My friend, Sarah, and I decided to make some fried icecream over a 4 day break that we had. We knew it was going to be a long process, so here goes our itinerary in detail....
Step 1: Sarah found a fried icecream recipe online, so we decided to try it out.
This is what it called for:
1 quart vanilla ice cream
3 cups crushed cornflakes cereal
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 egg whites
2 quarts oil for frying
Then we followed the directions:
1. Scoop ice cream into 8 - 1/2 cup sized balls. Place on baking sheet and freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
1. Scoop ice cream into 8 - 1/2 cup sized balls. Place on baking sheet and freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
2. In a shallow dish, combine cornflakes and cinnamon. In another dish, beat egg whites until foamy. Roll ice cream balls in egg whites, then in cornflakes, covering ice cream completely. Repeat if necessary. Freeze again until firm, 3 hours.
3. In deep fryer or large, heavy saucepan, heat oil to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4. Using a basket or slotted spoon, fry ice cream balls 1 or 2 at a time, for 10 to 15 seconds, until golden. Drain quickly on paper towels and serve immediately.
*courtesy of Recipe for Fried Icecream
Step 2: Sarah had already rolled the icecream into balls when I got to her house, so the hard part was done. Now all we had to do was make the outer coating. We mixed the cornflakes and cinnamon, and separated the egg whites.
Step 2: Sarah had already rolled the icecream into balls when I got to her house, so the hard part was done. Now all we had to do was make the outer coating. We mixed the cornflakes and cinnamon, and separated the egg whites.
Step 4: Afterwards, we gathered the frozen icecream balls from the freezer in pairs of two, and dropped them into the foamy egg whites. Directly after, we rolled them into the cornflake and cinnamon mix, producing a non-fried icecream ball.
Step 5: After repeating this process six times (we had twelve icecream balls all together), we had to let them freeze again for three hours.
Step 6: Then they were ready to fry! We heated up the oil, and dropped the icecream balls in one-by-one for 15 seconds to fry. (I made a video of this, but there has been some difficulty uploading it).
Step 7: Ready to eat! We ate them immediately after they were done frying, and topped them off with honey and chocolate sauce.
This was a very fun experience! I always enjoy baking with Sarah, so it was fun for our joint efforts to actually turn out. In fact, I think it tastes better then restaurant-style fried icecream! The only down side is the amount of time required to make the fried icecream. I suggeset making a lot of icecream balls in advance (a dozen, for instance) like we did. This makes it easier because you can just keep them in the freezer, and fry them whenever you feel like it! It is a lot more convenient then having to continually make the coating whenevr you feel like fried icecream. I hope you enjoy it if you decide to make it!
COOKIE PIZZA
I wasn't too busy over the weekend, so I decided to go on All Recipes and find a few dessert recipes that looked appetizing. I was feeling like chocolate, and I saw a recommendation to make a cookie pizza. I went for it. You can find the recipe for it right here on Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza.
Step 1: This is what the recipe called for:
Ingredients
1 (18 ounce) package refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups cold half-and-half
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Directions
1. Press cookie dough onto an ungreased 12-in. pizza pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 13-16 minutes or until center is set and cookie is lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes; gently run a flexible metal spatula under crust to loosen. Cool completely.
2. In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until blended. Spread over crust. In a bowl, whisk cream and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Spread over cream cheese mixture; sprinkle with nuts. Refrigerate until serving.
*I decided to leave off the walnuts when I made it, and substituted chocolate chips instead.
Step 2: I baked the cookie in the oven after forming it into a giant circle on the cookie pan.
Step 3: After the cookie had compleltely cooled for a couple hours, I spread the cream cheese and sugar mixture onto it.
Step 4: I then made the chocolate pudding mixture.
This was a fun new recipe to make, and I like how thick the chocolate pudding came out. However, I am not the biggest fan of cream cheese. When I make this dessert again, I think I will leave off the cream cheese altogether. But don't get me wrong, the taste of it is not overpowering or anything. I just think that it is always good to follow what the recipe says the first time I ever make anything in order to avoid any errors. Now that I know what works for me, I think leaving off the cream chesse would make it better tasting for me.
I was very bored over the weekend, so I decided to look through my refrigerator like any normal person would do. I found some strawberries, and thought of any filling foods I could make that would involve them. Pancakes came to mind, so I went on allrecipes.com and looked for a recipe. I came across this one for strawberry vanilla pancakes, and tried it out! Here is a step-by-step process of how I made them...
Step 1: After finding the recipe, I gathered all of the necessary ingredients. It called for:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped fresh strawberries
Instructions:
1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Pour in the milk, oil, egg and vanilla, and mix until well blended. Stir in the strawberries. 2. Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat, and coat with butter or cooking spray. Pour batter into desired size of pancakes. Flip with a spatula when bubbles appear in the center. Cook until golden brown on the other side.
Step 2: I chopped up the strawberries and made the batter.
Step 5: I flipped the pancake over when it was golden brown (about 2 minutes on medium heat).
Step 6: I added a personal touch by sprinkling powdered sugar over the pancakes instead of syrup. It is a personal preference, plus I think it looks nicer! Also, it is convenient to save the strawberry tops as well (instead of throwing them away after cutting the strawberries). They make a nice garnish, as well as a good presentation!
I enjoyed making vanilla strawberry pancakes because they were new for me. However, I would have added more vanilla (which I know for next time), because it was hard to taste when the pancakes were finished. Also, I should have cut the strawberries into finer pieces. With the larger pancakes, it was difficult for the batter to cook entirely around the stawberry slices. So the smaller pancakes tasted better since the batter had a better chance at completely cooking. Overall I thought the recipe was good, but the vanilla flavor was not as strong as I expected it to be.
