Thai Tea...Ice Cream?

Delicious Thai Tea Ice Cream...supported by the love of a Kindle.

When I started this whole blog, I warned you people that I'm not very consistent about posting. I promise that I will try to do better...but don't count on it. Between work and life, it's hard to find time to sit down and post. Enough with the excuses, let's move on to the food!!

Who doesn't love a good bowl of ice cream? I mean, barring the lactose intolerant...which would be me. Who doesn't love a good glass of Thai iced tea? Never had it? That's...horrible. I mean, I think my taste buds are crying out to you and screaming, "FOR SHAME!!!!" It's an incredible and amazing drink - creamy, sweet, and refreshing.

The tea itself is brewed from a black tea leaf and spices, then combined with varying ratios and ingredients of sugar, condensed milk, evaporated milk, and/or heavy cream. It's usually served over ice, and the densities of the cream to sugared tea lets the cream sit on top until it's stirred in, providing a picturesque beverage. And the color is typically reddish-orange.

When my husband and I don't feel like going to a restaurant for Thai tea, we hop over to our local Asian market and buy the pre-made, canned variety (The brand is Taste Nirvana). It is spot on. And while I could brew up a batch from scratch, I can never seem to get the sweetener/creamer ratios correct.

Yep, this is the can we get from the Asian market! The company's name is also Taste Nirvana.

I came up with the recipe for this ice cream about two weeks ago. Today is my husband's birthday and I was testing out recipes for dishes I could make for him. He has been asking for Thai tea ice cream for quite a while. I decided to alter some of my basic ice cream recipes to accommodate for a canned beverage. This recipe was delicious and super easy to make.

I don't know if it can truly be called ice cream since I don't use a custard base - meaning I don't heat up the ingredients and temper the eggs. Everything is mixed at or below room temperature, and then poured right into the ice cream maker. This works for me. I used the pre-made, canned Thai tea, but I'm sure that if you brew your own it will turn out just as delicious. Just make sure that you account for any kind of cream ratio discrepancies because you will need the higher fat content to make it the right, smooth consistency. Lower fat ratios will provide a more icy, crystallized, hard consistency.

A whole container! All for meeeeee!!!

This is an original recipe. I would appreciate any credit given for any linking, sharing, or duplicating of this recipe and/or post.

Thai Tea Ice Cream

Ingredients:
- 1 (16 ounce) can of Thai Tea, premade. I use Taste Nirvana brand.
- 1 1/4 cups of heavy whipping cream
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar

Method:

In a medium to large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together all the ingredients until well blended. Pour the mixture into an ice cream mixer and process according the manufacturer's directions. Transfer to a freezer safe container and let the ice cream ripen overnight or at least eight hours.

Coping Through Chocolate Chips

Sinful Dip

Is there a time stamp for this post? Did I even set one of those up? If I did, don't look at it. Seriously, I pretty ashamed of it. Well, if there isn't one and you're now wondering...it's 3:37AM (especially if the "posting" time differs from the actual composure time). Hubbyhubs (yep, still looking for that suitable nickname) is out of town for a business trip. My sleep suffers when he's gone. For you romantics and sentimental people out there...stoppit. It's not sweet, it's not swoon-worthy...it sucks. It's annoying. Do you realize how flipping aggravating it is to not be able to sleep? I got four hours of sleep last night, and it looks like I'll get none tonight. I have to work a full day on no sleep. In fact, my alarm goes off in   1 hour and 34 minutes. Totally not worth attempting sleep.

I'm also ashamed to admit that at *checks clock* 3:43AM, I am sitting here with a container of chocolate chip cookie dip that I made this past weekend. I'm eating it with a spoon. I take back the ashamed statement. No shame, baby. Full, indulgent glory! And "glory" is studded with mini chocolate chips!

I discovered this recipe well over a year ago. Maybe even two years ago. It's a rich, sinful recipe that is best left forgotten. Otherwise, I will creep out to the fridge at butt-crack-o'-dawn to consume it. Consume the dip, not the recipe. Assuming the recipe has been made into a dip...assuming that a dip has been created with ingredients from the pantry while following the recipe. Sorry, my Grammar Girl gets a bit wonky at this time of night...day...hour.

So, let's say you're up at this ungodly hour with me. Now that you've read this and seen a photo of the end result, you want some. Let me show you how ridiculously easy this recipe is.

Grab your ingredients: some mini chocolate chip morsels, brown sugar, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, a block of cream cheese, and a stick of butter

Cut up your butter (it doesn't have to be softened or room temp)

Move butter to a microwave safe dish...let the pieces fall gracefully *plop*

See? All pretty.

Add brown sugar to the dish

Let's all play nicely together

Into the microwave to get warm and cozy

Warm, cozy, and squishy

Stir with your favorite utensil (mine happens to be chopsticks)

Add in vanilla extract

Keep stirring...it may stay separated. That's okay.

Open up your room-temperature-softened cream cheese

Cut into pieces

Plop it into the mixing bowl

Add in powdered sugar

Admire the fluffiness. I wanna go skiing in that. 

Mix lil' mixer, mix!!

Add in your ooey, gooey, mix that you nuked earlier

Watch it all come together. Try not to drool.

Alllllllmost there!!

Scrape down the sides and make sure everything is all incorporated evenly.

Pour in some mini chocolate morsels. Eyeball the measurement.

Hmmm, a 1:1 ratio of mixture to morsels should work, right?

