Christmas candies for theater snacks and holiday trifle

Christmas is here!!!!! Then I snap my fingers and it's gone.... (insert frowny face).

Like every holiday throughout the year my family usually creates a meal large enough to last everyone a week. Thanksgiving was a little exhausting, so we opted to only cook ONE day for Christmas (instead of the usual Christmas Eve & Day). We decided to go out to eat CE and cook a smaller portion of food CD. Then my Aunt Teresa had a brilliant idea, to also go to a movie! I felt great! No coordinating recipe after recipe, making sure it was transported correctly, cooked on time to stay warm... All the things that come with cooking for a large group. But new challenges arose, like coordinating all these people and decided on a movie we would all enjoy. Did you know that almost the whole city closes for Christmas Eve? Well, I didn't. In fact, there were only 3 restaurants around the movie theater that were open. Just in case anyone decides to eat out on a holiday.

The weekend before I had this crazy urge to cook stuff. So instead of making dinner on Sunday I made candies until I wore myself out. Spiced pecans, chocolate covered pretzels, and peppermint bark! They would make cute gifts to give family members to sneak into the movie theater instead of buying their expensive treats. The recipes are included, but this post is more about making gift candies. Check out the step by step picture instructions below:

Swirled peppermint Bark



1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
1 bag of white chocolate chips
25 small peppermint candy canes

Using a cookie sheet as a base, cover it with parchment paper. Uncover all the candy canes and crush them in a ziplock baggie. You should have some chunks 1/2 inch, and tons of crushed candy at the bottom. Using a colander separate the large chunks from the crushed candy. Melt the both chocolates in the microwave, in two separate microwave safe containers. Stir every 15-30 seconds to get rid of the big clumps until the chocolate becomes smooth enough to work with. Stir the crushed candies into the white chocolate. Plop on the chocolate using a spoon in random areas on the parchment paper alternating between chocolates. Take a clean, pointed object like a butter knife and swirl the two chocolates together. Sprinkle on the larger chunks of candies. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. Ready for cracking!



White and Dark chocolate covered pretzels



1 bag of white chocolate chips
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 bag of mini-pretzels

Melt the white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, checking every 15-30 seconds until smooth. Spread out a piece of parchment paper. Using chopsticks dip a pretzel in the chocolate until it's completely covered. Lay it on the parchment paper. Repeat this step for every pretzel until you run out of chocolate with a little space in between each one so they don't stick together. Let cool until they harden, about 20 minutes. Repeat these same steps for the semi-sweet chocolate chips. Once all the pretzels are cool mix them together for alternating flavors!



Spiced pecans



1 egg white
1 lb. or 4 cups of pecan halves
1/2 sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp salt

Turn the oven on to 350. Add a piece of parchment paper to a cookie sheet. Whisk the egg in a large mixer until foamy. Add the pecans. In a separate bowl mix all the other ingredients. Sprinkle the spicy/sugar mixture over the pecans and mix until they are well coated. Spread the pecans out in a single layer on the sheet and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until they are toasty and dry. Remove them from the pan and let cool for 30 minutes.

Bags for the candies

I bought 3 different color cellophane rolls. They were 50% off, and I couldn't find candy bags anywhere nearby. So use what you're given, right? I played around with them for a little while and this is what I came up with for bags:

Cut a large square out of the wrapping paper. This was half of the roll's size length-wise, so I squared that.


Fold in half, corner to corner.


The paper doesn't stay folded easily, so try to work fast. Start to roll up one edge, just a few inches.


Then roll it to the middle.


Start to roll the opposite side up just like the other side. A few inches.


Until you have a cone!


Tape the edge down. I used packing tape since it's big and really sticky.


See? Pull all the layers to the back and you have a triangle bag!


Now you're ready to stuff candy in. I started with the peppermint bark using a piece that was pointy on one edge.


When it's almost full (don't short-change your friends!) pinch the edge together.


Tie the top with a ribbon and make a fancy bow.


Okay, my bows aren't that fancy but they get the job done.


Since my day job has taught me how to make beautiful prints, I made some tags for them so everyone knew what was in each candy. Just in case a little cayenne pepper is too much for someone...


Homemade Christmas Eve movie snacks!



One more thing... We cooked for Christmas, and my job was something chocolaty. Of course!!! I almost wish I hadn't made a million pounds of chocolate candies the week before. But too much chocolate is a good problem. So I decided to make something that wouldn't take too much effort, yet was still homemade. Chocolate trifle!

