BAKED Sunday Mornings: Malted Vanilla (and Chocolate) Milkshakes

An easy Baked Sunday Mornings recipe!  It has been super hot around LA this past week and so a recipe which requires no oven and results in a delicious milkshake makes it a prefect recipe for a hot summer day.  I promised my son a milkshake and he was holding out for chocolate, so I adapted this recipe a little bit, using chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla.  I still used the vanilla bean, so it had a nice vanilla, chocolate and malted flavor all mixed together.  If you are looking for a great milkshake recipe, I recommend this one.  It got the seal of approval from my five year old and from me!

You can find the recipe here and check out what all the other bakers did.

BAKED Sunday Morning: Malted Milk Chocolate Pots de Creme

Well, I have kind of fallen down on my Baked Sunday Mornings participation.  Things have been a little crazy around here and the idea of making a super complicated recipe hasn't be that appealing.  However, when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it.  I love Whoppers, milk chocolate, malt and pudding, so it seemed like this recipe had everything.  To top it off, it was super easy.  It was calling my name.

I wish I could say I was in love with these, since they seemed so promising.  However, mine came out way too salty and it overwhelmed the delicate flavor of the milk chocolate (public service announcement -- you have to use really good milk chocolate, not just a Hershey bar.  I used Scharffen Berger).  It seems that the Baked boys like things much saltier than I do, since this has happened before.  I hope to try them again and cut the salt a bunch.

The other issue I had was totally my fault, in that I took them out of the oven too early.  After 25 minutes they were still pretty jiggly, but I thought they might set in the fridge.  Turns out that was not too be.  They weren't totally watery, but they did not have that custardy texture I was looking for.  I haven't given up hope though, and will be trying these again one day.

Check over at Baked Sunday Mornings for the recipe and to see what everyone else did.

A Cookie Medley To Help Pass the Bar: Part 2

You may remember my friend Brooke, who is studying for the bar, from this post.  Well, the bar is coming ever closer, so I decided it was time for another package of goodies.  Brooke is a major chocolate chip cookie lover (who isn't, really?) and she made a special request for chocolate chip cookies. 

However, I could not just send her one kind of cookie, so this package is about 50% Dorie's chocolate chip cookies (which I already made and blogged about here) and 50% other stuff.  The cookie on the left of the picture is the Baked Peanut Butter Cookie with Milk Chocolate Chunks.  The recipe specifically says not to substitute semi-sweet, but I didn't have anything else on hand, so I did it anyway.  I thought they still turned out delicious, but I can't wait to try them with milk chocolate.  These are not your typical peanut butter cookies.  They are much thinner than I expected (which might be because I didn't chill the dough long enough) but they are soft and chewy, so I give them a thumbs up.  You can find the recipe here.

The other cookies I made (on the right of the photo) were Dorie's Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops.  I had some Whoppers in my cabinet and I just decided to go for it, even though I don't know how Brooke feels about Whoppers.  When I ate one of these cookies right out of the oven, I didn't like it that much, but once they cooled to room temperature, I really liked them.  It gave the flavors a chance to meld and mellow and you were not overwhelmed with malt flavor.  They were also good frozen.  You can find the recipe here.

I ran out of tupperwear when packing the cookies to ship them to Brooke, so I packed some of the cookies in plastic bags.  I assume that means she will get some tasty cookie crumbs, instead of whole cookies, but I think they will be good anyway.  Brooke, let us know what you thought of the cookies.  Others, wish Brooke good luck on the bar!

Adventures with the Ice Cream Maker: BEST ICE CREAM EVER!!

So, when I read in David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop that this was his favorite ice cream in the whole book, I could not believe it. What is so great about Malted Milk Ice Cream? But then, I made it (with the third Baking Sister Rachel) and I understood. Oh boy, was this good. Smooth and creamy, with a good malt flavor in the ice cream, plus a crunch from the Whoppers that were folded into it. I can't wait to make this again. It was even good after the freezer accidentally stayed open all day and the ice cream melted and then refroze (yes, that was a bad day). I think that is the test of excellent ice cream -- that you want to eat it even when it is not at its best.

In other news, if there is anyone out there reading our blog, leave us a comment and let us know. We want to know if you are out there and we promise to respond!

And now, without further ado...
The recipe:

David Lebovitz's Malted Milk Ice Cream
Recipe by David Lebovitz

Ingredients
1 cup half-and-half
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup malt powder
6 large egg yolks
2 cups malted milk balls, coarsely chopped

Warm the half-and-half, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. In a large bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, vanilla, and malt powder and set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and whisk it into the malted milk mixture. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. As you remove the ice cream from the machine, fold in the chopped malted milk balls.