raspberry white chocolate chip ice cream

Oh I have been a VERY bad blogger. How neglectful I've been! I feel that I owe all of you a big big BIG explanation!

Last Friday I closed on a house. Saturday I moved in and Sunday I started renovations. I bought a fixer upper. I think once you see pictures of my kitchen (as of midnight last night) you'll understand.

Surprisingly my big thing isn't that the kitchen is ugly. I mean, it is. oh it is. but, some paint and chipping off tile, taking down a drop ceiling, removing the florescent lights etc. can fix that. The biggest problem is the appliances got "built in." The counters don't have enough space in between them to remove the twenty year old fridge and stove. I have to remove some counters.  Plus, those counters could use painted, inside and out. So..........there is nothing in my fridge, no food in my cabinets, and no cooking happening. Ideal for a food blogger right?

I'm sure you can see why the posts have been scarce. That ice cream up top was made weeks ago and I completely forgot about it. Otherwise, you'd probably not have a post now! I'm too busy taking down ceilings, tile, buying floor tile, and scheduling the plumbers, electricians and contractors. As it is, the house right now has no power. The electricians is currently updating power boxes from the 50s. Yes. The power boxes are older than my parents. That's......special. It's not so bad actually. Most of the house was already updated.....just not the addition to the house. Yep. Many of my electric plugs only have two holes, not three. They are from the 1920s. Oh, so special.

The house is livable. I live in it. It's not pretty or perfect or amazing just yet. It will be. Give me two more weeks of focusing on the renovations and I'll have a beautiful house....and no more blog followers. Hahaha. Please hang in with me. It's just a temporary hiatus.

To hold you over, here is a recipe I completely forgot about:

raspberry white chocolate chip ice cream

5 egg yolks
2/3 cup powdered sugar
2 cups half and half

1 quart raspberries 

1/2 cup finely chopped white chocolate
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Scald half and half over medium heat in a medium sauce pan. Remove from heat.

In a stand mixer whisk together the yolks and sugar until light and fluffy, then gradually pour the scalded half and half down the side of the bowl as the mixer is still going.

Pour the mixture back into the sauce pan, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture has thickened and will coat the back of the spoon. Remove from heat, and pour through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Add in vanilla. Chill the custard thoroughly. About two hours.

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker. Add raspberries. Allow the ice cream to churn until near finished then add the white chocolate chunks. Freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Snowy Street Ice Cream

This playful take on Rocky Road Ice Cream features white chocolate, toasted marshmallows and hazelnuts.

I woke up to snow this morning. I'm from the Southwest so I wasn't really raised with an application for snow. I somewhat feel that is must be an acquired taste. I've lived in snowy climates for the better part of the last decade and still haven't felt that love. I learned to ski (in Dubai ironically) but haven't felt the urge to try it again. I know people love skiing. The idea of flying down a mountain with two pieces of wood tied to my shoes just sounds like a really bad idea. Maybe I just had a bad teacher. Actually, who wouldn't yell abusively after I slid down the bunny hill on my back, head first, into a fence while a four year old child skied circles around me? For the record, I was laughing not crying while he yelled. It was hilarious. Even I can see that! Just not to him.

Today in DC we are expecting more snow. After lasts years multiple blizzards I'm not feeling particularly excited to see any snow. At all. Even one flake. I call it post traumatic snowmaggedon disorder. Something about three feet of snow and being trapped in my house watching Martha Steward Bride for four days doesn't bode well with me. Especially not after spinning my car out a few weeks ago. If there is snow, I'm just going to bunker down. I am not braving the hour long lines at the store. I am a chef. I am creative. I have eggs, butter, milk and seven types of salt. I will thrive. It's an iron chef for one.

The only form of snow I'm interested in, is my snowy streets ice cream. Call it an epiphany based on looking out my living room windows. Why not a white chocolate version of rocky road? Sounds good to me, and since I'm bunkered down I have the time!

