Last night I got out my Cuisinart Soft Serve Ice Cream Maker. I still don’t know if I like it or not. I’ve used it 3 times now, twice with their recipes and once with mine. I still have yet to get soft serve ice cream from it. This time I let the machine run over 30 minutes and it just began to make a slight thin swirl when it came out of the machine. It has always been way to soft and I then end up putting it in the freezer to harden. I may have well used my regular ice cream maker and saved myself the cleanup of the machine. It is not a lot of fun to wash, there are pieces to the machine and one piece is difficult to clean. I’m going to keep trying to get a good serve soft ice cream from the machine or if you have a recipe that works in it, will you send it to me?

I did make a really delicious, rich chocolate ice cream in it however and the recipe is a keeper.

Wow! Chocolate Ice Cream

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
2 eggs
3/4 C. sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. chocolate extract (optional)
2 C. heavy cream
2 C. milk

Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Keep warm.

Put the eggs, 1 cup milk and sugar into a blender. Blend until the sugar is dissolved and smooth. Whisk this into the chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and add heavy cream, remaining milk, chocolate extract and vanilla.

Chill thoroughly. Transfer to your ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.

Makes slightly more than 1 quart.

Recipe modified from That My Home Ice Cream Recipes

I am going to make this next time using some Fat Free Half and Half and ajusting the milk to if I can make this just a little healthier for you. I’ll post it when I get a final recipe.

This is perhaps one of the easiest yeast breads I have ever made although not the fastest. Mix the dough up the day before you want to serve, cover it and forget about it until the next day. The next day remove the dough from a bowl and shape the bread on a flour covered cloth. Let raise for about 2 hours. Preheat your oven a half hour before baking with the pan you are going to bake the bread in. I used a Le Creuset dutch oven. The only change I made in this recipe was to turn the oven down to 400 when I put the bread in the oven. It was still done in 45 minutes. The smell while it baked was heavenly and I almost cut it before I took the picture. If you like a crisp crust with a tender inside and big holes that is what you will get with this bread recipe. It is so good…..

No Knead Bread

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.

Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1 1/2-pound loaf
Time: About 1 1/2 hours plus 14 to 20 hours rising

Recipe from Mark Bittman

This recipe comes from Cook’s Illustrated magazine this month and I just had to try it. I was not disapointed, they are crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle. Delicious!!!

Brown Sugar Cookies

14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (about 1 3/4 ounces)
2 cups packed dark brown sugar (14 ounces) - Use fresh brown sugar, as older (read: harder and drier) brown sugar will make the cookies too dry
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue to cook, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter to melt; set aside for 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large (18 by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. In shallow baking dish or pie plate, mix granulated sugar and 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, rubbing between fingers, until well combined; set aside. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder together in medium bowl; set aside.

3. Add remaining 1 3/4 cups brown sugar and salt to bowl with cooled butter; mix until no sugar lumps remain, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula; add egg, yolk, and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined, about 1 minute. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no flour pockets remain and ingredients are evenly distributed.

4. Divide dough into 24 portions, each about 2 tablespoons, rolling between hands into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Working in batches, toss balls in reserved sugar mixture to coat and set on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart, 12 dough balls per sheet. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but it will take 3 batches.)

5. Bake one sheet at a time until cookies are browned and still puffy and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone; see photo below), 12 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Do not overbake.

6. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes; using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Makes 2 Dozen Cookies