Chocolate + Beer = breakfast

I’m not a big beer drinker.  I haven’t gotten over the bitter taste and strange after-taste that lingers in my mouth.  I’m still curious to try sips here and there, but my reaction is always the same: “blah! how can you drink this?” while I grab for the closest non-alcoholic beverage near by.  Only one brand has made me realize why people all over drink it and that’s Innis & Gunn.  Mind you I can only drink a 1/4 of the bottle before I pawn it off to Bob.  Since I can’t drink beer, stouts are even worse for me.  Am I ever going to enjoy Guinness??

Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice cream
from David Lebovitz’s “Perfect Scoop”

• 7 ounces milk chocolate finely chopped
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 cup heavy cream, divided
• 3/4 cup Guinness Stout
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Once you’ve finished chopping your chocolate, put it in a large bowl with a mesh strainer over top.

Next, in a medium sauce pan on low-medium heat, combine the milk, sugar, and 1/2 cup of the cream.  Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar has dissolved and wait for the mixture to heat up.

In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks with the remaining cream.  Check on your milk/cream/sugar mixture.  I test it by poking my finger and  if it’s hot I know it’s ready.  (What professional advice, eh?  I know I should use a thermometer, but I’m so used to doing it this way and it’s worked – no sense in fixing something that ain’t broke…)  Slowly pour about 3/4 of the warmed mixture into the egg yolks/cream, whisking constantly.  [If you get "scrambled eggs", you've poured your mixture too quickly and the only remedy is to start again :( ].

Afterwards, pour your warmed egg yolks back into the sauce pan and cook until it’s “thickened”.  This term is kind of deceiving because your custard won’t get thick like a normal custard; it’ll still be rather runny.  Your custard is deemed “thickened” when after coating the back of your wooden spoon, your run your finger down the centre and make a trail.  If that trail remains for several seconds, your mixture is done.  If the trail “closes up” right afterwards, you still have to cook your mixture a little while longer.  Since I’ve made more ice cream than I can shake a stick at, I find once you’ve returned the eggs back into the sauce pan, more often than not, your custard’s done.

At this point, you’ll pour the custard through the strainer on top of the chocolate pieces.  Stir the chocolate until melted.  Then add your vanilla and Guinness.  Cool in an ice bath and then chill thoroughly for about 4 hours or overnight; freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

My verdict is this:  David Lebovitz is a Genius.  Possibly one of the best ice creams I’ve made since my caramel macchiato.  When you first put a spoonful in your mouth, you get a lovely taste of milk chocolate.  And then it evolves into the heady, rich taste of the Guinness.  Guinness on its own doesn’t entice me.  But combined with the chocolate and in a frozen custard form, I can finally understand why people appreciate this stout.  While I won’t be able to enjoy a nice pint at the pub, I can enjoy it with crepes and a dollop of whipped cream.  Isn’t beer for breakfast lovely??  -  If you’re interested, check out this album of ice creams I’ve made this past month.

Deck update:

Bob working hard while I laze around and take pictures.

The hard work has paid off and now the deck is ready for use. (Special thanks to Brian who's helped us out so much with our yard and deck. Thanks dude!)

Happy (belated) Canada Day!  And of course, Happy 4th of July!  How are you celebrating this weekend?  Do you enjoy a nice pint of stout or are you more of a lager kind of person?

Kitchen Tip – Expired Cream

*GASP* Expired cream! What to do?!?!?!

I love having cream in my home.  It’s good for tons of stuff: making ice cream, whipped on some fruits or cake or pudding, oatmeal, seksi times… the list is definitely endless.  But what happens when I’ve neglected it in my fridge?  Do you just throw it out?

“What do you do with your expired cream Defunkt G?”  I hypothetically think you’re asking me.  Why to answer this hypothetical question asked by imaginary people,   I make butter with my expired cream.  I’m really trying not to waste the food I buy because I’m actually notorious for it.  So many people without and I waste a little too easily sometimes.  Not proud moments…. *blush*.

Cherry Turnovers with Stella’s magic

This past weekend, the kitchen offerings were weak and burnt at best.  Melted gummi bears running amuck, melted, and rather bitter.  A mango madness that fizzled and left me in near tears.  What to do to get me back on my game?  Probably something simpler and more comfort-foody.

