Pumpkin Bread Pudding

I'm generally terrible at posting things in time for holidays and special events, but I promised myself I was going to post something before Thanksgiving, even if it meant losing sleep. Fortunately, I haven't lost any sleep getting this done. This post, instead, cuts into my essay-writing time. Yes, sleeping and blogging are higher on the list than finishing any of the gazillion essays I have due in the next 2 weeks. I hope none of my instructors are reading this.



If you're not a big pumpkin pie fan, this pumpkin bread pudding is a good alternative. And you get to kill two birds turkeys with one stone. Let me explain. The pumpkin bread recipe makes such a large amount that you'll have enough to feed 8 to 10 people at dinner and make this dessert. How awesome is that?

For the pumpkin bread, I used this recipe posted by Sass and Veracity. However, I left out the rosemary because I knew I wanted to make a dessert with some of the bread and I'm not particularly fond of rosemary. And if you're wondering, I always use canned pumpkin to save time. Works same same, as they say :-)

The pudding recipe I always use is this one I found on All Recipes. How much bread will you need? Just enough to fill up an 8x8 pan. That's a little more than the 6 slices called for in the original recipe and I think it results in a more dense pudding. You may also consider substituting half and half for any part of the whole milk. Since the pumpkin bread doesn't have raisins, I threw those in. Or you could use a mix of raisin bread and pumpkin bread. If you decide to serve with the caramel sauce, you may consider cutting down on the sugar a bit. I think I used 2/3 cup.

I'm not even going to attempt to explain how to make caramel and luckily there are plenty of recipes and instruction on the Interwebs. It's easy once you've done it a couple times, but if you're a first timer, read through the method explained on Simply Recipes. Elise's method is easy to follow and her recipe makes a fairly thick sauce. I like my sauce thinner so I tend to use more liquid. No, the liquid does not need to be cream. I've used milk before and it was fine. For the sauce I made to go with the pumpkin bread pudding, I used 1 cup sugar, 1/2 stick butter, 1/4 cup coffee mixed with about 1/2 cup half and half.

The finishing touch is the whipped cream, but boy, wouldn't a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top just be spectacular?

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving everyone!

Ginger Ice Cream with Raisin Sauce

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most people associate ginger with Asian food. Maybe because it's widely used in Chinese and Indian food? I know it makes frequent appearances in other Asian cuisines, but I wonder if it's as ubiquitous as people think. I wouldn't say it's widely used in the kind of Thai food I grew up eating. When it showed up on the table, it was most often served raw, as an edible garnish or something along those lines. Raw ginger isn't for everyone, but I love love love it. As much as I like the distinctive flavor, it's the spiciness that does it for me. Cooking ginger seems to quell the heat. I'm always a little disappointed when I taste something that is gingery, but lacks the spiciness.



A couple of weeks ago, I tasted a really delicious ginger ice cream at our neighborhood Japanese restaurant. It had the right amount of sweetness and spiciness. To my surprise, Sonny loved it and he asked if we could make it at home. Hey, no problem! I like making ice cream and eating it too!

I've made enough ice cream to where I don't usually need to go looking for a recipe, but after I made this, I figured I should check to see if a similar recipe was posted. I'm lazy and don't like to type up the method. As it turns out, the exact recipe is already posted. Lucky me! Click to go to Emeril's ginger ice cream recipe. If you like ginger and you like ice cream then do check it out. It's got a great texture and the sweetness and spiciness are well balanced. A couple things to note: 1) add the ginger after the cream is heated and let it steep for 15 or 20 minutes to retain the spiciness and 2) this ice cream freezes hard. I wonder if that has to do with the ginger juice? You'll want to let it sit out for about 10 minutes before trying to scoop it.

To go with the ice cream, I toasted some sliced almonds and made a raisin sauce. To make the sauce, simply soak about 1 cup raisins in about 2 cups hot sparkling pear until they plump up (white grape or apple juice would work just fine; I just happened to have the cider). They take a while to plump up. Puree the entire lot and push it through a fine mesh sieve. Lastly reduce the sauce to the desired consistency. Pretty easy.

