Biscuit Tortoni

When I was little, my Dad would take me and my brother out for the afternoon on a Saturday to give mom a break. We'd do errands, whatever mom needed. When we came home we'd pick mom up for dinner and go to our favorite local place, a family style Italian restaurant. I always finished with a Tortoni. Biscuit Tortoni in a paper cup topped with a maraschino cherry. And my Dad always had a taste. I smile just thinking about it. I had my first date with my husband at that place, but was so nervous I never had the Tortoni :) Now it's gone but definitely not forgotten. So I made Tortoni. It reminded my husband of his favorite ice cream,  Good Humor Toasted Almond Ice Cream Bars! And my kids, they loved it. And they smiled when they thought of their Grandpa, who also took them to that restaurant and everywhere else when they were little! Just to give me a little break   :)

I did a google search for Tortoni a while back, a few years ago, and found such a great recipe on Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy and she gives a little history about the Tortoni. Just like I remembered. It was so good the when I made it that first time, but I never did get to it again. Not sure why, her recipe is so easy, it took no time at all. So I remembered and looked in my bookmarks and had to have it again. And it was so good, they want another batch. I need to buy more cookies and ice cream. Fast. Why did I wait so long?

and so once again I didn't follow directions completely and used a pint instead of a quart. And one 7 oz bag of Lazzaroni Amaretti Cookies.


Tortoni
Original source: Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy
adapted by There's Always Thyme to Cook
Printable Recipe

1/2 cup blanched and sliced, slivered or chopped almonds
2 1/2 cups amaretti cookies (I used a 7 oz. bag of Lazzaroni Amaretti Snaps Cookies)
2 tablespoons amaretto liqueur (more or less to taste)
1 cup heavy cream, chilled
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 quart homemade or premium quality vanilla ice cream, softened (I used a pint)
Maraschino cherries, drained and halved for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place chopped almonds on small baking sheet and toast in the oven until lightly golden. Set aside to cool. Or you can toast them in a nonstick skillet (no oil, dry) on the stove over medium heat. Be careful to watch them so they don't burn.

Put the cookies in a Ziploc plastic bag and crush the cookies into small pieces with a rolling pin, a meat pounder or your hands.  Be careful not to turn them into tiny crumbs. Place crumbled cookies in a medium bowl and toss with the almonds. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat cream with an electric mixer until thickened. Pour in the amaretto and whip until medium peaks form. Spoon the cookie mixture into the whipped cream, reserving 3/4 cup or so for topping.

Add the almond extract to the softened ice cream and stir until blended and very smooth. Fold the cookie/whipped cream mixture into ice cream.

Spoon into little pastry cups or ramekins. Sprinkle each cup with some of the reserved cookie mixture and top with a cherry. Freeze until firm.

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Joining Beth at Beth Fish Reads for her fun Weekend Cooking Party. Every weekend. It's open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share! Go on over and see some fun posts.

Sweet Tooth Friday hosted by Alli n Son!

 Sweet as Sugar Cookies for Sweets for a Saturday!

and

Savory Sunday @ The Sweet Details

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Guess...

what's for dinner tonight?




Sunday night is about the only time we can all get together for dinner. No work, no after-school activities, no sports, just a nice dinner with the whole family. So how can I say no when Miss Picky asked for her favorite... Baked Ziti. and Meatballs. and I went one further and made a garlic bread. The Griller was happy he didn't have to grill. He doesn't know tomorrow's plan for dinner yet :)





















You can find the recipe for the Baked Ziti by clicking here!






The meatballs are really good, and really moist. If you don't like them so soft and squishy, use less liquid, less eggs and breadcrumbs! I use the bread, we like squishy meatballs! and I'm lazy so I use an ice cream disher!




Mama's Meatballs
adapted from a recipe by Rocco DiSpirito
Printable Recipe

1/4 cup chicken stock or water
1/4 yellow onion
1 clove garlic
a handful of fresh parsley, chopped
2 lb ground beef
4 slices white bread (soaked with a little bit water) or breadcrumbs (not soaked)
3 eggs
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt
Marinara sauce (One jar or homemade)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Add the chicken stock, onion, garlic and parsley in a blender and puree.

