Chocolate Peanut Butter Icebox Cake for Ribfest

In honor of this year's annual Meyers' Ribfest, I always bring something.  Even though I've never ventured out and made ribs, partly because I enjoy trying everyone else's and also because the Meyers have given me the distinct pleasure to judge the rib competition, I always end up making something.  Last year was the crab boil potato salad, and this year was a summery dessert, a chocolate peanut butter banana icebox cake.

The key to the perfect Ribfest dessert is that I didn't want it to feel heavy, and I wanted it to be refreshing.  I poked around a bit on some of my favorite sites, and then found this awesome (and easy) recipe for a chocolate, peanut butter banana icebox cake, which as you guessed it, you don't have to cook.

Really well executed peanut butter mousse is the most important aspect of this dessert, serving as the cake's luscious filling.  The recipe I used called for using chocolate wafer cookies, but since they didn't have any at the store, I substituted with chocolate graham crackers, which worked just fine and I actually think they were a bit sturdier.  You can use any kind of bananas for the filling, but make sure you get nice (not overripe) ones for the top, to ensure that the cake looks appetizing.

I was happy to receive great reviews from the discerning Ribfesters.  You must be wondering about the ribs too, which I'll go into in full scope in a future post.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this awesome and easy recipe for the Chocolate Peanut Butter Icebox Cake, courtesy of the Cooking Channel. 

Ice Cream Sandwiches for Dad

Since I just wrote about ice cream the other day, I think it inspired me to do something with it for Father's Day, as it was fresh in my mind.  Given my love for chocolate, I was inspired to make homemade ice cream sandwiches, using rich brownies as the sandwich part and good ol' fashioned vanilla (with chocolate and peanut) ice cream as its interior.  

The whole process was pretty easy and painless, the brownies taking only about 15 minutes to assemble and then about 12 minutes to bake.  A tricky aspect of this dessert, as you can tell by my messy pictures is cutting the brownies properly, after the ice cream froze inside (or so I thought).  Because I picked a softer type of ice cream (Turkey Hill Tin Roof Sunday), it had a hard time staying in the sandwich, and I think I got a little too excited, and took it out too early.  It's currently resting and solidifying in the freezer, and I hope the end result will be fabulous.

You can make your own by using your favorite brownie recipe and then stuffing the inside with your favorite ice cream, or you can follow this simple recipe from Everyday Food.  

Brownie-Ice Cream Sandwich:

Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter, melted plus more for pan
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp fine salt
1/2 cup of all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
2 pints ice cream, softened

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a 10 x 15 inch jelly-roll pan.  Line with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on short sides, then butter paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together butter and sugar, then whisk in eggs and salt.  Add flour and cocoa and mix until just smooth.  Spread in pan.  Bake until brownie is dry to the touch and edges have begun to pull away from the pan, 10-12 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes.  Using paper overhang, transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Transfer brownie to a work surface and cut in half crosswide.  Cover pan with a large sheet of plastic wrap and place one cake half on it.  Spread with ice cream, invert remaining brownie half on top, and wrap tightly in plastic.  Freeze until firm, about 2 hours.

Unwrap, cut into 12 pieces, and serve.  

Simply Bodacious Berry Bread Pudding

Since I haven't made dessert in quite a long time, and my parents were having a little dinner party with Dan and my in-laws, I decided to try out a dessert I've had my eye on for quite some time.  Although technically named the Summer Berry Pudding, I don't think it has to be made solely in warm months.  What I truly love about the recipe is that it's a no bake dessert, that tastes absolutely amazing and fresh.

Using the berries that the Bon Appetit recipe suggested, I created layers of this bread pudding, for which the soaking surface was soft, eggy challah bread.  You can also use brioche, but I think that challah is pretty easy to get, and if you have any extra, you can always use it for a yummy butter and marmalade sandwich the next day.

Overall, I loved the freshness and the earthiness of this dessert, and the dinner guests totally echoed my sentiments.  As I saw people reaching over and taking seconds, a satisfied smile spread across my face.  I will be making this again, I thought to myself.

Here's the recipe for your convenience and feel free to substitute with the berries of your choice.

Kelvin Natural Slush Co. - Not Your 7-11 Slurpees

Kelvin Natural Slush Co. - Various locations around NYC
kelvinslush.com

Even though the heat of summer is taking on a break (for a couple days, at least!), the Kelvin Slush truck is rolling around the city bringing us tasty, all-natural slushies that are definitely an upgrade from over-sugared convenience store versions.

