amy’s ice creams

On the corner of Shepherd and 59 lies Amy’s Ice Creams (http://www.amysicecreams.com/). You’ll see the cow sitting atop the shop with neon red lights. This lovely ice cream shop has been there for years and I can say I’ve only been a handful of times because, until recently, I lived too far. Based in Austin, the location off of Shepherd is the only location in Houston. Thanks to Miss Emmarose’s mention of it in a comment, I craved it and managed to convince a friend to come with and buy me some this Saturday night. Thanks Joseph ^__^ I am now a happy camper.

There’s a variety of flavors to choose from and the menu will often change as all ice creams are home made. Now, while you can pick and choose your ice cream flavors and toppings, they have some ice cream concoctions that are already pre-set. One such example would be the Cookie Monster. Your choice of ice cream with 3 different types of cookies mixed in.

Amy’s carries non-fat non-sugar yogurts, smoothies, fruit ices, etc. I have yet to venture from the ice cream, but I’ve been told the fruit ices are pretty delicious. Well, I’m sure the guy making the Cookie Monster was wondering why in the world I was taking photos of him smushing cookies into ice cream, and if he ever reads this he’ll stop and say, “Ahhh…that’s why…”. Tonight, I decided on sweet cream ice cream, with bananas and topped with hot fudge. Why not get a banana split you say? Because Amy’s says I don’t have to be like everyone else and get a banana split. I can get it mushed. And Marie had the rose ice cream. It actually tasted quite rosy.

Amy’s is fun and the decor is bright and even has a brick wall where people have left there mark at Amy’s with their permanent markers. It makes me wonder why so many people walk around with markers in their possession. Go. Get some ice cream. Go to Amy’s. They’re open late on weekends. =D

–chelle

16 Handles… of yogurt

Half eaten before I remembered the camera.

16 Handles (153 2nd Ave. New York, NY 10079) is different from the crop of fro-yo joints popping up all over. They have 16 flavors of yogurt (2 of which is non dairy sorbet) and a huge toppings bar. It is self serve; you pay by weight $0.46/oz (mine was $4.30, everyone else I saw filled up far more than me). I didn’t get to all the flavors this time, only the mango and raspberry sorbet, the green tea, plain and euro ‘tart’ yogurt. I found the sorbets a bit too sweet, the green tea was good and so were the plain ones. I skipped all the toppings (diced fresh fruits, candies/cereals, and they also had mini mochi which I always like). I can’t really tell the difference between the two yogurts (euro and plain), but I liked them as much or more than Pinkberry’s. They try to use eco-friendly materials; I love the wood spoons but I saw others with plastic ones too. I think it’s a bonus that you can control your serving size, unless you are not big on self control.

-L

Mad for madeleines, red bean and green tea

With eggs in hand I can finally make the madeleines that I wanted. When I bought the red bean flour I wanted to make red bean pound cake but I preferred to mix red bean paste into the batter for a marbled effect. Later on I was contemplating cookies but still didn’t think the powder form was the way to go. Then I got the madeleine pan and it was perfect. Red bean goes best with green tea, so I divided up the batter half red bean flavor and half green tea. The red bean didn’t get the color I had hoped for, it’s probably best to use smooth red bean paste in the future, or use more red bean flour, or maybe cook it first. Color aside (they were still a pretty pink) they were so good, perfectly fluffy and crispy and light. It makes about three batches of 24 minis (if I had filled it better, they expand a lot). I’m buying more madeleine pans now.

Green Tea / Red Bean Madeleines

• 1/3 cup organic shortening or butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup almond flour/meal
• 3/4 flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp red bean flour
• 1 1/2 tsp green tea powder or matcha

batter was fluffy like frosting

Cream together sugar and shortening, then incorporate one egg at a time. Mix till completely blended. Add in almond flour and mix thoroughly. Then add flour and baking powder, mix briefly till smooth. Preheat oven to 350º. Separate half of the batter into a new bowl; add green tea powder to one bowl and red bean flour to the other. With spatula or spoon, fold green tea/red bean into batter. Grease pan, and pray for minimal sticking. Try to under fill the molds (kind of hard with the thick batter), they will expand. Bake for 13-15min (for mini pans) when the edges just turn light brown. Cool for 5min before popping them out.

-L

Homemade apple sauce

The hubby was ill all this week too, and now finally showing signs of improvement. Earlier in the week he wanted apple sauce, I had some apples in the fridge and figured I’d give it a try. At first I was wondering how long do I have to cook it to get it mushy, then I remembered I had an immersion blender (so it didn’t matter). Then later on I realized that I could’ve just blended the apples raw. But I guess cooking it gave it a smoother texture. The red apple skins made it a pretty rosy color and it was far better than store bought apple sauce. I’m feeling quite worn out this week and can’t think off the top of my head what else to do with apple sauce (pork chops, for the meat-eaters?).

Apple sauce

• 3 small apples (I had the kid sized organic ones from Whole Foods)
• 2/3 – 3/4 cup water (enough to submerge but not to cover all the apples)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• squeeze of lemon (1tsp more or less)
• dash of cinnamon
• pinch of cloves

Core and dice apples, with skins on (if organic, peel otherwise). Put in pot with water, sugar and spices. Simmer for 10min. Take off heat and use immersion blender to puree or put into blender/food processor. If it’s too thin, put back into pot and simmer till desired consistency and adjust sugar if necessary.

Apple sauce in tarts? I have to try that later.

 -L

Chocolate madeleines

I had bought some dark chocolate bars that I didn’t like very much. They were too strong at 75% cocoa without any vanilla and scant sugar in it. So I melted them down with some almond milk, sugar, and vanilla into a ganache-like consistency. I was keeping it in the fridge for a while (wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it). Then I got my mini-madeleine pan just when I ran out of eggs. But I went ahead and made madeleines anyway. So they are vegan now.

Vegan Chocolate (mini) Madeleines

• 11 oz dark chocolate (approximately)
• 1/2 cup almond milk or soy milk
• 1/3-1/2 cup sugar (depending on the sweetness of the chocolate and liquid)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup flour

Heat liquid and dissolve sugar. Break chocolate into small chucks and melt in liquid over very low heat. Add vanilla, once incorporated, let cool till lukewarm or room temp before stirring in flour.

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray madeleine pan with oil, optional but they will probably come out easier (I didn’t spray my pans and there was minimal sticking). I tried not to over fill the molds. Bake for 15-17 minutes. This made exactly four batches with my mini madeleine pan (I only have one pan that makes 24 at a time).

I found out that I didn’t have to clean out the pan after each batch. Let it cool for 5min, and pop them out. Just refill pan when it’s cooled to the touch even if there’s a crumb layer stuck on. It pops out about the same each time. They have a fudgy brownie texture. After 15min of baking they are very moist, another minute or two will dry them more and give them a crispier edge.

 -L

also check out red bean and green tea madeleines 

Dulce de coco bread

Dulce de coco bread (¿pan de dulce de coco?)***

• 3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup semolina flour *
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp yeast
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 3 tbsp olive oil (or melted butter/organic shortening)
• 3/4 – 1 cup** dulce de coco (or any caramel sauce/dulce de leche)
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup** chopped pecans (or any nut)

*I always add a tablespoon or two of semolina flour to regular flour when making bread instead of using special bread flour for extra gluten. I ran out of regular flour when I was making this and ended up using a half cup of semolina, resulting in a more elastic and yellow dough. It’s a good ingredient to have around for bread making and polenta (mixed in for a smoother texture).

**Adjust it accordingly to your preferences.

*** I never took Spanish in high school, hence the question marks.

This is after the first rising.

Mix together flour, semolina (or just more flour if you don’t have it), salt, sugar, and yeast. Beat eggs, water and oil together and mix into the dry ingredients. Work the dough together for about 10-15mins (mixing or kneading); it may need extra flour if it’s too wet or water if it’s too dry. The dough will be become smoother but still a little sticky. Loosely cover and set aside somewhere warm till it has doubled it size.

If you haven’t made the dulce de coco beforehand this would be the time to do it. In whatever pan you want to bake in (make sure it’s somewhat deep, you’ll need room for it to rise), pour in the caramel and nuts.

After the dough has risen, break off pieces about the size of small baseballs; roll them in the caramel and arrange them in the pan. Set aside in a warm place till they doubled in size again. In a preheated oven at 375º, bake for 25mins. After a short cooling, you can flip them out easily.

They taste best when warm, pulls apart easily too.

 - L

P.S. I added banners on the right for my links, check them out.

Dulce de Coco

After seeing all the dulce de leche recipes on TasteSpotting lately I was really craving some badly. But I wanted a non dairy version to please the hubby and to save up my dairy points (for frozen treats later). I went with coconut milk and it turned out better than I expected. It reminded me of coconut caramel candies and has a really silky texture, totally addictive. It’s pretty easy to make but you need to keep your eyes on it the whole time. 

