Homemade Ice Cream

Without an ice cream maker, non the less. 

This was my first time making ice cream, and it was a sinch! Literally took 12-15 minutes, and then obviously freezer time; this recipe called for 6 hours. 

I mixed these two recipes: 

http://pinterest.com/pin/153263193546061699/

And

http://pinterest.com/pin/250442429254387518/

And being the greedy little piggy I am, I doubled the 2nd one. So...

- 2 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream

- a can of sweetened condensed milk

- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

- 2 tablespoons of extra dark chocolate powder

- 5 tablespoons of instant coffee. I went with the Starbucks Via medium roast I had on hand. 

Whip your cream:

Till you have "stiff peaks"...I did 10 minutes on high speed.

Mix in other ingredients and put in container to be frozen in. Cover in plastic wrap. 

As my mom said, "It's very decadent" so be warned, you won't be able to eat a very large bowl. 

It definitely tastes like dark, rich, black, amazing coffee, so if you like your coffee like my Morher-in-law, light cream colored roughly the shade of my skin, you might want to ease up on the coffee and chocolate (as the chocolate is added to highlight the coffee flavor). 

Dinning Room Table Make Over

Josh and I recently completed our first furniture re-finish project together. We really enjoyed doing it together; thankfully there are tons of great tutorials online to walk us through the process. Josh and I took seriously the saying "opposites attract" when we wed. We literally have no hobbies in common. Unless Mario Kart counts as a hobby. So, finding something that we both enjoyed doing and got to do together was fun.


However, we both agree, no more furniture projects for at least 6 months.

Over a year ago, my mom and I found the dinning room set on the side of the road. With great strategy and excitement my awesome Momma, helpful toddler and pregnant self frantically drove the various pieces of the table and 6 chairs home. Quite proud of our find we instantly began to dream of all the wonderful things we could do to refinish it, but reality set in and it began taking up space and collecting dust in our garage and basement.

Last spring, we sanded the table and leaf top, but our progress stop when we started the deck redo.

So, when it came time for 2015 new years resolutions and planning for the year ahead, I was surprised when refinishing the table rose to the top of Josh's "To-do list". Over the long July 4th weekend we finally dove into the project.

Here is the table I found on Pinterest that inspired our redo:

My man sanding and taping up the table to center our stencil:

The chairs; we (Josh) did sand one chair in its entirety but it was a definitely a challenge and we didn't feel it would improve the finished quality enough to justify the work. So far, we still agree, but time will tell if that was a mistake.

Here is the stencil we chose. Although I did love the paisley from the project we found online, I'm happy we went with this stencil for a few reasons. First, it's a little less hectic and overwhelming of a design and secondly, it was a lot less stenciling which in my opinion, as the stencil-or, was the hardest part of the project. I found it at JoAnns and with a coupon it was $10. I did purchase 2 of them, which proved to be wise as the stencil got sticky on the back which ultimately made the finished design less clear.

We started in the center of the table and worked our way out. It worked out perfectly that our stencil was just shy of 12 inches wide, and our table is 36 inches, so we were able to get 3 full columns on the table - it worked out perfectly. 

I chose to use a spray adhesive to attach the stencil. Although the ladies at the craft store recommending going with the stencil specific adhesive, which was more like a glue stick, I'm glad we went the spray route. It saved so much time and created a great end result.

The first night we were able to get the leaf covered with the stencil. We momentarily thought about stopping after this, but we felt that extra work was worth it, I'm so glad we finished the whole table top.

The chairs were the Josh's baby. He decided to take the seats off, which made it easier to sand and stencil. We also were originally planning to stain over the stencil, and separating the paint and stain seemed easiest. 

 The original chairs were a cream color, which we mimicked, but it was distressed by time and design. We chose to go for a more pristine finish.

After one coat of paint: 

 The chair tops:

 

Chair reassembly:

The next weekend we planned to stain the wood; something neither of us had ever done. After painstaking picking the perfect color for the project, we obviously hated it once applied to our project. Such is the way with hours spent at Lowes.

