Tuesday, February 16, 2010

peanut buttah cups!


This is a super simple recipe for one of my favorite candies of all time! I made these for valentines day for my special someone in a heart shaped silicone ice cube tray, but you can make them in whatever you want, I recommend the little paper baking cups to get a more traditional feel!

you will need: double boiler or something similar, you need to melt the chocolate slowly so it doesn't burn! the microwave won't cut it dummy!
paper or foil baking cups, any size you want.
a heat proof rubber spatula to mix up your chocolate
a small spoon to ensure chocolate gets in all the right places
an electric mixer would be super swell but you can use arm power too!

ingredients:
one 12 oz bag chocolate chips
1c creamy peanut butter (i like skippy)
1c confectioners sugar

Directions:

pour chocolate chips into double boiler and let them melt, stir it up every couple of minutes to make sure they melt evenly.

in a medium bowl combine peanut butter and powdered sugar until well mixed! I use a hand mixer but I'm sure your arm will do just fine. This will be super thick and clumpy!

set out your little baking cups so they are ready to go, the yield of this recipe is very dependent on how thick you make your chocolate. Line the bottom and sides of the baking cups put in the freezer to harden, this will make it so when you put the peanut butter in it doesn't escape the chocolate later! That sneaky peanut butter is always trying to escape! that little goober rascal!

once your cups are hardened slightly pull them out and put a dollop of peanut butter in each one, then use the rest of your melted chocolate to cover the tops and place in freezer again to harden. After a few minute these babies will be ready to go and making your roommates mouth water! These are so easy even non vegans might be swayed from ever buying them in the store again! (a girl can dream!)

If you make these in silicone ice cube trays to get cool holiday shapes make sure you freeze them a little longer cause those buggers are a hassle to get out and will break if the chocolate is not thick enough or cold enough!

ENJOY!

Monday, January 18, 2010

I scream, you scream!


Hello again. I have recently jumped head first into the world of home made ice cream. First of all, it has a much wider array of flavors than what you can find at the store, if you can dream it, you can do it! Secondly, holy crap it tastes so much better than anything I have ever bought in a store! Its mind blowing-ly good! Its fresh and creamy and frozen and wonderful! Thirdly, you can add oreos or sprinkles or chocolate chips to ANY flavor of ice cream you want. I am in love!

On Thursday night my best friend Tessa and I made Almond ice cream and pistachio ice cream, BOTH of them turned out amazing but she made off with all the pistachio so here is the recipe for the almond one. I got it out of this cookbook... (errr freezebook? how about recipe book) called the Vegan Scoop.

Almond Ice Cream.

You will need:

1 c. almond milk (divided)
2 tbsp. arrowroot powder (this stuff is super expensive at your local health food store or super cheap online in bulk!)
2 c. soy creamer (this usually comes in 1 pint packages = perfect)
3/4 c. sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. almond extract
3/4 c/ roasted chopped almonds (i put mine in the blender after i roasted them to make a mix of chunks and almond dust to give my ice cream a nice consistency!)

In a small bowl combine 1/4 c. almond milk and your arrowroot powder to make what they like to call "arrowroot cream" set that aside until you're ready for it. You think you're ready for it now? Nope, you're not.

In a small sauce pan, combine the rest of the almond milk, the soy creamer and the sugar, mix well and bring to a boil, and then remove from heat and add the "arrowroot cream" and your extracts. Put mixture into the fridge for several hours to cool, or if you are an impatient sweet maniac like me, in the freezer. Make sure to check it every hour or so to make sure it doesn't turn into a popsicle! When it's nice and cold you're ready!

Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions! If you are using a machine, leave the almond nuggets to the side until your ice cream is thoroughly churned and almost done, if you're using some sort of salt and ice technique mix them in whenever you feel good about it. Make sure you don't clog up any mechanisms or whatever. I dunno how cavemen make ice cream, I just know how I do, and its the laziest way possible.

Congratulations! You now have about 1 quart of tasty ice cream to get all over your chubby little face! All of your friends are jealous! Remember to share! HOORAY!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Okay so I have horribly, horribly, neglected my blog this past year, and I promise to be better, I promise! I moved a lot, and got a lot of funky gizmos that bake for me and made me lazy... I also just got an electric ice cream maker which I can also see making me terribly lazy and fat in the near future! BUT, I do love to cook still I think I have just been stuck making other people's recipes and not being creative. I still love you food. I promise to treat you right this year. more recipes, coming soon.