I am normally quite the laid back person. Even when I get into an argument with someone I don’t raise my voice. When I taught school I never yelled at the kids. In fact, the opposite, being completely quiet seemed to scare the crap out of them more than a stern cut it out ever could. But I have this one person. This one person that gets on my very last nerve (no, not my husband ) that causes me to blow up and yell.
I always feel bad after I do it, but It really seems like it is the only way that I ever truly get my point across to him. For example he asked to do something (I wont go into specifics) and I said no. He kept re-asking in about 15 different ways. All 15 times I told him no. Just when I thought he had got the point he basically went behind my back . So I blew up at him. The funny thing is he is a nice guy. He just doesn’t seem to get it. He’s like a salesman that just wont give up. Which after awhile you want to say, if you were the last person selling water on this Earth and I had to buy from you, I would rather just get dehydrated than give the sale to you.
When I was fuming about the situation my friend told me that they hadn’t seen me keyed up like that ever. I immediately thought, keyed? Key lime. I had already made these pies, but I thought hey, something I can write about. This is basically frozen key lime pie. So if you love the key lime pie, you will be loving on these.

Now for the survey portion of the post. I have considered coming out with some e-books and was wondering what people’s thoughts were on those?

Mini Key Lime Ice Cream Pies with Raspberry Sorbet Middles
12 mini graham cracker shells (you can make them but I was lazy and bought them…save yourself the time)
Key Lime Ice Cream (recipe follows)
Raspberry Sorbet (recipe follows)

Key Lime Ice Cream
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
6 large egg yolks
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2/3 cup key lime juice

Bring the cream to a boil in a heavy medium saucepan, then reduce to simmer.
Temper eggs by slowly beating the hot cream into the egg yolks in a medium mixing bowl. Pour the entire mixture back into the pan and place over low heat.
Stir constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon until the custard thickens slightly. Be careful not to let the mixture boil or the eggs will scramble.
Remove from the heat and pour the hot custard through a strainer into a medium bowl. Allow the custard to cool slightly, then stir in the sweetened condensed milk and key lime juice. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight.
Follow the manufactures directions for your ice cream maker.
You don’t want the ice cream to actually get to thick as you are going to need to pour into pie shells.

Raspberry Sorbet
1 1⁄2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 lb. fresh raspberries (about 5 cups)
2 tbsp. fresh lime juice

In a 2-quart saucepan, bring 2 cups water and sugar to a boil, stirring to dissolve. Reduce heat to low and simmer, without stirring, to make a syrup, for 5 minutes.

Pour the syrup into a medium bowl, stir in vanilla extract, and transfer to the freezer to let chill for 15 minutes.

Purée 1 lb. of the raspberries (about 4 cups) with the syrup in a blender or food processor until smooth. Scrape the purée through a fine sieve into a bowl; discard the seeds. Stir lime juice into the raspberry purée and pour it into a 2-quart ice cream maker. Freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions until almost set but still a little slushy, about 25 minutes.

Add remaining raspberries (about 1 cup) and continue freezing in the ice cream maker for about 5 minutes. Transfer the sorbet to a plastic container and freeze until completely set, about 1 hour.

Sorbet recipe adapted from www.saveur.com

MAKES ABOUT 5 CUPS

Assemble:

You can use just a spoon or if you want a more uniformed look like mine, I used a small round cookie cutter to cut out the sorbet. Or you just jam it into the cookie cutter and pop it out.

Place the sorbet in the middle of the pie shell. Carefully pour key lime ice cream around the sorbet. Or if you are lazy, like I was on most just cover it up. If your ice cream is too thick you can spoon it in, instead of pouring.

Freeze for another 2 hours and serve.

I am an end piece kind of girl.

It’s the perfect piece. Three out of the four sides are covered in frosting. One day I want to make a cake that has frosting on the bottom as well. But for now I must settle with the end piece. I’ve been known to wrestle a kid to the ground (yes, as an adult…hangs head in shame) to get the end piece. Only exception being if it’s their birthday cake…then I’m nice…that time.

I was the one who always went for the large and gaudy frosting rose that topped the cake as well. I love me some frosting. And in all of the frosting world, cream cheese frosting is what makes me…hmmm, no comment.

Many joke that you could put cream cheese frosting on top of cardboard and they would eat it. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but truth be told, that circumstance has never come up , so I can’t really say.

The best thing ever about my mom’s carrot cake was the cream cheese frosting. It was always piled high, and being the awesome mom that she was, she would make extra frosting so we could spread more on to our cake piece. Hmmm, why am I fat? Oh yes, I remember.

It is ice cream season and it is a little warm. Though if I was smart I would not have made this ice cream. Since you have to bake a cake in order for it to work. So the whole avoiding the oven thing didn’t really work out.

