Vanilla Ice Cream

Everyone should have a recipe for Vanilla Ice Cream in their book of recipes. This one will serve you well! It’s fresh and not very complicated. You can serve Vanilla Ice Cream with almost anything. I strongly reccomend that you try it with brownies, apple pies, warm berry crisps, caramel sauce or chocolate sauce! Anything that you think that it’ll be nice
Soon it will be summer, so I don’t have to tell you… Make this recipe for your friends when you invite them over ! It will be a very nice detail!

Well, without further chit-chat, I give you the Vanilla Ice Cream!

 

Ingredients

1 cup (250ml) whole milk

A pinch of salt

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

2 cups (500ml) heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preparation

1- Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.

2- To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2l) bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl.

3-  In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Rewarm the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

4- Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

5- Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight.

6- Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instruction or into your freezer.

A nice tip: Used vanilla beans can be rinsed and dried, then stored in a bin of sugar. That sugar can be used for baking and, of course, for future ice cream making!

Another tip: If you put it in your freezer, you must take it out from the freezer every hour for 5 minutes, to make the crystals smaller.

 

Experiment with this recipe! And always share with everyone you can that’s the secret to happiness!

 

See you all soon!

 

 

Rice with Milk (Arroz con leche)

Arroz con leche

I’ve been inactive lately.. Because I’ve had a ton of work at the university !! So, please pardon me.

Today, I will post a typical Spanish recipe. Arroz con leche, some say that Arroz con Leche descends from the Moorish occupation of Spain centuries ago, as may be evidenced by the traditionally Arabic mixture of cinnamon and rice. It may be savored warm or cold, though most Spanish establishments tend to serve arroz con leche straight from the oven. If you wish, you may decorate the finished pudding with raisins and an extra sprinkling of cinnamon. I don’t usually put any

Now that summer is behind the corne I would like everyoine to try it cold. On a  hot day. It is such an unusual mix for a desert… but strangly delecious and refreshing!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (16 fl. oz) milk
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 strips lemon rind
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup (4 oz) short-grain white rice
• 3 medium egg yolks beaten
• 1/3 cup (3 oz) sugar
• 1/2 stick (2 oz) butter
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preparation:

In a large saucepan, slowly bring the milk, cinnamon stick, strips of lemon rind, and salt to a boil. With a slotted spoon, remove the cinnamon and lemon rind. Stir in the rice and egg yolks, reduce the heat, and allow the rice to simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring constantly.

When the rice is soft, add the sugar and butter and combine well. Pour the mixture into a serving dish, sprinkle with nutmeg, and serve warm.

And that’s it!

Please comment on what recipe’s you would want !

See you soon!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Another great American. The peanut butter cookie! Almost all (non allergic) Americans love them and can’t get enough of them.

These cookies are great for kids, and they go great with milk! Serious!

They don’t need much more presentation, because the are already famous, I give you, the Peanut butter cookies!!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1- Beat the butter until creamy, 2 minutes. Add the sugars, beat for 2 more minutes. Mix in the peanut butter and egg. Mix together the  flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

2- Stir the dry ingredients into the sugar butter mixture.

3- Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 3 hours.

4- Preheat oven to 375°F. Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork. Bake until light brown, 9 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for a minute; transfer to rack to cool completely.

 

And that’s it!

Tip of the day:  For chewier cookies, bake at 300°F for 15 minutes. You can also try variations like adding some peanuts, or any other ingredient.. M and Ms for kids! These are great to introduce kids into baking!

Feel free to request any recipe you want me to cover!

 

See you soon !

Preheat oven to 375°F. Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork. Bake until light brown, 9 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for a minute; transfer to rack to cool completely.

For chewier cookies, bake at 300°F for 15 minutes.

Pancakes

Hi there again!

A few days ago I made a crêpes recipe and posted it here, and today I shall post you the American version! The big pancake!

I personally prefer crêpes, because they permit you to do more things with them. But these are also great for breakfasts… who doesn’t dream every night of waking up by the smell of pancakes?

This recipe is classical, meaning it doesn’t have any added ingredient to give the pancake a little twist!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you pancakes!

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups milk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup of melted butter
• 1 tablespoon of oil

Directions:

1. Combine milk with the oil and set aside.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk the eggs and butter into the milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with butter. Pour the batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.
4. Enjoy!

These are great with almost anything.. I wouldn’t with fish.. but almost anything else!!! The best combination is fresh orange juice, pancakes, and someone you love to share them with.

Coming soon:

- Vanilla Ice – Cream

- Mississippi Mud cake

Feel free to request an recipe and I’ll do my best to provide!

Brownies

Hi again,

Yes, yes, I know that everyone has at least 10 different recipes of brownies… but maybe someone only has 9!! So they need this one to complete it! And maybe someone needs a fresh brownie recipe.. so here it is.

I once heard that the brownies were originally made by a librarian who forgot to put baking powder to a chocolate cake!

These are great when you don’t know what to bring to a special occasion, and when you don’t have time! They always taste good.

Here it is the all American, all chocolate, brownie!

Ingredients:

• 2 oz (65 g) unsweetened chocolate
• 1/2 cup (125 grams) of unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of sugar ( 250 grams)
• 1 teaspoon and a half of vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup of sour cream (60 grams)
• 2/3 (90 grams) of chopped walnuts

Directions:

1- Preheat the oven to 325ºF (165ºC). Melt the chocolate with the butter in the top of a double boiler ( in Barcelona the double boiler is called el bany Maria). Let is cool a bit.

