Cool Off: Browned Butter Ice Cream with Cinnamon

Is there anything more irresistible than ice cream on a muggy summer day?

Fortunately, making your own is easier than you think. In fact, with a bit of forethought, you can keep a batch of homemade ice cream at the ready all summer long.

We've gotten pretty used to keeping both of our Cuisinart Ice Cream bowls in the freezer at all times so that we can whip them out and make ice cream whenever we like.  But, even if you don't have an ice cream maker, you can still enjoy the satisfaction of homemade ice cream with just a bit more effort (see the recipe below for some tips).

It's true. Making ice cream at home takes a bit of time. But, its advantages far outweigh the effort needed.  After all, when you're at the helm of your very own ice cream making adventures, the sky is the limit. Flavor combinations are endless. And you can let your creativity run wild.

Some of our favorite homemade flavors have included chocolate chile, butter-scotch pumpkin, salted caramel with cashews, and cinnamon plum tea ice cream.  But, we also love to make big vats of fresh vanilla bean ice cream.  Sure, it's ordinary. But, it's better than anything you can find in your grocery's freezer case. We promise.

This particular recipe gets a deliciously rich, nutty flavor from browned butter. The silky custard base, along with a bit of Scotch whipped in at the end of churning results in an end product that’s lusciously creamy and scoopably soft, even straight from the freezer.

It’s perfect topped with pecans and chocolate for an impromptu sundae, but the subtle punch of cinnamon means it’s equally at home served alongside your favorite summer berry pie. If you’re a purist, feel free to scoop it straight up into a sugar cone.

Any way you serve it, it will have you screaming for more!

Browned Butter Ice Cream with Cinnamon

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Browned Butter Oatmeal with Bananas

  At our house, weekday breakfast generally consists of a smoothie made from yogurt and fruit. We seldom have time to linger over our coffee, engage in polite conversation, or spend time cooking up morning treats.  So, we take our smoothies to go in stainless mugs.  And most of the time we pick up our coffee at the office.

But, things are different on the weekend.  At our humble abode, weekend mornings are slow and somewhat lazy.  They are days when we have time to enjoy long walks around the dewy neighborhood, piping hot cups of cabin coffee, fat newspapers, and deliciously indulgent breakfasts.  Sometimes that means sitting down to a full plate of eggs, sausages and toast. Other times, it means enjoying something as simple as a steeping hot bowl of deliciously filling oatmeal. 

This oatmeal is ideal for just that sort of weekend morning – when you have a bit of time to let the oatmeal cook while you spend your time putting on a pot of coffee and watching butter turn from a delicious golden to a nutty brown.  

You’ll love the way the sweetness of the bananas play off of the nutty oats and complement the deep caramel tones of browned butter and brown sugar.  It’s the sort of breakfast that brings together the heartiness of stick-to-your-ribs grains with a subtle sweetness that makes breakfast feel like a treat.  

And, on the weekend, what more can you really ask for?

Browned Butter Oatmeal with Bananas


You can find this recipe, along with plenty of other mouthwatering dishes, on GoBoldWithButter.com  Seriously -- you should check it out.  So. Much. Good. Food. 

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Easter Dishes: Roasted Cauliflower with Rosemary Browned Butter and Lemon

 I think it’s a shame that side dishes are so often overlooked at the holiday table. We spend all of our time obsessing over perfecting our roasted turkey, getting the perfect crust on our rib roast, or stunning our guests with the most tender and flavorful ham.  


Meanwhile, we settle for the same old sides – mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, and blah heat-and-serve dinner rolls.

The perception is that truly great side dishes take a wealth of time.  But, the fact of the matter is, many of the most delicious dishes require only a few high quality ingredients, and just minutes of preparation time.  Take, for instance, this stunning roasted cauliflower dish.

Roasting isn't usually the first cooking method you’d think of for cauliflower, but the delicious results make it worth remembering. There is something magical that happens when cauliflower is tossed with oil and roasted in high dry heat.   Its sugars caramelize and a deep browning occurs that results in a deliciously nutty flavor.