Fold in the morsels to have an even distribution.

Mmmmm, ohhhhh, ummmmmmm....I just wanna faceplant into that right now!!

Put it into containers and let it set up in the fridge for a couple of hours. I found these adorable, small  mason jars online.

Serve with graham crackers or vanilla wafers...or eat it by the spoonful.  No shame!!

I got the recipe from How Sweet It Is. Boy howdy am I glad I did!!

Cookie Dough Dip

makes about 1 1/2 cups

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 8-ounce block of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cups chocolate chips

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture starts to bubble. Set aside to cool, and whisk in vanilla.

Cream together cream cheese and powdered sugar for 60 seconds. With mixer on low speed, add in brown sugar and butter mixture. Mix until combined. I added the chocolate chips at this time so the mixer could break them up into pieces. You can so that, or just fold in the chocolate chips.

Garnish with additional chopped chocolate. Serves with fruit, cookies, crackers, pretzels or a spoon.

One Hell of a Ride and Nutella Cookies

Mmmmm, Nutella Cookies!!!!

It's been a very long time since I posted...and that was only my intro post. Pretty sad, huh? I'm so awful at these things. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Anyway, lots of things have happened...which is why I've had to put this blog on the very back burner.  As you know from the last post, my husband's job was moving us to Florida. Well, in late September we dug up our roots in North Carolina and transplanted them to sunny Florida. We lived in a hotel for about a month (yep, in a hotel...with both of our dogs...and each dog weighs about 70 lbs each). That was a nightmare. The Husband (I need to come up with a good nickname for him on here. Any suggestions?) was gone most of the time doing work stuff while I was frantically looking for a job. Any job. I was desperate. And depressed. And a mess. And desperate. DES-PARH-REHT. I was ready to work the worst shifts/worst jobs/worst tasks just to have something to do. After a few snags and false starts, I finally got a job. Even better, the job relates to my degree. It's a good job and I work with good people. It's also a laid back college research lab environment. Good job, decent pay, relaxed place, nice boss...pretty ideal except for the stupid long commute.

So, it's been about six months since we've moved. Things have begun to settle down and fall into place. The Hubster (hmm, nope, that nickname isn't going to work) is rockin' his job, I'm finally bringing home a decent paycheck, the dogs seem content, and we all feel like adults again. Let me tell you, going back to school as an adult is hard. It skews your role as a wife and as an adult - especially when you used to work and get paid pretty well. I'm very glad and thankful that I went back and finally obtained my Bachelors degree.

Before I got my job, I had a LOT of free time. Loads of free time. I cooked, and did fancy Pinterest projects, and I read. Goodness, I read. I'm surprised my Kindle Keyboard didn't catch fire. I read and re-read lots of favorite books. One of my absolute favorite authors of all time is Debora Geary. No, I'm not getting compensated in any way for expressing my love of the author and her books. She's super crazy nice. (I know this because I friended her on Facebook and chatted with her about my cookie recipe - but I am NOT a stalker. Promise. Pinky swear promise.) Her books are a joy to read. Her characters feel like my closest friends. They are really that good. The books are just feel-good-snuggle-my-blankie-and-a-hot-cup-of-tea-good. It doesn't hurt that she's linked my recipe on her official website. Props to me!!

Okay, here's the "tie-in". Her characters tend to have magical talents that are fueled by cookies. Well, they're fueled by lots of foods, but the cookies sound amazing. One of the cookies is Nutella. After reading the books over and over again, I felt the need to find a recipe for these things just to feed the craving. I tried a number of recipes, but none of them seemed Nutella-y enough. I decided to come up with my own recipe. The dough really does need to chill so that it can solidify to made into balls. The last time I made them, I put the dough into a cookie press that my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas. I had to adjust and make the cooking time shorter, but they were still delicious.

Nutella Cookies shaped with my cookie gun

Chocolate Nutella Cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes (not including chilling or baking time)

Makes around 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

       1 ¼ cups all purpose flour

       1 teaspoon baking powder

       ½ teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)

       2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

       ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

       ½ cup sugar, granulated white

       ½ cup brown sugar

       2 teaspoons vanilla extract

       ½ cup Nutella, room temperature

       1/3 cup milk

       ¼- ½ cup Nutella for topping

1. Preheat oven to 325⁰F.
2. In a gallon sized Ziploc bag (or whisking together in a small bowl), combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Toss in bag to mix well. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth (about 2 minutes). Add vanilla extract and beat for another 30 seconds. Add in Nutella and beat until smooth and well incorporated.
4. With the mixer running, add half of the flour mixture (I snip off a corner of the bag, that way it’s easy to hold and add while using the mixer) and mix until well combined. Add in the milk, mixing until well incorporated. Add in the rest of the flour mixture and mix completely. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 15 minutes (and as long as 2-3 days).
5. When ready to bake cookies, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll tablespoon sized amounts of dough into balls and place them on a lined cookie sheet, allowing about 2 inches between the dough balls.
6. Lightly press the dough balls with the flat of your palm. Make an indention with your thumb in the middle of the dough balls. Add a scant amount (around or less than 1/8 teaspoon) of Nutella to the dip of the dough balls.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes (mine were definitely done at 10 minutes, smaller cookies at 9 minutes) or until the cookies are crackly on top and soft, but starting to set. Remove from the oven and allow them to stand for about 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks (if they last that long!)