I had eyed Stella’s Quick Pastry Dough and decided with her magical abilities, I could make cherry turnovers.  Ideally, I would have loved to have gotten my hands on some guava jelly, but I was in comfy yoga pants and didn’t want to venture out into the real world.  I wanted to make something that I could consume while watching The Blindside.

Here’s how it went down:

First This…

Friday night baking with my sister.  [Random: I need to get a mullet wig.  If I get one, I will wear it Fridays when I bake.  And then I woke up yesterday morning and it seemed kind of mullet-y.  For some a nightmare, for me, kind of sweet.]

Back to business,  a while back, Candice from The Real Dish made compost cookies.  I told my sister about it and once we started rolling, couldn’t stop about all the good/bad things you could possibly put inside a cookie.  This is what we wanted:

Sweet 'n Salty components for the cookies: Sweets - we settled on gummi bears, chocolate covered peanuts, and skor bits. Salty - Kraft Dinner crackers, corn chips, and soughdough pretzels.

We used this recipe:
I didn’t take any picture by picture moments because I actually didn’t think of it at the time.

My sister and I both have stand mixers and we both agree that we have difficulty using them.  For me, I have a professional grade 5qt  Kitchenaid and though it does look pretty, it has become a very expensive kitchen paperweight for me.  If I have to make anything, it would have to be a minimum double batch.  Which can be grieveous if using a new recipe.  So I use my trusty little Black & Decker handmixer.  And the other reason why I prefer a hand mixer is because I actually like to “feel” when a dough, or egg whites, or cream are done.  I have difficulty deciphering that kind of done-ness with a stand mixer.  Obviously, I need to seriously get acquainted with it.  Not Friday night though.

I also don’t like using a handmixer to mix my flour in cookie dough, cake, muffins.  So I did the old school thing and folded.  With clean hands, my sister added the sweet/salty goodness.

Because sometimes it's easier to incorporate things by hand.

Chris: "Every cookie has to have a gummi bear because what's the point?"

Lessons learned: don’t bake with gummi bears.  Didn’t think it would be that much of  a problem, but itwas!!! hahahah… we probably would have done better with actual baking gummis.

"Can I have the one with the melted cheese?"

If you want to know what baked gummi bears taste like after melting, they taste for a split second like Jolly Rancher hard candies.  Then a sudden bitterness comes and lingers for too long.

For the second tray, we removed all of the gummi bears.  Lots of casualties.

I think the cookie dough part of the cookie, is great.  I’d definitely use it and Bob is already thinking of chocolate, almond, and caramel.  No salty though.  I think I’d attempt it again, but with different innards.  And No Gummi Bears.

Quick Miso Pork Tenderloin

Sunday posting.  Again.  And it looks so gorgeous outside.  This is what happens when so much stuff is made (and when one is not feeling particularly well), accumulates into a small backlog and it’s the end of the weekend.  I want to be outside!!!   It looks so sunny.  Even my fat cat is enjoying the beams:

Headlines: 17lb cat enjoys Sunday Sunshine.

This recipe only needs five ingredients:

Pork Tenderloin.

• pork (chops or tenderloin works, today I used tenderloin)
• miso paste
• soy sauce
• brown sugar
• garlic

The other four.

If you like extra salt, I suppose you could add some but miso paste and soy sauce already have enough salt.  And of course pepper if you’d like.

No glove no love.

This is probably the worst post because I actually don’t have any real measurements.  Case in point, I have no idea how big this piece of pork tenderloin is.  If I had to make some kind of educated estimate, about 1.5 lbs?  I do have a scale, but this is just dinner for two.  I probably used about 1/4 cup each of miso paste and brown sugar.  And then I splashed on some soy and added some minced garlic.  I rubbed that little tenderloin and put it in the oven at 350 Fahrenheit for about 40 minutes.

Leftover pork and veg from the "night" before.

This is the end result.  I had cooked the pork late one evening last week and didn’t get to taste the fruits of my labour until the day after.  The picture is definitely looking anemic.  But trust-you-me, it was really good.  Quick to whip up on a busy week night.  Enjoy!