Black-Bottom Ice Cream Pie - Tutorial

I have never attempted to make an ice cream cake or pie before. When I saw a picture of this ice cream pie in a Taste of Home magazine, I knew I was going to go boldly where I haven't gone before. Yes, this isn't as lovely looking as the one I saw pictured in the magazine, with perfectly piped on whipped cream and a cherry to top it off, but it sure tasted good - and that is what matters. This is a definite "make again and again" recipe. The ginger crust is super yummy - and a neat change from the usual chocolate or graham wafer crust. Here is how I made it....

The ingredients:

1 1/2 cups crushed gingersnap cookies (about 24)

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 cup chocolate ice cream

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 quart vanilla ice cream, softened

Sweetened whipped cream

1. Put cookies in a blender and blend until crushed. I used leftover gingerbread cookies. They didn't get eaten because I didn't put icing on them. They worked fabulous!

2. Combine the gingersnap crumbs, confectioners' sugar and butter.

3.  Press onto the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9-inch pie plate. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

4. Soften the chocolate ice cream and stir it to get it nice and creamy. I eyeballed the the "cup" of ice cream - but I might have put a little bit more in than a cup. Spoon the ice cream into crust. Spread evenly. LICK THE SPOON! Freeze pie until firm, about 1 hour.

5. Meanwhile, in a heavy saucepan, melt chocolate chips with cream over low heat stirring constantly. When it is melted it will be a thick chocolate sauce. Remove from the heat; add vanilla. Cool. Spread half of the chocolate sauce over hardened chocolate ice cream. LICK SPOON!! Freeze pie until set, about 1 hour. 

6. Soften vanilla ice cream. I had no idea how much 1 quart was as I buy ice cream in 1 gallon buckets - so I spooned about 2 cups into a bowl, let soften for a while and mix until creamy. Spoon ice cream over hardened chocolate sauce; freeze until firm, about 1 hour. Spread remaining chocolate sauce evenly over pie. Don't forget to lick spoon, and of course, using clean ones with each step!! Freeze pie for 4-6 hours or overnight.

Remove from the freezer 5-10 minutes before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and a cherry if desired. 

Here is the recipe card...

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Nanaimo Bars Recipe

Have you heard of Nanaimo bars?  I have had quite a quite a few guests from the U.S. that have mentioned they have never had them before. These are a big deal in Canada. Make them and you will find out why.

Here is a little history lesson on the Nanaimo Bar (courtesy of Wikipedia)...

The Nanaimo bar is a dessert of Canadian origin popular across North America. The Nanaimo bar is a bar cookie which requires no baking, and is named after the West-Coast city of Nanaimo, British Columbia. It consists of a wafer crumb-based layer, topped by a layer of light vanilla or custard flavoured butter icing, which is covered in chocolate made from melted chocolate squares. Many varieties are possible by using different types of crumb, flavours of icing (e.g. mint, peanut butter), and types of chocolate. Two popular variations on the traditional Nanaimo bar involve mint flavoured icing or mocha flavoured icing.

If you have never had a Nanaimo bar - this is a recipe you have got to try. Only try this recipe if you love chocolate, love sweet things, and if you don't mind NOT turning your oven on. I got this recipe from my sister - which is weird - because she doesn't bake. I think she got this recipe from my Aunt. The Nanaimo bar pictured here has a green center - but the center is usually creamy yellow(custard). You can make a mint Nanaimo bar - but I prefer the custard center - so I just added food coloring to go with our St. Patrick's Day meal. 

Here is the recipe for the custard center Nanaimo Bar....

Nanaimo Bars

Base:  Melt together 1/2 cup margarine, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 5 tablespoons cocoa. Add 1 tsp. vanilla, 2 eggs, 2 cups graham wafer crumbs and 1 cup coconut. Mix thoroughly and press into greased 8x8 inch pan. Cool.

Filling:  Mix together 1/4 cup softened margarine, 3 tablespoons cream, 2 tablespoons custard powder and 2 cups icing sugar. Mix thoroughly and spread over cooled base.                                        

Topping:  Melt 3 squared semi-sweet chocolate and 1 tablespoon margarine. Spread over filling and refrigerate. Cut into squares.

Here is the recipe card...

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Brownie Cheesecake

We had our family Valentines Day dinner tonight because my hubby works shift work and he won't be home for Valentines. I made this for dessert and oh boy, I had to share it with you just in case you didn't have anything planned. I have really come out of my shell the past few years in trying new things. My old self would have looked at this recipe and said - no way, it looks too hard. I found this recipe in the Women's Day magazine. Of course the professionally made and photographed dessert looks way better, BUT mine does not look all that bad. Here is the link to the recipe....
BROWNIE CHEESECAKE RECIPE LINK - CLICK HERE!
From making it - this is what I learned....
1) the recipe says to cook the brownie but not so much that it is fully cooked. Next time I am fully cooking mine. Although it was good, it was a little doughy.
2) I made my brownie from scratch. I am weird that way - I think making things from scratch is just as easy. I added chocolate chips to make the brownie fudgy.
3) I cut the cheesecake topping recipe in half and it was plenty. We only have three in our household and so cutting the cheesecake topping in half still gave the cheesecake effect but with a lot less calories.

I found making this recipe surprisingly easy and therefore I took lots of enjoyment in the final outcome. Oh yeah, did I mention it is delicious! I better go. Another piece is calling my name.

Happy Valentines Day!

I have linked here...
It's So Very Cheri

Raspberry Whipped Cream Stacker

I seen this on a blog but I changed it up a bit. I tried to find what blog I saw this on but no luck. I thought I found this on Bakerella, but I couldn't find it on there when I searched her site. If anyone knows where the original is - I would love to know to give them credit. The original (or the one I saw anyway) had a maraschino cherry on top. I like cherries, but they are not good for you SOOOOOO - I decided to use raspberries. This is a quick, easy and delicious dessert. My family loves these because they taste good and they look fabulous. Best of all it just takes a minute or two to make them. All you need is:

- Chocolate Wafer Cookies (I use Mr. Christie Chocolate Wafers)
- Whipped Cream (I use Blackwell Dairy Whipped Cream) check out the whipped cream and honey recipe I use by clicking HERE.
- Raspberries

The layers go like this: cookie, spoon full of whipped cream, cookie, whipped cream, cookie, whipped cream, raspberry. SO EASY!

Thanks for looking!!!

This recipe is linked up to .....

Chocolate Mousse-Brownie Trifle

This is the first trifle I have ever made. To me, trifles look complicated and I don't like complicated things. I do believe in the 4-H motto though, learn to do by doing, so I thought I would give this a try as it looked so good. Of course my trifle does not look as beautiful as the one in the Woman's Day magazine where I found the recipe, but I like to call my pictures real life shots, from a person who cares more about the taste than the presentation. I do have to say that it was hard to keep my husband and daughter's hands off this until it was served, so it must have looked good to them and that is what matters. By the way, this trifle was easy to make, and I even did some extra steps like make my own brownies. I am definitely making this again - so yummy. I recommend you give this a try. I sort of "halfed" the recipe as we only have three people at our house. It is hard to half three eggs so I did a lot of guesstimating. 

I also like using honey in my whipped cream instead of sugar. You should try it. It is amazing and better for you. This recipe is from the National Honey Board website. You should check it out as they have some good recipes.

Whipped Cream with Honey

Makes 2-1/4 cups

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Salt

Chill beaters, bowl and cream. Whip cream and dash salt until soft peaks form. Slowly beat in honey and vanilla. Serving Size: 2 Tablespoons

Here is the recipe card....

Thanks for looking!

CHOCOLATE DIPPED STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE

This is a recipe I made last month that I promised I would post the recipe. I found this delight in the Taste of Home 2010 Annual Recipes cookbook. I don't usually try things this hard looking but I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was. I halfed the recipe so the pictured cheesecake is a lot smaller than what a full recipe would look like. Enjoy!