I'm submitting this post to Weekend Wokking, hosted this time by MomGateway. We're celebrating ginger, so if you have a ginger recipe you're just dying to share, check out the rules then send your submission to momgateway(at)gmail(dot)com! The deadline is this 11:59PM Sunday, August 30th.

My very own taste tester.

Lemon-Mint Tart

I never was a lemon person. Whenever I needed fresh citrus for cooking, I used limes. In fact, we could go months without ever buying a lemon. My taste buds must be changing, though, because I’ve started to appreciate the taste of lemon, particularly in sweet (but not too sweet!) incarnations.


The whipped cream tempers the tartness of the custard. The marionberry syrup, which I got at the farmers' market, gives this dessert a nice tang.

The local supermarket was having a special on lemons, 2 lb bags for $1.88. What a deal, huh? I picked up 3 bags. Mostly I’ve been making lemonade and refreshing cocktails, but Hubby suggested making a dessert. Never made a lemon tart before, so I thought I’d give that a try. I found a recipe on Food Network, courtesy of Francois Payard, that seemed pretty straightforward, but it wasn’t. I only blame myself for messing around with a recipe from a world-famous pattisier. However, everything worked out fine in the end and we all lived happily ever after, as you can tell from the picture.

Lemon-mint tart
adapted from Francois Payard’s recipe on Food Network

• ½ cup packed mint leaves (stems okay too), roughly chopped
• ½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 3 or 4 lemons)
• zest from lemons
• ½ cup granulated sugar (about 4 oz)
• 4 to 5 eggs
• 3 tbs unsalted butter, cut into chunks

Sweet tart dough

• 1 cup + 1 tbs confectioners’ sugar
• 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
• pinch salt
• 9 tbs unsalted butter, softened
• 1 large egg

In a mortar, grind the mint leaves with the lemon zest and a little of the sugar. When you get a rough paste, transfer it to a plastic or glass container. Add the lemon juice and the rest of the sugar. Mix well and allow the mixture to sit overnight in the fridge. This will help extract more of the mint flavor.

This dough recipe makes enough for two tarts, but the filling is only enough for one. Don’t ask me why; I’m just the chump who tried out the recipe. I used mini-tart pans and got 9 of them using half the dough. You may freeze the other half, well wrapped, for a couple of months or use it for another tart.

The easiest way to make the crust is with a food processor. Add all the ingredients, except the egg, and pulse until they are uniform. Add the egg and pulse just until the dough comes together. Turn out the dough. It will be sticky. REALLY, VERY, TOTALLY STICKY! I wish I would have known that in advance so I could adequately flour my counter. Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. You definitely don’t want to skip this part. You want the dough to be chilled through when you roll it out, otherwise you will just have a terrible sticky mess. (Make sure you have plenty of flour handy when you roll out the dough because you’ll need to lightly sprinkle flour on after every couple of passes. And work fast because the dough warms up pretty quickly. It was a bit annoying since I’d never worked with such a sticky dough before, but well worth it.) Pre-bake the crust at 350F for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until the crust starts to turn golden. Don’t let it get too brown because you’ll be giving it another 10 minutes when the custard bakes.

The following day, strain the mixture into a glass or other non-reactive bowl. Don’t be alarmed if the mixture looks a bit murky. As you can see from my picture, it brightens up after adding the remaining ingredients. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the butter and set the bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. According to the original instructions, we’re supposed to whisk constantly until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth, but by that point my mixture was still quite thin and wasn’t really cooked. Luckily I have some experience making custard-based desserts, so I decided to continue cooking and whisking. As the mixture started to warm up, it did start to thicken a bit, but I was still afraid it would be too thin, so I added another egg. It thickened up quite quickly, but it may have done that if I just cooked it long enough. Basically it should be able to coat the back of a spoon. Set the mixture aside (off the water) to cool for a few minutes.

Pour the slightly cooled mixture into the pre-baked shell, and bake in a 325F oven (don’t go higher or the custard may curdle) just until the center sets, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on a rack, then in the fridge until completely chilled. Serve with whipped cream.

