Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Bread

Sometimes, usually when ordering soft-serve ice cream, I can't decide if I want chocolate or vanilla. I mean, chocolate is always a yes, but occasionally I like the idea of vanilla. But to go all vanilla means I get no chocolate, which seems kind of wrong in a lot of ways. Which is why I thank my lucky stars for the genius that invented the swirl. The clean, fresh sweetness of vanilla without sacrificing the rich goodness of chocolate all in one delicious treat. Which is exactly the best description for this quick bread. A perfectly tender crumb with all the loveliness of both chocolate and vanilla, not to mention a pretty little swirl when you cut off each slice. It might seem like twice the work since you need to make two batters, but you get two loaves out of the deal, so there's a nice return on investment (yes, I supposed you could split the recipe in half, but then you won't have a loaf to share with someone).

Homemade Twinkies

Yup. I made them and they are awesome. I'll ignore the whole Twinkie shortage outrage of 2013 and just say, I'm glad I stumbled across this pan at Bed Bath and Beyond for $4. Yup, I bought the pan for cheaper than an actual box of Twinkies. And they are easy. Plus I can pronounce everything in them. Oh, yeah, and they taste good. Better than the real thing, I think. The cakes are light and fluffy with just about nothing to them and the filling is sweet and creamy, slightly thinner than the store-bought version but perfect for these homemade treats. I'm so excited to have this pan. If you follow me on Facebook, then you might have seen me suggest running to the clearance department of your nearest Bed Bath and Beyond with your 20% off coupon for the ultimate baking equipment score. Hopefully they still have some left!

Very Vanilla Biscotti

Biscotti is one of those cookies that I like the idea of but then am disappointed when I have one. Maybe it's because I don't drink coffee or tea and these cookies beg to be dipped in to a steaming mug of something yummy. I've made biscotti once before and it turned out okay, but I wanted to try my hand again. This vanilla biscotti is really yummy. Crunchy and full of flavor from 3 vanilla beans infusing the sugar with an intense yum. Everyone who tried these crisp cookies enjoyed them, so I think I might keep trying this whole biscotti thing. Particularly if they keep turning out this good.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Is it ice cream?  Is it cake?  Better still, is that fluffy buttercream frosting?  I had a flashback to a time when my mom made these amazing cupcakes in ice cream cones. I can't remember if it was for a birthday party, a school treat, or just because, but I remember thinking they were so awesome. My mom was pretty creative with cake and had a talent for decorating cakes that I just failed to get the hang of (my sister inherited that gene).  But as I remembered these cupcake cones, I knew they were something that even my lack of skill could pull off.  Tasty vanilla cupcake batter is poured into ice cream cones (the flat bottomed cake cones) and baked up to golden and fluffy.  Topped high with chocolate buttercream made to look like soft serve ice cream and dusted with confetti style sprinkles, these cupcakes not only brought back memories, but also brought smiles to my friends faces when I shared these at a party.

Snickerdoodle Truffles

Yes and please.  These truffles are amazing.  Like I was super duper excited to find the recipe, then make them, then eat them.  And I ate a lot of them.  The truffle inside is a creamy cookie dough seasoned just like a snickerdoodle, and the white chocolate coating is flavored with ground cinnamon.  Add a drizzle of chocolate for texture (and in this case color), flavored with cinnamon oil. Then, just to make it the most authentic of snickerdoodle treats, it's dusted with a bit of cinnamon sugar.  Positively amazing and delicious.

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

I'm a year-round ice cream eater.  I don't care how cold it is outside or how cold I complain that I am, if I want ice cream, I'm going to eat ice cream.  Additionally, ice cream is generally the cure for what ails you in my family.  Sore throat?  Cough medicine, plenty of fluids, and ice cream.  Headache?  Two ibuprofen and ice cream, with sprinkles.  When my dad broke his leg and my mom took a photo of him in his cast to send to us, he was conspicuously eating something out of a bowl.  Immediately my then-three-year-old niece said it must be ice cream (it totally was).  Because ice cream has healing powers.  Apparently.  I bought some ice cream, deciding vanilla would be a good choice because a) Dave loves vanilla; and b) I could turn it into any flavor milkshake I wanted.  So when I offered Dave a milkshake after spying some leftover pumpkin in the fridge, I had an ulterior motive.  Of course Dave accepted the offer and when I asked if he wanted a special flavor, he's ears perked.  He surprised me at wanting to try a pumpkin pie flavored milkshake, but we were both glad he did.  This milkshake tastes eerily similar to it's pie counterpart, tasting exactly like the creamy pie goodness, with a dash of graham cracker crust and a perfect dollop of whipped cream.