Luckily, I had a sneaking feeling I was going to like the light wood better, and we tested on a scrap of wood rather than the real deal. So, our project came in under our 3-weekend estimate because we eliminated a step of the project, but hey, it still counts as a deadline beat in my book!

I think I just grew too attached to the stencil look, and after adding the stain the cream color of the stencil looked dingy and dirty to me. 

Now it was onto the polyurethane step. This was also something new to us; cheers YouTube! I've used Rust-oleum products in the past and always been very happy with them, so we opted to use them again on this. We thought it went on really well. One thing we consistently heard about polyurethane is how many air bubbles you get, which leads to sanding between each coat. We got minimal bubbles, so were able to do 3 coats, sand by hand, and then add one more coat on top.

Chair assembly line. We also coated the backs and foot rests of the chairs to protect them from general use and rubbing.

Rookie mistake alert: We neglected to separate the leaf and sides of the table when doing the stencil and Josh had to use a knife to cut it apart after...so we definitely stretched out the table for the polyurethane.  [tweezers pictured were used to pluck out the hairs from the stencil brush. This was my biggest challenge in the project, so I recommend buying a high quality brush when you stencil. I bought mine at Michael's and it was the only one I saw there or Joann's, so it might be worth a trip to Lowes?)

We hand sanded the table and chair tops to get a nice finish on all. We took it a step further on the table, we found it more important for an extra smooth finish there rather than the chairs. So...we sanded a little more aggressively, then applied wax, let it dry (slightly) and then buffed it off. The finished product: shinny and smooth!

We are extremely pleased with the finished project! Can't wait to have you over for a meal.

Green door

It was gorgeous last weekend, and I FINALLY painted the front door to match our updated mailbox! (Good thing too, because it's apparently winter again here, brrr). 

Josh took the door off the hinges for me -- yippee -- made it so much easier to paint. 

I love the color! 

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes

Josh requested these as the small group dessert the week of his birthday. They are to die for -- seriously, the frosting is amazing.

CUPCAKE: (Modified from Once Upon My Life)
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes, at room temperature
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.
3. Whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla.
4. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.
5. Place three tablespoons of batter in each prepared baking cup.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes.
7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

FROSTING: (borrowed from Mele Cotte)
5 cups powdered sugar
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
~ ¼ cup cream or milk

1. Whisk together powdered sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
2. Mix butter until fluffy and pale. Add vanilla and mix until combined. Reduce speed on low and gradually add cinnamon sugar one cup at a time alternating with a tablespoon of milk. (The amount of milk needed may vary.) Beat until smooth.

Doughnuts

I never know what to buy Josh for his birthday, so this year I stuck with some age-old advice "the way to a mans heart is through his stomach". 

If you know Josh - one thing is very clear; the man loves doughnuts. 

Sadly, they are too simple to make. Something this sinfully good should definitely take work. 

I just used my 2.5 quart pan, added 1-2 inches of canola oil (you can use any oil you want) and then placed the doughnuts in once the oil was hot, rotating throughout until it was the desired color (a caramel color -- but that's just a preference, you could do it longer). 

For the doughnuts, I used Pillsbury Buttermilk Rolls from a can. You just don't want the flaky kind - because the oil will flake them in your pan. I made them two different ways: with a hole and then some without. I preferred with a hole. 

To make the hole just punch your thumb through the center and stretch back the dough. 

I used chop sticks to rotate the doughnuts in the oil. I flipped each doughnut to cover both sides and then took them out one at a time and coated in the cinnamon sugar mix, then took another doughnut out and coated. If you take all of the doughnuts out and then coat all at once. The oil will dry up too much and not much coating will stick. 

They were a hit with my man! :) 

Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Cheesecake

I'm usually not a baker. Hate cookies because you have to do so many batches. Make cake instead of cupcakes because pouring into cupcake liners is too annoying. You get the picture.

So, I'll blame this baking undertaking on too much time on Pinterest of late.

I saw this post, and well basically, it looked amazing. 

I've never made a cake from scratch. I've never made cheesecake before. I've never made ganache or caramel sauce. This called for all 4, and homemade buttercream frosting to boot. 

