Tag Archives: Dessert

The Brooklyniest ice cream, like, ever.

What do you get when you bring an ex sci-fi screenwriter with an undying love for ice cream to Prospect Heights? Ample Hills Creamery, the Brooklyniest ice cream parlor of all.

Ample Hills proudly serves their small batch, handmade, organic treats in a fun setting that excites children of all ages. In the few years that they have been open, they have gained major popularity in New York. I have heard about it, walked by it and even written about it before, but have not gone inside until last week.

Ample Hills Creamery Brooklyn

As I walked into the store, my mood was instantly elevated. The old-school music and the high energy staff behind the counter gave the place an upbeat vibe, and there was a steady 10-15 people waiting on line the whole time I was there - a few of whom were actually dancing (not metaphorically) out of anticipation.

Although every one of their two dozen flavors sounded intriguing, it didn’t take long to decide what I wanted - salted “crack” caramel ice cream in a pretzel (yes, pretzel) cone. My $6 serving of ice cream was dense (it didn’t drip!), slightly bitter, fragrant, and it housed chucks of salted milk chocolate bark. It was like ice cream 2.0 - I’ve never had a frozen treat I enjoyed this much before. But as much as I loved the ice cream itself, I was anxious to try the pretzel cone - getting to which was quite a journey, though, as the single scoop that I ordered actually seemed like an entire pint. By the time I finally got there, I was experiencing the most intense sugar rush of my life, so much so that I questioned whether I was eating actual crack. The cone was salty, crispy and thicker than I had imagined, which made it the perfect vessel for that large an amount of sugar and it spun my taste buds into absolute madness.Why hadn’t anyone thought of this before? How much more do I have to eat? Anyone wanna dance on this table with me?! Weeee!

Needless to day, visiting this place was a pretty intense experience.

Ample Hills Creamery Brooklyn

In Brooklyn, the whole “micro-batch,” “local,” “organic” thing can get pretty annoying. I mean, I’m surprised we don’t have “artisanal” water yet… (Or wait, do we? Anyone know a place?) However, at Ample Hills, it is not one bit obnoxious. I appreciate their small batches of ice cream and house-made mix-ins - not for their “sustainability,” but because they taste good.

Guest post by the tasty tRuth: Recipe for spiced pear coffee cake

This guest post was written by Ruthie of the tasty tRuth, a fellow foodie I met thanks to the NYC Food Bloggers. Ruthie hails from the Midwest but has recently relocated to the Big Apple to pursue her goal of becoming a food writer. She is passionate about natural, sustainable food, and looooves cheese. Her recipes are unique and her writing is heartfelt and engaging - I highly recommend that you subscribe to her blog. Okay, this is starting to sound like an eHarmony profile, so without further ado…

Normally, this late in the fall, I have made and/or consumed multiple apple crisps. My mom has made her favorite dense apple cake, and I have purchased a pumpkin bar every Saturday as I made my rounds at the farmers’ market. I’m not the first and I won’t be the last to admit there is a bit-too-large corner of my heart dedicated to the lauded pumpkin and apple autumnal baked goods.

But as I considered which fruits are generally in season during the fall, I wondered why the winter-ripe pear so rarely makes an appearance in our fall indulgences. I also developed a unique fascination with pears after reading Yann Martel’s fictional story, Beatrice and Virgil, in which one character makes a standard pear sound irresistible and God-sent as she describes it to a character who has never before seen one. Read this book for that chapter, if for nothing else.

The day I give up my pumpkin bars and apple crisps is not soon to come, but after making Spiced Pear Coffee Cake, I’m thinking pear desserts will have to become a regular part of the rotation. This fruit lends a sweetness and a softness to the coffee cake that is undeniably tasty; autumnal; pear.

