Butterscotch Swirl Ice Cream

I'm a plain food kind of girl. Alway have been. But one thing I do love is butterscotch. So, after I made my new, wonderful French Vanilla ice cream, I thought I'd see about making Butterscotch Swirl, a close second on the favorites list. It turned out to be pretty easy: make butterscotch sauce and mix it into the ice cream. You've just got to love easy.

BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE

1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
dash of salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp lemon juice

In a sauce pan, stir together the brown sugar, cream, corn syrup and salt; heat to a simmer, and cook until the sugar is melted. Remove from the heat, stir in the butter until it melts, and cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla extract and lemon juice. Makes about 2 cups, and can be used warm or cool.

BUTTERSCOTCH SWIRL ICE CREAM

1 recipe French Vanilla ice cream
1 recipe butterscotch sauce

Make the ice cream. When it's soft-set, drizzle the fully cooled butterscotch sauce over the ice cream and stir in. Note: this would work best with 3 hands, so you'll need a helper. Maybe it could be put in during the last minute that the ice cream processor is doing its thing, but I didn't try it. Freeze until the ice cream's firm.
Of course, you can drizzle still more butterscotch sauce over your ice cream for extra flavor!

Thor!!!

Thor has been home about 4 hours. He's staggering like a drunk - it's a good thing my son stapled carpet to the ramp he made Thor last week, or the poor guy wouldn't be in the Suburban yet. He came in, leaned on everyone for a while (Mango's Momma knows the Mastiff Lean), and then laid down.

Thor's snoring loudly, instead of his normal soft snoring. He's got fentanyl patches on his haunch, and they warned us not to let him run or jump, and to give him plenty of cage rest.

All of which leads to the questions: Does Thor need to be told to walk, not run? And what size cage do they think we have, zoo sized, maybe?

Anyway, happy day! Thor survived the anesthesia, and will be just fine. Thank you all for your well wishes.

Sunny and 75

This is what sunny and 75 outside looks like.

The sun was getting ready to set around 8PM last night when I took these pictures. Nothing makes one appreciate temperatures under 80 degrees as much as the heat and humidity of Florida in August, coupled with a hostess who insists on keeping the thermostat at 85 degrees.
But mostly, we should appreciate the natural beauty of our surroundings every day, weather notwithstanding.

Thor

Thor has had a lot of cysts breaking open lately - 3 in the last 6 weeks. Most worrisome, he had several under his tail, one of which was looking pretty bad.

So, today he went in for surgery to remove all of them. We just got the call from the vet that they're all removed, he came out of the anesthesia just fine, and can come home tomorrow. I don't know that Thor counted on camping away from home, but they love him at this veterinary clinic.

I just wanted you all to know that our boy had a little problem, but everything's on the mend now.

What I was Cooking.

Some of you commented on my cooking in a white dress. Well, that's pretty normal, although when I'm cooking messier foods, I wear an apron. Remember, I'm the girly-girl who hasn't worn pants since August of 1983.

So, what was I making on a hot summer afternoon while wearing a white dress?

FRENCH VANILLA ICE CREAM

1-1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
2" vanilla bean
2 tbsp butter
2 egg whites
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp sugar

Heat the milk and cream in a sauce pan until it just simmers. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks until well combined, then add the sugar, cornstarch and salt; beat until thick and very light yellow in color. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the black powder inside it into the egg yolks, and beat a minute more. Put the outside of the bean into the simmering milk. Pour a little of the hot milk into the egg yolks with the mixer running at low speed, then return the pan to the stove, add all of the egg yolk mixture, and heat to a simmer; cook until it thickens somewhat. Stir in the butter, and chill for a few hours.

Beat the egg whites with 1 tbsp sugar until stiff peaks form. Whip the remaining cup of cream with the vanilla extract and 1 tbsp of sugar. Set both aside in the refrigerator until the custard is cooled.

When the custard is cooled, put the whipped cream and egg whites into the bowl of your ice cream maker, turn it on, pour in the custard base as it's running, and process according to the manufacturer's directions. If you don't have an ice cream maker, use a whisk to stir the egg whites and whipping cream, in that order, into the custard base, then freeze for several hours, stirring about once an hour until it firms up.

