DoughSeeDough

a balanced plate with room for dessert


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Mint Ice Cream Cake

Girl Scout Thin Mints, mint ice cream, hot fudge, and chocolate wafers layered into a cake – what could be better? I had several boxes of Thin Mints laying around and as much as I love them, I haven’t been able to finish them all yet. So I figured I would put them to good use. Mint ice cream is also one of my favorite flavors, so I figured that I couldn’t go wrong with this!

mint ice cream cake

Mint Ice Cream Cake

1 box of chocolate wafers (I used Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers)
1/2 stick of butter, melted
1/2 box of Thin Mints (1 roll), crushed
1/2 gallon of mint ice cream, softened enough to spread
1/2 jar of hot fudge sauce

  1. In a food processor, crush the wafers (I used about 2/3 a box for the crust). Add the butter and mix until combined. Press the wafers into the bottom of a 9″ springform pan.
  2. Carefully spread half the ice cream on top of the crust.
  3. Sprinkle the crushed Thin Mints (a food processor works fine) on top of the ice cream and drizzle the fudge on top of the Thin Mints.
  4. Spread the remaining ice cream on top of the Thin Mint layer.
  5. Freeze the cake for at least 30 minutes – you want the ice cream to harden back up.
  6. Before cutting, run a knife dipped in hot water around the edge of the pan to loosen. Cut the cake with a warm knife as well.
  7. Serve the cake with the remaining hot fudge sauce!


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Pesto

I love, love love pesto. My favorite type is spinach pesto! It’s cheap, easy and I almost always have spinach in the fridge.

Spinach Pesto

Spinach Pesto with Pasta

1 cup of fresh spinach leaves, stems off
4 cloves of garlic
5 tablespoons walnuts
6 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and black pepper
1/2 cup of Parmesan
1 pound uncooked pasta of your choice

  1. Cook pasta according to directions.
  2. In a food processor, blend together the spinach, garlic, walnuts and olive oil. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Stir in the Parmesan.
  3. Stir the pesto into the cooked pasta.


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Eggplant Parmesan

For dinner tonight, Mike and I made eggplant Parmesan and some spinach pesto. We had a nice chunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano leftover from Fromagination and we figured we should use it up before it dried out. I think we did a pretty good job. We have a little bit of the cheese left over and a huge piece of rind. The rind will be great in some soup though!

The recipe I used for the eggplant Parmesan is from Food Network – I cut the recipe in half and left out the capers. Even after I cut the recipe in half, it still made a lot of food! It’s supposedly four servings (after it was halved), but in my opinion it was more like eight. If you make the full recipe, you will need a pan much larger than your normal 9 x 13 Pyrex. I used that for my halved recipe and it was packed full to the top.

eggplant parmesan

Eggplant Parmesan
adapted from Food Network

1/6 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup black olives, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 (28 oz.) can tomatoes, crushed by hand
4 basil leaves, hand torn
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
3 eggs
1/2 cup all purpose flour
Extra virgin olive oil
2 pounds medium eggplant, trimmed and cut lengthwise into 1/2 – inch thick slices
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 pound shredded fresh mozzarella

  1. First make the sauce: Put a large saucepan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Add the olives, red pepper flakes, and capers, and let that cook for 2 minutes, stirring often. Toss in the tomatoes with their juices and bring to a low simmer. Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
  2. Combine the bread crumbs, garlic powder, and oregano in a shallow bowl; season generously with salt and pepper and mix well. Crack 3 of the eggs into another shallow bowl; season with salt and pepper and beat with a fork to mix. Put the flour in another shallow bowl and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the eggplant, flour, beaten eggs, and bread crumbs on a work surface near the stove.
  3. Heat about 1/4-inch olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, dredge several eggplant slices first in the flour, then dip them in the egg, and finally coat them in the bread crumbs. Put as many eggplant in the skillet as will fit comfortably in a single layer and cook until tender and well browned on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Cook all of the eggplant slices this way, adding more olive oil to the pan as needed.
  4. Stir together the ricotta and 1/2 cup of the Parmigiano cheese. Stir in the basil and remaining 2 eggs, and season with salt and pepper.
  5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  6. To assemble the dish, first get yourself set up with a large, buttered baking dish. Have ready the eggplant, the ricotta mixture, the tomato sauce, the shredded mozzarella cheese and the remaining 3/4 cup grated Parmigiano. To start, spoon some of the tomato sauce over the bottom of the baking dish. Now add a layer of eggplant. Spread with half of the ricotta mixture. Spoon another layer of tomato sauce over and sprinkle with about one-third of the mozzarella. Repeat with a layer of eggplant, the rest of the ricotta, tomato sauce, and another third of the mozzarella. Finish with the rest of the eggplant, the rest of the tomato sauce, and the rest of the mozzarella. Sprinkle with the 3/4 cup Parmigiano.
  7. Put the dish in the oven and bake for about 1 hour, until golden and bubbling. Let stand for about 20 minutes before cutting.


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Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Whenever I shop, I find myself over-buying groceries. So, what do I do with all my extra carrots? Make carrot cupcakes, of course!

Carrot cupcakes

Carrot Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes

4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin cups with cupcake liners – you will need about 24.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, applesauce, brown sugar, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared muffin pan.
  3. Bake in the preheated oven for about 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Let cool in pans completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting
frosts 24 cupcakes

1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  1. In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
  2. Spoon the frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip and frost the cooled cupcakes. Alternatively, if you don’t have decorating tools, use a metal spatula or spoon to smooth the frosting onto the cupcakes.

Enjoy!


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My First Blog Post…

In my newest blog. My last blog had a name too difficult for most people to remember since the name was French for “little cakes” – http://lespetitsgateaux.blogspot.com. I decided to start anew. I plan on copying my old recipes from the other blog to this one and I will (hopefully) update this blog  more often!

It’s always hard for me to keep up with my blog during the school year. As the years progress, the work only gets harder and it takes up more and more time. However, since I hope to one day open a bakery, I think that keeping my blog up to date is important.
Let’s see where this goes!