Category: Dessert

Homemade Cannoli Ice Cream

With my upcoming trip to Sicily, Sicilian inspired recipes are very much top of mind! It has also been quite warm in Philly, so I have Ice Cream on the brain. This recipe for Homemade Cannoli Ice Cream is (obviously) inspired by one of Sicily’s most well-known treats: Cannoli.

The traditional dessert is a deep-fried pastry shell filled with a sweet ricotta cream. Cannoli can be decorated with candied orange zest, or chopped pistachios, depending on the region in Sicily. American Italian versions (like many found in South Philly where I live) have chocolate chips stirred into the cannoli cream.

So when I was determining what ingredients to add to my Cannoli Ice Cream, I decided to take inspiration from all three options! The ricotta-based ice cream has a hint of orange zest to bring a light citrus flavor. Mini chocolate chips, chopped pistachios, and bits of broken cannoli shells are stirred in for extra flavor and crunch.

Intrigued? Let’s dig in!

Ingredients (makes 1 quart):

  • 1 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1 (15 oz) container whole milk ricotta
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
  • 1/2 cup broken cannoli shell pieces (Wegmans sells cannoli chips that would work too)
  • 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup unsalted roasted pistachios, chopped

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Minnie Cupcakes

My niece turned three recently, and she is absolutely obsessed with a certain cartoon mouse with a bow. These Minnie Cupcakes felt like the perfect way to celebrate my niece while still making a delicious dessert!

These Minnie Cupcakes are made with a vanilla cupcake topped with strawberry frosting. Mini Oreos work at little mouse ears, finished off with a cute polka dotted fondant bow.

Ingredients (makes 12 cupcakes):

Vanilla Cupcakes:

  • 1 2/3 cup flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3 egg whites, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup freeze-dried strawberries (paid link)
  • 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream, plus more if needed
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

For decorating:

  • 24 mini Oreos (paid link)
  • 12 polka dotted fondant bows (I purchased mine off Etsy)

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Easy Meringue Cookies

I make quite a bit of homemade ice cream, with lots of those ice cream recipes using egg yolks. I am down for an egg white omelet on occasion, but what to do I do with all those other egg whites? My favorite way to use up extra egg whites is by making these Easy Meringue Cookies!

These Easy Meringue Cookies have just five ingredients and take less than 20 minutes prep time! As with all meringue recipes, these easy meringue cookies are baked at a low temperature and then sit in the cooling down oven to further bake and harden.

Ingredients (makes about 4 dozen cookies):

  • 4 egg whites, at room temperature
  • 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract

Continue reading Easy Meringue Cookies

Biscotti Ricci Del Gattopardo

Note: I was sent a review copy of Domenica Marchetti’s Italian Cookies: Authentic Recipes and Sweet Stories from Every Region in order to write this post for Biscotti Ricci Del Gattopardo. Opinions are mine alone.

This summer, my husband and I are celebrating our anniversary in style: we are heading to Sicily and Rome! So, when this Italian Cookies (paid link) cookbook showed up on my doorstep, I immediately paged through to the “Cookies of the Islands” chapter to find myself a Sicilian cookie to try. This recipe for Biscotti Ricci Del Gattopardo (The Leopard’s Rippled Almond Cookies) caught my eye immediately.

This Italian Cookies cookbook is a treasure trove of mouthwatering cookie recipes from all regions of Italy, along with stories and background on the cookies within the cookbook… there are over 100 cookie recipes in this beautiful cookbook, including classics like pizzelle, cuccidati, anisetti, and amaretti.

The cookies I chose to make, Biscotti Ricci Del Gattopardo, get their name from the novel Il Gattopardo by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. In the book, the prince of Salina visits a monastery where Benedictine nuns make these tasty almond-based cookies (you can actually still buy them at the convent of Palma di Montechiaro in Sicily).

In this cookbook, Domenica Marchetti adapted the original recipe to use a cookie press (paid link) rather than piping out logs (hence these cookies known as “rippled” almond cookies), which speeds up the process without messing with the flavor!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups superfine almond flour, plus up to 1/2 cup optional almond flour if needed
  • 1 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Continue reading Biscotti Ricci Del Gattopardo

Vanilla Cardamom Sugar Cookies

These Vanilla Cardamom Sugar Cookies have been in the works since before Christmas.

I have been experimenting with different levels of cardamom versus vanilla, making sure the cookie is nice a chewy, and determining the right chill time and cookie size and I am really happy with this final result!

So let’s get right into it! These Vanilla Cardamom Sugar Cookies are a cardamom flavored sugar cookie rolled in vanilla cardamom sugar before baking resulting in a delicious, chewy cookie that is sure to become a favorite.

Ingredients:

Vanilla Cardamom Sugar:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground cardamom
  • 1 vanilla bean, scraped

Cardamom Cookies:

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

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Christmas Lights Sugar Cookies

These Christmas Lights Sugar Cookies are a bit out of my cookie baking comfort zone. I tend to stay away from any holiday cookies that use royal icing — I don’t usually have the patience for decorating cookies so I lean toward drop cookies for most of the ones I make.

But this year, I figured it was time to try a fairly easy decorated holiday cookie – Christmas Lights Sugar Cookies!

These sugar cookies are topped with royal icing and then are decorated with strings of Christmas lights which are made with black icing and mini M&M’s.

The resulting Christmas Lights Sugar Cookies are colorful, fun, and oh so tasty!

Ingredients (makes approximately 2 dozen cookies)

Sugar Cookies:

  • 1 1/2 cups flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 egg yolks (reserve your egg whites!)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Royal Icing:

  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract (can substitute vanilla extract to make nut free)

Decorations:

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Homemade Corn Ice Cream

If you’ve never had Homemade Corn Ice Cream before, you’re in for a treat!

It’s summer, which means there is an abundance of corn at the moment. I am a member of a CSA (Penn Farm CSA in New Castle, DE run by students at William Penn High School), so I’ve received about half a dozen ears of corn the last few weeks — that’s a lot of corn! So I decided to use some of those sweet cobs to make Corn Ice Cream. (If you, too, have quite a bit of corn on hand, try one of my corn-filled recipes!)

The natural sweetness of corn makes it a perfect choice for ice cream. The addition of egg yolks to this recipe makes a beautifully creamy and decadent Corn Ice Cream!

Ingredients:

  • 4 ears of corn on the cob, shucked
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Continue reading Homemade Corn Ice Cream

Homemade Blueberry Ice Cream

Why yes, I am still making ridiculous amounts of ice cream in my spare time. There are so many different flavors to try to make! I was inspired to make my latest recipe for Homemade Blueberry Ice Cream by my mother-in-law who loves all things blueberries.

With blueberries in season, what better time to make this delicious treat?

To make this Blueberry Ice Cream, you unsurprisingly need a lot of blueberries – 4 cups – not including adding optional whole blueberries at the end. So it is truly filled with blueberry goodness!

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups fresh blueberries, plus more if desired for mixing in
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 2 1/2 heavy cream
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Continue reading Homemade Blueberry Ice Cream

Homemade Cheesecake Ice Cream

Today I am sharing a super versatile recipe for Cheesecake Ice Cream that is a result of, well, me having way too much cream cheese on hand.

Recently, some of my husband’s friends came to visit and brought us New York bagels (always a welcome gift in our house!), and a good 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese. Even after all the bagels were gone, we still had 12 oz of cream cheese left!

So what better way to use up all that extra cream cheese than with this recipe for Cheesecake Ice Cream?

You may recall that I made a cream cheese-based ice cream with my recipe for Irish Potato Candy Ice Cream, and I loved it so much, I knew I’d be making more cream cheese-based ice creams soon!

This recipe is very simple and works well on its own or as a base for some more creative Cheesecake Ice Cream recipes — strawberry, cherry, chocolate, whatever makes you happy!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 12 oz cream cheese
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • crushed graham crackers, for serving
  • your favorite fruit, for serving

Continue reading Homemade Cheesecake Ice Cream

Homemade Strawberry Basil Ice Cream

I’m back with yet another new ice cream recipe that I’ve been dreaming about for months: Strawberry Basil Ice Cream.

As the weather gets warmer, the in season produce just gets better, which means a bunch of new inspiration for ice cream flavors. We are entering the beginning of strawberry season now, so I was excited to make this Strawberry Basil Ice Cream!

This recipe for Strawberry Basil Ice Cream steeps fresh basil in the cream and sugar base, which adds a subtle basil flavor under the more prominent strawberry flavor. If you want a more prominent basil flavor, you can absolutely mix in some freshly chopped basil when churning your ice cream!

Ingredients (makes 1 quart):

  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, lightly packed
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 lb strawberries, hulls removed

Continue reading Homemade Strawberry Basil Ice Cream

Tahini Millionaire Ice Cream

This recipe for Tahini Millionaire Ice Cream is inspired by one of my favorite dessert recipes on this blog: my Tahini Millionaire Bars. If you haven’t tried my Tahini Millionaire Bars yet, I strongly suggest you check out that recipe!

So what is Tahini Millionaire Ice Cream? It is tahini flavored ice cream with homemade salted caramel and chocolate ganache swirls, and it is going to be one of your new favorite ice cream flavors!

Ingredients (makes about 1 quart):

Tahini Ice Cream:

  • 1 cup tahini, stirred well
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 tablespoon almond extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Homemade Caramel (you can also use store bought):

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Chocolate Ganache:

  • 6 oz semisweet chocolate chips
  • 6 tablespoons heavy cream

Continue reading Tahini Millionaire Ice Cream

Irish Apple Cake with Whiskey Cream Sauce

Note: I was sent apples from Stemilt in order to create this Irish Apple Cake recipe. Opinions are mine alone.

I am pretty sure most countries and regions have some form of apple cake recipe. And why wouldn’t they, apple cake is delicious! Irish Apple Cake is a spiced cake with loads of apples within the batter. The cake has a nice crunchy crust and is traditionally served with a custard sauce.

Stemilt, a family owned and operated fruit company based in Wenatchee, Washington, was kind enough to send me a care package of beautiful apples, including some granny smith apples.

With it being St. Patrick’s Day, I knew I had to make an Irish Apple Cake with the apples, of course.

The tartness and juiciness of granny smith apples make them a perfect choice for an Irish Apple cake!

The Irish Apple Cake recipe below is lightly adapted from Stemilt, and their version incorporates whiskey into the sauce for a more modern spin. Yum!

Ingredients:

  • Irish Apple Cake:
    • 4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
    • 2 1/2 cups cake flour (or measure out 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, remove five tablespoons, and replace them with five tablespoons of cornstarch)
    • 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
    • 2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
    • a pinch of ground nutmeg
    • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
    • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
    • 3/4 cup buttermilk
  • Whiskey Cream Sauce:
    • 1/3 cup powdered sugar
    • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
    • A pinch of kosher salt
    • 1 cup heavy cream
    • 1/4 cup Irish whiskey
    • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Continue reading Irish Apple Cake with Whiskey Cream Sauce

Homemade Irish Potato Candy Ice Cream

In case you’ve never heard of Irish Potatoes, they are a Philadelphia treat that shows up around St. Patrick’s Day each year. Named for looking like little potatoes, Irish Potatoes are a confection of cream cheese and coconut, rolled in cinnamon. Inspired by this delicious treat, I decided it was about time I made Irish Potato Candy Ice Cream!

So, what is in Irish Potato Candy Ice Cream?  It is a cream cheese-based ice cream, flavored with cinnamon with coconut flakes stirred in.

The result is wonderfully reminiscent of Philly’s favorite St. Patrick’s Day treat!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Continue reading Homemade Irish Potato Candy Ice Cream

Homemade Irish Cream Ice Cream

Irish Cream Ice Cream. Not only is it way too fun to say, but it tastes absolutely delicious as well!

Irish cream is an alcohol-based beverage made with cream (obviously), whiskey, and other flavors such as vanilla, chocolate, and coffee, making it a perfect flavor for a tasty ice cream.

You know how much I love homemade ice cream, so I’m excited to share this new recipe! I’m making this Irish Cream Ice Cream in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, but this is sure to become a year-round favorite flavor!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup Irish cream liqueur (such as Baileys Irish Cream)

Continue reading Homemade Irish Cream Ice Cream

Spritz Cookies

I’m back with another cookie recipe using some of my favorite OXO tools, specifically OXO’s cookie press, disk set, and Ceramic Pan!

Every year, OXO supports Cookies for Kids’ Cancer and the fight against pediatric cancer. Before I share my cookie recipe for Spritz Cookies, I want to share a bit about Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.

Cookies for Kids’ Cancer (CFKC) is a nonprofit founded by two OXO employees after their son, Liam, was diagnosed with pediatric cancer. Through grassroots bake sales across the country, CFKC raises funds to develop new, improved and less toxic treatments for childhood cancer. Liam Witt’s legacy lives on as the organization works toward a cure for pediatric cancer, helping children and families everywhere.

Every year, OXO supports CFKC by encouraging people to bake and share.

This year, OXO sent me a Non-Stick Pro Ceramic Coated Metal Bakeware Half Sheet Pan, a Cookie Press with Disk Storage Case, a Christmas Cookie Press Disk Set, and a 2-Cup Recycled Angled Measuring Cup (paid links). When you receive a cookie press and Christmas cookie press disk set, there’s really only one type of cookie to make: Spritz Cookies!

For every cookie baked, OXO donates $1 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer up to $100,000, so here is my new cookie this year to support the cause and spread the word!

Here are some of my old cookie swap and Cookies for Kids’ Cancer posts, in case you’re in a baking mood:

So on to the recipe!

Ingredients (makes about 50 cookies):

Spritz Cookies:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • food coloring, if desired
  • sprinkles, for decorating

Optional Glaze:

  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tablespoon corn syrup
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 tablespoon milk, or as needed

Continue reading Spritz Cookies

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