I'm submitting this to Weekend Wokking (before the deadline!), where the theme ingredient this month is, you guessed it, LEMONS! The host is Wandering Chopsticks. If you have a lemon recipe to submit, please send entries to wanderingchopsticks(at)gmail(dot)com by 11:59 May 31.

Almond Cracker Cake

A few weeks ago, Bedstefar (my FIL) sent me a recipe for a cake that sounded really interesting. Instead of being made with flour, it’s made with crushed TUC crackers and hazelnuts (which I guess means it’s technically a torte?). The directions were pretty barebones so I figured I better work out the kinks before their visit in April. ☺


TUC crackers were nowhere to be found here in Portland, so I substituted Club crackers and it worked out perfectly fine. I suppose you could even use unseasoned bread crumbs or panko. The only thing I recommend is to use fine crumbs. Same for the almonds—the finer the better to insure a nice uniform texture. And yes, I do recommend you grind the almonds if possible. Buying almond meal is a waste of money. It costs about $10 a bag and you may end up with a stale bag.

The texture was dense and moist. Perfect.

Almond Cracker Cake

• 3 ½ oz Club House crackers, finely crushed/ground
• 4 oz raw shelled almonds, dried and finely ground
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 to 2 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 5 ½ to 6 oz sugar
• 5 egg whites

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with the sugar until well mixed. The mixture should be thick and the sugar should appear to be largely dissolved. Add all the dry ingredients and vanilla extract and mix well. The batter will be thick. Bake in a well-greased pan of your choice (tap the pan on the counter a little to spread the batter and release air bubbles). Any regular cake pan or square brownie pan will do. Mini-spring forms allow you to make taller specimens, which can be cut into layers and assembled into an elegant layered cake. I’ve even spread some batter into a shallow mold to get thin disks. This batter is pretty versatile. The cake is done when the center is set and springs back when you press it lightly, about 20 minutes for a regular sized cake pan.

So now you have this delicious cake, how to serve it? If you’re a chocoholic then maybe top with a rich chocolate ganache. For something lighter (in appearance, not calories!) try making a layer cake with whipped cream and fresh fruit. When I baked up the disks I spread a light layer of chocolate ganache on them and pressed some crushed See’s Victoria Toffee on top. Those were really, really delicious and lasted about all of 2 minutes. This time we did cardamom ice cream with a drizzling of dark chocolate sauce. Highly recommend the chocolate sauce. So easy with a rich chocolate taste.

Topped with Victoria Toffee.

As I was taking the pictures, Sonny was hovering around, blocking the light, as the ice cream was melting, spoon in hand, ready to dig in. After each click, he asked, Now? Are you done now?






Good things come to those who wait.

Homemade Marzipan and Napoleonshatte

It’s rare that Hubby asks me to make a particular food, so when he requested Napoleonshatte, I couldn’t very well turn him down, could I? Never mind that I’m a mediocre baker at best and baking anything besides brownies or banana bread can be a risky venture.




Napoleonshatte are cookies (that look like Napoleon’s hat!) filled with marzipan and dipped in chocolate. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them offered here in the States, but every respectable pastry shop in Denmark carries them. So simple a creation, but looks can be a bit deceiving. I wouldn’t say they are hard to make, but for a beginner the shape can be difficult to achieve. At least it was for me. Halfway through, I switched to making Napoleon’s logs :P Surprisingly the marzipan filling was not as difficult as I expected. It just required a little patience.

If I actually knew anything about baking and pastries, I could be more specific about the cookie dough. The only thing I can say is the perfect specimen is made with a dough that is slightly crumbly, but also chewy, maybe some kind of cross between a sugar cookie and a pate brisee (likely made with some almond flour), if that makes any sense at all. There are a few recipes out there, but the one I chose seemed easy and straightforward. However I’m not going to link to it because 1) it’s in Danish and 2) the recipe didn’t give me the texture I’m looking for. Don’t get me wrong, they were fine, resembling sugar cookies, but I wanted more of the chewiness. I've got a couple recipes I want to try, but if you have a killer recipe, do let me know. When I do find that perfect recipe, I will definitely post the link.

