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Halvah Ice Cream

My friend Suzanne recently recommended Lauren Shockey’s memoir, Four Kitchens, to me. Shockey wrote the book about the year she spent as a stage, or unpaid apprentice, in restaurants in Manhattan, Hanoi, Tel Aviv, and Paris. It was not my favorite kitchen memoir (I prefer the brash, in-your-face descriptions of Anthony Bourdain’s writing), but I did find her discussion of routines in the different kitchens and the amount of detailed preparation that went into some dishes fascinating.

Her recipe for Halvah Ice Cream comes from her stint in Israel. I am in love with halvah, a sweet, flaky, ground sesame seed confection that I adore. Some people dip it in chocolate, but you will not be surprised to hear that I like it plain, without that unnecessary adornment.

This was my first time making ice cream by myself. J. and the boys bought me the ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid mixer earlier this year, and although J. has made a couple of batches of ice cream this was my first go. I was very pleased with the flavor, and the recipe “ripens,” or hardens, into a proper, scoopable dessert. However, mine did not turn out silky smooth, as J.’s salted caramel version did. It had very fine lumps in it, even though I strained it carefully. As an ice cream-making newbie, I don’t have a solution to that problem yet, but I tend to think it had to do with the texture of the tahini, and not that I curdled the eggs.

Since I didn’t nail the recipe the first time, I have an excuse to make it again. (And you won’t hear me complaining about that.)

Halvah Ice Cream
Adapted slightly from Lauren Shockey’s book, Four Kitchens

1 c. whole milk
1½ c. heavy cream
1/8 tsp. kosher salt
1 c. sugar, divided
3 eggs, separated
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 c. sesame paste (tahini)

Pour the milk, cream, salt and half the sugar into a heavy pot. Cover and, with a watchful eye, cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a boil. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and remaining sugar in a small bowl. (Save the egg whites to make yourself a nice omelette — you’ll want something light to balance out the ice cream!)

Once the milk mixture has come to a boil, lower the heat and slowly ladle a little bit into the sugar and egg yolks, whisking as you go. This will temper the egg yolks, warming them, which prevents them from turning into scrambled eggs when you add them to the hot liquid. Once you’ve added a ladle-full of liquid to the eggs, add the egg mixture back into the pot on the stove.

Add the vanilla extract and sesame paste and cook over medium heat, whisking gently but constantly, for about 7 minutes. Strain the mixture through a chinois into a bowl. The mixture will strain slowly, but don’t push the batter through. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Transfer to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions.

2 Comments March 6, 2012

Dairy-Free Frosted Birthday Cake

I love having a reason to bake a cake. I don’t bake cakes as an after-school treat (cookies rule!), as we just don’t want that much of a tempting sweet around unless it’s easy to parcel out and freeze. But for birthdays, I’m all about baking a cake!

This weekend we celebrated several January birthdays in our family, and I was tasked with bringing a pareve, or non-dairy, cake. My mom keeps a kosher home, and she and my dad were serving deli for our lunch gathering, so I had to find recipes without butter and milk.

The night before our event, I baked two rounds of Black Chocolate Cake, using dark cocoa powder and Earth Balance butter sticks for the shortening. It was gorgeous and moist — truly more black than dark brown.

Since buttercream frosting wasn’t an option, I decided to try my hand at White Meringue Frosting. Egg whites are whisked with lots of sugar and a little vanilla extra over a double-boiler, until the eggs reach a temperature of 160°F and all the sugar is dissolved. Although the recipe cautions about thoroughly dissolving the sugar to avoid a grainy end product, I wasn’t totally successful. I did whisk that mixture by hand, on the stove, for 20 minutes though! The cooked mixture felt and tasted smooth to me, but once it was whipped in the KitchenAid the graininess became more pronounced. Regardless, the frosting was tasty and my father-in-law actually thought the sugar granules were an on-purpose, delicious feature. A. did not — upon tasting it, he immediately asked why there were “crumbs” in the frosting.

The cake was a big success, and I am sure I can do a better job on the frosting next time. If you need a non-dairy frosted cake for allergy or kashrut reasons, I can definitely recommend this one. And here’s the evidence:

4 Comments January 16, 2012

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie in a Skillet

I was attracted to 101 Cookbooks’ Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookies Recipe for two reasons: it uses whole wheat flour exclusively, instead of a blend of AP and whole wheat; and the novelty of baking the cookie in a cast iron skillet.

I simplified the recipe a bit, creaming the butter and sugar in my mixer and then just dumping the rest of the ingredients along with it. (I wasn’t about to use multiple bowls for a chocolate chip cookie — I’m lazy like that.) I also used a 12 oz. bag of semisweet chocolate chunks instead of cut up a bar of chocolate myself.

The boys thought this “cookie cake” was very cool. It reminded me of my high school afternoons, working at the Nanuet Mall. There was a Great American Cookie Co. across the aisle from my store, and their cookie cakes were all the rage in early 90s. The boys wanted to cut this cookie up into pizza wedges, but even though I cut the slices thin they still felt very large because of the diameter of the pan.

The cookie is a bit dense because of the whole wheat flour, but my kids definitely did not realize it was any different than a sweet made with all-purpose flour. I wound up freezing half the cookie, and it still tasted fresh once defrosted. While we enjoyed the novelty of this skillet cookie, we’ll probably stick to our tried-and-true drop cookies in the future.

1 Comment January 11, 2012

Martha Stewart’s Pretzel-Shortbread Bars

I ripped this recipe for Pretzel-Shortbread Bars out of the October 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living — the mix of salty pretzels and sweet cookies caught my eye. I was considering making these treats for a holiday cookie exchange later this month, but since the recipe was new to me I wanted to test out a smaller batch first. Luckily, I have plenty of people willing to eat my test batches!

The reviews attached to the recipe were unanimous: the pan size stated is far too large. Either use the ingredient quantities as listed and bake in an 8″x8″ pan, or double the ingredients and bake in a 9″x13″. I did the latter. This is a very easy recipe, though it requires the use of two small appliances: a food processor and a mixer (stand or handheld). I love the idea of making a flour out of ground pretzels in addition to including larger pretzel pieces in the dough. However, I did not think the pretzels on top were necessary at all — although I pressed them down into the dough, most of them fell off and made serving an already (purposely) hard cookie more difficult to eat.

The flavor, though, was really lovely. Very buttery, mildly sweet, and wonderfully salty all at the same time. I love that there is no chocolate called for here: it would be easy to recommend a drizzle of chocolate on top, but it is not needed and would just take away from the unique salty sweetness of this cookie.

My boys thought these cookies were “weird” and “interesting.” They have eaten more than one but told me not to make them again. G. said he would like the cookie part if I put chocolate chips in the dough instead of the pretzels! It is a delicious shortbread base. While I enjoyed these bars, I wouldn’t make them again unless someone asked for them by name.

2 Comments December 8, 2011