Chèvre Frozen Yogurt with Pistachio Crunch and Beet-Lime Ganache {Milk Bar Monday 5/7}

chèvre frozen yogurt

Welcome to another Milk Bar Monday!

This week we tackled our most challenging recipe yet. It was a multiple step process with weird ingredients.

It all started out a little rocky for me when I was looking through the recipe, trying to figure out what all I needed, and saw the pistachio crunch required pistachio nut paste and feuilletineUmm…what??

When I went to my local grocery store I knew there was no way they would have either one of these speciality items. As I was walking around I called all the health food stores, grocery stores, and kitchen supply stores in West Lafayette and Carmel.

beets Chèvre Frozen Yogurt with Pistachio Crunch and Beet Lime Ganache {Milk Bar Monday 5/7}

No such luck with anything. After a quick google search I found I could make my own pistachio paste and substitute the feuilletine with corn flakes. No big deal…or so I thought!

Making the pistachio nut paste turned out to be super expensive (1 cup of pistachios at my store = $8) and not as easy as I expected. I actually overheated my Vitamix forcing me to use my little hand choppy thing and do it in small batches.

pistachios Chèvre Frozen Yogurt with Pistachio Crunch and Beet Lime Ganache {Milk Bar Monday 5/7}

I also ended up having to add some green food coloring, otherwise it would have been a gross brown paste. So not appetizing. 

The beets took forever to roast to a mushy state and I was a little worried the ganache was going to break with the lime juice, but it luckily all worked out.

beet puree Chèvre Frozen Yogurt with Pistachio Crunch and Beet Lime Ganache {Milk Bar Monday 5/7}

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Watermelon Soup

watermelon soup

Before you click away because this is something so completely unheard of on a sweets website, hear me out! 

My friend Keely over at Gormandize with A-dizzle and K-bobo is hosting a vegan soup hop this week and I thought that sounded like the perfect challenge for a sweet baker.

In my daily life I’m pretty much as far as I can be from vegan – eggs and bacon for breakfast, turkey sandwiches or ramen for lunch, meat and potato type dinners….and of course baked good after baked good.

chopped watermelon Watermelon Soup

But all of us need some balance in our lives so I figured this was a good place to start.

Watermelon is one of my favorite fruits. I love it. It totally reminds me of being 5 and having seed spitting contests in the summer.

After a bit of consulting with friends on Twitter I was inspired to make a soup with gazpacho type flavors. After ripping through all my cupboards I realized I didn’t have anything gazpacho like!

ingredients Watermelon Soup

So I stuck to what I know – sweets. 

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Strawberry Rhubarb Hand Pies #SundaySupper

hand pie

I am so excited to be participating in another #SundaySupper! It’s been a while since I’ve been able to join in on the fun, but this weekend finally worked out.

This #SundaySupper is focused on showers – as in baby and bridal showers.

This time of year is lovely for both of those things. So I tried to think of something “springy.”

My bf is a big fan of strawberry rhubarb pie and suggests it often. Strawberry rhubarb screams spring to me, so I decided to go with it this time and make little hand pies.

strawberries Strawberry Rhubarb Hand Pies #SundaySupper

I like the half moon shape of the hand pies, but if you want a fun shape go for it! Hearts would be cute.

Thank you to Isabel at Family Foodie for letting me jump in on this one and Liz Lange for helping plan the perfect shower! And don’t forget to check out the other #SundaySupper recipes from Renee at Magnolia Day and Sunithi at Sue’s Nutrition Buzz. [Read more...]

Arugula Pesto Bread for #greenslove

pesto swirl bread

This month’s theme for the #lovebloghop was leafy greens! That’s right, March is #greenslove. Be sure to add any of your March 2012 recipes that include leafy greens to the hop!

I must admit, when I first saw that the theme for this month was leafy greens I was stumped.

Desserts don’t usually have leafy greens in them.

That thought got me to bread. Bread would be more likely to have a leafy green in it somewhere.

arugula pesto bowl Arugula Pesto Bread for #greenslove

And then it struck me, pesto! I once made an arugula pesto in high school. This was the perfect time to retest that recipe and use it as a bread filling!

This bread even pleased the previously pesto hating boyfriend.

I recommend it toasted for breakfast with eggs. Or as the bread in a grilled chicken panini.

finished bread  Arugula Pesto Bread for #greenslove

What would you eat with this pesto swirled bread?

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Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

toasted coconut ice cream

Ice cream is one of my favorite things to make. It’s so simple.

Make the base a night or two before you want to be eating ice cream. Prepare the ice cream maker (for me that means freeze the bowl 24 hours in advance).

Then churn away! Now you have freshly made ice cream.

Eat as is for a soft serve treat, or freeze in a covered container for a more traditional ice cream texture.

The other great thing about ice cream: the variations. There are so many different options for flavor, and so many different ways to infuse said flavor!

toasted coconut ice cream Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

This toasted coconut ice cream is one of the most intensely coconut ice creams I’ve had. Perfect for the coconut connoisseur.

While eating this I’m taken back to the scenic upcountry drive on Maui, eating freshly made coconut candy.

Escape to your own tropical paradise with this toasted coconut ice cream today!

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