Heath Bar chocolate trifle



Whip cream
(2 cups heavy whipping cream,
2-4 tbsp of powdered sugar,
2 tsp of vanilla)
Instant chocolate pudding, large box
(one box Jello Instant Pudding,
3 cups milk)
Box of fudge cake, baked and cooled, maybe a day or two before assembly
1 bag of crushed Heath Bars
Chocolate syrup (Hershey's is always good)

Ready the trifle dish. Mine was a medium-sized dish. Beat the ingredient for the whip cream together until creamy. Chop the cake up into 1-2 inch pieces. I only used 3/4 of the cake, but you can always stuff the whole thing in. Prepare the instant pudding. Once all parts are ready, assemble. Start with the cake pieces at the bottom. Layer with half the pudding (I mixed a little whop cream with this layer so it was a light brown). Sprinkle 1/3 of the crushed candies. Drizzle a good amount of chocolate syrup on. Then top with whip cream. Repeat these steps one more time. Then sprinkle the rest of the candies on top. Then let this rest in the refrigerator over night, or for 24 hours. It's best when the flavors can sit for a while together.

*I would like to add that this is a very versatile recipe. Cake, pudding, and whip topping is really all you need. Anything else from there is just an added bonus! I also considered adding chocolate shavings, chocolate ganauche, crushed Oreos, Andes mints, Butterfingers, chocolate chip cookies, brownies... I could go on forever.



WOW!!!!! I can't believe Christmas is already over. Better start planning for next year!

Enchilado de camarones, or Cuban shrimp creole

The day before my wedding my mom drove down to Kemah and picked up 50 pounds of shrimp. That's right, I said 50 pounds. My family loves shrimp. Grilled, scampi, bacon-wrapped, boiled... Cuban style? Well, I don't think they've tried that. Some of my favorite memories of family include these tiny, shelled morsels. Especially with Grandpa Sporn. He was asked what he wanted for Thanksgiving the year we were all together and he said "Shrimp!" Of course! Like it was assumed! How could you turn him down? So on the day before my wedding I walked out to the back porch only to find all the men in my family peeling the largest bowl of shrimp I've ever seen. And it stunk. :) But I can't thank them enough. Cooking for your own wedding is a memory I'm thankful for every day. Family and friends all cooking together for my big day. I'm always looking for ways to cook shrimp to pay tribute to my family, my grandpa, my favorite crustaceans.

So a few weeks ago my good friend Rodney introduced me to a Cuban restaurant called Cafe Piquet. Of course I wanted to go since I am now a big supporter of El Rey (Best cheap Cuban food). And it was delicious!!! But at first everything on the menu was foreign to me. Since I wasn't about to ruin a perfectly nice meal with friends over an upset stomach, I order the Cuban shrimp creole. Sounds safe, right? When it came out it was a huge pile of jasmine rice, fried plantains, and a small bowl filled with the most deliciously smelling creole! Plump, juicy shrimp with sweet, spicy, tangy tomato stew. OMG! After that first bite I've been craving more. I'm constantly day-dreaming about ordering it at the office, then driving over to pick it up and bringing it back for lunch. But then I worry about it smelling too good and having to share. :(

Lucky for me everything is on the internet! I found a recipe that I thought was close enough and made my own from it. And this is how it goes:

Cuban shrimp creole

1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (1.5 if you want it meatier)
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon butter
3 garlic gloves, minced
1 cup large onion, chopped
1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1 14 oz can of tomatoes (I use Hunts, has best flavor for the price)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cooking white wine
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or omit if you don't want it spicy, but it's creole, right?)
2 tablespoons tomato paste (or just use the juice from the canned tomatoes if you don't have paste)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/ teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Juice from 1/2 lemon



Optional:
Fried plantains (how to cook them is included)
Jasmine rice
Cilantro, minced



In a large pan, add the olive oil and melt the butter until it begins to foam over low-medium heat. Add the onion, and green bell pepper and saute until the onion becomes translucent. Add the garlic cloves and saute an additional 2 minutes. While that is cooking, empty the contects of the canned tomatoes into a bowl. Squish them up with your fingers. Add the squished tomatoes (not the juice unless you don't have paste), tomato paste, water, wine, cayenne pepper, cumin, sugar, salt and pepper and stir until all the ingredients are mixed well. Cover, raise the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes.





