First popsicles, now ice cream? Yes, because it's PEANUT BUTTER & CHOCOLATE!!!

Making popsicles in the Zoku reminded me of my old Donvier Ice Cream maker. We bought it back in the 90s, and design-wise, it's similar to the Zoku. You've got a metal canister filled with coolant that goes in the freezer, and once the coolant is frozen you put the ice cream wannabe liquid in the canister & crank the dasher occasionally. 20 minutes or so later and you get soft serve. Freeze it to get full-blown ice cream. Sweet!

My favorite flavor of ice cream, since my youth, has been peanut butter & chocolate. No, not peanut butter ice cream with chocolate bits. That's just so wrong, Ben & Jerry! You want it like old school Baskin Robbins, where I enjoyed many pb & c cones as a child. Chocolate ice cream with peanut butter chunks...that's good eatin'! So now at 41 years old I decide it's time to make some pb & c ice cream at home, since I've got this Donvier machine waiting to be used again. I planned to make Cook's Illustrated chocolate ice cream & then add peanut butter, so I searched for "peanut butter chocolate ice cream" to get ingredients for the peanut butter "ribbon". And the first recipe that came up was from Joy the Baker's site, http://www.joythebaker.com/ . Looking at the recipe, I said, heck, I'm just going to try this one! I found the use of cornstarch in the base instead of eggs particularly intriguing, especially since I'm not very fond of eggs. (Cookies & cakes & meatloaves are fine for eggs. Raw or partially cooked eggs are yucky, IMO. And I only eat scrambled eggs once or twice a year. They are just not my favorite thing.)

I did a few things differently from her recipe. I used darker chocolate (a Dutch cocoa blend for the cocoa, and a 60% semisweet/bittersweet chocolate chip) in order to get a richer chocolate flavor. I also added some agave syrup (probably no more than 1/4 cup) to the natural peanut butter to sweeten the pb, since I think they usually sweeten the peanut butter in the commercial recipes. You can find Joy's original Double Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream here: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/07/double-chocolate-peanut-butter-ice-cream/ . And yes, you should go there. :)

The other difference for me, aside from the different chocolate and the sweetened pb, is that I didn't have whole milk on hand. So I used 1 1/2 cups of 2% milk plus 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream for the 2 cups of whole milk, and used 1/4 cup 2% and 1/4% heavy whipping cream for the 1/2 cup of whole milk that gets mixed with the cornstarch. Hey, don't judge; it worked out ok. :)

And tastewise? Well, I'm blogging about it, aren't I? :D Really, really good ice cream. The texture is akin to a super-premium ice cream like Ben & Jerry's , although part of the texture will depend on your ice cream maker. (The more air that gets whipped into the ice cream, the "icier" and less dense your final product will be, I believe.) I like to think this ice cream is what frozen Nutella would be like, if Nutella was made with peanuts instead of hazelnuts. Maybe it comes off more like a frozen custard or frozen pudding, but I don't care. I just want to eat it! Chances are if you're a pb & c freak like me, you'll want it,too.

Yummy Red Velvet Cake w/ cream cheese frosting!

Ok, I don't have time to type up the recipe and I haven't taken any photos yet. But here's where you can get the recipe for the red velvet cake & cream cheese frosting that I used for my cupcakes yesterday. The only difference is that I portioned the cake batter into 24 cupcakes, and cooked them for 18 minutes. I also halved the frosting since I figured half would be enough for the cupcakes, as opposed to the layer cake. (I was right; I have almost a cup of frosting left over in the fridge.)

The cake is good, but I'm particularly impressed with the frosting. Perfect texture, easy, and it's more reminiscent of a buttercream frosting flavored with cream cheese. I find it to be a perfect blend of sweetness with a light cream cheese flavor. Already I'm thinking of trying this on my favorite banana chip snack cake. (Also an ATK recipe from one of their cookbooks; it's fabulous!)

You'll probably need to create a login account with Cook's Country TV, but it's free and believe me, the ATK crew's recipes are well worth having. Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Country are my go-to recipes. I've loved them for years. :)

Go here to get the Red Velvet Cake & Cream Cheese Frosting recipe from Cook's Country. (Remember that you may need to create a login to view it, plus the recipes are only free during the current season of Cook's Country. So this recipe may not be available for free, depending on when you're reading this post.)

Yummy! Microwave Chocolate Pudding

So, a recipe that I find myself making often lately is this quick & easy chocolate pudding. I have to admit that I like making things from scratch more than from mixes. I have a hard time justifying the cost for convenience foods. Although, I know that a box of instant pudding isn't all that expensive, but this tastes much better. :)

This is from the 365 Great Chocolate Desserts cookbook.

OLD-FASHIONED MICROWAVE CHOCOLATE PUDDING

1/2 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups milk

2 (1 oz.) squares unsweetened chocolate, cut up

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a 2 qt. glass bowl, mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt until well blended. Gradually whisk in milk until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Add chocolate.

Cook in a microwave oven on High 7 to 9 minutes, whisking every 2 minutes, until mixture is cooked through, smooth, and thickened. Whisk in vanilla. Pour into 4 individual serving dishes.* Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on top. Refrigerate until cold.

* I just put it in a plastic container in the fridge with the plastic wrap and then portion it out as needed.