It is this time of year when I crave the uniquely bitter flavor of molasses. Besides cookies and BBQ sauce, molasses is often lost, but I thought that it would make a dynamite ice cream. I was worried however that the molasses flavor would be one note as an ice cream. With that concern, I wavered between adult flavors of bourbon and the holiday flavors of gingersnaps. On the coldest day of the fall/winter so far, I had to go with the holiday flavors. Continue reading »

Dates are a mysterious fruit. Most people know them from eating the fruitcake that has been passed around the family more than the crocheted doily that no one likes. When removed from dense cake form, the date is so deliciously sweet that it is hard to believe that it is a fruit and not a confection. They are also my stand by impulse buy at the grocery store.

The problem is that when I have dates and, in a late night epiphany, I think, “Man, dates are really good on top of ice cream, they would be even better in ice cream.” By the time that I remember, the dates are gone, so instead of buying them on impulse, this time I put them on the list.

In finding a complimentary flavor, I looked through the Flavor Bible (if you don’t have it, get it) and it sparked a conversation had earlier regarding dates and orange. Continue reading »

Talk about late to the party.  I  am about three months into discovering that instead of wasting hundreds of dollars and many cubic feet of cabinet space buying cookbooks that I have never read and would use maybe once, I could simply check them out from the library for free. Evaluate if I would be a repeat customer and buy or not buy on an informed basis.

A book that I would have not chosen to buy before reading, but will now was My Bombay Kitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking by Niloufer Ichaporia King. The book explores the cuisine of a group who live in India whose families immigrated from Iran in the 10th century.  Two of the major dessert flavors in the book are pistachio and rosewater. Traveling in Italy, I have had pistachio gelato way more than I care to admit, but in nearly every dish that I have had rosewater, the dish tasted like the perfume of an old lady. Continue reading »

Caramel Apple Ice Cream sitting on top of a fuji apple

Apples are everywhere right now. Despite seemingly endless varieties at the market, people still push and shove for the Honey Crisp. They rant and rave about how they are so much better than they others, but for my tastes, I prefer the Fuji. Granted, the Double Honey confiture from Flora Confections, which is made from honey crisp apples, honey, and lemon juice, is about the best thing that I have purchased at the Green City Market all year. However, the sweetness and crispness of the Fuji is more than fine by me and I do not have to knock any marketeers over who describe the apple using a variations of “Nom”. Continue reading »