Monday Munchies - Buster Bar Cupcakes

I've mentioned before that for each of my friends' birthdays, I like to fix them a dessert of their choice. Last year I had a little party for my friend Aaron and when I asked if he knew what he wanted for his birthday dessert, he didn't even have to think about it.  He started raving about this buster bar dessert his mom used to make him and how it was one of his favorites and said he wanted that.  Now, I know better than to try to make mama's dessert, cause it's just never going to be the same, so I decided to tweak it and make him buster bar cupcakes instead!  These are so easy and everyone loved them!  The only thing to keep in mind is that you have to wait for different parts of the dessert to cool or freeze before moving on to the next step, so make sure to allow time for them to fully set!  Also, I think these would be awesome to try with some different flavor combinations.  Ever since I made them last year I've thought how good coffee ice cream with chocolate covered espresso beans would be on top.  What flavor combinations would you like to try?

Buster Bar Cupcakes
24 foil cupcake liners
1 batch of your favorite brownie batter (don't worry, no one will judge if it's a Betty Crocker boxed mix)
1/2 gallon mint chip ice cream (or any other flavor you want) 
Spanish Peanuts (I didn't really measure these out, just sprinkle however many you want on top of the cupcakes)
Chocolate ganache (or a jar of chocolate fudge would work as well)

Directions:
Line two muffin tins with the foil cupcake liners.  Mix up the brownie batter and drop 1 - 1.5 T. into each cupcake liner.  Bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes or until the brownies are cooked through.  Let the brownies cool to room temp, then put them in the freezer (still in the muffin tins) for 30 minutes.  When you put the brownies in the freezer, take the ice cream out and put it into your fridge to soften.  And set a timer so you don't forget your ice cream and end up with ice cream soup!

Take the muffin tins out of the freezer and place a scoop of ice cream into each foil liner on top of the brownie.  Squish it down and spread it evenly with a spoon.  Do this step as quickly as possible and return to the freezer for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, take the cupcakes back out and sprinkle some of the peanuts on top, then return to freezer for another 45 minutes.  If you're making ganache instead of using canned hot fudge, now is a great time to get that started.

Once the cupcakes are firm, take them out of the freezer and top with a heaping teaspoonful of ganache or hot fudge, you want enough to mostly cover the peanuts.  You may need to use a spoon to spread it evenly over the top of the cupcake.  When finished, put the cupcakes back into the freezer until ready to serve.

These are best if they are removed from the freezer about 5 minutes before serving.  It lets them soften the perfect amount before they are devoured!

And if you're interested, here's the chocolate ganache recipe I used:

3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
1/4 cup heavy cream

Put chocolate chips in a small bowl. Bring cream to a simmer in a small heavy saucepan. Pour cream evenly over chocolate. Let stand for one minute to soften, then stir until smooth. Ganache will continue to thicken as it stands, so just wait until it's the desired thickness, and stir occasionally while waiting.

Monday Munchies - Flower Pot Dessert

It's been awhile since I've posted, mainly because I can't even remember the last time I cooked (aside from cooking on the camp stove).  I've had almost two weeks straight of fun adventures and this week isn't slowing down at all.  I'm taking today and tomorrow to do housework (my room looks like a gear store exploded all over the floor) and run errands (like returning the library book I finished 6 weeks ago but have renewed twice since being finished with it, and washing my car that has a solid 1/4" of dust covering it after yesterday's outing to Granite Hot Springs).  Then the rest of the week is filled up with a birthday party, improv show, and bike-in movie on Wednesday night, picking a friend up at the airport and dancing Thursday night, going out on the boat Friday, the rodeo Saturday, and a trip to see the Bar J wranglers on Sunday!  I love that there's so much going on in Jackson and will try to recap some of the last couple of weeks when things slow down again, but in the meantime, I'm pulling a recipe out of the archives!

Two summers ago I started discipling a couple of girls.  We met one night every week to go through A Young Woman After God's Own Heart.  I had seen this idea on The Pioneer Woman's food blog, and  I knew that both of the girls loved ice cream so it seemed like the perfect occasion to fix a couple of these up.  They are really easy and turn out adorable, perfect for a time when you need a quick dessert that's a little dressed up!

