Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

It's rare that I come upon a recipe where words fail me.  This recipe though, I'm speechless.  Utterly speechless when it comes to describing this lush, velvety and somewhat indecent chocolatey ice cream.  I have never, ever had a dessert make me ooh and ahh at EVERY single bite.  Oh, the pleasure as spoonful upon spoonful passed my lips.  You just simply HAVE to make this.  

In all honesty, this is bar none, one of the easiest recipes I have for ice cream as it doesn't have a ton of fussy ingredients.  No tempering of egg custard, etc.  Just pretty straight forward - warm it, chill it, churn it.  I would describe it more but....I'm literally speechless.  That and I want to log off here to go get some more!  :)

Make it for yourself and see!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

from Jen @ My Tiny Oven

2 cups Half-and-half

2 cups Whipping Cream

½ cups Dutch Process Cocoa Powder, Unsweetened

1 cup Sugar

¼ teaspoons Salt

1 cup Smooth Peanut Butter

1 cup Peanut Butter Cups, Chopped

In a large sauce pan, combine the half and half and cream with the cocoa powder, sugar and a pinch of salt. Whisk to combine. Heat the mixture until it comes to a full boil, whisking all the time. When the mixture starts to foam, remove it from the heat and stir in the peanut butter, until fully incorporated. Cover and refrigerate until mixture is completely chilled, 8 hours or so.

Then put the chilled mixture into the canister of your ice cream maker. Finish in your ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Add the chopped peanut butter cups during the last 2 minutes or so of churning.

Serve right away for a soft serve texture or you can stash it in the freezer, in an air tight container, for a harder ice cream.

Amish Pancakes

I have a love affair with Amish cooking but being down South here, I'm sorely deprived of anything Amish.  When I lived in Ohio there was an *amazing* Amish restaurant that served the best chicken and noodles I have ever, ever had.  Oh, how I  miss a nice hot bowl of noodles over mashed potatoes.  (insert sad face here)  I decided I'd buy some Amish cookbooks and maybe I could find something similar to my beloved noodles and in the process found this fabulous pancake recipe that has since replaced all my others, hands down.  My 15 year old proclaimed these "the best pancakes he's ever eaten".


The book I found this in is called "The Amish Cook at Home" and goes not by recipe sections like veggies and meats, etc. but rather by seasons and shares with you what life is like in those Amish communities.  It really is a great book; I can hardly say I've read a cookbook cover to cover but this is that rare case where I did.  They really are a fascinating people and I love their simplicity in everything from cooking, to sewing to gardening.  That's what the recipe is...basic, simple and delicious.  I hope you'll agree.


These pancakes fluff up wonderfully, are thick and hearty and have this wonderful cakey flavor.  They are so good I ate one without butter or syrup and it was delicious.  The batter itself is VERY thick so you might need to thin it down with some additional milk as I did.  Using a 1/3 cup, this recipe yielded 9 medium sized pancakes.  Using a 1/4 cup, you should get 12 smaller ones.


Amish Pancakes
adapted from The Amish Cook at Home


2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cup milk
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten


Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium sized bowl.  Whisk to combine.  In another bowl, whisk together egg, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring just till combined.  Don't overmix.


Add to your griddle and cook for 3 minutes approximately per side until golden brown and bubbles form along the dry edge.  Flip and cook on other side for another 3 minutes.

* Picture courtesy of StockXchang as we ate ours too quick to take a picture!

Slow Cooker Cheesy Ham & Potatoes

Since everyone has been on the slow cooker bandwagon as of late due to the uber hot weather, I wanted to share with you this delightful gem of a recipe.  Whether you add a salad, a roll and make it a full dinner meal like we do, or as a side or even as breakfast, this hearty fulfilling dish will leave you with some very happy tummys!

Using my food processor to slice the potatoes and shred my cheese makes this ever so faster.  This dish was in my slow cooker and on my plate in just 4 hours.  (on high or 8 hours on low)  It's super velvety, creamy, cheesy, salty...it just doesn't get any better than this for a quick set it and forget it type of meal.  I hope you enjoy!