I started following them on Twitter (@kelvinslush) and was a little too excited when I found out the big blue truck was parked near my office. The slushes are all custom made, starting with a base slush flavor then adding in mix-ins. I’m a sucker for anything ginger, so I got the ginger with guava and fresh mint. The combination was perfect - a hint of spice from the ginger and subtle sweetness from the guava mixed with refreshing pieces of mint. It reminded me of the canned guava juice I’d drink in Hawaii, but without the excessive sugar.

My coworker got a tea white peach and said it was delightful. Kelvin Slush also lets you add in a scoop of ice cream to make a float. Next time!

The flavors are constantly changing, so be sure to try as many combinations as you can!

Slush flavors: Spicy Ginger, Tangy Citrus, Green & Black Tea

Real fruit purée mix-ins: Açaí, Apricot, Blackberry, Blood Orange , Blueberry, Cherry, Cranberry, Lychee, Mango, Papaya, Pink Guava, Pear, Raspberry, Strawberry, White Peach

3 Icy Mmmms

(8/29) Correction- woops, posted the fruit mix-in as passion fruit, not pink guava. Got my tropical fruits mixed up!

Homemade Watermelon-Lemon Popsicles

There's nothing better than a cool, refreshing (and healthy) dessert in the summertime.  While chocolate and cream-based desserts are delicious, they tend to sink to the bottom of your tummy, weighing you down, while fruit desserts are undoubtedly easier to digest and so satisfying on a hot summer day.

I was looking for a good (and simple) idea to do just that when I came across an easy recipe for Watermelon-Lemonade Ice Pops in the August issue of Bon Appetit. The recipe (if you could call it that) was so simple and called for only 3 ingredients - fresh watermelon, lemons and sugar.  The only thing I changed in my method was substituting agave nectar for the sugar, as I just loved the sweet (almost honeyed) effect of the agave.  In fact, honey can be used as well and you can surely substitute the watermelon and the lemon with the fruit of your choice.  I think my next popsicle experiment will be with strawberries and basil. Mmmm...I can't wait.

Watermelon-Lemonade Ice Pops (Serves 2)

Ingredients:
1/2 small watermelon, cut into chunks. I suggest getting a seedless watermelon
1 lemon, juiced
Splash of agave nectar or sugar - you'll have to judge how sweet you want it.  And if you don't like your pops extra sweet, you can omit this ingredient

Equipment:
Ice pop mold - mine makes 4 ice pops but you can get one that holds more
Blender

Directions:
Fill the blender with chunks of watermelon.  Puree the fruit, then pour it through a sieve, discarding the solids.  Add fresh lemon juice and sugar (or agave nectar) to taste, then freeze in ice pop molds.

Enjoy this colorful, cool and scrumptious treat.

A Happy 4th Was Had With Blueberry Squares

With the 4th of July holiday this weekend, as well as my friend Adam's legendary Rib Fest celebration (more to come on that this week), I wanted to bake something special--not only in the spirit of the holiday but something that would make the aftertaste of ribs that much sweeter. 

I got inspired by the above blueberry-lemon squares once again from a fellow Foodbuzzer, Only Nature Food Porn. Funny name.  Cool blog.  His beautiful blueberry squares decorated with fresh blueberries and lavender really enticed me.  I was especially interested in using fresh lavender flowers on my squares, as they're edible and look really beautiful.  There's plenty of lavender over at friend's, Kim and Ken's garden and since my mom and dad and taking care of it while they're on vacation, we borrowed some for this recipe.  Kim, if you're reading this, I hope you don't mind!

The actual cake was a breeze to make, aside from the fact that I had to convert all measurements from the Metric system.  It's actually quite simple and you can use the following online converter. 

I loved that the flavor of the cake was extra lemony because in addition to putting lemon zest into the dough, I also poured lemon juice on top, after it was baked. The frosting was a cinch as well, consisting of powdered sugar and fresh lemon juice. Easy, breezy.

Now the difficult part was the topping.  I waited too long for the frosting to set and had a hard time putting the blueberries on top.  In the end, I got it done but the delicate little lavender flowers didn't cooperate.  So I ended up using them as a garnish instead.

Try it out for yourself.  It's a great summertime dessert and it received high marks at Ribfest - actually it didn't make it out on to the serving table since everyone gobbled it up upon its reveal.

See recipe here and enjoy.