In a large bowl, mix the stock mixture, meat, soaked bread, eggs, cheese, red pepper flakes and salt. Combine well but don't over mix.

Put a little olive oil on your hands (water on your hands work well, too!) and form a bit of the mixture into balls the size of a golf ball. You can also use a small ice cream scoop. Easy and not messy at all.

Pour about a little olive oil into a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs to the pan (working in batches if necessary) and brown the meatballs, then turn and brown the other side.

Heat the marinara sauce in a stockpot over medium heat. Lift the meatballs out of the sauté pan with a slotted spoon and put them in the pot with the sauce. Stir gently. Lower heat and simmer for at least one hour (I leave it simmering for a couple hours.)


Garlic Bread! Easy, get one of those soft supermarket Italian breads. Slice it the long way in half. Spread some softened butter on both sides and some finely chopped, totally minced garlic on top of the butter. Spread the garlic into the butter, and sprinkle with salt. Close the bread together. Wrap in tin foil and bake at 350 degrees F about ten minutes or so. Then unwrap the foil, open the bread a bit and broil the top until it browns. Then slice and serve!




and a perfect ending to a perfect dinner...

Chocolate Mousse Chip Italian Ices!

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Grillin' and Chillin' for Suzy's Ice Cream Social!

My good friend, Suzy, from Kitchen Bouquet is hosting an all out old fashioned ice cream social. I love a good party so I'm jumping in, a little late but I made it! It was a gorgeous day and Mr. Griller ran out of gas. So he had to pick up a new tank. In the mean time, I was searching and searching what to make for the ice cream part of the day. We already had social covered, my side of the family came by for a bbq! and I finally figured out the ice cream part!

Here's the grillin' part...
I used thin-sliced chicken cutlets and let it sit for a couple hours in the marinade in the frig. Awesome stuff. Was on my "to try" list for ages and ages. Now I see why it got so many good reviews over at the cooking forum.

Lime-Chipotle Sauce
source: Sunset Magazine
originally posted JessyF (Cooking Forum)
Printable Recipe

1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons minced canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
3 tablespoons brown mustard -- or dijon
1/2 cup lime juice
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Season with salt and pepper

Blend in food processor. Serve sauce as a marinade grilled meats, poultry, and fish if your guests don't get to it first with tortilla chips. Makes 1 1/2 cups.

and here's the chillin' part...
I found this recipe, and it looked really good. and really easy. Since I didn't put the freezer part to the ice cream machine in the freezer. I sort of left it on the counter. Over night. So I found this one at Martha Stewart. Ice Cream with Caramel Brioche Croutons. Easy as can be, I even had the brioche loaf this morning. No one told the kids, so they ate it by this afternoon. Next idea. Milkshakes. Of course I didn't have any malted milk balls for the garnish on hand. I have 465 varieties of every other kind of candy but no malted milk balls. It's not about the garnish anyway. but I did have malted-milk powder. Two containers. No clue why.


Malted Milk Shakes
source: Martha Stewart (marthastewart.com)
Printable Recipe

Makes 4 shakes (I got less, maybe Martha uses smaller glasses!)

1 cup milk
6 tablespoons malted-milk powder, plus more for garnish
1 pint vanilla ice cream
1 pint chocolate ice cream
Malted-milk balls, for garnish (optional)

Place 1/2 cup milk and 3 tablespoons malt powder in the jar of a blender, and process until malt is dissolved. Add half the vanilla ice cream, and blend until smooth. With the motor running, add remaining vanilla ice cream, 1 scoop at a time, until it is fully incorporated. Pour half the shake into a glass measuring cup, and place in freezer. Divide remaining half between two glasses, and place glasses in freezer. Allow to chill for 10 minutes before proceeding to step two.

