desserts Archives - 2 Sisters 2 Cities

Posted by Keelin Hollenbeck on July 1, 2013

Pistachio Ice Cream

I finally indulged in a KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment for my mixer the other weekend. I was planning to wait for my birthday that is in a few weeks, but I found a really great deal on one that I could not say no to. It was extremely difficult to decide on what flavor ice cream I wanted to create first. I read through lists and lists of flavors as my boyfriend and I drove to the grocery store. My favorite type of hard ice cream is chocolate with peanut butter swirl, which we happened to have a pint of in the freezer. We decided to go my boyfriend’s favorite flavor, pistachio nut.

I found an awesome recipe online and picked up the ingredients while we were grocery shopping. I was able to find shelled pistachios which only came in salted. I rinsed the salt off of the 1 and 1/3 cups of pistachios that were going to soak in the milk/cream mixture and then baked them for 5 minutes in the oven to dry them out. I kept the other pistachios that were added to the ice cream salted and it seemed to work out perfectly. I added a small amount of green dye to the ice cream to make it looks like the classic pistachio ice cream. This is optional of course.

The custard tasted like delicious pistachio ice cream right away so we anxiously waited for it to chill, churn into ice cream and then freeze all the way in the freezer. When we finally got to taste the end results, it was awesome! I was very impressed with my first ice cream making experience. I am not over-exaggerating when I say thi,s but it was the best pistachio ice cream I had ever tasted!

Homemade Ice Cream

Pistachio Ice Cream

Author: 2 Sisters 2 Cities

Ingredients

1⅓ cups shelled roasted pistachio nuts
¾ cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
pinch of salt
6 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. almond extract
Green food coloring
¾ cups pistachios, roughly chopped

Instructions

If your pistachios are salted- follow this first step. Rinse 1⅓ cup of pistachios with water in a colander. Dry nuts on a towel and spread out on a baking sheet lined with parchment papers. Place in oven heated to 350 degree and place in the over for five minutes to dry.
Add nuts to a food processor and grind into small pieces. Set aside.
In a medium sauce pan; add milk, sugar, 1 cup of cream, and salt. Heat on medium-low heat until warmed. Take off heat and stir in ground pistachios. Let soak for 30 minutes.
Strain the nut mixture liquid with a mesh strainer, apply pressure to the nuts to make sure all the liquid comes out. Dispose the nuts and add milk mixture back into sauce pan.
In a large heat proof bowl add the remaining 1 cup of cream to bowl and place cleaned mesh strainer on top.
In a medium sized bowl beat 6 egg yolks with a whisk. Slowly whisk egg yolks into sauce pan with milk mixture. Heat mixture over medium heat stirring the entire time with a heat proof rubber spatula. Stir until the custard thickens and easily coats the spatula.
Pour the custard through the strainer into the cream in the large bowl. Stir to combine.
Mix in the vanilla and almond extract into custard.
Add custard to an air-tight container and refrigerate until completely chilled.
Add chilled custard to your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Once ice cream is churned add in green food coloring, adding a few drops at first and working up to the green color you prefer (this is optional, it does not add to the flavor.)
Gently stir in roughly chopped pistachios and place back into an airtight container. Freeze for an addition 3-4 hours until complete frozen. Serve and enjoy!

Bowl of Pistachio Ice Cream

Source: slightly adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

sisterk (2)

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on August 15, 2012

At last- the recipe you have been waiting for! It’s the final dessert recipe from my family’s Fourth of July Party, the salted caramel brownies. I have been waiting to post this recipe because I wanted to bake them again for a baby shower that I was going to. Let me tell you, these brownies are to die for! At both parties these brownies went very quickly and everyone who got to try them loved them. One of my good friends I work with told me that she wants me to make these for her birthday next year. I am totally okay with is because I would love another excuse to make these brownies again.

I am starting to wonder what world was like before this whole salted caramel thing came around. I hope it is here to stay because I love love love it!! The combination of the salt and sweet caramel is so amazing. I assure you there will be plenty more salted caramel recipes to come on this blog because this girl can’t get enough.

Sea Salt Caramel Brownies

Author: K

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 24

Ingredients

For the caramel sauce: 1 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup water
2 tbsp. corn syrup
½ cup heavy cream, warmed in microwave for 15 seconds
1 tsp. fleur de sel or kosher salt
¼ cup sour cream
For the brownies: 1¼ cups AP flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 tbsp. cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
11 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1½ cups sugar
½ cup brown sugar, packed
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
For topping: 1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. fleur de sel or kosher salt

Instructions

To make caramel sauce- mix sugar, corn syrup and water in a sauce pan. Heat on stove top over medium high heat, stirring frequently until the mixture reaches 350 degrees on a candy thermometer. The mixture should be deep gold in color. Remove from heat and slowly whisk in heavy cream. Once the cream is all mixed in add in salt and sour cream and stir until smooth. Set caramel aside while making brownie batter.
For brownies- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9X13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.
In a small bowl whisk together flour, salt and cocoa powder and set aside.
In a large microwavable bowl, add in chopped bittersweet chocolate and butter cup up into 1 inch chunks. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring with a spatula in-between until the chocolate and butter are melted together and smooth.
Whisk sugar and eggs into the melted chocolate mixture until smooth.
Next whisk in vanilla extract.
Mix in dry ingredients until just combined.
Spread half the brownie batter into the lined baking pan. Smooth with a spatula so that the batter is evenly spread in the pan.
Pour the caramel sauce over the first layer of brownie batter in an even layer.
Top the caramel sauce with the remaining half of brownie batter making sure to cover then caramel layer completely.
Bake for 30-38 minutes, turning the pan half way.
Remove from over and place on cooling rack.
Combine 1 tsp. sugar with 1 tsp. fleur de sel and sprinkle on top of warm brownies to your liking.
Allow brownies to cool completely before cutting.

