flakey

My dad is a firm believer that mint chocolate chip ice cream is for "sissy's" (his words, not mine) and that the only way to enjoy chocolate chip ice cream is if it's vanilla, and only vanilla. Meanwhile, whenever my dad would make an outrageously ridiculous comment like that, my mom, my four sisters and I would all immediately get into a heated battle that went far beyond ice cream flavors.

Truthfully, mint chocolate chip is one of my absolute favorite flavors of ice cream, and I intend on making it soon. But as an homage to my dad, and all the non-sissy's of the world, this one's for you. Happy Father's Day dad!

Have you ever had Italian gelato (called Stracciatella) and wondered how the chocolate "chips" were perfect little flecks? I thought they used shaved chocolate, but actually they pour melted chocolate into the almost-finished ice cream while it's still churning. The coldness of the ice cream hardens the chocolate, while the churning breaks it up into little pieces. And that, my friends, is the method I used in this amazing ice cream. So instead of biting into a large, frozen chalky chocolate chip, these little chocolate flakes melt on the tongue as the vanilla ice cream melts with it. It's sooooo good.

Kitchen Fixation: March

via

I don't know about you, but Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract is my favorite brand of vanilla, by far. By now you all know how much I love vanilla- I've proven it many times when I practically double the amount called for in a recipe, like I did here and here.

Many years ago I took a cake decorating class with my sister and the instructor had us by clear imitation vanilla in order to keep the buttercream pure white (we also had to use lots of shortening to keep it white too- yuck!). Unfortunately, everything about that buttercream was fake tasting; soon after I decided I didn't mind the slightly beige-y color my buttercream took on because the flavor of pure vanilla should never be substituted with imitation.

Any brands of vanilla you love? I know vanilla from Mexico is also supposed to be popular but I haven't personally used it. Nielsen-Massey also makes vanilla paste, vanilla beans and vanilla powder. I've used the paste and beans before- they're especially nice in a custard or ice cream where you can see the tiny vanilla flecks.

Croissant + Donut= CRONUT!

Imagine this: croissant dough cut into the shape of a donut, fried, drenched in glaze, rolled in sugar and filled with vanilla pastry cream. This, my friends is a cronut. 

This is the hot new donut trend that started in this small bakery in NYC. It’s reached National attention because people go crazy for these cronuts. The bakery only sells about 300 a day, with huge lines of people waiting hours to get one. Since I don’t live in NYC and am unable to get the real-deal, I have no idea how these compare. But who are we kidding? They are amazing on their own!

I was hosting a birthday dinner a few weeks ago and the birthday girl requested breakfast for dinner. I made all the traditional stuff: scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, toast, a homemade granola with fresh berry compote over yogurt…but I needed a dessert. I wanted it to be in the breakfast theme and toyed with a few different donut ideas but was undecided.  My husband, Kent, had heard about cronuts on the radio and we both agreed they sounded pretty amazing, except for one problem- we don’t live in NYC. So when I stumbled across this video my interest was piqued.

When I told him I was going to surprise the birthday girl with a plate of cronuts he begged me to save him one (this is only worth mentioning because my husband isn’t crazy about sweets the way I am, so for him to be excited about this made me even more excited to make them).

After I watched the video I was hooked. The video made it look so easy, but they also left a lot out- like recipes for the pastry cream and glaze. So I’m going to break it down for you so you can make cronuts at home too! Kent told me he prefers the cronuts without the pastry cream, and this would save you a step; meaning you can have cronuts in your mouth even faster! But I disagree. I think the pastry cream is what sets them apart and really makes cronuts unique and special.

Now I see cronut knock-offs everywhere!
(recipe after the jump)