Cheesy Ham & Potatoes
adapted from Mixing Bowl Magazine

6 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
1 pound boneless ham, cut into small pieces
3 cups of shredded cheddar
1 small onion, diced
1 can of cream of chicken
1 can of cream of celery
Paprika
salt/pepper

In a 3.5-4 quart slow cooker, layer half the potatoes, half the ham, half the onion, half the cheese and one can of soup (spread out as best you can with the back of a spoon).  Add salt/pepper.  Repeat another layer with remaining ingredients.  Sprinkle paprika over top.

Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.  Edges will be bubbly and cheesy and browned. 

Note:  spray the inside portion of your slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray to prevent sticking or use a slow cooker liner available at your grocery store in the foil aisle.  It's a lifesaver as this cheese likes to stick to everything.

Hibatchi Style Teriyaki Sauce

My family and I are total hibatchi/sushi nutjobs.  We could eat there everyday barring the $15.00 lunch price tag per person.  What's a starving, hungry family to do?  Come up with a your own teriyaki sauce to serve over rice and chicken, of course!

Seriously though, this fabulous sauce rivals anything that a restaurant serves and is way cheaper to make that buying a bottle version.  It uses stuff I usually have on hand too, which is handy since I make this about once a week and it's zippy fast to make.  And, using a low sodium soy sauce, I'm controlling the amount of salt and no MSG.  Yay!

Of note:  I use pre-grated ginger and garlic in a squeeze tube.  You can find it in your local produce aisle usually.  They have cilantro, garlic paste...all kinds of stuff in a handy dispensing tube but you can always feel free to grate your own ginger if you have a piece laying around.  Or you can use dried, ground ginger/garlic but I think fresh has more zing and pow to the flavor punch.


Hibatchi Style Teriyaki Sauce
adapted from Witchy, a friend

¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
1 cup water (or chicken/beef broth)
½ teaspoon ground ginger (or 1 Tablespoon fresh from a tube or grated)
¼ teaspoon garlic powder (or 1/2 Tablespoon fresh from a tube or minced)
5 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon Wondra flour
pepper/salt to taste

In a saucepan, add soy sauce, water, ginger, garlic, brown sugar and honey.  Whisk together over medium heat till warmed through.  Salt/pepper to taste and adjust garlic/ginger to taste if desired. 

To thicken, sprinkle 1 Tablespoon of Wondra over top and whisk thoroughly.  Or alternatively, make a slurry of 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of cold water and add to sauce pan, stirring till desired consistency.

Serve warm as dipping sauce or poured over meat/rice.  Delicous!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Happy 4th of July everyone!  Today's recipe is one that can be found all over the US but especially here in the South where it seems everyone has their own version of it.  I thought being here in Georgia for this 4th of July, red velvet cupcakes seemed appropriate with it's fluffy red against a creamy white frosting.  Seemed patriotic to me!  

I cannot believe how much debate there is over this recipe.  From frosting choice to cocoa usage to nuts and more, it just seems there are so many versions of this floating around.  I'm particularly fond of this one though from Hershey's dating back to the 30's.  My step mom gave me a cookbook eons again with recipes from the backs and labels of famous product lines.  This was one from a Hershey can way back when things were in short supply.  This cake is so deep red, so moist and soft that you can hardly believe there is only 2 eggs in it.  You would swear it has oodles of butter too but not one ounce of butter is in there.  It is really just an amazing recipe and Hershey was genius for coming up with this version. 

Hope you enjoy!  I'm sending this batch of goodies off to the Army lab today at Ft. Benning for those poor guys who have to work today.  (like my hubby)  Happy 4th ya'll!  

Hershey's Red Velvet Cocoa Cake

1/2 cup white shortening

1 1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp cocoa

2 ounces red food coloring

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp vinegar

Cream shortening and sugar together.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  In a separate dish, mix cocoa and food coloring.  (be careful - that part can get MESSY!)  Add coloring to the sugar/shortening mix.  Add flour, buttermilk, salt alternating.  Mix soda and vinegar in a cup and pour into batter.  (will be foamy)

Bake in 2 - 9 inch pans that have been greased and floured  (or 1 9x13 or muffin tins) at 350 for 30-35 minutes.  Let cool completely before frosting with your favorite cream cheese frosting.  (I cheated and used ready made on this round.  Shhhh!)

This recipe is linked over at: