Chonky Boys: The Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches that Scream Summer!

-
Image
Featuring my thick and nuggy Chonky Boy Chocolate Chip Cookies, these ice cream sandwiches are the stuff that summer dreams are made of.  If you've ever had the Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich at Disneyland , you are going to LOVE these!  These big and bold chocolate chip cookies are based on a recipe from my culinary school studies at Auguste Escoffier, but with a few modifications to give them that Jennuine touch.  They make the perfectas book for a fat slice of real vanilla bean ice cream.  And those mini chips?  You just gotta have that extra cronch! Thank goodness this recipe only makes 8 sandwiches, otherwise I would be eating them for breakfast lunch and dinner.  This way, my big family can help save me from my inner child diet-saboteur.   Print With Image Without Image Chonky Boy Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches Yield: 8 Author: Jenn Erickson Loaded with chocolate chips and buttery, brown-sugary vanilla flavor, these mall-sized cookies form a perfect partnership with a

DIY Gourmet Food Gift: Rosemary Salt

-
 

Have 5 minutes?
Then you can make this
delicious, inexpensive gourmet food gift.

 

Over Thanksgiving weekend I was visiting family up in California Wine Country.  I cooked a big meal on Saturday night and while rifling through their spice cupboard, I discovered a beautiful bottle of Rosemary Salt from a winery in Napa.  I tried it on the chicken I was cooking and ended up using it on everything else I made the rest of the weekend.  

 

When I returned home, I decided to try making my own so that I could always have it on hand, and would be able to share it with family and friends.  After just a little of experimentation, I found the perfect blend.  I've been using it in my recipes ever since.  It's wonderful on chicken, fish, beef and lamb.  I'm not usually a big fan of the strong flavor of rosemary, but when blended finely into the salt, it adds a perfect aromatic element.  The salt is superfine, so it melts immediately into the meat, adding lots of flavor and helping to create a nice crust when you pan sear.



Gourmet Rosemary Salt

Makes approx. 3/4 cup

2/3 cup Kosher Salt (I recommend Diamond brand)
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
2 1/2 Tablespoons Dried Rosemary

Place all ingredients in a blender.  Attach lid and shake to combine.  Then, blend till the rosemary is fine.  Time will depend on the power of your blender.  I use a Vitamix and it takes only seconds.

When making this for gifts, I recommend blending each batch individually.  The more ingredients that are added to the blender, the harder time the blender will have moving the ingredients on top through to the blades on the bottom.  This will cause uneven chopping.  

For my 4-pack of 8oz. Ball jars, I made a 5X batch.  I whisked all the ingredients together in a large bowl, then, used a 1-cup scoop to portion the right amount into the blender.  Once the rosemary was broken up finely, I poured the salt directly into the mason jar.  I repeated this with the remaining 4 cups (one cup at a time).  The whole process took around 5-minutes.

 You can download my labels for free HERE.


Popular posts from this blog

Nostalgia Food: Old Fashioned Apple Hand Pies

-
Image
Who doesn't love a pie that you can eat with one hand while vacuuming, updating a resume, getting a child down for a nap, helping another child with a history report, and folding laundry with the other?  Clearly, only people who don't like pie, and this isn't for them.  This is for us: Pie People. For me, the pocket pie obsession started in childhood with the iconic, mouth scalding  MacDonalds apple pies.  If you were around in the 1970s, you'll remember: crisp & flaky, buttery & slightly salty, with blistered crusts that concealed a molten center of perfect apple pie filling.  If you possessed the willpower to wait for the lava interior to cool, you were rewarded with the greatest American invention since the fast food burger AND the apple pie together, which in a weird sort of way, they were; after all, they were fried in beef fat.  Those things were pure magic (or at least that's what my 6-year old self thought). These days, I'
Read more

Garlic Toast Points with Marbled Beet Chevre and Edible Flowers

-
Image
Our valley is simply bursting with wildflowers and foliage at this time of year.  I've been making  point of getting outside a little bit every day for for a nature walk around our property, identifying various flora and finding ways to use them to add beauty, whimsy and flavor to the foods my family enjoys. Enter:  The Blue Fiesta Flower, a member of the Borage (Baraginaceae) family.  These are larger than the Borage blossoms typically used for garnish, but they have a similar lemony-cucumber flavor with a touch of sweetness.  They bloom March through May in Central through Southern California and as far South as Nevada and Western Arizona.  They can be found on mountain slopes, streambanks, woodland, coastal bluff and desert scrubland.  Contrary to their name, they are purple. To enjoy the Blue Fiesta Flower, gently wash in cold water before use.  Remove the bit of bristly green just behind the petals (sepal & receptacle).  Keep refrigerated if not using immedia
Read more

How to Host a Game of CLUE Party for Kids
+ Printable/Customizeable Invitations

-
Image
When I was a kid, my favorite board game was CLUE .  I loved the mystery, the intrigue and taking on the role of amateur sleuth.  I've passed my love of the game down to my two girls, and I was excited when my youngest expressed an interest in having a CLUE party for her birthday this year.  Here's what we did: The Invitations To set a dramatic tone for the party, I created invitations inspired by the playing cards from the original board game.  The invitations came in two parts -- a Character Card that introduced the character assigned to the guest and a Party Card that included all the details for the party.  To further link the party to the game, we glued a weapon piece from the board game to each party card (which we were able to purchase as a lot from Ebay). You can download the invitations for free below: Party Card, side A Party Card, side B * I created a mystery party experience that was child-friendly, and the kids all had a blast
Read more