cinnamon toast crunch ice cream

This weekend was scheduled to be lazy and unscheduled. My guy and I have both been going nonstop since Coachella. This weekend was to be filled with Marvel movies, eggs benedict, and ice cream. And that it was.

I’m officially obsessed with ice cream making. I’ve made 7 pints so far, and I would’ve had 9 had I remembered to put the freezing canister back into the freezer on Saturday (oops).

Right now I’m only playing around with the basics, but I’ve got my mind set on a fun ice cream + cookie recipe from Jeni’s that’s a tad bit more creative. That’s the one I couldn’t make because I left the canister out. But I’ll make it soon!

Now… I know this blog is supposed to be about uncomplicated, unfussy recipes using healthful ingredients and minimal equipment, but… sometimes I will stray from that. Now, aside from splurging around $50 for a self-contained ice cream maker, basic ice cream recipes actually are uncomplicated and unfussy. But not exactly healthful (that’s on my to do list!)… hey, everything in moderation!!

Over the past few years, the trend in food has been to take something classic, especially from childhood or a food thought to be All-American, and reinvent it. Well, one of my very favorite things when I was a teenager was breakfast cereal. I know I ate my fair share of it as a child, but as a teenager it became even more of a staple. Breakfast, dinner, after-school snack, midnight snack; they were all perfect times to eat cereal. I loved cereal so much that I think at one point my AOL Instant Messenger screenname was something like “cerealg0ddess.” One of my most preferred varieties? Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Milk + Cereal = Yum. Milk + Cereal + Heavy Cream + Ice Cream Maker = Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream!

I took a little hint from Momofuku Milk Bar‘s famed Cereal Milk, and “steeped” the milk with Cinnamon Toast Crunch to infuse cinnamon flavor. And I could’ve probably stopped there, but it seemed more appropriate to add a cinnamon syrup and cereal pieces.

cinnamon toast crunch ice cream

makes 1 quart

• Ingredients
•  
• Ice Cream:
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal, plus extra for layering into ice cream
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  
• Cinnamon Syrup:
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add the milk to a small bowl. Dump in 3/4 of a cup of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and stir into milk to saturate. Allow the cereal to “steep” for 20 minutes in the fridge. Stir occasionally.

Meanwhile, make the cinnamon syrup. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stir all ingredients together until thickened. Syrup should be slightly thicker than maple syrup. If it’s too thick, add water in small amounts until it’s thinned out. Cool completely in the fridge.

Drain the milk through a fine mesh sieve (or a strainer with small holes), into a saucepan. Press the cereal against the sieve with a spatula to get all the milk out of it, and be sure to scrape all the cinnamon-y milk from the bowl. Stir in the cream and sugar. Heat over medium until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Pour the mixture into a bowl and chill in the refrigerator until completely cool.

Freeze the milk mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. In the last 5 minutes of freezing, add about 1/4 cup of the cinnamon syrup.

Pour a small amount of the syrup into the bottom of an airtight container. Sprinkle with cereal pieces. Pour half of the ice cream on top. Repeat the process once more. Lightly press a piece of parchment or wax paper into the surface of the ice cream. This will help prevent freezer burn. Cover with the lid and place in the refrigerator for a few hours until solid.

Let sit at room temperature for 2-3 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with additional Cinnamon Toast Crunch!

adventures in ice cream making

My mom bought me an ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid and it’s been my obsession for the past week. I ordered two ice cream cookbooks along with it, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home, and The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. Now, I know David is king, but I’ve been focusing so far on Jeni’s, because the book is so pretty. And I like her story. She opened her first ice cream shop, called Scream, when she was only 22! That’s so cool and inspiring. To this day they still write the ice cream variety on the label by hand.

I have two really great friends coming into town this weekend (Hi Tom & Nikki!), and we always end up eating way too many sweets when we’re together. This is not the time to change our habits. It’s the time to test out my new ice cream maker, okay? I asked for any flavor requests, and was told “Something delicious – not like bacon acai rum ice cream.” Alrighty, so we’ll go the traditional route.

Now… let’s just say I haven’t had the best of luck so far. The first recipe I tried was Jeni’s Salty Caramel, which is one of their most popular flavors. There is a lot of prep work involved. I’m usually not very good at prep, so I took extra care to get everything organized before I even started. You have to mix some of the milk with cornstarch, then mix corn syrup with the heavy cream, then whisk the cream cheese with the salt. Then comes the crucial step of creating a caramel while paying attention to the heat, color, and smoke it gives off. The pot gets removed from the heat, something gets added in, it goes back on the heat, more stuff gets added in. It’s kinda complicated.