I have 2 logs of marzipan left, totaling a little over 1/2 lb. Any ideas what I should do with them?

I do, however, have a link for the marzipan. It’s from Sara Moulton, one of my all time favorite chefs. She’s just got a down-to-earthness about her that is often missing in the new generation of chefs. The recipe is fantastic. Hubby, the marzipan expert in this house, raved about the result. The only thing I did differently was use 1 tsp almond extract instead of 4 tsp vanilla because I didn’t want any competing flavors. The grinding was a bit taxing on the nerves because the almonds have to be ground to a fine powder. That’s hard to do with most home spice grinders. I had to walk away a couple of times so my grinder could cool down. Count on it taking at least 1 hour (not 15 minutes as stated in the recipe) with the blanching, chopping, grinding, sifting and mixing. Other than that, it’s a perfect recipe. Not too sweet, which is often the case with store-bought, mediocre marzipan.

Lastly, the chocolate ganache. I just melted 8 oz (by weight) dark, semi-sweet Belgian chocolate in ½ cup heavy cream. I did this in the microwave on 50% power, stirring every 2 minutes until the chocolate was melted and uniform. Some people add a pat of butter (but I never do). The ganache takes a few hours to set up. Don’t be tempted to put the cookies in the freezer to speed up this process. You’ll just end up with condensation or something that affects the texture of the coating. The fridge might be okay after a couple of hours. Traditionally the cookies are only coated on one side, but I completely coated a few of the logs, thinking I was doing my chocoholic husband a favor. I stopped when Sonny commented that they looked like turds. Don’t you just love the unbridled honesty?

This is my entry to Weekend Wokking, a blogging event created by Wandering Chopsticks that highlights a different theme ingredient every month. This time it's almonds. If you want to get in on the action, send your submissions to me, blazinghotwok(at)gmail(dot)com, by Sunday, March 1st. Guidelines about the event can be found by clicking the link, and be sure to check back for the round-up on the March 4th.

When Pigs Fly

I made licorice ice cream.

Sounds like a pretty neutral statement, but if you know me, you’d be looking outside to see if pigs had truly learned to fly.



Black licorice is one of my least favorite flavors in the whole wide world. I can’t really describe why I don’t like it, except to say it’s too strong of a flavor. Believe me, I have tried to like it. Candy, ice cream, custard, vodka shots--nothing can change my mind. Hubby, on the other hand, loves it. Of course he does! He’s Danish! The Danes are gaga over black licorice. It’s a cultural phenomenon I can’t even begin to understand.

As a general rule, I don’t like to prepare foods I’m not going to eat. I mean, why put in the work if you don't get to enjoy the fruits of your labor? But what am I supposed to do when my kid says he wants to make licorice ice cream to surprise his Bedstefar, who traveled all the way from Denmark to pay us a visit? Besides, I was feeling a bit guilty because it took the tooth fairy 5 days to visit our house. Sonny was afraid she wasn’t going to come at all, so he wrote her a short note:

Now if that doesn't tug at your heartstrings, you've got a heart of ice.

Licorice ice cream comes in many flavors, if you will. The color and strength of the ice cream will depend on your starting material. I’ve seen it sold as black ice cream bars (marketed as Batman ice cream in DK) or tubs. To make a black ice cream, I think you have to use licorice candy to infuse the cream. Hard candy is probably best. Hubby has used this method to infuse vodka for licorice flavored vodka shots. In Italy we found licorice gelato that was probably flavored with an extract because the color was white. To me the white ice cream is more appealing, but I couldn’t find the extract. However, I did find dried licorice root in the bulk spice section of Whole Foods and that worked well.

Truth be told, the ice cream base was not bad (that’s right, I said it and it’s probably the only time you’ll hear it from me!). I infused the cream for half and hour, which was enough to get a robust licorice flavor. Sonny asked me to throw in some of the soft candy, which I chopped up into bits the size of mini chips. If you like the flavor of licorice, then definitely try this ice cream.