Flower Pot Ice Cream Dessert

1 whole Pound Cake (Since I was only making two I just bought some frozen pound cake and used two slices of it, but feel free to make your own!)
1 gallon Ice Cream (I used cookies and cream)
1 package Oreo Cookies
1 package Gummy Worms (optional)
Small Flower Pots
Straws
Fresh Cut or Artificial Flowers

Directions:
Slice the pound cake into 1 to 1 ½ inch slices. Next, with a biscuit cutter or cookie cutter that fits the bottom of the flower pot cut the slices into rounds (the scraps would be great to use in a trifle).

Into each of your (washed and dried) flowerpots, drop a round of pound cake, lightly pressing to make sure they are all the way down (this keeps the melting ice cream from running out of the hole). Hold a straw up against the side of a flowerpot and snip it so it’s about ½ to 1 inch shorter than the top. Then, just use that as a guide to cut the rest of the straws. Stick each straw into the center of each pot, anchoring it into the cake.

Grab whatever flavor ice cream you’d like to use, and either set it out on the counter to soften it OR nuke it for 20 seconds or so. It needs to be somewhat soft for this step. Just spoon it into the pots, working it around the straw, until it almost reaches the very tip top of the straw. Clean up the top edges of the pot with a damp paper towel. Now return the pots to the freezer until firm.

In a food processor pulse the Oreo cookies until they resemble nice, rich topsoil. (Or crush them in a Ziploc bag with a rolling pin). When they are nice and firm, take the pots out of the freezer and spoon the dirt (crushed Oreos) over the top. Be generous here! Place a flower into the straw and then cover the straw with a bit more dirt.

For step-by-step directions with pictures, check out The Pioneer Woman's recipe.

Monday Munchies - Citrus Ice Cream

As you may already know, July is National Ice Cream Month and yesterday was National Ice Cream Day (declared by Ronald Reagan, just one more reason to love the guy)!  I celebrated with a bowl of some homemade Apple Pie Ice Cream that I made on Saturday.  It has a french vanilla base with chunks of caramelized apples and bits of graham cracker, so good and actually tasted just like apple pie!

Although I loved the apple pie flavor, my absolute, hands down, favorite flavor of homemade ice cream is this citrus recipe.  Rich and creamy with banana, orange and lemon flavors, it is SO refreshing on a hot summer day!  Actually, it's good on winter days too.  I requested it for my birthday dessert (in February...unfortunately the idea got shot down). The 4th of July is usually the occasion this ice cream is most likely to show up for, but since I wasn't planning to be home for the 4th (turned out I was) and because I didn't get it for my birthday, my parents made some for me the week before I moved!

We actually have a really funny story about this ice cream too.  My mom always mixes up the base of the ice cream, and then it's my dad's job to churn it and add ice/salt as necessary.  One year the ladies had mixed up the base, and my dad and Steve Burton (the friends from Cali in this post) were churning away.  The ice cream maker is supposed to stop when the ice cream gets thick and properly frozen, but this time it just kept going and going and going, but never freezing.  Turns out (after a couple of hours haha), they forgot to put the paddle in the ice cream maker...oops!  So...if you make this ice cream, make sure your ice cream maker is properly assembled!

Citrus Ice Cream
(This yields about 4 quarts - cut in half if using a small ice cream freezer)
3 c. Milk
3 c. Whipping Cream
3 c. Sugar
3 medium bananas (mashed)
1 c. Freshly squeezed lemon juice (6 or 8 large - the amount of fruit it takes to make the juice varies a lot, these are just estimates, use more or less as needed)
1 c. Freshly squeezed orange juice (5 or 6 large)

Combine milk, cream and sugar in a large bowl and stir until sugar is dissolved. (It's best at this point to put it in the chilled can, and then let chill in the refrigerator until cool)  Transfer to ice cream maker and freeze partially. Blend in bananas and fruit juices and continue freezing until firm. And, my mom adds: "If it takes hours, you have probably forgotten the paddle! "