Spiced Pear Coffee Cake

Adapted from Food 52

Makes one 9 x 13 cake

Ingredients

Cake

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 ¾ cups dark brown sugar

¾ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon (divided: ½ teaspoon + 1 more teaspoon for the topping)

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cloves

3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

Filling

4 medium pears (I used barely ripe Anjou)

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Dash of cloves

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9” x 13” baking pan with butter or cooking spray. Pulse the flour, brown sugar, salt, and spices in a food processor four or five times, until combined. Add the butter and process for about ten seconds; scrape down the sides and pulse three or four times. Remove ¾ cup of that and put in a small bowl with the nuts and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Stir well to combine. Add the baking soda and baking powder to the dry ingredients in the food processor and pulse two or three times.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Then add the buttermilk and whisk well to combine. Core and coarsely chop the pears; toss with the filling spices (1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg, and a dash of cloves) and the tablespoon of dark brown sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until smooth. Put half of the batter in the prepared baking pan. Spread the pears over the batter; then, cover with the remaining batter. Sprinkle on the topping. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the center springs back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!

Betty’s Buttermilk Pound Cake from The Brown Betty Cookbook

A few weeks ago, the editor of this scrumptious cookbook hosted a giveaway on his blog and yours truly won!

The Brown Betty Cookbook (John Wiley & Sons, 2012) is a collection of dessert recipes from the Brown Betty Dessert Boutique in Philadelphia. The boutique was founded by mother-daughter team, Linda Hinton Brown and Norrinda Brown Hayat, and inspired by Linda’s mother Betty’s legacy of weekly biscuit, pie and cake feasts. From the cover art and the photos inside, to the family stories told throughout, and even down to the font choices, this book is absolutely beautiful. It features recipes for cookies, pies and cupcakes, but has a definite accent on their famous layered cakes.

When I first received the book, I hoped that there would be a classic pound cake recipe in it as it is my favorite dessert. Thankfully, there was. Those of you who are familiar with my blog know that I am not by any stretch of the imagination a good baker. I can handle simple cookies and banana bread but I have yet to tackle a layered cake. Hopefully one day I’ll feel confident enough to take on the challenge, and when that day comes, I know where I’ll find the perfect recipe.

This cake was meant to be baked in a round pan and frosted with lemon buttercream, but since I am an amateur (and a minimalist), I scaled the recipe down to one third of its original, baked it in a loaf pan and ate it plain.

Adapted from Betty’s Buttermilk Pound Cake (pg. 31)

(Yield: one medium loaf pan)

Ingredients:

1 ½ c all-purpose flour

1/3 tsp salt

¼ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

4 oz butter, at room temperature

1 c sugar

2 eggs + 1 egg yolk

½ tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon juice

½ tsp lemon zest

1/3 c + 2 tbsp buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and soda. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, and add sugar. Beat until smooth. Then add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. Then beat in vanilla, lemon juice and zest. Then, alternate between adding dry ingredients and buttermilk, starting and ending with dry ingredients, in two additions. Pour batter into greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour, or until golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

The cake came out dense, moist and rather perfect. I look forward to using this recipe time and time again.

“Money for life, chocolate for the soul.”

After 10 years of living here, I am still not very Americanized, so December 25th doesn’t mean much to me. This year I spent Christmas Eve strolling the desolate streets of New York with my friend Michelle. Christmas Eve is probably the only day of the year New York City is borderline empty…it was eerie and strange, I’m not sure I liked it very much. We ended up in Max Brenner’s - which is not only the chocolate authority, but they have great savory foods too.

We split this skirt steak and mushroom quesadilla. It was meaty but a bit too crispy. However the mayo-based sauce on top is what made it really special.

We had these chili and cocoa powder dusted waffle fries with chipotle mayo on the side-which were my favorite part of the meal.

Then came the chocolate…

We ordered the milk chocolate melting heart cake and shake, which is served with vanilla bourbon ice cream and a mini shaker with extra chocolate sauce, which speaks for itself. The ‘shake’ portion of the dish was disappointing though. After getting through all that whipped cream, I forgot that it was chocolate I was supposed to be tasting.