Source– adapted slightly from Annie’s Eats

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on July 29, 2012

Here is a really simple recipe for a food processor pie crust. This recipe makes 1 full-sized pie crust bottom, so if making a pie with a top, make 2 batches. For mini pies, this recipe makes enough pie crust for 3 mini pies with tops. Check out my mini peach pies I made here!

Pie Crust

Author: K

Ingredients

1½ cup of AP flour
½ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup cold unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into small pieces
2-3 tablespoons of ice cold water

Instructions

In food processor fitted with a steel blade, add flour, sugar and salt.
Pulse 2-3 times until all the ingredients are combined.
Drop in the small pieces of butter so that they are evenly spread out in the food processor bowl.
Pulse 7-8 times until the mixture looks like coarse meal.
Add in 2 tbsp. of ice cold water and pulse another 7-8 times until dough is crumbly and holds together when pushed together with your hands (making sure the motor is off and being careful of the blade.)
If the mixture is too dry and does not easily stick together, mix in another tablespoon of water and pulse 2-3 more times.
With floured hands turn out dough onto a floured surface and work together to make one ball of dough.
Flatten dough to a disk and cover in plastic wrap.
Place in refrigerator until firm. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days)
One dough is firm, roll out on a floured surface.

Source– Adapted from the What Can I Bring? Cookbook

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on March 25, 2012

I love to bake. It is a stress reliever for me to bake something up and to be able to share it with my friends, family and co-workers. There is only one problem to this though: I love desserts way too much. I was about to say I love dessert like a fat kid likes cake… but think about the end result of that saying! Don’t worry I am not calling myself fat, but I do have to control what I eat and how much dessert I make because it could easily lead to that. So you can see why I get excited to find desserts that are somewhat healthier.

I found this recipe on the blog Skinnytaste and was so excited to make them. Gina calls these “Skinny Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Scones,” but somewhere along the line my family and coworkers just starting calling them skinny scones. I have made them twice already, once for a meeting at work and then another time to bring with me when I visited my parents over the weekend. They are really easy to whip up so you have to try to make them.

Chocolate-Chip “Skinny Scones”
Ingredients
3/4 cup reduced fat buttermilk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup AP flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. chilled butter
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Cooking spray
1 egg white
1 tbsp. sugar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine first four ingredients with a whisk in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray or like a baking sheet with a silicone non-stick mat.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt with a whisk. Take cold butter and cut up into small pieces and put into flour mixture and cut into flour with pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Fold in chocolate chips and then add in wet mixture. Stir gently until combined.

Place dough on a floured surface and knead lightly four times. Form the dough into a 9 inch circle that is 3/4” thick and place on baking sheet. Cut into 12 triangles all the way through. Take an egg white and whisk lightly. Brush the egg white on top of the dough and sprinkle with sugar. Place in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes until golden. Serve warm.

Source– Adapted slightly from Skinnytaste.

Weight Watchers PointsPlus- 5 pointsplus per scone.

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on January 4, 2012

Over Christmas break, I spent a week at my parents house. My mom, my sisters, and I did a lot of cooking. One night we had an Italian-themed dinner so my mom had got me the ingredients to make tiramasu. I had never made tiramisu before, but I have sure ate a lot of it. I know everyone is trying to watch what they eat this month because of the cookie and dessert overload last month, but if there is a special occasion you need to make dessert for, this should be it! It’s amazingly good and easy to make!

Tiramisu

Ingredients
2 cups of strong coffee
4 tbsp of armaretto
1 1/2 tbsp instant espresso powder
3 eggs
4 tbsp of sugar
2 8oz containers of mascarpone cheese
2 packages of ladyfingers
Dutch-processed cocoa powder (to sprinkle on top)
Bar of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (to grate on the top)

Directions

In a baking dish or wide bowl, mix together strong coffee, amaretto, and instant espresso powder; stir until espresso powder is dissolved. In a metal or glass bowl, whisk the 3 egg yolks, gradually adding in 4 tablespoons of sugar until pale yellow, save egg whites for later. This will take about 3-4 minutes. In a stand mixer bowl beat the three egg whites with whisk attachment until fluffy, about 5 minutes. While egg whites are being whipped, mix in marscarpone to egg yolk mixture until smooth. Once egg whites are fluffy, add them into egg yolk/marscarpone mixture.

Dip ladyfingers into coffee mixture for about 3-4 seconds and line a 9×13 inch baking pan with cookies. Once the bottom of the pan is covered add a layer of the mascarpone mixture (about half the mixture). Sprinkle with a layer of dutch-processed cocoa powder. Repeat to make another layer (ladyfingers, marscarpone, cocoa powder.)

After you sprinkle with cocoa powder take chocolate bar and use a grater or microplane to sprinkle the top with.

Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving. Enjoy!

-K