Add the thawed, deveined shrimp. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, allowing the shrimp to shrink and change color. This also serves to allow the shrimp to soak in all the ingredients. Stir in the lemon juice after the simmering.



While that is simmering, if you want fried plantains now is the best time. Slice to approximately 1/2 inch size chunks.



Plantains are best when they are yellow and black. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet. Turn the heat to medium. Fry the plantains for 2 minutes on each side, or until they are golden brown on each side.



They should be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Allow them to cool off on a paper towel and sprinkle them with a little salt. I chopped them up and mixed them with the creole on my plate.



Serve over jasmine rice. Yum. :)



Love shrimp!! And it didn't take that long, I will save this as a weeknight meal.

BJ's second bowl.



This is what it looked like after my second plate.



Yeah, I killed it.

The best chicken tortilla soup, it only takes 30 minutes!

Growing up we had soup once a week. At least. Vegetable soup, beef soup, hamburger soup, chicken soup, chili, potato soup on special occasions... When my aunt, uncle and cousins from Kansas moved here, they thought we were insane for eating soup all year long. Especially summer when you wish it was as cool as 92 degrees. But it's so good! I don't make it very often since BJ is also from the north and usually doesn't want soup in the summer. So when he's out of town I make a huge pot and eat it all week.

For the past few weeks I've been on a tortilla soup kick. I can't stop thinking about it! First I had some from Chuy's (one of the best!). Even after eating more than one person should in one sitting, I was still craving it. So the next week I had the El Rey tortilla soup (as equally awesome as Chuy's). Again, I ate more than I should. And it still didn't cure my craving. Oh, don't get me wrong, it was good to the last drop! Literally, if any was left in the plastic container, I got it. So this week I decided to make some hoping it will cure my craving for good! Or, at least for a few weeks so I can eat other things besides soup. Plus, it's super quick, inexpensive, and easy. I'm hoping that RR would be proud of me with my quick recipe.

30 minute chicken tortilla soup

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Half a medium onion, coarsely chopped
Half a green bell pepper, very coarsely chopped
Half a red bell pepper, very coarsely chopped
1 cup of frozen corn
1 jalapeno
4 cups chicken stock (more if you like a lot of broth)
1 cup packed cilantro, stems are okay
1 16oz can whole peeled tomatoes with juice
1 8oz can of tomato sauce
1/2 tablespoon of cumin
Chicken meat from half a rotisserie chicken (more if you it meaty)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Corn tortilla cut into 1/2 inch wide strips

Garnishes:
Avocado
Shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Lime

Saute the onions, corn, bell peppers, and jalapenos in the oil until soft.



Allow the veggies to get a little brown on one side for a grilled flavor.



Add the chicken broth and cilantro. Crush or chop up the tomatoes as fine or course as you like. I usually pour all the contents from the can in a small bowl and squish the tomatoes by hand. Stir, then add tomatoes with the juice and cumin.



Stir, then add the chicken and simmer on medium-low for 15 minutes.

While simmering, heat the other tablespoon of oil for 1 minute. Add the tortilla strips in one layer (don't crowd them, or they will get too soggy) and cook on both sides until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.



Assemble and eat!!! I usually add one of each garnished listed above. This is BJ's bowl of soup since he makes his prettier. It only take 30 minutes!

It's been a few hours since I ate it. I don't think I've been cured yet.

Creamy cilantro & jalapeno enchiladas

If you're from Pearland you know about Gringos. I love the place, and not living close to one anymore is hard. Thankfully there are other restaurants to fulfill my Tex-Mex needs (Chuy's). The Heights > Gringos. My favorite Mexican dish is enchiladas, and Gringos has the best! Maybe it's a nostalgia-thing. Especially since eating those enchiladas makes me reminisce about skipping school to eat there for lunch with Nicole, going before rehearsals to get free ice cream, going there for birthdays, hanging out with friends and family while waiting an hour to sit... or maybe it's the large amount of buttery, sour cream sauce they load on. Either way, they are my fave. Just writing about them is making me want them, and that's after eating my homemade ones two nights in a row. Speaking of which, they were actually pretty good! Enchiladas never turn out right. But I recently realized that because Gringos doesn't bake a dozen of them in a casserole dish. They just assemble on the plate and pour on the sauce! Cheaters!!!

