Ice Cream Cake

I have a confession to make....I'm not really a big fan of cake. Sure, I like it. Of course I'll eat a piece. Obviously I enjoy making it...but I would much rather have a pie. Or ice cream. Or (wait for it) ice cream IN cake. No, INSTEAD of cake, but still in cake form.

Yesterday was my hubby's birthday, and he asked for an ice cream cake instead of regular. I planned to pick one up from DQ (the middle fudge/cookie filling? Come on!) But he said "You know, if you made it yourself, you could use Turtle ice cream, wink wink nudge nudge".

I was a little apprehensive, having never made one before, but people, this was probably on my top 5 list of easiest desserts I have ever made. Just a handful of ingredients and about 10 minutes to put together, let's all get together and have one big giant un-birthday party and have some ice cream. Cake, of course.

Ice Cream Cake

2- 2 litre tubs of ice cream, your flavour (I used turtle and peanut butter rolo)

1 box of oreos (or enough crumbs to make a crust)

3 tbsp melted butter

2 cups coolwhip or 1 cup whipping cream, divided

1 cup chocolate fudge (like the ice cream topping kind)

• Leave the ice cream on the counter for about an hour until it's nice and soft
• Preheat oven to 350
• Crush up your oreos and combine with melted butter
• Press into bottom of 9 inch spring form pan
• Bake for 5 minutes
• Dump one flavour of ice cream onto crush and spread it/mush it down until it's nice and flat
• Spread cool whip on top of the ice cream, reserving one cup for the top (if using real cream, whip it until soft peaks form and then spread on top of ice cream
• Pour your hot fudge on top of that
• Dump the next flavour of ice cream on top, and spead until it's nice and flat again.
• Freeze for at least 8 hours
• Put reserved cool whip into a piping bag with a star or flower tip and pipe along the top.
• Keep in freezer until ready to serve (obviously). Remove side of spring form pan.



*This can be made a few days in advance

-Jessica

Ginger-Pear Quick Bread



Bread. Ha. As long as you call it bread, it counts as breakfast, right? To be fair, it does contain flour, a main component to bread. And it's baked in a loaf pan. But I definitely wouldn't toast this or make a sandwich out of it. It's pretty much an excuse to eat cake for breakfast.

Fair enough, though, there are pears in it.  Fruit for breakfast. Justified.

My middle guy is the herbivore of the family. His favourite snacks include cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and pears. The other he asked for a snack. I said he could have whatever he could find in the fruit bowl. I came to check on him about 10 minutes later, and there he was, polishing off a pear. "Good choice", I said to him. Then I looked in the fruit bowl to find a bunch of bananas and some avocados. No pears. I knew there were 3 earlier, and I hadn't eaten any. "Did you eat ALL of them?"

"Yep, mum, I did! Did you know pears are my favourite?" Well, I do now.

We went to Costco and bought the biggest bag we could find. I grabbed 3 before he devoured them all so I could make this "bread". No surprise, he had about 4 slices for breakfast this morning. (This kid could eat a large pizza and still be hungry.) If you have any pear lovers at your house, you should probably make this for them.

Ginger-Pear Quick Bread

3 large, soft pears, peeled, cored and chopped (I used D'Anjou pears)

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/3 cup oil

1  1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

• Combine chopped pears with sugar and spices; set aside.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees ferenheit.
• Grease and flour a standard loaf pan (or a few minis)
• Beat eggs, combine with vanilla and oil and mix with the pears.
• In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and baking powder and mix in with the wet.
• Pour into the loaf pan and bake for about 40 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.



-Jessica

Rocky Road Cookies

Canada-ism number 54: In Canada, "Rocky Road" ice cream is sometimes called "Heavenly Hash".

The only explanation I can come up with for this radical change in name is the fact that Heavenly Hash is a pretty fitting name. Hash, (although usually for breakfast and containing potatoes) refers to a mashed up combination of yumminess. In this case, its heavenly. Just go with it.

Actually, I prefer the name Rocky Road. I feel like it just kind of sells itself- chocolate (the road) with pecans and marshmallows (the rocks). Self explanatory, really.

Okay, so you know those yummy little marshmallows that are sitting on top of all the powder when you buy hot chocolate "with marshmallows"? Kraft had a wave of genius and decided to sell the marshmallows all by themself. They're so good. Like SO good. I love 'em. They were the perfect inspiration for these cookies.

Rocky Road Cookies

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup softened butter
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
2  1/4 cup all purpouse flour
1  1/2 cups chocolate chips (I like dark)
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup Kraft mini marshmallow bits

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees ferenhiet
• Combine sugars, butter and egg in your mixer using cookie paddles
• Add vanilla
• Add flour and baking soda until combined
• Add chocolate chips, pecans, and marshmallows
• Drop by rounded spoonfulls onto a cookie sheet and flatten a little with your palm
• Bake for 8 minutes, or until very lightly browned on top
• Remove from oven and cool on wire rack



-Jessica

Raspberry maple cream crepe cake

I really love mothers day.  I have some really awesome kids that make me proud to be a mom. I know it's still a couple of weeks away, but once May hits, I start thinking about my mom a bit more that I do the rest of the year. Our mom passed away several years ago- I was a young mother myself, Jessica was still a teenager.  And the memories of her are bittersweet. Bitter, because they're only memories, but sweet because our mom was awesome. Seriously awesome. I know I'm a tad biased, but trust me she rocked! This is a picture of her.

See? Can't you tell just by looking? That face just screams of wonderfulness. (is that a word?)

Anyway, one of my favourite memories of my mom is eating crepes and playing one of our favourite board games, Mensch argere dich nicht. (It's a German game that is really alot like "Sorry!", but since the game isn't all kiddie, you can still feel like a grown-up playing it). It was a great way to procrastinate in the morning.

So, with mothers day "crepe-ing" up on us (get it?), I wanted to make some crepes, that my mom would've loved. But who doesn't also love cake? For breakfast? Made of breakfast? But it's still actually breakfast.....uh....anyway.....

looks yum, right?

well, my little guy thinks it looks good. He's so patient.

Just look at the gooey yummy inside.

You can make it too! You could even share it with your mom, and play board games! (or eat it yourself, which I also highly recommend.)

Here's how:

Crepes:

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 Tbsp. butter (melted)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbsp. sugar

3/4 cup flour

pinch of salt

Beat together eggs, milk, butter, vanilla and sugar until smooth. Add flour and salt. Continue to beat until smooth. 

Lightly spray your pan with olive oil, and pour batter into frying pan. (I used about 1/4 cup of batter for a 9" pan.) Slowly rotate pan allowing batter to spread evenly on bottom of pan.  Let cook about 2 minutes, (med. heat) until crepe can be flipped without ripping.  Cook opposite side about 30 seconds. Repeat until they're all done. I got about 10 crepes, but it depends on what size pan you use. 

WARNING!: You're kitchen will smell like freshly baked waffle cones!!! (not a bad thing)

Raspberry filling:

I cheated and used a jar of raspberry pie filling.

Spread a layer of filling on every 3 crepes.

Maple cream "frosting"

1 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp. sugar

3 Tbsp. 100% pure maple syrup

Combine all 3 ingredients in bowl and beat with hand mixer until smooth and creamy, but not yet forming peaks. 

* I really prefer a hand mixer for whipping cream. I feel like I have more control over the consistency. 

Top with fresh raspberries and drizzle with maple syrup.

Enjoy!

Okay, so the thing is I really like pure maple syrup. But you can do what you want. If you don't like as much, or any, add less, or none. Maybe you don't care for raspberries...use peaches, blueberries, or heck, beets if you want. What you like is up to you.

-Leah