Chill the mixture and freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.

Foodbuzz 24×24: The Best Things We Ever Ate

June 27, 2010 by Amy 15 Comments

Summer officially started last Monday. However, being in Louisiana, we’ve been feeling summer-like weather since May. With the heat index hitting 110 degrees sometimes, we wanted to throw a summer party that was most definitely indoors!

I watch entirely too much Food Network. If it wasn’t for Food Network and reading food blogs, I’m fairly certain my husband and I would be living off of Hamburger Helper and take-out. One of my favorite shows lately has been The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Every show has a theme, and it features the cooks/hosts on Food Network and their favorite eats in that theme. So, when Foodbuzz emailed about this month’s 24×24 proposals, I figured it would be a fun party to feature the best things our families have eaten! Thanks so much to Foodbuzz for sponsoring this party! 🙂

To come up with the menu, I sent out an email to our families asking for their favorites in each category.

On the Grill (recipes that are done on the BBQ)
Dangerously Cheesy (major cheese in a dish)
No Utensils (finger foods/apps)
Keep it Comfy (comfort food)
Frozen Treats (any dessert from the freezer)
Mix it Up (a food that requires using a mixer—doesn’t have to be a sweet)
Louisiana’s Best (Louisiana food)
Cold and Colorful (like a salad or cold app with lots of veggies or fruit)
Under the Sea (favorite seafood dish)
Classic American (with 4th of July approaching, tell me a dish that screams American)

After getting many responses, here is the menu we came up with:

Drinks:
Strawberry Lemonade
Strawberry Daiquiris

Appetizers:
Cheese Fondue with Vegetables/Bread*
Bruschetta*
Boudin Balls

Entrees:
Steak Skewers with Chimichurri, Onion Cheese Sauce and Compound Butter*
Spicy BBQ Shrimp Skewers*

Sides:
Crawfish Fettuccine
Macaroni and Cheese
Vegetable Skewers*
Grilled Corn
Lettuce Greens with Honey Lime Vinaigrette

Desserts:
Strawberry Cake*
Assorted Cupcakes
Cinnamon Crumb Apple Pie
Fresh Berries with Ice Cream

* recipes will be featured in the blog in future posts

I will admit, I’m still getting the hang of entertaining for a large number of people. Despite doing a lot of prep, I felt fairly stressed in the last hour. Since the party was for family, though, I had loads of help at the last minute. 🙂 Whew!

The fondue was an absolute hit. I was nervous to make this myself, but this recipe came together beautifully! I served the fondue with day old po’boy bread, carrots and broccoli.

We purchased the boudin balls at a local joint, since they are pretty much my husband’s favorite. The bruschetta was a lighter alternative to the other appetizers. I was super excited to use basil from our garden for this dish!

I need to thank the hubs for braving the sweltering disgusting heat to cook up this magic on the grill. The steak, especially was a real winner to family!

We made 3 sauces available for people to dip/cover their skewers in: a chimichurri, onion blue cheese (not pictured) and a worchestershire chive butter. The chimichurri ended up being a huge hit (and I used parsley from the garden for it)!

Here is some lovely grilled corn that survived a few flare-ups on the grill. 🙂

Here is a semi-decent picture of the crawfish fettuccine before everyone digged in. The hubs’ parents made this dish and it was delicious. Perfect flavor with a little Louisiana kick!

This is some macaroni and cheese that is my mother-in-law’s favorite. It was definitely pretty tasty (not to mention, cheesy). 🙂

After enjoying some serious eats, we waited a good while before putting out desserts and just chatted, watched TV and played some games.

I will say the desserts were absolutely amazing.

Fresh berries (and ice cream, not pictured)

Strawberry Cake (inspired by a local bakery). I would have just purchased one, but I had no idea an 8″ cake was over $30. What the heck?! I guess I’m just used to baking my own cakes to realize how expensive cakes have gotten!

This was a welcomed surprise. A local cupcake bakery occasionally has giveaways on Twitter, and I won some cupcakes! They were seriously delish! Thank you Sweet Wishes Cafe!

Here is the cinnamon crumb apple pie. This is one of those frozen pies you can find in the grocery store, but has quickly become a favorite with my hubs’ family.

Of course, our puppy was very excited to get all of the attention she got at the party, and thanks to my mom, she tried a piece of steak for the first time. I think she enjoyed it. 🙂

And of course, it wouldn’t be a party without family! Here are some pictures of our family.

It was a great time to be had by everyone, especially in the milder indoors. Thank you so much to Foodbuzz again for the party! Everyone had a blast! 🙂

Kiwi Pineapple Sorbet

May 27, 2010 by Amy 7 Comments

I love summer. The fruit is just so gorgeous, delicious and heck, dirt cheap. Last weekend, I raided the produce stand for fruits. I had some leftover after snacking on a good bit, and thought about a sorbet. I had mango, pineapple and kiwi left, but I was pretty sure the color of that would be unattractive.

So, I asked my friends on Twitter what they thought. Mango/Pineapple or Kiwi/Pineapple? Mango/Pineapple won BIG time. However, upon coming home, I cut into the mango and it wasn’t ripe at all. 🙁 So, I ended up making Kiwi/Pineapple instead. I’m not sad about it, because I think this sorbet is really cute with the little kiwi seeds in it.

This is the first sorbet that I’ve had that is creamy in texture, and really soft to scoop straight out of the freezer. It’s also a delicious flavor combination, so don’t let the neon green highlighter appearance deter you away.

Kiwi Pineapple Sorbet
Source: adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients:

1 small pineapple, cored and cut in chunks

2 kiwis, peeled

1 cup sugar

juice of one lemon

Directions:

Place pineapple, kiwi and lemon juice in a food processor; process until smooth. Add sugar; process 1 minute or until sugar dissolves.

Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and let the machine run for 25-30 minutes. Freeze for 1-2 hours to set the sorbet.

Cake Batter Ice Cream

May 6, 2010 by Amy 5 Comments

I have a sad addiction to ice cream. I usually have a bowl a few times a week, even in the freezing winter. Even on my pseudo diet (kinda sorta trying to lose weight), I’ll have a small cone. When the weather warms up, I feel like my ice cream maker is constantly working through the week. With fresh fruit ripening and feeling the cravings rise when I pass up heavy cream in the grocery store, I just can’t let my ice cream maker sit alone, unused. 🙂

This time, I’m making an old favorite. I love cake batter ice cream. It reminds me of those days I spend baking and licking the batter bowl clean. It’s just so delicious, and for the people who hold aversions to raw egg, this recipe has NO raw eggs in it! It’s probably the quickest ice cream batter to put together too! If you are a beginner with the ice cream machine, definitely start off with a recipe like this.

Cake Batter Ice Cream
Source: Carrie’s Sweet Life (through Delicious Meliscious)

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk, well chilled

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 cups heavy cream, well chilled

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup yellow cake mix (I used Funfetti because I like sprinkles!)

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved.

Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla.

Stir in cake mix, making sure there are no lumps.

Pour mixture into the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker and let mix until it has thickened (about 25-30 minutes).

Watermelon Sorbet

June 29, 2009 by Amy 7 Comments

I’ve been looking at watermelons in the stores a lot lately. It’s so hot outside (100+ degrees – heat index) and a nice, refreshing watermelon was what I was craving!

So, I went to the local produce stand and bought my first watermelon of the summer. I was having company over last night and wanted to end the meal on a lighter note. I was originally looking at The Perfect Scoop for inspiration, but I didn’t have limes. I was afraid to use lemons instead, but found this Alton Brown recipe on Joelen’s blog. It used lemons! YAY!

I’ve never cut up a watermelon, so I was sure that I was going to make a juicy mess. It wasn’t all that bad, but look at how GORGEOUS and ripe this watermelon was…mmm!

The verdict? This was a light, refreshing sorbet and a definite MUST for the summer! Seriously make this for your 4th of July party! Your guests won’t be disappointed! Also, it’s (along with other fruit sorbets) VERY skinny, especially if you made this with Splenda, which I didn’t have on hand at the time. 🙂

I’m submitting this to Joelen’s monthly Tasty Tools event, which features the ice cream maker! I’m sure there will be a ton of great summer treats for this blogging event so definitely start following her blog if you haven’t already!

Watermelon Sorbet
Source: Alton Brown – found on Joelen’s Culinary Adventures

Ingredients:

1 pound, 5 ounces diced watermelon, muskmelon or honeydew

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons vodka (omitted)

9 ounces sugar, approximately 1 1/4 cups

Directions:

Place the melon in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Add the lemon juice, vodka, and sugar and process for another 30 seconds. Place the mixture into the refrigerator until the mixture reaches 40 degrees F; depending on the temperature of your ingredients and refrigerator, this could take 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Pour the chilled mixture into the bowl of an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s directions. Transfer the sorbet to an airtight container and place in the freezer for 3 to 4 hours before serving.

Makes 12 (1/2 cup) servings.
(I added a little too much melon than stated, and it was overflowing in the ice cream maker, so I estimated based on 1.5 quarts yielded instead of Alton Brown mentioning this yields 1 qt.)

Calories: 112, Fat: 0.4g, Fiber: 0.5g
POINTS*: 2

Frozen Desserts

* recipes will be featured in the blog in future posts

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