Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie in Toasted Pecan Crust

Oh man, nothing says summer to me like ice cream and lemon meringue pie. Separately of course, on a normal day, but today we're eating the best of both worlds.  I didn't mean to get here, to ice cream and lemon, this early in the season I promise that, so let me explain.  I had 2/3 of a carton of vanilla ice cream and a package of pecans in the cupboard (very rare around these parts).  I wondered what I could make that would combine the two.  When I stumbled upon this recipe I knew I hit the jackpot, because like, for real?! It was calling to me.  Summer is all up on my fork and dancing on my taste buds!  This pie is redonk. Seriously, it's got a super bright puckery lemon flavour, and the calm soothing vanilla ice cream.  It's got a crunchy, buttery, delicious pecan crust and best of all it's topped with a cloud of meringue, the ideal contrast to all those other textures. Nevermind textural contrast, after you leave the pie out for a few minutes the meringue and lemon curd come to room temp and there is a whole other layer of temperature contrast. Warm and frozen, and cold and warm!   Shane has eaten about half the pie in just two slices, though to be fair, I've done some serious damage to it, because dang is it good!

Baking notes:
-To "finely chop" the pecans I threw them in the food processor for a few seconds until the were uniform in size, then added the other ingredients for a quick blend.
-The pecan crust shrunk down quite a bit, but I didn't worry about it.  The crust doesn't come out of the pan gracefully anyway, so it looks a little sloppy.  Maybe I could have greased the pan for easier removal, but I think the oils and a frozen glass pan would have bound together no matter what, so I'm not sure it would have helped.
-My lemon curd never got to 178 F, or maybe it did but all of my three thermometers reported wrong.  After about twenty minutes of stirring and cooking the curd was nice and thick.  Thick enough to hold it's shape, so I considered it done. (It absolutely was).
-Be sure to fully chill your lemon curd.  I was in a hurry and only let it cool down for about half an hour, so it was still warm when I spread it on top of the ice cream.  As a result the curd warmed the ice cream and the bottom layer then froze with water crystals and was ice-y.
-I had three egg whites in the fridge, so I used those instead of making a spare yolk.  The fourth egg white would have been nice, but obviously it didn't make any difference to the flavour.
-I don't have a torch (I would really like one), so I had to use my broiler.  The directions say to broil for three minutes, but I smelled burning after thirty seconds, watch your pie carefully.

The recipe for Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie in Toasted Pecan Crust can be found on the epicurious website.

77/569

Mexican Hot Fudge Sundaes

This hot fudge sundae was everything I wanted it to be and more!  I was looking for something with ice cream, but only one flavour.  I wanted the ice cream that night, so making it was out of the question.  I finally settled on this and it was such a breeze to make!  Everyone loves a good hot fudge sundae, and this one was better than most.  It had delicious creamy ice cream, a spice-y and unique hot fudge and instead of pine nuts, buttery decadent toasted pecans. You might think it a slightly odd combination, but it's one that works oh so well.  I've eaten far too many bowls of this in the past few days, and renewed my appreciation for the classic hot fudge sundae.  This dessert is seriously delicious!

Baking notes:
-The hot fudge takes only a few minutes to make, and toasting the pecans is by far the hardest part!
-Keep in mind the fudge recipe makes a lot.  So if you don't mind a seemingly bottomless jar of fudge sauce make the whole thing, otherwise go ahead and half it, you'll still have more than enough.
-Instead of pine nuts (which I don't care for and are very expensive) I toasted some pecans and chopped them up.  It was the right thing to do.

The recipe for Mexican Hot Fudge Sundaes can be found on the epicurious website.

74/569

Mocha Crunch Ice Cream Cake

This time it was ice cream cake.  The day started early, like it always does (or did, anyway), in his pack I packed away a tidy special breakfast, something different then the same old oatmeal.  Blueberry muffins and glazed bacon.  That ought to get him off on the right foot.  I drove the hour and a half to have lunch with him, I gave him his gift.  There was buckets of rain and plenty of mushy I-love-you-happy-birthdays.  We had dinner later that night with friends, at a far-to-dimly-lit place not to far from us.  We had coffee and dessert at our place afterwards and like I said, this time it was ice cream cake.