Dulce de Coco/ Coconut caramel sauce

• 1 can (14oz) full fat coconut milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp water

In a heavy bottom sauce pan, heat up the sugar and water on high. Open can of coconut milk and leave aside. Let the sugar boil, the bubbles should be going very rapidly and large when all the water boils away. Now you have to watch it intensely. The color will first turn light amber, with a long metal spoon you can stir and lift the sugar up, checking on the color. When it looks like a medium dark maple syrup, turn down the heat, pour in the coconut milk. Bring heat back up high; keep stirring till it’s all incorporated. Keep boiling till desired thickness.

It made about a jelly jar full, used half for a sticky bun recipe http://eatyet.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/dulce-de-coco-bread/.

 -L

mini baked donuts

This recipe is courtesy of veganyumyum. I tweaked things as always, but my brother showed me this recipe the other day and asked if I would help him make it, and I said yes, of course. Here’s a story though. We went to two grocery stores and a target before we finally found some silicone bundt cake things. We almost gave up on this, but luckily we found some that we could use for the donut shape.

Mini Baked Donuts :

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 c. all purpose flour
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1.5 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• pinch of ground cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 /2 c. soymilk (we used a vanilla light soymilk)
• 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 c. egg beaters (or any other egg substitute) or 1 egg, whichever you prefer
• 4 tbs. butter (or earth balance, which is some organic butter substitute)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together and set aside. In a small sauce pan, place butter, milk, vinegar and vanilla and heat on low to med heat until butter is halfway melted. THEN, bring heat to low and add egg. I suggest adding the egg last. See, I had to throw away my first batch because I put the heat too high and the egg started to cook. It looked like scrambled eggs.  The mixture should be warm enough to touch, but not hot or else it’ll be too hot for the dough. Be sure to continously mix the wet ingredients while butter is melting. Once butter is melted, take wet mixture and slowly add to bowl of dry ingredients and mix together until you get a soft dough. I think our dough was a little softer and not as clumpy looking, but it still turned out well. Fill bundt pans about 1/2 way. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes. Use toothpick test to make sure they’re done.

Before glazing and adding all sorts of toppings, allow donuts to completely cool. To make chocolate glaze, get one bag of milk chocolate choco chips and melt in a double boiler. To make a sugar glaze, use 1/2 c. confectioners sugar and mix with 1.5 tsp. soymilk. Whisk together and you should have a nice glaze for your donuts. Add any toppings you like and enjoy.

We tried not to eat them all tonight, but failed miserably. They’re all gone now. Also, the other recipe says it yields 20 mini donuts, but we barely managed to get 10, so I’m thinking it all has to do with the pan used. See, I can make semi healthy things too! hahaha ^__^ Till next time!

P.S. These were REALLY good. I’m so not the healthy one on this blog, but the nutmeg and cinnamon add great flavor and the texture of the donut was just so melt in your mouth yums.

–Chelle

Blueberry crumb cake

The secret is, blueberries are in the cake and crumb top. 

Blueberry Crumb Cake

cake:

• 1/2 cup organic shortening or butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup almond flour
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1 tsp baking powder

crumb top:

• 1/3 cup organic shortening or butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup graham flour or whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350º. For the cake, cream together the shortening and sugar, then add in the eggs one at a time. Mix in all the rest of the ingredients except for the blueberries, which you fold into the batter last. Pour into 8×8 inch pan. In a different bowl (or the same one after you scrape out all the batter), mix all the ingredients (except the almonds and blueberries) with a spoon till it looks like a loose crumb mixture. Stir in almonds and blueberries. Pour on top of the cake batter. Bake for 45mins.

 - L

Banana Muffins

When I crave muffins it’s usually blueberry but I had just bought a lot of raisins.

In the past I’ve had bad experiences with muffin liners, but I decided to give them another try and it turned out perfect. The wrapper came off with ease, the top was crispy and the center moist. They went faster than usual; I hoped I would have some left for breakfast.

Spiced Banana Raisin Oatmeal Muffins

• 1 banana
• 3/4 cup sugar +1 tsp molasses (or 1 cup dark brown sugar)*
• 1/2 cup organic shortening (or butter)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup hazelnut flour (or whole wheat flour)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• dash of cloves
• dash of cardamom

*I tend to add molasses to sugar in baking instead of buying brown sugar. Packaged brown sugar always turns into an unusable brick in a few weeks.

Preheat oven to 350°. Break up the banana into large chunks, add sugar and molasses, mix briefly. Then add shortening, mix till completely smooth, and then add eggs one at a time till incorporated. Then mix in spices, oats, and raisins; followed by the rest of the dry ingredients. Grease or line your muffin pan and fill to 1/4 inch below the rim. I made only 10 muffins that way; if you distribute less per cup you can make 12 smaller ones. Bake for 25mins, check with a skewer.

and then there were none…