Paired with the woodsy aroma of fresh rosemary, the nuttiness of browned butter, and the pleasing acidity of fresh lemon juice, this simple side dish will be the star of your Easter table.

Roasted Cauliflower with Rosemary Browned Butter and Lemon

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You're Not Too Old for Crispy Rice Bars with Browned Butter & Rosemary

Think you’re too old for “Rice Krispie” treats?

Allow me to chuckle for a moment at the sheer thought of that.  Being “too old”… it’s a concept I reject flat out.  I simply don’t buy it.  After all, there’s a real charm in forgetting how old you REALLY are and allowing yourself to remember what it was like before you knew how you were “supposed” to act.

You’ve got to admit there’s something magical about the act of eating an ooey gooey crispy chewy Rice Krispie Treat? Isn’t there?

Exactly.

I first saw the recipe for salted browned butter crispy treats on Smitten Kitchen.  But, it took me a very long time before I decided to make them.  Even when I did, I decided they needed a little bit of a kick in the pants.

Those of you who know me will remember that I am absolutely ENAMOURED of rosemary.  And during the summer months when I can get my grubby little hands on those fragrantly fresh stalks of the real thing, I’m a happy happy girl.  And, since I know the herb is good in SimpleSyrup, why not try it out in a dessert?

And so the browned butter rosemary crisped rice treats were born.

They’re really quite grown up.  But, as informal taste-tests in my neighborhood have revealed, they also go over really well with the kids.

So, make yourself a batch of deliciously buttery crisped rice treats. Relish the way they pull apart leaving ooey gooey strands marshmallowy goodness in their wake.  And enjoy them utterly.  After all, you’re never too old for a little bit of snap, crackle, pop…

And while we’re at it, here’s a nice list of some other things I hope you’re never “too old” to do:

• Lick the batter bowl after making cookies/cake/frosting
• Share butterfly kisses
• Skip down the sidewalk
• Call your mom
• Close your eyes and make a wish
• Say “When I Grow Up…” (and mean it)

As C.S. Lewis once said: “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

Crispy Rice Bars with Browned Butter & Rosemary

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Brown Butter Rhubarb Bars - the best & last of spring

It seems that summer took forever to arrive this year.  April and May were cool and rainy, and during the whole of June temperatures never really got much above 70 degrees.  So, that means we got to enjoy the bounty of spring produce for that much longer.  There has been scads of asparagus, plenty of deliciously snappy radishes and pea pods, and all sorts of delights (including stinging nettles, which I'll talk about in my next post).

But the rhubarb!  Ah, yes the rhubarb.  It's been fantastic this year. The intense heat over the 4th of July weekend has probably caused most peoples rhubarb plants to bolt.  But, before that, it seemed almost as if the bounty would never end.

That was a good thing, in my opinion, since I had a whole slew of rhubarb recipes that I was hoping to try -- including this one which I picked up from Jeannette Ordas over at Everybody Loves Sandwiches, a blog where you'll find a host of delicious things that don't get too silly and complicated.

 This recipe is probably a bit more fussy than average (after all, it requires the creation of a compote, and a bit of messing around with the browned butter), but if you asked me, I'd suggest it's entirely worth the effort.  The flavor is incomparable -- with the delicious perfume of fresh vanilla beans and the amazing nuttiness of plenty of irresistible browned butter...  really, I don't know how you can't be a sucker for browned butter, since it's (IMHO) among the most delightful things ever discovered in the world of culinary invention.

As you know, I usually can't help futzing with recipes, tweaking them here and there until they're just perfect.  But, somehow, this one just felt right as it was.  The tang of lemon and the zing of ginger create the perfect counterpoint for the nuttiness of the browned butter, while complementing the classic tartness of the rhubarb.  Best of all, these bars keep like a charm at room temperature, and they're perfect eaten slightly warmed with a bit of vanilla ice cream.

Maybe you've got a few stalks left from your garden.  Or maybe you have a nice little bag of it stowed away in the freezer.  Either way, you owe it to yourself to give this recipe a gander.

Brown Butter Rhubarb Bars


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Want more? Read Lo's latest ruminations at DEVOUR Milwaukee, her Milwaukee Magazine blog.