Archive for Tag: white chocolate

Purple Cow Frozen Yogurt

Purple Ice Cream

Last weekend I finally got to go to the beach for the first time this summer. It was fabulous. I even briefly braved the 66 degree ocean temp for a quick dunk. Once upon a time someone told me that salt water increased your highlights. Obviously this meant more to me when I was a blonde and not a brunette. Oh well! On the way home we made the necessary stop at Russell Orchards and CK surprised me with a dish of “Purple Cow” frozen yogurt. I was off in the other room buying kitten magnets for some reason.  Don’t ask…

The Purple Cow yogurt was homemade black raspberry yogurt studded with chucks of white and dark chocolate. I honestly think I almost fell into a dessert swoon on the way home as we shared the frozen treat in the car. Of course, I had to try to make my own.

On Friday I stopped by Whole Foods to purchase the ingredients. There weren’t any fresh black raspberries to be found, but a huge display of blackberries were on sale, so blackberry frozen yogurt would have to do. They’re both purple, right?

I got home, prepped everything as outlined below in the recipe, rocked out to some Better Than Ezra Greatest Hits and pulled out my KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker attachment. Then I totally forgot how to use it, found the “quick start” card it came with, dumped in the ice cream mix, attached the paddle, turned on the pink goddess and all I heard was, “Click click.  Click click.” In hindsight, I probably should have actually read that card… meanwhile I yelled for CK.

What was supposed to happen, was that I attach the paddle, turn on the machine, pour in the ice cream mixture and shortly afterward a vat of tasty goodness forms. Unfortunately, my yogurt was now sitting in a semi-frozen state in the bowl. CK tried to help. I yelled at CK. CK yelled at me. Than we made-up and mutually chiseled out the ice cream from its icy prison with a collection of wooden spoons and rubber spatulas and graciously participated in a frozen yogurt “do over.”  Eventually it all worked out.

Was it worth it? Let’s see:

$9.58 for two containers of Fage Yogurt
$2.50 for 4 ounces of Ghirardelli White Chocolate
$2.50 for 4 ounces of Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate
$5.00 for 2 half pints of blackberries
1 moronic girl
1 fight with CK
Equals: Fabulous Purple Cow Frozen Yogurt.

Purple Cow Frozen Yogurt (Frozen Yogurt base previously published in David Lebovitz’s book Perfect Scoop as discovered on Heidi Swanson’s website 101 Cookbooks).

3 cups Greek-style yogurt (Note: I used Fage)
3/4 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups blackberries (or black raspberries, if you can find them)
4 ounces of white Ghirardelli chocolate, chopped
4 ounces of dark Ghirardelli chocolate, chopped

Mix together the yogurt, sugar, and vanilla. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Puree the blackberries in a food processor and than strain through a fine mesh sieve to separate the liquid from the seeds. Stir 1 tablespoon of sugar into the berry puree and also refrigerate for 1 hour.

Thoroughly combine the frozen yogurt base with the berry puree and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Don’t be like me and actually read them. Stir in the chocolate chunks by hand at the end of the freezing process. Finally package in a tightly sealed container and leave in your freezer until completely frozen. Serve and make-up with anyone you may have offended during the cooking process.

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The Tea Experience

The Tea Experience, the latest publication from TeaTime magazine, offers a smashing array of recipes and images from tea rooms across the country that would make even the Queen herself drool (if Queens actually did such things). It’s a bit heavy on the Southern tea establishments (13 reviews to 5 actually) as the majority of the travelogues do seem to reside in the lower 48 states, but they did include a lovely write-up on the Martin House Inn in Nantucket. We’re big on tea in New England too, you know! It might have something to do with that whole fancy “Tea Party” that happened in Boston Harbor a few hundred years ago…

This elegant book is the perfect gift for your favorite tea aficionado or maybe even your foodie office mate. Each tart, scone, and savory quiche recipe turned my thoughts to envy as it occurred to me that I’ll never be able to pull off such a decadent display even if Martha Stewart held me at spatula point.

Tea Fit for a When I was a kid, tea parties were totally my thing. I’d line up dolls and stuffed animals around the coffee table and serve each liberally from my Fisher Price tea set. Through the wonders of google I can assure you that the image to your left is exactly what “little Erin” used to force feed tap water and Ritz crackers to a wide array of stuffed cats and Cabbage Patch kids. Obviously Ritz crackers aren’t going to cut it in the Hors D’oeuvres and Canapés department anymore so I decided to give the White Chocolate Raspberry bars, as featured in the section detailing The Ladies of Lucerne Tea Room, a go.

Tea is a leisurely activity, and honestly this is a leisurely (read time consuming) recipe. Thankfully these sinful bars taste so amazing (how can you possibly go wrong when your main ingredients are a stick of butter and almost a pound of white chocolate slathered in Raspberry jam) that you forget all about slaving over a hot stove the moment you take a bite. I paired mine with a piping hot cup of Raspberry Early Grey and promptly died and went to heaven. Now that’s what I call a “tea experience!”

Chop
Chop
Beat Eggs
Beat Eggs
Add Sugar
Add Sugar
Divide Chocolate
Divide Chocolate
Melt
Melt
Mix the Batter
Mix the Batter
Bake Layer One
Bake Layer #1
Heat Jam
Heat Jam
Mix in Chocolate
Mix in Chocolate
Evenly Spread the Jam
Evenly Spread the Jam
Layer with Batter & Almonds; Bake
Layer with Batter & Almonds; Bake
Tea Time!
Tea Time!

White Chocolate Raspberry Bars
Makes 12 Bars

1/2 cup butter
1 (12 ounce package vanilla milk morsels or 2 (6-ounce) packages white baking bars, chopped and divided
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon amaretto liqueur or almond extract
1/2 cup raspberry jam
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
Garnish: fresh raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 9-inch square pan.
2. In small saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Add 1 cup vanilla milk morsels. Let stand; do not stir.
3. In large bowl and using electric mixer at high speed, beat eggs until foamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until lemon-colored. Stir in butter mixture. Add flour, salt, and amaretto; mix at low speed until just combined. Spread half of batter (about 1 cup) in pan. Bake 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown.
4. In small saucepan over low heat, melt jam. Spread evenly over warm, partially baked crust.
5. Stir 1 cup vanilla milk morsels into remaining batter. Gently spoon teaspoonfuls of remaining batter over jam. (Some jam may show through batter). Sprinkle with almonds.
6. Return to oven; bake additional 25 to 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool completely. Cut into bars. Garnish serving plate or individual bars with fresh raspberries, if desired.

(Originally posted on the Well Fed Network’s blog A Nice Cuppa)

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