It starts with a sweet cream base, that you make into ice cream. I couldn’t decide for the longest time if I wanted to add the cream cheese frosting before or after the freezing process. I went with after because I figure that might leave some frosting bits and that might be yummy. Then of course you throw in carrot cake. I chose to make a full carrot cake, cream cheese frosting and all….because I like me some overkill.

It’s pretty darn awesome. How  could it not be….I could have even thrown cardboard in there and been fine.

Is that even legal Cream Cheese Frosting Carrot Cake Ice Cream

Ice Cream Base (see below)

Carrot Cake (I used this one)

Cream Cheese Frosting (see below)

Ben & Jerry’s Sweet Cream Base

 2 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup half &half

Pour cream into mixing bowl. Whisk in sugar a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 more minute. Pour in half and half and whisk to blend. Pour in to ice cream makers and freezer according to manufactures directions.

 Cream Cheese Frosting

2 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Using a stand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese together on medium speed  until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Scrape down the sides and add vanilla and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar.  Beat for 1 minute on medium.

Add another 1/2 cup of sugar, beat, and then scrape down sides. Repeat until all the sugar is used up.

Keep frosting in mixing bowl.

Remove ice cream from freezer and let it get a little on the soft side, but still holding shape. Add it to the bowl that already has the cream cheese frosting in it.

Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed until the two are combine.

Chop up pieces of carrot cake. How much you use is up to you. Fold into ice cream base.

Pour into a freezer safe container and freeze until solid. Enjoy.

Glad to see so many of you agreed with me in the last post, and if you didn’t that’s cool too. But one thing several people said, and I agree, is that sometimes being a good baker is a curse.
You can’t ever just bring store bought cookies to a party and be done with it because you had a busy day. People look in horror at you when you do that. It’s perfectly fine that they always pick up the Albertson’s fruit platter, but God-forbid if you slack out. And it’s not even just that it can’t be store bought. I have people actually get disappointed when I “just” bring cookies or brownies. “I was hoping for something from your blog”. Well, those cookies or brownies were probably on the blog. Somewhere in these people’s minds the ability to bake means you also have the time to bake, which as you know is well, NOT THE CASE!
Recently I’ve been strolling though the beginning of this here blog. Most of my current readers have really only been with me over the last two years (with some die hard exceptions of course). So many of the quality recipes from way back in the day have long been forgotten. We flashback to this unusual style cobbler that I made back originally in 2006. I was intrigued by the fact that you roll it up and cut it like cinnamon rolls and then poor simple syrup over the whole thing. It looks scary dreadful when it goes into the oven and you get a little worried, but then it comes out awesome. Over the years I have made a ton of these. While staring at my flat of blackberries I decided it was time for you to get reacquainted with this cobbler.
This is a slightly different version of the original one I made. I used my mom’s peach jam instead of sprinkling cinnamon on the inside of the rolls. I personally love the taste of peaches and blackberries together so I thought it would be a nice pairing, and it is.

Why Do I Always Think I Can Eat a Whole Flat of Blackberries Before they Spoil Blackberry-Peach Jam Cobbler

4 ounces unsalted butter, divided

1 cup water
1 cup plus 2 TBSP granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 TBSP cornstarch
2 TBSP brown sugar
3 cups fresh blackberries (about 1 pound)

5 TBSP Peach Jam (preferably homemade)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a medium sized bowl, toss blackberries with cornstarch and brown sugar. Set aside.

In a 10-inch glass pie plate or baking dish melt 1/2 stick (2 ounces) butter in oven.

In a small saucepan combine 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar and heat over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is completely dissolved.
In a food processor pulse together flour and remaining 1/2 stick butter (cut into dime size pieces) until mixture resembles fine meal. Add cream, vanilla, cinnamon and salt, and pulse just until a dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and with a floured rolling pin roll into an 11- by 9-inch rectangle.

Brush peach jam on top of dough evenly and scatter blackberry mixture evenly over top.

Beginning with a long side roll up dough jelly-roll fashion and cut into 1 1/2-inch thick slices. (Slices will come apart and be messy…really messy).
Arrange slices, cut sides up, on melted butter in pie plate or baking dish. Pour sugar syrup over slices, soaking dough, and bake cobbler in middle of oven 45 minutes. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over cobbler and bake 15 minutes more, or until golden.

Serve cobbler warm with ice cream…vanilla is the best.

Serves 6 normal people, or 2 Peabody’s.

Adapted from: Gourmet June 1996 Denise Maguire: Saint Petersburg, Florida

Well, I haven’t gotten much hate mail in awhile so clearly I am being too politically correct as of late. So to rectify that, I shall bring up a topic that my friends and I were discussing the other day.