Licorice ice cream
Makes about 1 generous quart

• 3 cups cream
• 1.5 oz dried licorice root, chopped or broken into bits
• 8 egg yolks
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 cup whole milk
• ½ cup (or more to taste) chopped soft licorice candy (optional)

Start by infusing the cream with the licorice root in a medium pot. Bring the cream just to its boiling point, remove it from the heat and let it sit, covered, for 30 minutes. After that time, taste the cream to see if the licorice flavor is to your liking. Keep in mind that you will be adding some sugar and another cup of liquid (later) to dilute it down. Once you achieve the desired strength, add the sugar and bring the cream back up just to the boiling point. Stir to help dissolve the sugar. Strain the cream into a clean pot.

In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks until they are pale and thick. Add the hot cream slowly while whisking to prevent the eggs from cooking. Return the custard to the pot and cook it, stirring constantly, until the temperature reaches about 175°F. Remove from heat and add the cup of milk, then pour through a strainer into large clean bowl. Chill thoroughly before churning. Add the candy bits during the last 3 minutes of churning.

Weekend Wokking: Pumpkin Coconut Creme Brulee

There’s really nothing to say about this dessert, except that it’s absolutely fabulous! Everybody who tastes it will sing your praises. They’ll tell you that you’re a genius. They’ll tell you that your pumpkin coconut crème brulee is probably the best they’ve ever tasted. You’ll even have the die-hard-vanilla-only-crème-brulee purists wrapped around your finger. It’s that good.




Note: I used garam masala because this dessert was destined for an Indian food potluck. You may choose the more traditional spices found in pumpkin pie or Emeril's suggestions.

Pumpkin Coconut Crème Brulee
adapted from Emeril’s recipe

• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ½ tsp garam masala
• 1 cup mashed pumpkin
• 8 egg yolks
• approx 2 tbs raw sugar for the top (I hear granulated works fine too)
  

In a medium saucepan, heat the coconut milk, heavy cream, sugars and garam masala just to the boiling point, stirring frequently.

While the cream is heating, in a large glass or non-reactive bowl, whip the egg yolks until they are pale, about 2 minutes.

Temper the eggs by adding about a cup of the hot cream slowly with vigorous whipping. Add the remaining cream and mashed pumpkin. Whisk well to mix thoroughly.

Strain the mixture through a semi-fine sieve. Don’t skip this step because the pumpkin may have some coarse or gritty bits in it. Divide the custard among eight ½ cup ramekins or a casserole dish that can hold about 4 cups. Place in a water bath (use boiling water), making sure the water goes at least halfway up the sides of the ramekins or casserole. Bake at 300F. The ramekins will take about an hour. It took me 1.5 hours for the larger casserole. These times are approximate. The custard will not be firm like a quiche, but it shouldn't appear runny either. It’s best to use your judgment. If it still looks too wobbly, leave it in for longer, checking every 10 minutes or so.

Once the custard is done, remove it from the oven and place it on a rack to cool to room temperature before sticking it in the fridge to set overnight.

To serve, put the custard in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before caramelizing the sugar on top. If you are going to use a broiler for the job, freeze the custard for 45 minutes to 1 hour, otherwise the custard will be warm and loose, rather than thick and creamy. Trust me, it won’t freeze through. Serve immediately after caramelizing the sugar.


This is my submission to Weekend Wokking (just in the nick of time!), created by Wandering Chopsticks. Precious Pea is hosting this month. Check out the round-up at her site this coming Wednesday to see the other submissions and to get the next secret ingredient. To find out who’s hosting or if you’re interesting in hosting, click here.

Doing it Asian-style

When I found out the theme for Sugar High Friday this month is classic desserts with an Asian twist, I was on it like white on rice. I've already made 3 or 4 desserts that fit this theme. Check out the DESSERTS link in the right side bar. My favorite is the Thai tea crème brulee.

One of my favorite sweet combinations is coconut milk and bananas. This can be found in many guises, such as coconut, sticky rice and banana steamed in banana leaf (or bamboo) or deep-fried bananas drizzled with coconut sauce, or bananas Foster with a dollop of coconut ice cream. I’m a simple girl and don't need anything nearly so fancy. Give me a bowl of slightly sweetened coconut milk seasoned with a pinch of salt, throw in a cut up banana and I’m happy. But wouldn't I be happier eating it as ice cream? Or how about banana split-style??



