LOVEZILLA

Mason Jar Watermelon Sorbet

Jul
17

Lime sherbet, pineapple sherbet, raspberry sorbet, and dark chocolate chips…Oh, if you insist. 

If you’re having a summer dinner party, bbq, girlie lunch or a summer birthday bash; this dessert will hit the spot and make you look like you worked all day. 

Fresh, light and super yummy this dessert can be made casual with mason jars or dressed up in a wine glass or cutesy bowl.

There are only a few ingredients but you do have to plan ahead a bit.  Each individual layer needs to be placed in its container and left to harden in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.  If you try to rush it, the sherbets might melt into each other and the layers won’t be as distinct.

It might be fun to make one big “watermelon” in a large bowl and scoop out individual servings. The pineapple sherbet layer can be replaced with vanilla ice cream and it’s just as delicious.

Made it.  Ate it.  Loved it. (As you should).

4 Ingredient “Magic Shell” Chocolate Sauce

Jun
22

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

4 tbsp butter

1/2 cup coconut oil (secret ingredient)

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix all of the above ingredients in a saucepan or double boiler on low heat until incorporated. The sauce will be runny unless you put in on ice cream. ( Coconut oil turns to a solid at 76 degrees).

I know right? Mmmmm. This stuff is delicious. Seriously, look at the picture. This yummy chocolate coconut shell turns “hardish” on the ice cream and stays creamy on the brownie. It’s so good. If you like chocolate and coconut, you’re going to go nuts. My sister invented this recipe! It’s a magic shell without all the waxy stuff you DON’T need. We both have organic coconut in our homes. I have two separate containers of the same coconut oil. One is for the bathroom for skin, and lips. The other is in the kitchen for cooking (and making yummy magic shell).

My sister made this and fed it to me, and fed it to me, (yes, again…as in twice). Shameful? Yes. Delicious? Yes. Worth it? Duh.

Three Thoughts

Jun
01

1)  STRAP IT IN!  I went to the grocery store and watched a woman as she searched frantically for her missing purse.  She had turned her back to pick out some produce and when she turned around, her purse was gone.  Some one was watching and patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity.  All the woman in our family strap it in.  Wrap the seatbelt around your handles several times and click it in.  Face it.  Your purse IS one of your babies!

2) FOLD IT DOWN!

Public bathrooms….Blech. Especially with little kids. It seems like even with the toilet seat cover, your children’s legs or underpants are touching something…..unpleasant.  By simply folding the central piece of the paper cover out and over the front of the toilet, instead of in the bowl, you can change the germ situation by a mile.

3) COVER IT!

so this…

doesn’t get in this.  Did you know that if you cover ice cream with tin foil instead of plastic, the ice clings to the foil and doesn’t get on your ice cream?  Now you do.  No more freezer burn. Mmmmmm.  Just in time for summer.

 

Brownie Points

Apr
22

Ooooh la la. A dainty dessert.

Mmmmm.

The original recipe for these brownie cookies is from PDX Food Love, but being the dainty little dessert gals we are, we had to change it up to make it more. We really make all the recipes for our blog and take the pictures ourselves. We got together the other day to make a few of the recipes for future posts. We don’t live THAT close to each other. We’re what my mother calls: ” G.U.’s” (geographically undesirable). Anyway, when we get together we try to make it count. These brownie cookies were yummy and almost so soft you couldn’t hold them….and so the brownie ice cream sandwich was born.

Better-than-Brownies Chocolate Cookies

Makes 24 large cookies

You will need:

  • 8 ounces semi-sweet baker’s chocolate (don’t use chocolate chips! They have stuff like paraffin in them and aren’t as good).
  • 2 tbsp. butter, cut into small pieces
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 + 1/6 cups sugar (amount is weird because I halved the recipe, but it’s pretty easy to eyeball one half of a 1/3 cup scoop)
  • 1/2 tsp. real vanilla extract (again, use the real thing for true decadence)
  • 1/4 cups AP flour
  • 1/4 tsp. baking powder

Start by melting the chopped chocolate and the butter in a heat-safe bowl in a double boiler (put the bowl over an inch of water in a pot. Try to get similar sizes so the bowl is pretty steady on top of the pot). Keep the temperature on medium low – ideally this will go pretty slowly so no burning takes place.

While the chocolate is melting, use a whisk to mix together the sugar, eggs and vanilla separately. When the chocolate and butter have melted into a smooth liquid, take it off the heat, and temper with the egg by adding a teensy bit of chocolate to the egg at a time, so you don’t get chunks of cooked egg. Eventually you will be able to just add the rest of the chocolate. Be careful – the bowl will probably still be warm.

Stir in the flour and baking powder, and drop onto cookie sheets with either parchment or silicone baking mats (don’t skip this on these cookies). I would also do no more than 6 to a sheet, because they do spread quite a bit. Bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees, and allow to cool on the tray, ideally set on a baking rack.

While the cookies were cooling, we allowed some vanilla ice cream to soften a bit. When it’s soft enough to handle, scoop out a chunk and form it to fit the cookies. Truthfully we put a plastic bag on our hands and formed the ice cream to fit the cookie. Wrap each cookie in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer. You could even roll the edges in sprinkles to make them fun for a party. Peppermint,cherry chocolate,chocolate chip, orange sherbet. Go nuts…. Mmmmm. Nuts. Those would be good too.

* Makes 12 ice cream sandwiches

 

Muzzy’s Delicious Hot Fudge

Mar
20

My husband’s family makes hot fudge for every get together.  EVERY get together.  We’ve been married for 25 years so I’ve eaten gallons of hot fudge.  Sadly, parts of me make that obvious to the human eye.  Anyway, legend has it that this was grandma Naoma’s (Mu’s) recipe.  I have teased my hubby for years because I believe the recipe was probably on the back of the sweetened condensed milk, but as far as everyone’s concerned, it’s Muzzy’s.  Truthfully, Mu was a fantastic cook.  She could make anything and it was delicious.  My husband is convinced that any good recipe ever written was invented by his grandmother.  When we were first married he’d ask me if something I was making was the way Mu made it, from a tuna sandwich to cake.  When I read him the post for today and asked if the comment annoyed him (about the recipe being on the milk can) he said simply, “Well, she probably sent the recipe to them.”  There you have it.

Mu’s Hot Fudge Sauce is a four ingredient recipe that is a cinch to make.  I keep semi-sweet chocolate in the freezer so I always have it on hand.  It’s so yummy it will make you look like you tried harder than you did to make a delicious dessert.  Bet it will become one of your favorites too.

Muzzie’s Hot Fudge

2 squares semi-sweet chocolate

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 tbsp. butter

1 tsp. vanilla

Melt chocolate and sweetened condensed milk in microwave or double boiler.  When chocolate has melted completely, add butter and vanilla. Stir to combine.  It makes practically any flavor of ice cream twice as  delicious.  Peppermint is my fave.