Chunky Monkey Ice Cream

The Dad's in my life got Chunky Monkey ice cream for dessert last night!

That was after a dinner of Creamy Chicken Enchiladas.

CHUNKY MONKEY ICE CREAM

1/2 cup Egg Beaters (or 2 large eggs)

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup 1% milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large overripe bananas, mashed with 1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons vodka

1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup chopped pecans

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the 3/4 cup sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream, milk and vanilla; whisk to blend. Stir in mashed bananas and vodka, then chill for at least 30 minutes.

Once chilled, transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions.Once the churning is complete, stir in the chocolate chips and pecans. Transfer your ice cream into a freezeable container and freeze for a few hours.

Note: The vodka helps to keep the ice cream from freezing super hard like most homemade ice creams. This is the best ice cream base I've found so far. I will probably use this one from now on, just changing up the flavors.

Espresso Crunch Cups

I just love making holiday treats. This is a new recipe that I tried this year and it's really good, it will go into the regular holiday rotation...

The recipe calls for chocolate covered espresso beans. What I found and used were called chocolate covered espresso bits. I found them at Publix near the produce section... there's a small section of nuts and dried fruits and stuff like that.



I tried to give you a view of the inside here.

ESPRESSO CRUNCH CUPS

1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar
3/4 cup crushed chocolate-covered espresso beans (4 ounces)
3 tablespoons Kahlúa
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 cups (24 ounces) milk chocolate morsels
4 tablespoons shortening
48 (1 1/2") paper candy cups (1 1/4" cups will work fine, too)

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer about 2 minutes or until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth. Stir in espresso beans, Kahlúa, and salt. (This can be done by hand just as well - go ahead and mix butter, powdered sugar, Kahlua and salt at the same time, then add espresso beans)

Cover and chill 1 hour or until firm. Shape mixture by teaspoonfuls into 48 balls, and flatten slightly.

Melt chocolate morsels and shortening in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. (I melted the chocolate in the microwave) Spoon 1/2 teaspoon melted chocolate into 48 paper-lined miniature (1 3/4") muffin pans, turning or gently shaking pans to coat bottoms evenly. Place 1 flattened Kahlúa ball in each cup; spoon remaining melted chocolate over Kahlúa balls, covering them completely.

Cover and chill chocolate cups until firm. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator.

Note: Once I made the 48 Kahlúa balls, I worked with batches of 12 crunch cups at a time. I melted the milk chocolate morsels in the microwave one cup at a time with one tablespoon of shortening at a time. This was enough chocolate to make 12 crunch cups at a time.

Variation: For Butterscotch Crunch Cups, substitute butterscotch schnapps for Kahlúa and Heath toffee bits for espresso beans. (I came up with this one myself! They were really good.)

Chocolate Covered Cherries

I consider this little treat one of my specialties. If you want to make friends at the office... Make nice with the boss... Make a man fall in love...

Even the people that don't like chocolate covered cherries in a box will like these.

You'll mix the first 4 ingredients to get a ball like this.

I like to flatten and mark it so that it can be divided evenly into about 36 pieces.

Then roll each piece into a little ball.

I put the little balls in the fridge for about half an hour before the next step.


You'll flatten each sugar ball and wrap it around a cherry.

I like to refrigerate the sugar covered cherries overnight to firm up. That way, when you dip in chocolate, you are less likely to have the sugar coating slip off.

So, it's the next day, and I'm dipping them in melted chocolate.

Twirl and dip until the entire thing is coated.

Put them back in the fridge when done.

Leave them in the fridge for 2 or 3 weeks. Really! They will be so much better. It will be hard to resist tasting them, okay you can taste one, but leave the rest in the fridge for later.

CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRIES

2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 (8 ounce) jars maraschino cherries with stems, well drained
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons shortening

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, butter, milk and almond extract; mix well with a fork. Knead into a large ball. Roll into 1 inch balls and flatten each into a 2 inch circle. Wrap around cherries and lightly roll in hands. Place with stems up on a waxed paper lined baking sheet. Cover loosely and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Melt the chocolate chips and shortening in the microwave. Holding onto stem, dip cherries into chocolate; set on waxed paper to harden. Store in a covered container. Refrigerate 2 to 3 weeks before serving.

Yield: about 3 dozen

Note: I put the cherries in a colander over a bowl in the fridge overnight to drain them really well. Then dry them carefully with papertowels before wrapping in sugar coating.

Make them soon, so they will be ready for Christmas!