BJ has always preferred flour tortillas, so I use those. I think next time I will use corn and a shallow dish. That way I can flatten them out for more crispy surface area. Like this, the enchiladas are a little too soft leftover. They also needed more cheese. Regardless, they were still good, and they look pretty too!



Creamy cilantro & jalapeno enchiladas

8 tortillas

filling:
1.5 lb. of chicken
2 roma tomatoes chopped
half small onion chopped
1 lime, squeezed
3 cups cheese (I used cheddar and monterrey jack)

sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup of whipping cream
1/2 cup cilantro
1 small can green chiles/jalapenos
salt & pepper

garnish:
sour cream
chopped tomatoes
diced onions
cilantro
green chiles/jalapenos

I cooked the chicken in stock in my crock pot while I was at work. It worked out perfect because when I got home it fell off the bone.

Set the oven at 375. Spray the casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Mix the chicken, tomatoes, onions and lime juice. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the flour, whisking until golden and bubbly, about 2-3 minutes. Slowly whisk the broth into the flour mixture. Stir in the sour cream, whisking if necessary to remove any lumps. Add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer until it thickens for a few minutes. I wanted everything well incorporated so I used the emulsion blender on it for a few pulses. It's not necessary if you don't have one. Assemble each one on a tortilla with a sprinkle of cheese, then chicken mixture, then more cheese, then a drizzle of the sauce. Roll up tightly and place edge-side down. I usually just repeat until I run out of room in the casserole dish or an ingredient. Pour on the sauce and sprinkle the rest of the cheese. Bake uncovered for about 20 to 25 minutes. I usually just bake until the cheese looks pretty.

Garnish and serve! It looks like this when it's done. Serve with rice, beans, or chips and salsa, or margaritas...



I ♥ cooking!

Margherita Pizza

I hate tomatoes. So why do I eat at least 2 tomatoes a day? I don't really know. I could drink tomato sauce and salsa. I constantly crave tomato mozzarella paninis from CM. All soups are better with tomato-based broths. And my pot roast wouldn't be complete without simmering in a can of whole tomatoes. But raw, eaten like a peach? No way. I'm embarrassed by my taste buds. I have this hatred toward fruits mixed with cream. Yuk. Or cooking fruits, like in a pie. It's so wrong. To me it makes perfect sense. But it sure limits my dessert options. Maybe that's why I overdo it on the chocolate.

Anyways, margherita pizzas are simple pizzas. Crust, tomato, cheese, basil. I made it last week as a follow-up dinner to seafood fest for Father's Day. When I went to CM, they were featuring home-grown Texas tomatoes. I honestly don't know why people love home-grown tomatoes, but my mom always made sure she told me when someone gave her some. And my dad would always make them disappear before I could see them. I decided to buy them for the pizza, along with this cheesy flat bread they make. It was awesome! So BJ asked me to make it again. This time I made my own crust. And I got another one of those crazy home-grown tomatoes. And that's it! So easy, it doesn't even need a recipe. But if you still need something to print out, follow this:

Pizza crust
tomatoes (I had one medium sized one)
Half a bunch of basil
FRESH mozzarella (mine was a little smaller than my fist)
Extra toppings: garlic, parsley, thyme, parmesan, feta, tomato sauce

Slice the tomatoes pretty thin, mine were about 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Place them spaced out on the crust. Slice the cheese in about the same size shapes as the tomatoes. This is optional, I think it just turns out prettier. Place them in between the tomatoes, and on top. I added some dried thyme (my favorite spice). Cook for recommended time at recommended temperature. Mine was set at 425 on an already-heated pizza stone. Since I had fresh dough, it took about 20 minutes. Take out from the oven and sprinkle on basil. No need to cook it, the oil from the cheese cooks it just enough.

My hands still smell like olive oil and basil. :)



I just love my dried thyme! And those are the extra slices of tomatoes I had. I try not to overload my thin crust pizzas.




After 5 minutes. Starting to melt beautifully. I tried not to hold the oven too long and melt your camera babe!




I like to rotate it halfway through because the back of my oven gets hotter than the front.




Fin!

Lemon meringue pie for Father's Day, a perfect ending to lobster

For my Christmas present BJ got me a cruise! I pulled a Joey (shed tears over a present) when I saw that Fun Pass. Those 7 days were filled with tons of activities, sun bathing, show watching, trivia games, bean bag tosses, unlimited ice cream cones, and never wondering what I was going to cook for dinner. I love cooking of course, but mostly so I can eat what I want. So having someone else cook gourmet food for me all week is great! But the thing I remember the most from my cruise trips with Shelley ♥ is standing if front of the refrigerator and not wanting to eat ANYTHING the first day back home. Spoiled I had become. It's taken me this long to get back in the grove of planning a good meal for us to eat each night ever since that amazing vacation. What has helped has been the weekly get-togethers with my family. Joey's birthday, June birthdays, Joey's graduation was a big one... And now... Father's Day! My dad is very easy to shop for. Just something good to eat, and he'll be a happy camper. Car washing stuff, tools, koozies, movies, or some sort of chair for him to nap in also works.

One of my favorite memories of Dad is when my mom and I would get him a lobster for his Father's Day present. We would bring it home and I would stand next to the wiggling bag while my mom prepare its pot of doom! Seasoned with lemon and Old Bay (a flavor I still don't get) of course. She would distract me by having me melt butter while she murdered that innocent creature of the sea for my dad's dinner. It's sick, I know. At least t-bones come dead already!! And then... one year I got to try it...

Heaven!!!!!!! Dipped in lemon butter. I was instantly hooked.

Sometimes Central Market or HEB will have lobster tails on sale. I can handle cooking that. Someone else kills it for me, just like that t-bone. So this year my mom got tails for us, excluding herself since she's the craziest person in the world for loving shell fish but not lobster. And I made my dad's favorite dessert, lemon meringue pie. It fits since it's lemon, and lemon is the best condiment for seafood.

Lemon meringue pie is probably the easiest pie to make. I hate the stuff, and any other pie with a gelatin fruit filling. But I've made lots of them, mostly for my dad. I usually have all the ingredients to make it in my pantry except for the crust. This is the recipe I follow:

1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
2 lemons, juiced and zested
2 tablespoons butter
4 egg yolks, beaten

1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked

4 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar (optional)
6 tablespoons white sugar

Preheat oven to 350. To Make Lemon Filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.

To Make Meringue: In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar (and cream or tartar if using it, adds thickness) gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes, then refrigerate for 3 hours.

See our enjoyment!



Oooooo.... Awwww....

Just so you know, the meringue was about 3 times that high when I pulled it out of the oven. If it collapses, no big deal. It will still get eaten, at least by my dad.



Happy camper :)



Grandma was also there for an impromptu visit to bring Mom some onions from a neighbor's garden. But I think somehow she figured out we would have dessert. She's a sneaky one that Grandma. BJ can read right through her.



Mom liked it so much it distracted her from shying away from the camera! Good... Good...



Don't worry, babe. That box in front of you contains La Madeleine chocolate cake. I'm coming to help you eat it!

Cheesy twisted Cod with sauteed grean beans

I made that name up. :) In my RR days, I noticed she would make some really dumb names for her food. And I always remembered them!!!! Why is it that when something bothers you, it sticks with you? So one day when I open my restaurant (if I win the lottery) this is a contender for the menu. Don't steel it, please! I'll gladly make it for you when I open up.

BJ loves Goldfish. Not the chemically generated "pet" that you win at the carnival (mine died after a week, which may have been a world record), but the cracker you can buy at the grocery store. Week after week I buy the whole grain original Goldfish in the regular-sized bag. But he'll eat all of that in 3 days, so the last time I bought some I decided to get the economy-size container. It comes in a giant milk carton shaped container. You could pour a glass of Goldfish and it wouldn't look that silly. Needless to say, he only got through half the box before he thought they were getting stale.

I have a hard time wasting food, so I decided I would do what anyone would do. Crush some of them up and use it for breading on fish! Okay, maybe normal people would just throw away the box, but I'm definitely not normal. And love fried fish!! But I know eating fried stuff is bad, so I pan fried it and baked it through. Maybe it's not that much better, but it sure made me feel better, and that's what counts... right? I used cod because it's a meaty fish that isn't too fishy for me. I hate when you pan fry fish and the edges have been dried out because they are thinner then the middle. Plus, it reminds me of weekends at Baybrook eating Luby's for lunch. That's a little embarrassing. But I think 97% of my visits to Luby's I got the fried cod with mashed potatoes and a roll. Mmmmm..... One of my favorite meals. That's also embarrassing.

Recipe:

Cod (my piece was about .8 lb, and I sliced it into 4 smaller pieces)
Approximately 240 Goldfish, crushed :) (1 - 2 cups, I used more just because I had SO MANY!!)
1/2 cup of Parmesan
1/4 cup of flour
1 egg
2 tbsp of olive oil
salt, pepper, and chili powder for seasoning the flour

1/2 lb of fresh green beans, tips trimmed off
2 tbsp of chopped onions
1 tbsp of chopped garlic
1 tbsp of olive oil
salt to season water

Season a pot of water with salt for the green beans. Boil those on medium to high while preparing the fish.

Turn the oven on 375. Dry the fish with a paper towel. Have your 3 dipping stations ready for prep. I like to get 2 pieces of wax paper for the bread crumbs and flour, then beat the egg with a little water in a shallow bowl. The wax paper makes clean up easier. Mix the Goldfish crumbs with half the parmesan. Heat your pan with the olive oil. Dip each piece of fish in the flour, then dredge in the egg, then dip in the breadcrumbs. Make sure the crumbs cover the whole fish. Pan fry each side for 3 minutes to brown them. Finish them off in the oven for 10 minutes. At 5 minutes take them out and sprinkle the rest of the parmesan on.

During the last 5 minutes of the fish baking, prepare the beans. Drain the water, then put them back in the pan with the onions. Saute with the olive oil for a few minutes, or until the onions are to your liking. I like the onions almost clear, so it took about 3 minutes. Then add the chopped garlic, stir for another minute.



It's also a really pretty meal.

My fish and green beans were done at the same time. I served with a slice of lemon.

The ice cream smore... Gooey goodness that's not gooey at all!

When we were little, my friend Maegan and I would roast marshmallows and make smores. Just not outside, over the fire-top stove. It's pretty hot in Texas so there really isn't the need for a fire ever. It's such a quick, easy dessert. Especially for little kids. Maybe that's why adults love them so much, it reminds them of childhood. Or it could just be the chocolate. And the graham cracker. And of course the marshmallows.

Last year I found a recipe for Smores cookies. I have since made 14,000 batches!! Not really, but it feels like it. I love everything smores!!!! SO when I found this recipe I had to try it. It's so simple, I had everything I needed in my pantry already. Mostly because I'm always making smore cookies.

This is the link for the recipe

I changed it a little bit, here's what I did:

1/2 package of marshmallows
1 cup 2% milk
1.5 cup cream
10 single Dove milk chocolates
Handful of broken graham crackers
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Drizzle of hot fudge, but only lukewarm

Stir the milk, cream and marshmallows in a pot and heat on the stove. Stir a lot until the marshmallows are melted. I turned the fire off when I got down to the last few marshmallows. I don't like getting a ton of dishes dirty since BJ always washes them for me and I try to be courteous, but in this case I needed to get another bowl dirty. I transferred the mixture to large, metal bowl so it would cool faster. Stir the vanilla in, and keep stirring until it's cooler. Mine was still a little warm when I finally put it in the ice cream maker, but cool enough to touch.

Let it churn for 35 minutes. Since it's a warmer mixture it needs the extra time. I chopped up the chocolates while the ice cream maker was going since it was too loud to do anything else. When done, fold in the rest of the ingredients. Don't mix the fudge, just swirl it.

We had out first bowl after 3 hours (couldn't wait!), then the next night after it was really frozen. Each time was really good! It tastes like a very light, frozen, mushed smore. I think I'll have it again tomorrow night, and the next. Then it will be gone.

That's it down there. I didn't have the nice camera out, and didn't want to wait long to eat this. So BJ took a picture with the phone camera. See the chunks of chocolate and graham crackers?!?!



Yes, it's glowing. Because it's Heavenly... :)

I'm not a big fan of mixing the eggs into the ice cream mixture, so whenever I find a recipe that doesn't call for eggs, I go for it! I have to say I would use the marshmallow mixture for the base of other ice creams. Possible for ice cream cake. I think it would "stick" better to the cake. It's super creamy, but light at the same time. And really easy to make. Just try not to think about the number of marshmallows you're eating at once. It will blow your mind and make you want to throw it away. Almost. No, not really at all. Just split it with someone! I did. But I think I still ate most of it...