Squash Ice Cream with Short Bread Cookies

Squash and Short Bread Cookies Ice Cream

1 cup fresh Squash puree or canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
5 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1/3 cup condensed milk
1-2 cups crushed shortbread cookies

Squash Puree

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Use pumpkin or any kind of squash, such as acorn, butternut, or Hubbard. Cut the squash in half and scoop out seeds. Put squash in a baking dish, cut-side up. Brush with a little butter or olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Bake in oven for 45 minutes or until tender.

2. Scoop out flesh and mash or puree until smoth in a blender or food processor. Strain puree to remove any stringy pulp.

Squash and Short Bread Cookie Ice Cream

1. In abowl, whisk together pumpkin puree and vanilla. Cover and chill for approximately 2 hours.

2. In a bowl, whisk egg yolks, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, pumpkin spice, 1/2 cup cream, and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Whisk until smooth and sugar dissolves.

3. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, warm 1 1/2 cups cream, 1/3 cup condensed milk and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Cook until bubbles form around edges of pan, 6-7 minutes.

4. Remove cream mixture from heat. Gradually pour 1/2 cup of hot cream mixture into egg mixture all while whisking. Pour egg mixture back into pan. Cook over medium heat while stirring constantly to keep the custard at a low simmer and to avoid scorching, about 7-9 minutes. Custard will thicken enough to coat the back of a spoon.

5. Pour custard in a bowl and allow to cool. Whisk squash puree into mixture until smooth. Cover and chill for approximately 2 hours.

6. Fold in crushed short bread cookies. Transfer custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

Source: Inspired by Williams-Sonoma.

Tender at the Bone and Peanut-Butter Granola Balls

In her memoir, Tender at the Bone, longtime food critic Ruth Reichl shares her childhood story of growing up in a dysfunctional family where she endured many culinary disasters and yet somehow manages to develop a love and passion for food.



At an early age, Reichl quickly discovers that she was able to read people’s personalities based on the food they’d eat. Her relationship with her manic depressant mother is complicated but it creates in Reichl a sense of duty to keep her mother “from killing anybody who came to dinner” and eventually it turns into a determination to make sense of the world through food. It is then that we follow Richl on her culinary adventures and where we meet the colorful characters that shape her world.

If you are a foodie, this is a great read full of stories that are sweet and charming. I recommend it as it is highly delicious and you may find it on the Hortt's Bookstore.



Peanut_Butter Granola Balls

1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup crisp rice cereal
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup dried fruit

1. Heat honey, peanut butter, and butter in a small saucepan. Stir until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Stir in cereal, oats, and dried fruit.

2. Drop mixture into mini paper cupcake or candy liners. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes. To store, refrigerate in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Source: Martha Stewart's Everyday Food.

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Pan De Queso

Recently my uncle met a woman whose family used to own a very popular bakery in his hometown of Cali, Colombia. He became good friends with her and she eventually shared her family’s secret recipe for Pan de Queso. I have to share this recipe as it is a big deal for my family because we all LOVE Pan de Queso, but I also want to share a story that shows what a small world we live in.

The woman my uncle met had inherited the bakery from her family but decided to sell it as she had no interest in baking. Instead, she was interested in business and eventually started her own a hotel in Cali. But after a long series of unfortunate events, she found herself in the United States trying to make a better life for herself and her son. Its amazing that she and my uncle came from the same town. My uncle had told me that back in the day, this bakery was very popular and well known for its Pan de Queso (or cheese rolls). People used to stand in long lines just to get a batch, but there was never enough Pan de Queso to go around. My uncle distinctly remembered that he and a family friend used to sneak to the back of the bakery to purchase their bag of Pan de Queso. At that time, people with money would sneak to the back of the bakery to by pass the line—they of course were able to pay a little extra for their batch of Pan de Queso. Who would have thought that they would meet someday and fall in love.

In the pictures below is my mother showing me how to make Pan de Queso based on what my uncle's friend showed her. This recipes however came from her memory and uses Colombian ingredients and in European measurements. We did our best to make the measurements more American friendly.

Take all the ingredients and mix them in a large bowl. Let mixture sit in bowl for 20-30 minutes.





Below is my mother's little helper.







Dust yucca harina over a flat surface. Pour the batter over the floured surface and kneed until all the ingredients are mixed well and dough is soft.



Create the circular shapes as seen in the picture and place over a greased cookie sheet.







Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 300 degrees and allow to bake for 5 more minutes.



Pan de Queso (Cheese Rolls)

2 lbs Queso Cotija
1 lb Yucca Harina
2 tablespoons sour cream
¾ cup Arepa Harina (Venezuelen)
¼ tablespoons butter
¼ cup milk

Homemade Butter

I never imagined that it would be possible to make butter in my own kitchen, but it is and it was delicious! I don't think people realize that they can make their own butter as it is a lost art. But I have discovered it is simple, cost effective, and most importantly healthy. Most people avoid butter because they think its bad for you, but it turns out that it is a good source of vitamin A, high in trace minerals and antioxidants. As long as you don't over do it and exceed your daily saturated fat percentage, you can enjoy butter without worrying.

For this tutorial, I was originally attempting cultured butter, but what I really ended up with was sweet cream butter. It was good nonetheless, but I'll have to experiment a little further to achieve the taste I am looking for. So here's how I did it..

I started out with a carton of leftover cream that didn't get used for ice cream and added a heaping spoonful of cultured yogurt. Then I let it sour in the fridge for about 1 week past its expiration date. It should aquire a pleasant tangy smell. (Note: If you cream looks like its curdling, or it smells or tasts bad, discard it.)

Once the butter was cultured, I poured it into a mixing bowl with a stand mixer. Then I covered the mixture with plastic wrap to avoid splashing and started to beat the cream.







The butter will undergo three phases: 1) creamy, 2) grainy, and lastly 3) chunky as it begins to split. Here you begin to see the buttermilk separating from the butter.

As you can see in the picture below, after about 5-7 minutes of beating, the butter started splashing as it began to split.













Now the butter has split leaving butter and buttermilk. I drained the buttermilk and reserved it for baking. I gave the butter a quick rinse to wash off any excess buttermilk. Then I put it on my wooden cutting board and smacked it around with a wooden spoon to get any residual liquid out. Wood works well as butter does not stick to it very easily.



Finally I shaped it and wrapped it in parchment paper. You can also add sea salt, however, I did not as I was planning on storing it in the freezer. The butter stores longer in the freezer when it is not salted.

So there you have it. Fresh butter!