I was more than happy to make this ice cream cake.  Under the directions of the recipe I used store bought ice cream, (infinitely easier than making my own, but so much more expensive!) and what a relief that was.  I can be mother of the ice cream cakes if I can use store bought ice cream!  Of course the cake was very sweet, but there was more to it.  I loved the hint of coconut in the chocolate glaze, and how fast it melted when it was at room temperature.  I loved that the crust wasn't baked, just frozen, which made things so simple.  The entire thing was delicious, crunchy and smooth, coffee and chocolate, we were totally impressed.  My only gripe (and it's a small one) is that the glaze got grainy once it froze and frustratingly I'm not sure why.  Happily my husband loved the cake, it was a happy birthday.

Baking notes:
-I made the chocolate glaze/fudge with only 1 cup of water instead of 1.5 cups.  I think this was a perfect consistency, I can't imagine how much runnier it would have been.
-I used approximately half the amount of coffee ice cream I should have (that Haagen dazs is expensive!)
-Each layer of ice cream took around 30 minutes to freeze adequately. The layer of fudge in the middle needed an extra half an hour to get semi-solid.
-I used one package of Oreos instead of the shortbread it called for.  I didn't have enough by weight of the crushed Oreos, but I thought it was just the right amount.  I used 1/3 of the crumbs for the middle layer and 2/3 for the bottom (and just a little less butter). Perfect.
-In Canada Heath bars are the same as Skor bars.  I used four.

The recipe for Mocha Crunch Ice Cream Cake can be found on the epicurious website.

71/569

Brown Butter and Peanut Brittle Ice Cream

Wow! We're burning through the book!  This is the forty-second recipe to come out of the kitchen, and what fun it's been!  It's about to slow down though, to a steady once a week for the 12 weeks of Christmas cookies series (with the exception of three upcoming birthday cakes).  I've decided in an attempt at pre-holiday sanity, that my body needs less sugar for the time being.  So I give you this recipe, the last sweet to come out of the kitchen before the big detox, (that I sent straight to my mother's house, where my brother went ga-ga) which was fan-freakin'-tastic!  With just one bite it was listed under faves, and the recipe tossed into my mental make again pile.  I suggest you get cracking on this recipe, you won't regret it!

Baking notes:

-My only complaint about the recipe is the gritty texture the brown butter leaves on your tongue.  It's a worthwhile compromise, and only the separated butter solids, but not perfect.

-I scrapped out and steeped a vanilla bean instead of the vanilla extract called for.  Bonus flavour points!

-I couldn't find peanut brittle for the life of me, so I made my own.  I adapted this recipe by subbing out sesame seeds and adding chopped peanuts, and leaving out the nutmeg.  It was nice to make the brittle without corn syrup.

The recipe for Brown Butter and Peanut Brittle Ice Cream can be found on the epicurious website.

42/569

Coffee Gelato

The pickings are getting slim in the pantry department.  I haven't gone shopping in nine days! That's gotta be some sort of world record, ha!  The most striking thing about this recipe, coming from someone who make ice cream on a regular basis, is the length of the ingredient list.  It's four items long, which is to say; very short.  Eggs, milk, coffee and sugar.  No cream, cornstarch, cream cheese, nuts or chocolate.  Just a simple custard gelato.  I whipped up the gelato in no time flat, but expected the worst.  Even Shane agreed, we expected it to be icy.  We know, we're pros.

Luckily for us the gelato came out perfectly!  It's smooth and rich and perfectly sweetened.  A successful recipe.  The part I disliked was the use of instant espresso powder.  We've made plenty of coffee ice cream over the years and have always steeped coffee beans in the custard.  This recipe is much more convenient and less wasteful of the coffee beans but tastes like espresso powder, which is not great.  Unless of course you really like instant coffee.  Which would make you an anomaly, and particularly well suited to making this recipe.

Baking notes:
-This recipe cooked up nice and quick.  Remember to be careful when cooking, custard especially with 5 yolks scrambles easily.

The recipe for Coffee Gelato can be found on the epicurious website.

31/569