Here is my finished cake: 

**In the future I'll remove the cheesecake layer. It was yummy but with every flavor being so awesome, I thought the cheesecake got lost -- and it was a lot of work to go unnoticed!**

I started with the caramel sauce - easy enough - done in 10 minutes. I did not use a candy thermonitor, just followed the times in her blog post. I did end up with double what is required for the cake (and she says to use within two weeks, so I recommend cutting in half). 

This is the sauce just starting to bubble. 

The end result: 2 medium sized mason jars full of Heaven sauce! 

Then I made the chocolate cake. This definitely was more work than a boxed mix but with the dark brewed coffee and dark chocolate cocoa powder it was worth the effort. 

Yum! This cake batter was wonderful! I contained myself and saved some for Josh. 

While the cake baked I made the frosting (you do need the caramel sauce for this, so definitely do the sauce prior to this). The frosting is to die for. 

Next mission: frost a cake without side crumbles contaminating the white frosting :(

Then I made the cheesecake in my brand new springform pan. Her directions were very clear (but tedious prep with tinfoil, parchment, roasting pan and kettle of boiling water) and the result was great. In the future I'll cook a few extra minutes (50-55) and then let sit for 30 in the oven off. 

Springform pan wrapped in two sheets of foil, a circle of parchment paper inside the pan, non stick spray. Inside a roasting pan with an inch of boiling water (ugh). 

Ingredients & directions:

Caramel sauce: 

1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter on medium heat. Add sugars and 1/2 cup heavy cream. Continue whisking on medium heat until mixture comes to a boil (this process takes about 6-8 minutes). Reduce heat to medium low, whisking continuously, boil for about 3 more minutes, until temperature on a candy thermometer reaches 220 degrees. Add remaining 1/4 cup of heavy cream and whisk until blended. Cook on medium low an additional two minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Pour mixture into a pint sized mason jar and allow to cool at room temperature. Sauce will thicken as it cools. Refrigerate for up to two weeks. the sugars may crystalize when cold. You can reheat it in the microwave or bring it to room temperature.

Cheesecake: 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Using a large roasting pan on the lower 2/3 of the oven, preheat the pan too!
2. Prepare springform pan by wrapping bottom of pan (outside) with double layer of foil. Spray pan with nonstick baking spray and line bottom (inside) with a circle of parchment paper. Meanwhile, boil a kettle of water to use later.
3. Beat cream cheese with granulate sugar for 2-3 minutes until creamy. Add in salt and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in sour cream, heavy cream and vanilla. Pour into prepared 9inch springform pan. Place pan in center of preheated roasting pan in the oven. Pour boiling water slowly into the roasting pan, until there is about an inch of water coming up the sides of the springform pan.
4. Bake cheesecake for 45 minutes. [For my oven, I'll do 50-55 minutes in the future]. Turn oven off and let cheesecake sit in oven for an additional 30 minutes. Remove and cool completely on counter.
5. When cooled, transfer entire springform pan into the freezer for several hours or overnight. I put it in freezer for about 2 hours. **If using within 24 hours, feel free to just refrigerate cheesecake!

Ganache:

1. In a microwave safe bowl, combine dark chocolate with heavy cream. Heat 30 seconds. Stir and heat an additional 30 seconds. Whisk for several minutes until smooth. Allow to cool slightly.
2. Once cooled. Spread over top of chilled cake. Drizzle with remaining 2 Tbsp of caramel sauce and sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve!

Chocolate Cake: 

1. In a bowl, mix flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a measuring cup, mix together cooled coffee and milk. Set aside.
3. In an electric mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar for 5 minutes, until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Slowly add in dry ingredients alternating with the coffee/milk mixture (about 3 additions of each).
4. Pour cake batter into two prepared pans (2-9inch round cake pans, lined with parchment paper and greased and floured). Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Remove and allow to cool about 10 minutes before removing from pans. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting: 

Beat butter in a large mixing bowl for 2-3 minutes, until fluffy. Add caramel sauce, powdered sugar, milk and kosher salt. Beat for 4-5 minutes until soft and creamy.