Treatzza Pizza - Almost.

Ice Cream Cakes have always been my favourite type of cake. These cakes would of course come from Dairy Queen which also sells Treatzza Pizza's - a delicious dessert-take on pizza. Between this idea and an episode of Paula Dean, I created the Graham Cracker Cinnamon Pecan Caramel Vanilla Ice Cream Pizza!

It was toooo easy to make which may become a problem in our house because I may decide to whip one up whenever I feel like it.

What you need:

1 store bought graham cracker pie shell (or you can make your own if you want)
1 litre vanilla ice cream
1 tbsp cinnamon
3/4 cup caramel sauce (I made this but you could also buy store bought if you want)
1/2 cup halved pecans

The pizza needs to be done in steps so that each step has time to set by being in the freezer.

Start the first layer of the pizza. Spread a thin layer of cinnamon onto the crust of the pie shell. On top of that, scoop ice cream to almost fill the shell. You will have to use your hands to spread and flatten the ice cream. Be careful not to crack the graham cracker shell and work quickly. Sprinkle with another layer of cinnamon. Place into the freezer to help reset and harder the newly softened ice cream.


While the ice cream is hardening, begin the caramel sauce.

Caramel Sauce:

1 cup sugar
1 cup whipped cream
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp corn syrup
1/4 cup butter

Over medium heat, combine all ingredients for caramel sauce. Stir constantly. Bring to a boil and continue boiling until temperature gets to 220 F. Stir frequently. Remove from heat and pour into a heat safe jar. Be careful - this mixture if very hot.


Let cool. You don't want to pour hot sauce over ice cream. In this case anyways.

Sprinkle the pecan pieces over the ice cream and cinnamon.

Once the caramel is cool, slowly drip the sauce evenly over the top and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon.

Place back in the freezer for 30 minutes or more until the caramel is set.

And there you go! A DQ-like Treatzza Pizza.

Use a pizza cutter to slice. This made for an easy and mess-free cut.

I'm definitely going to try this with different varieties of toppings. I see a chocolate themed one in my future...I think I'm going to use an Oreo crust pie shell next time to enhance the chocolate theme.

YAM Fries

I can remember the first time that I ever tried Yam Fries. They have become so popular in restaurants. I couldn't resist trying to make them myself. These turned out so good that we have made them several times since the first.

The recipe is so easy and few ingredients are needed, which I always like.

Ingredients:

1 large yam
1-2 tbsp corn starch
3-4 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
Large ziploc bag (or something similar)

* This will yield 2 large portions.

STEP ONE:

Peel the yam and cut into strips. *Be careful while cutting the yam up as it is quite tough

STEP TWO:

In a large ziploc bag toss in 1-2 tbsp of corn starch and the yam strips, seal the bag and shake it until the yams strips are completely coated.

STEP THREE:

Pour in the olive oil and add salt and pepper; shake bag again.

STEP FOUR:

Evenly spread the yam strips onto baking sheets (you will need two sheets). Spread them so they are spread in a single layer and the majority of yams are not touching one another. If they are piled on, the yams will steam and won't crisp up.

STEP FIVE:

Place in the oven at 425 F for 30 minutes; toss them half way through. Continue baking until your desired crispness.

STEP SIX:

Pair with a dipping sauce - whatever you want. We used a spicy chipolte mayo.

STEP SEVEN:

Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat!!

Chocolate Vanilla Spiral Cookies

I made these cookies last week with my mom in mind. Among other types of cookies, these spiral cookies are a trade mark of growing up (and they still make an appearance when we go home to visit). The cookies that I made aren't her recipe. Hers come out nice and fluffy and these ones came out crunchy. The fluffy ones sound better but these were actually quite good, just a different type of cookie.

The recipe that I used came from Robinhood.ca.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour
3 tbsp coca powder
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp of water

STEP ONE

Beat butter and sugar until well blended and light in colour; add vanilla and salt (I left the salt out as my butter was salted); add flour and mix until crumbly

STEP TWO

Knead dough together and split into two

STEP THREE

Return one of the pieces back to the mixer and add in the cocoa

STEP FOUR

On pieces of wax paper, roll the two doughs out to near equal sizes and shapes

STEP FIVE

Lightly spread the egg mixture onto the top of one of the two doughs (this will help the two doughs stick together)

STEP SIX

Stack the other dough directly on top of the egged dough, trying to match the placement up as best as possible (it is easiest to keep the wax paper on as you flip the second dough on top of the first one)

STEP SEVEN

Press the edges down along the outside of the doughs to connect the two doughs

STEP EIGHT

Using the wax paper that is under the bottom dough, roll the dough from the long way into a tight cylinder; seal the ends by pushing the tips inward as you create the cylinder

STEP NINE

Wrap tightly and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes

STEP TEN

Preheat oven to 325 F; cut rolls into 1/4 inch slices and bake 14-16 minutes

*This makes so many cookies - before slicing all of the dough, I cut it in half and froze the remaining dough for next time. 

Hope you try it out!

Gummy Bear Sticks

I made these candy sticks - Gummy Bear Sticks - over the weekend with Thanksgiving in mind.

They are so cute. After I made them I realized that they reminded me of the multi-coloured corn that comes around during Thanksgiving - this stuff:

The Gummy Bear Sticks were really easy to make. 

Per stick, all you will need is:

1 1/2 dozen candy pieces - I used real fruit gummy bears

A stick with a point - You could buy these at the craft store, but I just used shish kabob skewers that I had in my kitchen

A bag to cover the stick - These are from the craft store and were packaged for pretzels but they worked perfect for this

Something to tie it all together - I was looking for twine in my wrapping paper box but didn't have any but untwisted the handle of a paper Levi's bag instead

I originally wanted to stack the gummy bears vertically but once it was pricked, the sticky part was exposed and it made it difficult to slide down. So I opted to put them on vertically and it made it less of a challenge and I think probably looks better then up and down.

KitchenAid

Yikes! It has really been too long - again.

My and Josh's schedules have been completely opposite for about a month. You would think that I would have been able to find some time to post items but nope...it didn't seem to work that way. But here I am with a ton to post! I have been cooking and baking like crazy. A post a day for the next while is my plan.

Before I go back into the past with foods that I have been making over the last month I have to comment on a current event. I FINALLY!! cracked and bought a KitchenAid mixer. Way too expensive but very much worth it and I found it for a great price - I've been monitoring the flyers like crazy.

Besides Czar (our dog baby), this is my new baby. I love it so much. It sure beats a hand-held mixer - although I do see the advantages of just the hand-held.

I really wanted the Pistachio coloured mixer but I found out that it takes 4-6 weeks to get many of the coloured ones in.... there was no way I was waiting any longer so I went with the white which looks great in our kitchen - crisp and clean.

The Pistachio would have been cool though because it has a 50s feel and our place is a strange mix of super modern and touches of old fashion pieces. We put some cool art work up on our walls that incorporated Josh's old comics from when he was a kid that aren't 50s but have the same flavour. I'll take some pictures and post it up sometime this week - I'm surprised that I like them as much as I do. It was a good idea (way to go Josh!! Whoowhoo!).

Anyways - this is my mixer:

 What to make next....hmmm.