Snowy Street Ice Cream 

3 cups half and half

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 large egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup white chocolate (chips are okay, but high quality is highly recommended)

1 cup mini marshmallows, toasted

½ cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts, toasted

Scald one cup of half and half along with ½ cup sugar and salt over medium heat in a medium sauce pan. Remove from heat. 

In a stand mixer whisk together the yolks and ¼ cup sugar until light and fluffy, then gradually pour the scalded half and half down the side of the bowl as the mixer is still going. 

Pour the mixture back into the sauce pan along with the white chocolate, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture has thickened and will coat the back of the spoon. Remove from heat, and pour through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Add in the remaining half and half, and vanilla. Chill the custard thoroughly. About two hours. 

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker. Allow the ice cream to churn until finished. Add in marshmallows and toasted hazelnuts at the last minute. Freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

It's a slow and lazy rainy day in DC  which makes it always feel good to go back to childhood favorites. Chocolate and peanut butter seem meant for each other. Salty peanuts and sweet chocolate are the perfect combination! The perfect pick me up for this weather! As seen on Photograzing. 

white chocolate peanut butter cups

It's been VERY busy around my house lately. I've taken trips the last few weekends and my mother is coming into town this weekend...which makes me very aware of how much cleaning I need to do. But it also reminded me of chocolate making with my mother. 

My mother, Renee, owns an extensive collection of chocolate molds. I'm. Not. Kidding. Extensive. I'm fairly certain her chocolate molds outnumber all of her dishes, flatware, and stemware combined. Growing up I remember making Turtles, and lollipops that looked like the Care Bears, and of course a peanut butter cup. 

Most people don't own peanut butter cup molds, but they are easy to find online should you decide to invest. You actually don't need them. You can use mini baking cups and they turn out just the same. For this post I even decided to see how a  peanut butter cup would turn out in little brioche pans. They're lovely! And a beautiful switch, with elegantly smooth sides. In all reality you can use just about anything to make a peanut butter cup. Some people even choose to do a bar concept instead.

Personally I like home made peanut butter cups better than a store bought variety. I mix powdered sugar into the peanut butter! I’m a sweet tooth and I am all about the extra sugar! It also makes the peanut butter much easier to work with and closer in consistency to be dough-like, and I like being able to identify all my ingredients instead of eating a barrage of chemicals I can’t pronounce. 

There are so many cute ways to make peanut butter cups also for a little twist. Here I have some with the peanut butter exposed, as well as traditionally with the sides of chocolate. I love the exposed peanut butter. It’s adorable and really stands out compared to the entirely chocolate variety.  

homemade peanut butter cups

Peanut Butter Cups

Candy Melts or Almond Bark Chocolate

Peanut Butter (preferably organic)

Powdered Sugar to taste

All the amounts are up to you! Based on how much you want to make! For a miniature sized peanut butter cup you’ll use about 1 teaspoon of peanut butter.

Line a mini muffin tin with miniature baking liners.

Mix together peanut butter and powdered sugar to taste. I personally prefer a more dough like consistency.

Melt chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals until melted and smooth. Stir in-between each interval.

Dollop about half a teaspoon full of chocolate into the bottom on a baking liner and spread around the bottom (and sides if you want to the more traditional look). Repeat this process for all the baking molds and place the entire pan in the freezer.

While the chocolate is freezing start to pink off teaspoon sized balls of the peanut butter mixture. Set aside until ready to fill.

Take a peanut butter ball and push it into the baking liner. Press down with your thumb to fill and even out the tops of each peanut butter cup. Repeat for all the peanut butter cups.

You’re chocolate will most likely have re-hardened. If you need more melting chocolate add it to the bowl and repeat the 30 second microwave melting process.

When the chocolate is ready dollop another half teaspoon on top and spread the chocolate across the entire surface of the peanut butter. Repeat to the remaining chocolate cups, occasionally tapping to tray on the counter to get the tops of the chocolate to smooth out.

Place in the freezer for a final few minutes to harden up the chocolate. When ready pull the peanut butter cups out of the freezer and serve wrapped or unwrapped. Store any uneaten peanut butter cups in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!