Coconut milk and Banana Chunk Ice Cream
makes a generous quart

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1.5 cups coconut milk (lite is fine)
• 7 egg yolks
• 6 oz sugar/ 3/4 cup (see note)
• ½ tsp kosher salt (see note)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 firm banana, well chilled
  

Note: Salt in ice cream? Absolutely!! Salt is commonly used in Thai desserts that contain coconut. I think it works beautifully to enhance the flavor of the coconut milk. Also, I'm going to try to remember to use weights for things like sugar, salt and flour because it makes everything more consistent.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the cream and ½ cup of coconut milk just to the boiling point (but don't let it boil).

In the meantime, whisk the eggs with an electric mixer until they are pale and thick. Gradually add in the sugar and whisk well. Make sure to scrape down the sides occasionally.

Slowly add the scalded cream to the egg mixture while whisking vigorously. When it’s all incorporated, pour the custard back into the saucepan, add the salt and heat over medium heat to 175º. Strain the custard into a large bowl but do not push the debris through the strainer. Add the remaining coconut milk and vanilla. Give it a good stir, then cover and place in the fridge to chill.

Once it’s completely chilled, churn in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Before you start churning, put the whole, un-peeled banana in the freezer to chill. About 2 minutes before the ice cream is done, cut it into small dice and add it to the ice cream.

There was a lot of spoon fighting going on here.

Here are some other Asian-fied desserts that may pique your interest: Ube and Blueberry Swirl Ice Cream, Chocolate Matcha Marble Cupcakes, Matcha Cocoa Brownies, Lychee Mousse Cake, Tamarind Caramels. These are a few on the long, long list I'm waiting to try. It would go so much faster if other people made them and I just ate them.

Mint and Lemongrass Green Tea Ice Cream

In case you forgot, it's St. Patrick's Day!

I was reminded when I was driving Sonny to school (not that I really forgot; I mean, who forgets a “holiday” centered around drinking beer?). Sonny also caught the radio DJ saying something about it. I heard his sad voice from the backseat, “You forgot to tell me to wear green and I will be the only one at school not wearing green.” He sounded so heartbroken, which in turn broke my heart. I assured him not everyone would be wearing green. Then I pointed out that his scarf has green and his pillow and blanket are green. But he didn’t look like he was really buying it, and it was too late to run back home. And sure enough, when we walked into class, everybody was wearing something green. Man, did I feel like a jerk. Luckily, one of the teachers saved the day by suggesting Sonny cut out a large green shamrock to pin to his shirt. But I still felt like a jerk. As soon as I got home, I started on a batch of mint and lemongrass green tea ice cream. Yes, I’m the type of mother who shows love through food. And yes, I know what current conventional parenting wisdom says about that, with childhood obesity and all, but I really don’t care.



The first time I tried making ice cream with my new ice cream maker, I used a recipe that made like 3 or 4 quarts. Not only was it a logistical nightmare because I only have one freezer bowl, but the texture was not smooth and creamy enough. Subsequent attempts with different recipes turned out alright flavorwise, but they left me searching for better texture. I think my search is finally over.

Now, about the ice cream: it’s basically a vanilla ice cream infused with tea. The vanilla ice cream comes from Maida Heatter’s Cakes. There are two things I like about this recipe: the texture is right on, and the final amount is about 1 ½ pints, which happens to be the perfect amount for 3 or 4 people. For the tea, you can choose any good cream and sugar tea. The tea I chose has a hint of lemongrass and mint. I used 5 tea bags so the ice cream is sufficiently flavored of green tea, but I only wish the lemongrass and mint were a little more prevalent. Next time I’ll trying infusing with an extra stalk of lemongrass and crushed, fresh mint. Still, an excellent result that was a hit all around.

Green Tea Ice Cream
makes about 1 1/2 pints

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 5 green tea bags (Thai tea also works very well)
• 4 egg yolks
• ½ granulated sugar
• seeds scraped from one vanilla pod (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

In a medium saucepan, heat 1 cup of the cream with the vanilla seeds just to a boil (if you’re using extract, add it at the end of cooking). Add the 5 tea bags, cover and remove from heat to steep for about 5 to 10 minutes.