2- Mix the eggs with the sugar in a large bowl. Mix it during 3 minutes until it gets a light color. Slowly beat in the chocolate mixture. Stir in the vanilla, sift in the flour, mixing well. Stir in the salt, sour cream and walnuts.

3- Pour the batter into a greased 8 inches (20 cm) square cake pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean of the center, around 25-30 minutes.

4- Let it cool

Enjoy!!

That’s it, fast and vibrant! The key here is that you need to get a 8 inch cake pan to do it, if not, it will not come out as a brownie, and you shall have invented another thing!

The walnuts are optional, not everyone likes them.

You can heat them a little bit before serving and melt a bit more of chocolate and spread it out on top, the result is astonashingly good. And if you want to go over the top, do some vanilla ice-cream to accompany it, then you have a amazing desert! As you can see in the picture.

Soon, I’ll post the vanilla ice-cream recipe!! From scratch!

If anyone has any requests for any recipe, just ask, and I’ll see what I can do.

See you next time!

Crêpes

The third time in one day, I’m on fire!! Literally.. because these crêpes are gonna be on fire.. !

Well, what we have here is a very basic French crêpe recipe. Remember that the crêpes are not pancakes..

The crêpes are to be combined in many ways. Chocolate, honey, cream, strawberries, yogurt… anything! YOu have to use your imagination. But for those who have never tried them, i recommend basic chocolate, honey and jam!

Well, here it is!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• Orange peel ( grated)
• Cognac

Directions:

In a large bowl, insert the water and the milk, after that sift in the flour and stir until there is no little bubbles or grains of flour. Add the sugar, salt and the butter. After that add the eggs. Stir well. Add the orange peel and if you want some anise to aromatize it.

Leave the mixture in the fridge for 1 hour.

Heat a girdle and butter it so the crêpes wont stick. Pour some of the batter onto the gridle and spread it out tilting the pan in a circular motion. You have to have a even surface ( more or less )

You turn the crêpe over once the crêpe has a golden color with a fork. Once turned, more or less after 30 seconds more and they will be done.When you are going to serve them, you can add a little cognac and flame it, right after you have flamed it, you can add the jam, honey, sugar, maple syrup whatever you wish!

I recommend chocolate for those chocolate lovers. But you must add the chocolate onto the crêpe once you’ve flipped it. So it well partly  melt and the result is amazing. Try them with anything you imagine! Strawberries with yogurt, ice cream, sliced orange with honey (the recipe is also on my blog).. all of these are very healthy and really really tasty.

And that’s it!!!

 

On what occasion shall you do this? You can do it for your couple, surprise him/her with some crêpes with some fresh orange jucie brekfast at the morning! Snacks.. any time is great!

 

See you next time, and enjoy!

Orange slices with honey and nuts

Hello again!

This recipe is one of the easiest recipes I’ll give you and at the same time very healthy! It only has three ingredients, orange, honey and nuts!

This is a unique blend, the acid of the orange with the sweet honey… mouth watering.. and to top it of, nuts.

This recipe you can do it for absolutely anyone, any time, anywhere. I really want everyone that has never tried it to try it you will get addicted, but this is the one addiction that will actually make you healthier!

Well her it goes

Ingredients:

For 1 person

1 orange

Some honey

Chopped nuts

(gosh, that’s hard to remember..!)

Directions:

1- Get a knife to cut the peel of. Once it’s off, cut it into slices, about 4 or 5 slices. Lay them onto a tray or plate. Chop the nuts, toss them randomly upon the oranges. And finally add the honey as you wish.

2- Eat and enjoy.

And that’s it!!

It’s a really good blend. I even use this recipe for family gatherings. I cut 12 oranges and do the same process, and believe it or not, its always a hit.

You can add a bit of cinnamon to spice things up.

Enjoy Everyone!

Dijon Croque Monsieur

Hello there!

Finally I’m back, it’s been a long month full of exams and hard dedication to my studies and now I can invest some time into a few new recipes!

For this one we will be going French! Oui Oui, François! This is a really simple recipe that’s famous in France. If you ever go to Paris, you have to ask for  a Dijon Croque Monsieur. It’s similar to a grilled cheese sandwich, only that it’s a bit more elaborated!

For this recipe you’ll need to go buy some specific ingredients. But don’t worry, you wont need to go to France to buy them! They are all at your local grocery shop!

I recommend you do this recipe when you have a few friends over, and you want to do something different, with a unique taste, and that you don’t feel like making a big meal. It can also be a great snack while watching any sports match!

Monsieurs, madams, ici c’est la recette:

Le Dijon Crôque Monsieur

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon whole-grain Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon fat-free mayonnaise
• 8 slices Italian bread
• 8 ounces thinly sliced ham
•  Gruyère cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup milk

Directions:

1- Stir mustard and mayonnaise in a small bowl until you can only see one color. Spread the  mustard mixture over the slices of bread. Each slice should be covered with a slice of ham and a slice of cheese. Sprinkle evenly with pepper. spread the mustard mixture on the top slice of bread and put on top of the cheese. You should have a “sandwich” now, with first layer Bread, second layer Mustard mix, third layer ham, fourth cheese and sixth mustard mix with bread.

2- Combine the egg and milk in a  bowl ( small one ). And dip both sides of the sand which in the egg mixture. Or with  a brush spread out the  egg mixture on both sides.

3- Heat a large griddle, put a little of oil so it wont stick, put it at medium heat and ad the sandwiches to the pan. More or less it should be three minutes until its brown at the sides and the Cheese is melted

And that’s it!

This is  a perfect snack after a long day. And it’s also great to share with friends. I recommend everyone to try it.

See you next time!