Homemade Brand Santa's Cookies Ice Cream

[By Nick]
T’was the night before Christmas and heard all through the house,

was young Nicholas’ stomach rumbling, he needed ice cream in his mouth.

Nicholas went to satisfy that noisy hunger

but choosing a flavor was turning into a blunder.

No simple vanilla or chocolate would do, those flavors are so bogus.

Thankfully Nicholas was a good boy this year and the elves at Homemade Brand took notice.

See, the elves have been busy throughout the year

creating a flavor they knew would bring cheer.

It’s a well-known fact that Santa loves a good cookie,

but when it comes to ice cream, he’s also no rookie.

So the head elf said “Why don't we combine the two?

            Sugar cookie ice cream is well overdue!”

As the midnight hour grew near,

a bright red package did magically appear.

Happy 4th of July!

Don't worry, only a box of splenda infused Bomb Pops was harmed in the making of this photo.

The Talenti Glow Jar Project

Now I've said on numerous occasions that I am a huge fan of the clear pint containers that Talenti uses for their Gelato. I've saved all but one container and re-tasked them all, often as outside toys for the kids (nothing like a afternoon playing restaurant in the dirt). I was happy reusing this when but then I saw the glowing mason jar project and had an idea. Why can't I make the Talenti jars glow?

Alright, supplies are found and we are ready to rock. We've got folkArt acrylic glow paint from Walmart (also at say Michael's or AC Moore). I've got a four paint brushes, two clean Talenti containers, and a daughter ready to paint. We opened the jars and set about our task.

This is my jar and I thought it was fun but harder than it looks. I should probably admit that it doesn't glow like this naturally (you may have noticed the purple glow of a black light). Actually, you may have also noticed that you can't really tell the difference between the yellow and the green.

Ok, so there were two problems with this project.

1) It's really hard to paint on a cylindrical surface. I mean, I managed by keeping most of my work small and by frequently rotating the jar, but my daughter got so frustrated with her paint running that she wiped her container clean and started over.

2) The folkArt paint doesn't actually glow that well with the charge from a normal light bulb. Oh its fairly bright for a little while but it quickly fades off. In retrospect, I'd probably go with a stronger (and more colorful) paint from coolglow or glow inc.

---

Now, this was actually a project we did over the summer, but I couldn't get a good picture of it, so unfortunately this post sat as a draft for a very long time....   until Talenti decided to have a pint recycling photo contest so I picked up a new blacklight this week and finally snapped a picture. What a great idea to encourage people to reuse their containers. If you want, you still have time to enter!

Moose Tracks Tuesday with Central Market Classics Ice Cream

Disclaimer: The goal of the following post is to inspire you to head over to the Moose Tracks photo contest and vote for your favorite entry --- ok, yes, technically I have an entry in the contest, and I would love your vote, but voting in general is what matters, so please choose whatever photo you like best --- you are allowed to vote once a day and the voting runs until October 14th.

So, Moose Tracks, what is it exactly? I say "Cherry Garcia" and you say "Ben & Jerry's". I say "Moose Tracks" and you think "tasty", but a brand doesn't necessarily come to mind because it's not a brand, it's more of a recipe shall we say. Any company can contact Denali Flavors and get the recipe and ingredients to make their own branded Moose Tracks, that's why you see it so much. I've seen it from Walgreen's, Hannaford's, Stop & Shop, Stone Ridge (Supervalu), Kemps froyo, and even Turkey Hill in their Stuff'd and Light product lines.

Now, when I say Moose Tracks, I mean more than just peanut butter cups and fudgy swirls, Denali now has over 40 flavors in it's arsenal. It's a nice looking and rather thorough lineup, but since it's a flavor and not a brand, tracking it down isn't always easy.

Two weeks ago, Denali's PR company contacted me and asked if I would post up the news about their photo contest. It's a generous contest where you submitted a shot of moose tracks in whatever setting and in return you can win one of three prizes. The top prize is a year of ice cream (and ofcourse the love and admiration of all your ice cream loving friends). I was happy to share the news, and me being me, I wanted to enter too. So, the big question becomes, where am I going to find all these funky flavors?

Price Chopper!! That's right, with only minimal luck at Stop & Shop and Hannaford's, Price Chopper was there to save the day with their Central Market Classics in house brand of premium ice cream. It's been a year since we had CMC in the freezer, so that's excuse enough to pick up two containers. Well, that and the "everyday low price" of $2.99 (which rang up as $4.19, but that's another story).

Who wants a slice of Voltron cake?

You know how I tend to try too hard when I make cupcakes or cookies? Yeah, well, I apply that same over the top philosophy to cake baking, too. A quick Google image search only reveals this frosted Voltron and this fondant Voltron. Let's see if we can't add a third Voltron to the mix.

Disclaimer: Look, I'm not pretending like I'm some skilled cake artist here. In retrospect, I can think of at least a dozen things I did wrong or could have done better. That said, it was just meant to be fun and different and one of a kind. Birthday cakes are a special thing and should be treated as such. Just use your imagination and the person that you give it to will appreciate it.

 Now, Children of the 80s unite!

This is my tasty buddy Voltron.

Well, he was my buddy before we ate him.

I'd say he came out more fun than accurate.

It took 2 boxes of cake mix, 2 tubs of frosting, 

4 tubes of cake icing and 8 jelly beans for the eyes to complete him.

I've messed around a little with cake decorating before, but nothing that was ever this elaborate.

(note: The white frosting is "fluffy white" and was pretty runny).

The good allergy news is that he's nut free, dairy free, and egg free. 

(I love Ener-G egg replacer.)

Cake Voltron is made up of a double layer chocolate center (9" cake pans)

and vanilla arms and legs (courtesy of some food dye and tiny disposable baking tins).

I looked over at the cake and realized the Green Lion was smiling.

Like I said, I could have done a bunch of things differently like make my own frosting which would have been easier to work with and resulted in a neater and cleaner cake. Also, I would have given him his wings and made his face look a lot fancier. That said, he's still cute, he serves twelve, and we will all miss him.

Happy Easter Everyone

I just want to say have an awesome Easter. Nothing beats a good Easter egg hunt and a big basket full of candy. I also love honey baked Ham, and potatoes, and fresh veggies, and oh there will be so many desserts on the table. Be safe, hang with family and friends, and enjoy the day.

Quack Quack Quack   HONK

Star Wars Easter Eggs a.k.a. Dubba's Eggcellent Adventure

You know, I kind of had an epiphany after I posted yesterdays cupcake adventure. See, as a review blogger, it's so easy to get up on my high horse and just bash everything. I mean, look at 2012, it seems like I've been disappointed by almost every product I have tried. However, when you bake (or do anything else creative), you have to get off that high horse and accept the fact that it's hard to make stuff.

Funny thing is, me being me, I'm still critiquing myself the whole way through. I guess some things will never change... but I can change the content of this blog. Sure, we'll still do a quality ice cream review here and there, but it's time to get my hands dirty. It's time to embrace my construction cooking roots and start building my treat expertise one item at a time. And when we're not cooking (or scooping once a month a so), it'll be time to get back to drawing and creating. Yes, its a risk switching things up, but I hope enough of you will stick around for oddball geek projects like this.

"These are not the eggs you're looking for"

Ok, so buckle up, it's gonna be a bumpy ride, I hope you come with me.

[No Star Wars eggs were harmed during the creation of the terrible April Fools Day joke]

Thought this would be funnier...

I was looking through the cabinet last weekend when I realized I should probably check the date on some Keebler Fudge Shoppe Cones I bought. "Best By May 08 2011". Pretty sure I should resist the urge to eat these... I guess we should try and have a little fun before they go away.

Ahhh, too predictable!

Ok, better, but I'm still not feeling it

My stacking probably looks pretty easy until you realize the tops of the cones are not flat.

(but if you can alternate bumps so that they kind of interlock)

Ok, big finale!

Yes, I took the time to stack 12 cones

(and yes, there is a piece of tape on the 8th cone from the bottom so it doesn't tip)

Good night everybody!

Lindy's Watermelon Italian Ice Review

Ok, I promise either a Breyers or Blue Bunny review tomorrow, but considering I finished off Peanut Butter World for lunch, I've only got caloric room for some nice Italian ice.

So I picked up a pack of Lindy's watermelon Italian ice awhile ago. My daughter went through them pretty quick but I managed to hide one in the back of the freezer where I then forgot about it (I know, shocking). Hmmm, these reviews always go by so quick, maybe we can have a little fun with it.

I made some ice cream quite long ago....

I made some ice cream quite long ago

why I didnt talk about it, I don't really know.

I was very excited with new techniques to apply,

but after I made it, time just seemed to fly by.

Oh, it was a thing of beauty and should have had a good taste,

but I did not record the formula in all of my haste.

Six months have past, yes this is very true,

and if I held my breath since then I would certainly be blue.

oh all would be lost if not for one thing,

oh I have pictures to help those old memories sing!

It all started with Smuckers Limited edition Apple Cinnamon topping,

if I ate this stuff straight my brain would be hopping.

Next I was hit with an idea so grand and profound,

I jumped for joy and my feet left the ground.

I will mix cocoa with the apples you see,

and then all the children will be full of such glee.

Now the swirl is all set, so what do I do?

I will fill it into a bag and move on to step two!

some cinnamon, some sugar, and some milk go in a bowl,

for you see my dear friends perfection is the goal.

In the Ice-20 it goes to make it ice cold,

and then go in the M&Ms to make sure that it's bold!

both parts are ready to go as you can now see,

i'll mix the tubes together and my creation will be!

behold oh behold the mighty ice cream with no name!

unfortunately the outcome is just such a shame...  

You see while this is different, the combo is flawed,

and though I have tried it, I am simply not awed.

I meant so well and again I will try,

but at the moment this flavor no one would buy.

AICC-3: Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Black Licorice for Black Friday

Hope everyone got a few good black friday deals today, because I have a "special" treat to finish off the day for you. The other day a stroke of brilliance hit me: Save the Black Licorice flavored Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream for Black Friday. Aren't I tricky? Hey, you take whatever excuse you can to eat ice cream and then run with it.

As you might suspect, I was a little afraid. I have never seen licorice flavored ice cream in these parts. I ate my fair share of twizzlers as a kid, and I still love a fresh box of Good & Plenty, but licorice ice cream? Those two things don't go together in my world. Even if I had seen licorice flavor, I doubt I would have bought it. I want to leave the ice cream stand happy, and licorice would have been too big of a gamble for me.

Well, the Ice Cream of the Month Club is standing by to broaden our horizons. Besides the first two tame selections this month, I found black licorice in my shipment. I didn't even know what color it would be. I've never seen black ice cream, but what other color could it be? Let's find out!

Well, it ain't black, but it is a disturbing gray color. I've never seen gray ice cream before and quite frankly, I hope I never do again. It makes me thing of something in particular actually.....

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Pumpkin Cheesecake (non-review)

UPDATE: If you've landed on this older post, please head over to my actual review of this flavor posted in October 2010. It was just one of those things that I feared at first but tried later on.

I saw two new limited edition flavors at Walmart last night: Pumpkin Cheesecake and another flavor which will be posted later today hopefully. Pumpkin Cheesecake is labeled as pumpkin cheesecake ice cream with a graham cracker swirl. Wow, sounds exactly like something I wouldn't purchase ...so I didn't, sorry. I love pumpkin pie, and I'm a sucker for a slice of chocolaty cheesecake now and then, but these are basically two of my least favorite things in an ice cream.

To be fair, I did look around and the general consensus is that the pumpkin flavor is mild and overall it's the same great quality you expect from B&J. Here is a review from last year. It's kinda funny because I found a review from this year that called this limited edition "all new". I did a little research, and this is at least its second year of release, but maybe last year was a Vermont only test run, I don't know for sure.

Cool - while I was searching for nutritional info on Pumpkin Cheesecake (since I forgot to use the ol' cameraphone), I stumbled upon this: free Halloween Coloring Pages from Ben & Jerry's.

Ok, while we're talking about Halloween, let's break out something I did last year with a fresh container of Edy's Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream.

A Halloween pumpkin, Second Scoop Style!

It's ok to play with your food

It's been a long time since I had fun with ice cream, actually, technically, sometimes I forget to post my fun. Ice cream art is fun...but when you're media is melting quickly, and not real tough, well it doesn't always come out right. Today, may I present, the yogurt castle!

It's a vanilla yogurt castle with a Crunchy moat. Ice cream art is fun, but I need to learn to plan ahead more (especially with quick melting yogurt). The window's a bit big, and the castle door should be more official, but yeah, it was all spur of the moment.

Happy Easter!

Hope you had a great Easter!

Mine included a three day weekend with a trip to Uhlman's on Friday and a tasty cold stone treat today (Talk more about that tomorrow when I have time)



I am a bunny....and I like ice cream

Season's Greetings!

No, I don't mean Christmas, I mean Ice Cream Season! For those of you in the warmer states, you probably don't know that us folks in the north suffer a 5 month stint (Nov-Mar) where most of our ice cream shops are closed.

Well, it's April now and the "OPEN" flags are flying. I would have stopped today but lunch was sitting rather heavily in my stomach. Don't worry, the scoops will be scoopin' soon enough.

HEHEHEHE, too funny! We all scream for ice cream just visited my favorite local spot, Uhlman's!

100 Words

 

I'll teach my dog 100 words.

The first six words I'll teach my pup are "ice cream, sherbet, sorbet, spoon and scoop".

I'll teach him "sundae, milk shake, frappe, and sugar cone"
There's no need to eat a boring old bone.

Then I'll teach him "waffle bowl, jimmies, sprinkles, and whip cream",
oh this is my lifelong dream.

We'll move on to "cherry, caramel syrup, butterscotch, and hot fudge sauce".
Everyone who sees him will be at a loss.

I can't forget to teach him about flavor.
"Rocky Road, Black Raspberry, and Cookie Dough", those are the ones to savor.

Can't forget "cookies & cream, vanilla and strawberry".
They are all part of the fantastic world of "frozen dairy".

Ok, I had to try. This is one of my favorite books that I still have from my childhood, and I've read it to my daughter dozens of times: I'll Teach My Dog 100 Words. Yeah, we color a lot too.

Just another day playing with my food...

It was bad enough that the FedEx guy didn't ring the door bell so my wife knew he was here, meaning I had to take the long way home to get the goods (waiting for Monday delivery wasn't going to cut it), but the worst thing was the Popsicle Ice Cream Shots container busted open and went everywhere, plus there was only a little bit of dry ice left to play with, so I was going to have to get creative if I was going to salvage some fun out of the whole mess.

First try, VROOM VROOM

Second try...ok, I may have tried a little too hard, feelin' a smidge silly....

The bears go marching one by one, hoorah, hoorah...



Ok, that's enough, the fumes from the styrofoam container are rotting my brain...

Dubba's Note: I never actually saw Popsicle Ice Cream Shots make it to the store shelves.