But I got through it. And into the ice cream maker it went. And 20 minutes later I tasted it and realized I put in 3x too much salt. Oops. But the texture was great! Nice and creamy. I’m just not sure how edible it is. Maybe if i mix some chocolate in to balance out the saltiness? Hmm.

This was no bueno. My friends are expecting ice cream, so I need to have something in my freezer for them other than Uber-Salty Caramel. So I decided to dial my game back and do a simple Cookies and Cream ice cream. But with Birthday Cake Oreos. But I couldn’t find Birthday Cake Oreos. So it became Reduced Fat Oreos Ice Cream.

And it tastes awesome. And there’s no salt in it at all! No chance for errors there!

Next up — Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream!

What other ice cream flavors should I experiment with!?

simple chickpea curry

I’m moderately adventurous when it comes to trying new foods, however, I was always reluctant to try Indian cuisine. It all looked like reddish brown orange mush to me. Okay… it still kind of does. But it’s tasty! Curry powder lends a nice warmth and spice to dishes. The only problem is, a lot of traditional Indian food is loaded with butter and oil. Below is a much lighter version. If you’ve never had curry, give this a try! I use a lot of curry powder for a bold flavor, but you can try 3-4 teaspoons of it if you’re weary.

simple chickpea curry

adapted from Everyday Food Magazine

serves 4

• Ingredients
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 cup chopped raw cauliflower
• 1 cup jasmine rice
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 2 tablespoons curry powder (2-3 teaspoons if you’d like a milder taste)
• 2 15.5oz cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 cup chopped raw cauliflower
• 2 1/2 cups baby spinach
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Spray a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil. Arrange the tomatoes and cauliflower on the pan. Spray with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and toss. Roast until the tomatoes collapse, about 25 minutes.

Cook the rice according to the package’s instructions.

In a medium pot, heat the oil and onion over medium high until soft and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, and curry powder, stirring until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 8 minutes.

Add the cauliflower and cook until warmed through, another 8 minutes. Lastly, add the spinach and cilantro, stirring until wilted.

Divide the rice into 4 portions and top with the curry. Eat!

CCCs – cranberry chocolate cookies

It’s been quite the exciting week. Coachella was AWESOME, despite the unusual weather (cloudy/rainy Friday, highs/lows of 70/50). As per usual, I saw so many bands, but also missed so many. And for the record, the Tupac hologram was definitely creepy.

Wednesday was my birthday, which was celebrated with copious amounts of cake and Mexican food at Tortilla Republic. I loved their cucumber lavender margarita!

Now, my birthday wouldn’t be complete without my favorite type of dessert — cookies! This recipe happened kind of by accident. I fell mildly in love with the photo of them in Food & Wine, and upon realizing how simple they were, decided to make them. The recipe called for semisweet or white chocolate morsels… I figured, why not use BOTH? Ta-da…

CCCs – Cranberry Chocolate Cookies

adapted from Food & Wine Magazine

makes 3-4 dozen cookies

• Ingredients
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups (5 ounces) dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt. Beat the butter and sugars on medium until creamy. Add the egg, then egg yolk and vanilla, beating thoroughly between each, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed. Beat in the dry ingredients in batches. Stir in the cranberries, white chocolate, and semisweet chocolate.

Scoop the dough by overflowing teaspoons onto the baking sheets. I do even scoops using my favorite 1.5 teaspoon mini-scooper. Bake the cookies for 12 – 15 minutes. They’ll begin to turn golden around the edges. Cool slightly on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack to completely cool.

my favorite weekend of the year

My Easter was a blast! We had a pretty big group of people and even bigger selection of delicious food… homemade fried chicken, chocolate cinnamon coffee cake, lemon poppy seed donuts, vegan peanut butter eggs, Lauren’s cinnamon rolls, and the list goes on!! Here’s a shot of Rose & Bentley and Maggie & I!

I haven’t cooked ALL WEEK. It’s been crazy as I gear up to leave for Coachella tonight! It’s my favorite weekend of the year. Music, friends, relaxation, and sun. What more do you need…

See you next week!!