We were watching Top Chef and they all had to make a pie. The immense fear that was in the eyes of the contestants was too funny to me. It’s the fear that they all seem to get when they tell them they have to make a dessert. Now don’t get me started on the whole you know they do a dessert every season just memorize a recipe thing that I go off on every season, that was not the discussion my friends and I got into. The discussion topic was this….is it better to be a great cook or a great baker?

So I think we can all figure out where I stand on this one, but here is why…most people who can bake  seem to be okay in the cooking department as well. But I have met way too many a chef who is an awesome cook but can’t bake or make desserts to save their life (there are always exceptions I know). I am an excellent baker (though I have several sever disasters under my belt ) and a decent cook. I used to belong to a supper club in Arizona. Every single member was  a chef except for me. When it was time for the meals to be allocated (we did it from just pulling out of a hat) people would throw hissy fits when they got stuck with bread or desserts. But the two bakers of the group always just took whatever we got and rolled with it. And for the record, every single one of those chefs would just bring bread or dessert from their restaurants.

Then there is the convenience of being a baker. It’s so much easier to bring someone a loaf of bread then say a rack of lamb or crock of chili. Doable yes, but awkward and usually needing refrigeration.

So what do you think? Better to be a great cook or a great baker?

Speaking of great baking…I present my 3am idea….cinnamon rolls topped with NY style crumb cake topping. Not sure how this craving came about, but it did. Oddly enough, I could not find a recipe for that idea , so I had to make one of my own.

This was such a poor choice to make. I seriously could not stop eating these. Lucky for me there was hockey that night and I could give them away. See, again, with the portable baked goods (plus one for the bakers).

This ends up being more like pull apart bread  or a cake than that of individual cinnamon rolls. But the messier the better, eh?

Baking is Better NY Style Crumb Cake Topped Cinnamon Rolls

 
For the brioche dough:
1/4 cup warm water (filtered preferably)
1/2 cup plus 2 tsp. granulated sugar, divided
1 1/2 tsp. dried yeast
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
8 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into dime sized pieces

For the filling:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

3 TBSP butter, softened

For the NY Style Crumb Topping:
2/3 cup granulate sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. ground cimmamon
16 TBSP (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and still warm
3 1/2 cups cake flour

Place warm water and 2 tsp. of  the sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Sprinkle yeast on top and mix with a whisk until yeast is dissolved. Let stand for 5 minutes while yeast blooms.

Add remaining sugar, vanilla extract, milk, flour, and salt. Using the hook attachment, mix on low speed for 3 minutes to start bringing dough together. Switch to medium speed and slowly drop pieces of butter into dough. Mix for 10-12 minutes. Dough will be wet and sticky and will have good elasticity when stretched.

Pull dough from bowl and onto a floured surface. Using extra flour on your hands, form dough into o a ball. Place dough in an oiled, medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Proof in a warm room, 70-75F, for about 2 1/2 hours. Dough will almost double in size.

In a small bowl, whisk together the sugars and cinnamon. Set aside.

On a flour dusted surface, roll the dough into a rectangle about 12 inches wide and 16 inches long, with a short end toward you. Spread butter using your hands (messy but works best) across the dough leaving a1-inch strip bare on the side farthest from you.

Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture evenly across surface. Press down the sugar into the butter.

Starting with the side nearest you, roll the dough into a cylinder, keeping the roll as tight as you can.

With a bread knife(or chef knife), using a gentle sawing motion cut the log into rounds a scant 1/2 inch thick. These are going to be smaller than your average buns because we are adding a crumb topping to them.

Spray baking spray into TWO 9-inch Spring form pans (you can just use a cake pan, but it is MUCH easier to remove using the spring form).

Divide rolls between baking dishes, arranging cut side up (there will be almost no space between rolls). Cover baking dishes with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

20 minutes before the dough is done rising, prepare the crumb topping.

Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a medium bowl to combine. Add flour and stir with a  spatula or spoon until the mixture resembles thick crumbles; set aside to cool to room temperature, 10-15 minutes.

Once cinnamon rolls have risen, split the crumble topping in half. As best you can evenly crumble topping on top of the cinnamon roll dough. Do this for both pans.

Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes.

Let cool for 10 minutes and top with icing.

For Icing:

Sift 4 cups of powdered sugar into a bowl. Add 6 tablespoons to 1/2 cup of warm milk, briskly whisking until all the sugar is dissolved. Add the milk slowly and only as much as is needed to make a thick, smooth paste.

Brioche recipe from Macrina Bakery and Cafe Cookbook by Leslie Makie

Icing recipe from The Break Baker´s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart