Everything But The Kitchen Sink Ice Cream

How was everybody’s Christmas?

Gingerbread Hot Chocolate with Mini Star Ice Cream Sandwiches - Bakemas Day 23

How is it Christmas Eve TOMORROW, this month has flown by way too fast; I’ve not watched enough Christmas films and I’ve definitely not stared at enough Christmas trees!

Christmas Pudding Ice Cream Sandwiches - Bakemas Day 19

I have been excited about this recipe since last Christmas, it’s been sitting on my bakemas ideas list all year and I finally FINALLY got to make them.

Cookie Dough Pancakes

It’s Pancake Day and as always being true to myself I am completely behind. I’ve been testing this recipe for a couple of weeks but decided today was a good day to shoot and upload them, okay I was heavily influenced by a friend who just wanted to eat pancakes but I can’t complain, they were so good I didn’t even sit down to eat them!

Hazelnut & Raspberry Chocolate Dipped Ice Cream Sandwiches

So I’m back with another semi reluctant Valentine’s day post (just like last year), I say semi because I’ve been super excited about this idea for a few weeks now but it’s just taken me a while to get around to making it, plus the fact I’ve also had a few baking mishaps, totally my fault my brain has been really spacey recently; it’s gone full on turbo.

Gingerbread Man Ice Cream Sandwiches - Bakemas Day 14

This is kind of a continuation from yesterdays blog post but it 100% deserved its own post.

I actually wanted to make this recipe for last year’s bakemas, I ran out of time but I’m so glad I ending up waiting because the Ginger shortbread men made the recipe so much better, it gives them a little crunch which goes really well with the ice cream and bonus they don’t freeze rock hard if you make these early and pop them in the freezer for a few days.

Black Forest Ice Cream Sundae (Vegan) - Bakemas Day 12

It might be Monday, but that doesn't mean you can't eat a sundae!

I’m such an advocate for ice cream in winter, I actually prefer eating it in winter, you get to curl up with a blanket (preferably a festive one) put on a film (also, that could be festive too) and eat ice cream and you’re already cosy and warm. Also, if you’re going to do this you should do it properly and make a coffee or hot chocolate to go with it because cold ice cream and a hot drink, ahh if only I had a little free time to curl up on the sofa and do this right now. Quick note though; you should probably make sure the hot drink isn’t going to burn your tongue before you drink it straight after a mouthful of ice cream, because a burnt tongue is no fun.

Coffee Pancakes/Crêpes with Vanilla Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

Last week sort of ran away from me but even though Pancake Day is over I still wanted to share this recipe, and who in their right mind would turn down pancakes?

I made your morning quicker by putting your coffee in your breakfast; you can thank me when the caffeine kicks in. So maybe this is more of a dessert than a breakfast because I probably wouldn’t suggest you have ice cream for breakfast on the daily but I wouldn’t write it out completely. This is kind of the perfect dessert, with pancakes, coffee, chocolate sauce and ice cream you can’t really go wrong, I even went as far to make homemade ice cream and even though I couldn’t eat a whole scoop I did try it and it was definitely the most delicious vanilla ice cream I’ve ever had, I guess I have a lot to live up to when I start experimenting with dairy free ice cream.

Lime and Avocado Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Pistachio Pieces

I actually managed to slit my finger open while making this, I know, ice cream of all things. I was obviously not paying any attention to cutting open avocados and probably more attention to the music I was listening to or the commonwealth games that were on in the background or the humongous mess I had previously made in the kitchen which was slowly getting bigger and messier by itself. The mess in the kitchen grows right? have you noticed? it's like the opposite of having elves come and tidy your workshop and finish your jobs at night; I guarantee you dirty crockery multiplies in daylight when your back is turned.

It was one of those days where I was really excited to get in the kitchen but I kept losing things, and knocking things over and being ridiculously clumsy; it's almost like my eyes have stopped working, over the past few days things are literally sitting in front of my face and I can't seem to find them. And can I just mention it was boiling in the kitchen, I got the chocolate covered pistachios out of the fridge to cut up and add to the mixture and in about 20 seconds the chocolate was melting.

If you're even slightly apprehensive about making this because there's avocado in it just throw those apprehensions out the window and do it anyway you will not regret it. This actually reminds me of a lime cheesecake I make all the time and if your ice cream tastes a bit like cheesecake and it's healthier because it has avocado in, you're doing it right.

Coffee Ice Cream Floats

I'm not sure how this idea came about, I'm sure the majority of you have had an ice cream float, I on the other hand have not. I remember when I was in year 5 or 6 it was a friends birthday so we went to the galleria, I want to say we saw a movie? but I'm not entirely sure if we did or didn't and if we did I would not even have the first clue as to what it was. Anyway, before or after the potential movie viewing, we went to a restaurant, I want to say it was Frankie & Benny's but again not entirely sure, although this is besides the point. Basically my 10/11 year old self sitting in this restaurant with my friends and someone orders a coke float and in my head I'm thinking what the bloomin' heck is that, the drink arrives, it's placed on the table and I'm staring at it like .....dessert and a drink? Slightly baffled, a little confused and I'm sure probably entirely enthralled by the idea, but obviously not enough to ever try one. I'm not a big coke drinker, well, I'm not a big frizzy drinks drinker period, however I have now officially tried a root beer float and I'll be honest; I much prefer my root beer plain and my ice cream on the side in a bowl with chocolate sauce and brownie bits.

Side note: you are not crazy these drinks do look completely different colours. I made these while a friend was over so mine is made with almond milk and the other was made with cows milk and after my photographing was finished we drank them in the garden in the sun. and if you've ever made iced coffee with almond milk you will probably know it separates pretty quickly, luckily it's not that visible here.

Brandy Ice cream with Christmas pudding truffles (No-churn)

"It tastes like christmas" was pretty much the response I got from people trying this. Brandy cream and christmas pudding all rolled up into ice cream.

Bah Humbug ice cream (no-churn)

No-churn blueberry muffin ice cream

This has been a long time coming; for some reason I've just got out of the groove of things. I made this about three weeks ago; let me set the scene for you. It was a thursday, about 9 o'clock, I was up showered and already hot from running round the house, the sun was beaming down, there was not a cloud in the sky with temperatures expected to hit 30 degrees later that day. I walked through the kitchen and out of the corner of my eye spotted a tin of muffins longing to be eaten from the day before. With a little time to spare before meeting a friend, I decided to whip up some ice cream; how appropriate for the climate.

Two days later it was raining and for a week we were living with permanent grey skies, constant drizzle and the occasional downpour. I sort of took a mini holiday/sick week and pretty much spent the last week watching tv series with my laptop on my lap staring at a blank screen; bloggers block? Although I guess it was more lack of concentration than anything else. So here I am on a sunday evening writing this while my bed sheets dry with a coffee and film on standby as a reward for my spectacular efforts.

I guess this recipe is not quite so suitable now the season has changed, but I have always preferred my ice cream in winter; there's just something about the cold, eating ice cream and burying yourself in a sea of blankets. But if you're a warm weather ice cream lover, which I suppose most people are, just curl up by the fire and eat it, it's almost like it's summer again...right? You're just a little bit closer to the "sun".

When I said i whipped this up I wasn't kidding; I think it takes more time getting the ingredients out than it does to make this.

S'mores Frappé

Last weekend we had our annual family cycling holiday which as a child always signified the dreaded feeling of having to go back to school, in light of this I am bringing you one of my favourite frappé recipes to celebrate, or in some people's cases mourn the end of summer. Don't get me wrong I love summer but I am also a lover of the leaves changing, wrapping up warm and drinking take away coffee with mittens on, but enough about that I'm sure no one wants to think about the sun going into hibernation any time soon.

I'm not usually one to drink blended coffee because if I buy them it just feels like I should be spending that money on something that will last a little longer than 20 minutes and I'm not really someone who wants to consume 50 grams of sugar from drinking a cup of coffee. If I'm going to eat bad food I'd rather have a slice of cake and stick to almond milk iced coffee which takes less effort to make than putting on a pair of socks; it still tastes good, I just force myself to live in ignorance about how good the real stuff tastes. However a few weeks ago while my friend and I were having a movie marathon we decided to make Oreo frappés and there started my obsession with trying to put every flavour I could think of in my old, not so powerful blender.

Anyway, on to the recipe

First make the coffee, I use instant because I'm English and we're a nation of household instant coffee drinkers, so if you're doing this make it with a small amount of water, then add the 2 tsps of condensed milk so it dissolves.
Grind/chop/whack with a rolling pin/ throw around your kitchen the chocolate until it's in small pieces; you're aiming for it to be small enough to not get stuck in your straw. I use about 4 squares of a 100/200g bar of chocolate 20g is just a rough guide.
Add to the blender; 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream, 50 ml of milk (I use almond, but any milk of your choosing will work fine), a handful of marshmallows, the ground chocolate and the digestive biscuit (this is just the UK alternative to graham crackers so if you're from the US add accordingly).
You'll need roughly the same amount of ice cubes which fit in the glass you're going to serve your coffee in this is usually about 8-10 large ice cubes.
The coffee should have cooled slightly on it's own, add one of the ice cubes to the coffee and mix until the coffee is cold, then add the coffee and ice cubes and blend.

If you have a not so powerful blender like me you might want to add the marshmallows to the coffee and condensed milk to soften them, blend the coffee mixture first on it's own then add an ice cube to cool it. You can add the rest of the ingredients after the coffee is cold then blend like normal.

You might have to do your own tweaking as you may prefer your coffee sweeter, stronger etc. You can also add whipped cream on top and sprinkle on some chocolate or marshmallows, I just prefer mine without.

Enjoy!