In the meantime, in a large mixing bowl beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer until pale and thick, about 5 minutes or so. Gradually add in the sugar and beat for another 2 or 3 minutes on high, until the sugar is well incorporated into the egg. With all this beating, make sure to scrape down the sides occasionally to ensure everything is well incorporated and you don't lose half the stuff on the sides of the bowl.

Remove the tea bags from the cream and discard them. Be sure to squeeze out all the liquid from the bags. Slowly add the cream to the eggs while mixing vigorously. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and return to medium heat. Cook the custard until a candy thermometer reaches about 175˚. Make sure you are stirring frequently and scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula, especially as it reaches the target. If you don’t have a thermometer, you’ll know it’s done when it gets thick and coats the back of your utensil without dripping off. (If the custard starts to stick to the bottom like it’s about to scramble, you’ve overshot, and it's definitely done. But don’t throw in the towel just yet. You may be able to salvage it if you haven’t grossly overshot.)

Once you remove the custard from the heat, add the remaining cup of cream (and vanilla extract, if using) while mixing well. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a large, clean bowl. Don’t press the debris through the sieve. Anything that doesn’t go through by gravity is not meant to go in the ice cream. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours (longer is better) before churning. I have a Cuisinart ice cream maker (model ICE-BC; thanks Bedstemor and Bedstefar!) and it took about 25 minutes to get it to be the consistency of soft serve. I froze it for an additional 3 hours before serving. Follow your manufacturer’s instructions for churning and freezing.

If this ice cream has piqued your interest, may I suggest trying Thai tea crème brulee? It’s delicious and creamy-smooth. I promise you’ll love it.

Berry Pie (updated!)

Would you believe we didn’t eat pie when I was a kid? It’s true. Mom certainly never baked one and we never missed them. Even as a young adult, I was not a pie eater. Then one day...poof...I decided I wanted to bake a blueberry pie. Luckily the recipe I found way back when was a good one. I never use any other recipe. I think it’s from Martha Stewart, from the time she was at Food Network. It works with just about any berry or combination of berries, and it’s not overly sweet.

I wanted to update this post because I really think it's a good recipe, and I wanted to note a few things I've played around with. First off, I decided to actually use weight instead the standard cups for measuring. I feel like it's more informative to know the weights rather than the volume of ingredients when baking. That way, the we can ignore the differences among different brands and types of flours, sugars, etc. Another thing, you can easily make this vegan by using something like Earth Balance vegetable shortening instead of butter and brushing the top with soy milk. Still has the same great taste.

Berry Pie

• 4 to 5 cups (about 1.5 lbs) fresh berries
  
• 2/3 cup (5- 1/2 oz) sugar
• 3 tbs cornstarch
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tbs butter
• 2 tbs milk or cream
• 2 pie crusts (recipe follows, or use store-bought)

Preheat oven to 400º.

In a large bowl, combine the sugar and cornstarch. Mix until all the clumps disappear.
Add the berries and lemon juice. Toss well to combine. Fill a 9 inch pie crust with the berries and dot with the butter. Cover with the second crust and make a small slit in the middle for steam. Brush the crust with the milk or cream. Bake at 400º for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350º and continue to bake until golden brown (anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes). Make sure to put a baking sheet underneath the pie as it bakes in case it leaks. Allow the pie to cool completely before slicing, otherwise the filling may not be completely set.

If you want to try making your own crust, it’s pretty easy, especially if you have a food processor. This recipe makes two crusts and is good for sweet or savory fillings.

Pie Crust

• 9 oz (2 cups) all purpose flour
  
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 5-1/4 oz (2/3 cup) cold butter
• 6-7 tbs cold water

Stir together the flour and the salt. Cut the butter into the flour until it resembles small peas. This is easiest/fastest with a food processor. Just give it a few pulses. Sprinkle in 1 tbs water at a time until dough comes together, pulsing between each addition. If you’re doing it by hand, knead a little between each addition. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before rolling out into two crusts.