The egg whites keep this a little softer than most homemade ice cream, and it has a lot of flavor. I assure you that this will be reappearing in my freezer soon!

I Enjoyed This.

Click on the picture to enlarge and read the pipe. Really. It was the most amusing part of my trip last week.

Thor's Napping

Thor had to visit the vet to have another cyst drained. He didn't want to use the ramp Dan built him going there, but coming home he marched right up his ramp and into the Mastiff-mobile (aka Suburban). They use bandages that say "Meow" and "Bow-wow"; I wonder how many pets appreciate that?

And Thor's doing just great. They said he's bright, alert and responsive, and very friendly. I like these vets.

Cooking

A rare picture of me cooking!

Garden Tuesday: Crabapple

The crabapples are ripening right outside my kitchen window.

Soon, they'll be all over the driveway and patio. We're in the downhill slide toward the end of summer.

Frozen Lemon Souffle

It's hot everywhere now. So I know you're all looking for a frozen dessert that's pretty easy and quite delectable. I have it for you. Best of all, it requires no cooking, not even the microwave. Now that is the perfect summer dessert!

I made a strawberry chiffon pie last Thursday night, and my grocery order arrived Friday, with its usual 15 dozen eggs. That led me to wonder if I could make some kind of frozen Lemon Chiffon dessert. After hunting around for a while, I found the basis for this in a cookbook I got at last spring's book sale, changed it up a bit, and served it to rave reviews. I wouldn't be surprised if there's clamoring for me to make it again in a day or 2.

FROZEN LEMON SOUFFLE

9 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
zest of 1 lemon, finely chopped
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp lemon extract
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 tsp lemon extract

Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until foamy. Add 1/4 tsp lemon extract and 1/4 cup sugar and beat until it forms stiff peaks. Set aside.

Beat the cream with the remaining lemon extract until stiff. Set aside

Beat the Egg yolks until they stat to thicken. Add the cup of sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, and beat until thick and fluffy, and the sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Beat in the lemon juice and zest. Beat the whipped cream into this mixture. Finally, gently whisk in the egg whites in 3 or 4 additions. Pour into a greased souffle dish, and freeze until solid. (The original recipe called for 4 hours, but I found it took about 6 hours to harden.)

If you like lemon, you will love this dessert. I'll be serving hubby the last of it tonight, and I promise you he'll be whining as if someone kicked him and his dog if I don't make more tomorrow!

Happy Monday, everyone!

Weekend Cat Blogging!

Thor is honored. Pam at Sidewalk Shoes and her beautiful cats Smudge, Patchouli and Coco are hosting Weekend Cat Blogging this week. Go visit them! Thor will wait.

Notice that they invited Thor to join in? Thor was thrilled. In keeping with the theme of Smudge, Patchouli and Coco waiting, Thor is waiting, too. We got our food order today, and Thor was watching Dan put away the steaks, waiting for his share.

Happy Weekend, everyone, from an honorary cat (or friend of cats).

Book Review!

Here's a much more recent book for you. Some of you may have seen this movie a few years back; I liked the movie. So when I discovered this book among the hundreds I bought last fall, I was very pleased.

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING
by Tracy Chevalier
Copyright 1999

Delft, 1664. 16 year old Griet's family in in financial ruin following the explosion of a kiln which blinded her father. The family's savings has been spent to apprentice her younger brother to the tile factory where her father had been an artisan, and Griet is sent to work as a maid Vermeer, the famed painter, a position which her father obtained for her through his artisans' guild. The story winds through several years during which Griet lives with and works for the Vermeer family, eventually being used by the painter not only to clean his studio without disturbing anything, but also to assist him in mixing his paints. The book takes a beautiful painting and creates a story behind it. There's a great deal of detail about life in the 1660s contained within this story; it captured my imagination even more than the movie did. Anyone who enjoys historical fiction would like this book.

Hope you all have a great weekend! Anyone have any exciting plans?