Cookies & Cream Ice Cream

I promised you I would do something delicious with those cookies.  And here it is.  Creamy, delicious homemade vanilla ice cream studded with chocolate cookies that would give any other cookies and cream ice cream a run for it's money.  I made this while Dave was away on a business trip.  It was the first day of a week-long trip.  I emailed him to tell him that while I made ice cream and it was freakin' awesome, there may not be any when he got home because I might need to eat it all (I was good--there was plenty left to share with him by the end of the week).  The custard for this ice cream cooked up beautifully and the ingredients were so simple.  This is the kind of recipe that convinces you to buy an ice cream maker if you don't already have one or to go hunting for the one you own but haven't used in ages.

When the World Peace Cookies failed on me, I knew the only thing they'd be good for was cookies and cream ice cream, but I was uninspired and couldn't bring myself to make it a priority.  And then Michelle at Brown Eyed Baker slapped me in the face with this gorgeous recipe and practically forced me to make it immediately if not sooner.  Seriously, I think she posted the recipe at the beginning of the week and by the end of the week I had this wonderful treat.  Rarely am I inspired by a recipe to make.it.right.now.  But resistance was futile.  And I had ingredients in my fridge and cookies in my freezer that called out to be crumbled into a delicious frozen dessert to counter the hot summer weather.  Although my ingredients were light cream and skim milk, I still used them and would you believe the results were still undeniably creamy and just as good as I imagine their heavy and whole counterparts would be?  Another slight change is that when I added the cookies, I took about 2-3 cookies and crushed them to finer crumbs rather than chunks.  I stirred these crumbs into the ice cream base before layering them in my container alternating with the bigger chunks.  I just love that speckled look of cookie crumbs taking over the lovely vanilla ice cream.  If you haven't made homemade ice cream yet, start with this recipe.  It's easy and the results are magical.  You'll never buy store-bought cookies and cream ice cream again.

Strawberry and Vanilla Mini Cupcakes with Strawberry Glaze and Lime Buttercream Frosting

After being challenged by Cindy in the cupcake department, I certainly couldn't let the shower go by without serving a few cupcakes for good measure.  And I made simple fruit flavors to satisfy Cindy's more simplified dessert preferences.  Making the cupcakes mini made them that much more fun and allowed everyone to sample different desserts rather than commit to a full sized cupcake (or feel like a little piggy by having a couple of big desserts).  Plus, this way I got to mix and match the flavors and provide a wider assortment, which is always fun.  The strawberry mini cupcakes had a strong strawberry flavor already, so to pair them with the strawberry glaze made the flavor intense, which is great if you love strawberries!  The lime buttercream was a perfect compliment to the strawberry mini cupcakes.  Likewise, the vanilla mini cupcakes were the perfect palette for both the glaze and the frosting.  Even though Dave and Cindy were both sitting in the kitchen watching me pipe the lime frosting, I kept the beater for myself--this frosting was delicious!  Tasty and cute, mini cupcakes are definitely the way to go.  Plus, I loved the little polka dot mini cupcake liners I found to match the shower's polka dot theme.

Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes

For Dave's birthday, I knew I was going to get roped into making cupcakes (especially after the success of the Spice Cupcakes).  And I knew that he would probably want a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting.  He's a little predictable that way.  I'd invited a few people over to celebrate with Dave, but only wanted a recipe with about a dozen or so cupcakes to avoid leftovers.  And I knew these needed to be good with delicious and beautiful frosting.  I totally win with these.  The cake was perfect--not too sweet, a gentle vanilla flavor and a fluffy texture.  The frosting--oh the frosting.  I honestly didn't know I had it in me.  Plus, I got all fancy and bought the big icing tips to make pretty swirls on top.  And when things are pretty they taste even better, so I had that going for me.  (I let Dave lick the beater and I got the tip and spoon.  This is really good buttercream frosting.)

I owe all my success with these cupcakes to Michelle at Brown Eyed Baker.  Yet again another beautiful recipe that's easy to follow and hard to screw up. Just because Dave is such a fan of vanilla, I might scrape a vanilla bean into the batter or the frosting (or both!) in future renditions, but frankly these are perfect as is.  They tasted and looked very professional, but more importantly, everyone loved them, including the birthday boy.