Brrr-ownies (TWD)

I'm back!!! The hubs and I had an amazing two weeks traveling through Italy. Along with the breathtaking sights, we indulged ourselves with food, wine, and gelato.

Just before we left for vacation, a friend gave me this advice: "Eat, drink and enjoy yourselves silly while in Italy. I promise that you will not gain a pound." Yeah, right! After returning, the hubs and I each hopped on the scale to assess the damage. We were dumbfounded - I didn't gain a single pound, and my hubs actually lost 7 lbs. WTF?!!! My friend was inifinitely wiser that I thought! Forget dieting, we need to travel to Italy more often.

Vacationing was wonderful, but there is something to be said about being back home. I missed baking and cooking, so I couldn't wait to get busy in the kitchen. This week's Tuesdays With Dorie recipe for Brrr-ownies was a nice warm up to get back into the swing of things.

The recipe (which you can find at Karen's blog, Welcome to our Crazy Blessed Life) is essentially a brownie with chopped peppermint patties folded in (in my case, I used Trader Joe's mint creams). When it comes to brownies I'm a purist - no messin' with nuts or mixins. I kept an open mind to see how this would turn out.

Maybe it was the jetlag that affected my baking mojo, but my brownies turned out a bit dry. Instead of tossing the batch, I made a super quick and easy Philadelphia-style vanilla ice cream, and folded bits of the brownie to make a mint chocolate brownie ice cream.

Mint chip is my all time favorite ice cream flavor, so I was definitely curious to see how this would turn out. The verdict --- not too shabby. The mint flavor is subtle, and I loved the how the formerly dry brownie bits turned chewy when incorporated into the ice cream.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you --- this is a mini ice cream cone. Cute, isn't it?

I found these cute little guys a while back, and if you're interested in these mini-cones, you can check them out here. The interior of these cones are lined with chocolate, and make perfect "shot glasses" for Baileys, White Russians, etc. Needless to say, these innocent looking cones are dangerous at our summer BBQs.

Anyways, I'm glad to be getting my blogging back on. I'm curious to hear how the other Tuesdays With Dorie bakers felt about this recipe - check out the TWD Blogroll to hear what everyone had to say.

Lemon Verbena Ice Cream

With summer in full swing, I have been on a total ice cream making binge! Thanks to David Lebovitz, my ice cream maker has emerged from the bowels of my cupboards and I've been putting this long neglected appliance to good use. Once we had a taste of home-churned ice cream, we said adios to hagen daz, ben & jerry and breyers and haven't purchased pre-packed ice cream in over a year (okay, cold stone is the only exception...I love those mix-ins!).

I absolutely LOVE lemon verbena, and have often infused the herb into tea or chopped the herb into fruit salad. This ice cream recipe really showcases the heady herbal flavor of the lemon verbena. I've taken the original recipe (which comes courtesy from David Lebovitz) a step further by incorporating some mint.

The perfect accompaniment to this delicious ice cream is a simple fruit salad. In these pictures, the fruit salad is made from nectarines, blueberries, some chopped mint & lemon verbena leaves, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a touch of honey.

Lemon Verbena Ice Cream
adapted from David Lebovitz.com
makes approx 1 quart

1 1/2 cups loosely-packed fresh lemon verbena leaves
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves (you can reduce the amount or omit)
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
6 large egg yolks
pinch of salt

1. In a medium saucepan, warm the lemon verbena and mint leaves with the milk,1/2 cup of the cream, and the sugar.
2. Once warm, remove from heat, cover, and let steep for one hour.
3. To make the ice cream custard, pour the remaining cream into a large bowl set in a larger bowl of ice water, and put a mesh strainer on top.
4. Use a strainer or slotted spoon to skim the lemon verbena from the milk and squeeze the leaves to extract as much liquid as possible back into the saucepan, then discard them. Rewarm the lemon verbena infusion, then whisk the eggs together and slowing pour in the warm infusion, whisking constantly.
5. Scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan and cook, stirring continuously with a heatproof spatula, until the custard leaves a trail on the spatula when you drag your finger across it. (If using a thermometer, it should read about 175F, or 79C.)
6. Immediately strain the custard into the bowl of cream. Stir until cool.
7. Chill thoroughly, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.