Place remaining 1/2 cup milk and remaining 3 tablespoons malt powder in clean jar of blender, and process until malt is dissolved. Add half the chocolate, or strawberry, ice cream, and blend until smooth. With motor running, add remaining ice cream, one scoop at a time, until fully incorporated. Divide half the shake between two empty glasses, and top off the two partially filled glasses from freezer with the remainder. Allow the half-filled glasses to freeze for 10 minutes. Stir reserved vanilla shake before topping off remaining glasses. Garnish with malted-milk powder and malted-milk balls if desired, and serve immediately.

I garnished with Nestle's Quick!


Thanks Suzy, for hosting a really fun party! The next event is Susan's Garden Party July 18-19! So stop by Savoring Time in the Kitchen to join in and share all things in, from or about the garden!

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Flashback Friday! My Favorite Diner Dessert!

It's Friday already, and that means joining in on Suzy's Flashbacks at Kitchen Bouquet. Today I'm flashing back to Chocolate Sorbet. Soon it'll be time for ice cream and frozen treats! Hey, it can't stay cool and rainy forever, can it? The sorbet was posted by Debbie and Lee at the forums from a recipe by Claudia Fleming on scharffenberger.com, and a number of blogging buddies have made it and loved it, too!

For one of my most favorite desserts, I'm really flashing back now, before blogging, all the way back to High School. Friday nights in my school meant hanging with friends late night at the diner. After a movie, bowling, ice skating, or whatever you did, we'd go to the diner to meet up with everyone else. After any school function, you headed to the diner. Football, basketball games, whatever. Diner. I'd have toasted Pound Cake and Chocolate Ice Cream almost every Friday night back in the day. So when Lee and Debbie shared the sorbet recipe, what else to do but toast a slice of pound cake! Only this time it wasn't from Entenmann's or the diner, it was from scratch, from my old neighbor, Lisa! Lisa's not really old, and she's no longer my neighbor, but she stayed a friend and her pound cake recipe is still one of the best I've ever had! and even when I overbake it, it's still good. Nice and sweet and dense with a crispy crust on it!



It's Friday, I should go dust off that ice cream maker and make a loaf or two of pound cake!

They really should have called this "Chocolate Lover's Sorbet." It's intensely chocolately. Fabulously chocolately. If you love chocolate, it doesn't get any better than this.






Chocolate Sorbet
posted GB's by Debbie and Lee
recipe by Claudia Fleming, pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern, NY
www.scharffenberger.com
Printable Recipe

2 1/4 cups water
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
9.75 ounces 70% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Bar
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon of water

In a medium saucepan, combine 2 1/4 cups of water and the sugar, and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Gradually add cocoa powder, whisking until smooth. Reduce heat to low, and cook mixture at a gentle simmer for 30 minutes, until syrupy.

Put chocolate in a large bowl, add half the cocoa syrup, whisking until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Add remaining syrup and whisk well. Strain mixture through a fine sieve, and let cool. Stir in 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon of water.

Chill sorbet mixture covered until very cold, at least 4 hours. Freeze in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.

In a medium saucepan, combine 2 1/4 cups of water and the sugar, and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Gradually add cocoa powder, whisking until smooth. Reduce heat to low, and cook mixture at a gentle simmer for 30 minutes, until syrupy.

Put chocolate in a large bowl, add half the cocoa syrup, whisking until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Add remaining syrup and whisk well. Strain mixture through a fine sieve, and let cool. Stir in 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon of water.

Chill sorbet mixture covered until very cold, at least 4 hours. Freeze in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. I use the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker and it's perfect. if I had room in the freezer, I'd get an extra freezer bowl. It's definitely time to drag the ice maker out.

This is my absolute favorite pound cake. It's from my good friend, Lisa. I didn't tell her that, it might go to her head! but it's a really good dense pound cake. Toasted or not!

Lisa's Pound Cake
Printable Recipe

1 cup butter or margarine (softened)
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon Amaretto (or vanilla or almond extract)

Grease and flour two loaf pans.

Cream the butter and sugar together until very light and fluffy. It's very important to beat until the sugar is no longer grainy.

Beat in eggs, one at a time. Fold in the flour and the amaretto. Spoon into the two prepared loaf pans. Set in a COLD oven and then turn oven on to temperature of 350 degrees F. Bake for approximately 40 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

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