Category Archives: Writing

Pickle Ice Cream w/ Peanut Butter Caramel Swirl

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No, I haven’t finally taken leave of my senses! This is indeed a recipe for pickle ice cream…with peanut butter. Peanut butter caramel at that. Whist it might sound like I’ve thrown everything at this but the kitchen sink, all for the sake of sensationalist recipes, as ever there is method in my wild thinking.

For starters July is both National Pickle Month AND national Ice Cream month. See? Already I have a reason! I’ll have to come clean though, admitting I’m not an fan of pickles myself. The texture that is. The zesty, vinegar flavour has however proved quite addictive to me over the years. Which is where this recipe is a win.

The ice cream here carries the zesty, almost herbaceous flavour of the pickle itself without any of the (for me) unappealing nubs of vegetable. It carries a certain freshness to it which makes consuming it on Summer days all the more appealing.

So where does the peanut butter come on? Well, as so is often the case with me I fell down a food rabbit hole whilst doing research on the ever so humble pickle and its varying uses. One of the ones that popped up and immediately piqued my interest was the “PB & P” sandwich- Peanut Butter & Pickle. The peanut butter and pickle sandwich isn’t some new viral trend but has in fact been a low-profile favorite in the U.S. since it appeared on deli counters during the Great Depression. A little mentioned stalwart of many a grandparent out there it would seem. On trying it, the way that the creamy peanut butter plays off the crunchy, briny pickle is really kind of amazing. Give it a go!

Salted caramel swirl ice cream is one of my favorites- both taste and visuals are satiated tracing the sweet rivulets through sweet creamy mounds. So why not include that here. I use peanut butter as a base for the caramel swirl in order to tie all my reference points together – paying homage to bygone favorites with a nod to my own personal ones. And hey, it’s Summer! Who doesn’t like ice cream?

Check out this #recipe for Pickle Ice Cream w/ Peanut Butter Caramel Swirl

Ingredients

Pickle Ice Cream

  • 2 half-sour pickles
  • 1/4 cup pickle brine
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 Tablespoon honey
  • 2 cups heavy cream

Peanut Butter Caramel

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons smooth peanut butter
  • 1 Teaspoon light corn syrup, or glucose
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream

Method

Peanut Butter Caramel

  1. Heat granulated sugar and glucose in a heavy-duty saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly (use a heat-resistant spoon or spatula). Melt the sugar into a thick brown, amber-colored liquid as you continue to stir. Be careful not to burn it!
  2. Once sugar is completely melted, immediately stir in the peanut butter until melted and fully combined. The caramel will bubble rapidly when the peanut butter is added.
  3. Return to heat when it’s combined and cook for 1 minute without stirring
  4. Remove from the heat and carefully stir in the heavy cream in a slow, steady stream. There will be a steamy reaction so please be careful! After all the heavy cream has been added, stop stirring and allow to boil for 1 minute. Keeping watching in case it bubble sup too much. If it does, reduce the heat.
  5. Remove from heat and stir in the salt. Set aside to cool to room temperature before using in the ice cream. The sauce will thicken as it cools

Pickle Ice Cream

  1. Combine the pickles and brine in the carafe of a blender, then blend until pureed, about 1 minute
  2. Strain the puree and discard any pulp. Save 1/3 cup pickle liquid and discard the rest
  3. Beat the cream cheese in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy
  4. Add the condensed milk, honey and pickle liquid to the cream cheese and continue to mix until smooth
  5. In a separate large bowl whip the heavy cream until firm peaks form. Fold in 1 cup of the whipped cream into the condensed milk/ pickle mixture until combined
  6. Fold this lightened mixture into the whipped cream until well blended, being careful not to overwhip in case you deflate the mixture
  7. Pour 1/3 of the mixture into a plastic container, or loaf pan, cover and freeze, for 1 hour. Keep the cream/ pickle mix in the fridge, covered
  8. Remove from the freezer and drizzle over 1/2 caramel sauce in swirling pattern. Pour over another 1/3 of the cream/pickle mixture and return the ice cream to the freezer for another hour
  9. Repeat Step 8 as above with the remaining caramel sauce and cream/pickle mixture. Before returning to the freezer run a chop stick or knife through the ice cream the swirl the mixtures together.
  10. Cover and return to the freezer for minimum hours, or overnight.
  11. To serve, remove the ice cream from the freezer 5-10 minutes before serving so that it is scoopable

Sweet Biscuits w/ Vanilla Cream & Maple Macerated Pineberries

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Makes 12 Biscuits

Ingredients

Biscuits

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup butter
  • 2 Tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 large egg
  • egg wash (1 egg + 2 Tablespoon water, whisked together)
  • Turbinado sugar

Vanilla Cream

  • ½ cup whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Maple Macerated Pineberries

  • 2 ½ cups fresh pineberries, topped and quartered
  • 1 Tablespoon Maple Sugar

Method

Maple Macerated Pineberries

  1. In a bowl combine the pineberries and maple sugar, mixing well. Set aside to macerate on the countertop for at least 30 minutes before serving

Vanilla Cream

  1. Using a handheld mixer or stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the cream, sugar and vanilla extract on medium-high until stiff peaks, about 3-4 minutes.
  2. Chill in the refrigerator until needed

Biscuits

  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F
  2.  In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, mixing well
  3. Using a large hole cheese grater, grate in the butter, then cut using a pastry cutter, or knife, until mixture resembles a coarse meal. You will still be able to see the butter in pieces pea-size or slightly smaller
  4. Make a well in the centre of the dry mix
  5. Mix together the lemon juice, vanilla, milk and the egg
  6. Pour into the well and mix until just combined to a dough ball
  7. Lightly flour a countertop, transfer the dough from the bowl and roll (using a floured rolling pin) to 1 inch thickness
  8.  Cut out biscuits with 3inch biscuit cutter and place on parchment lined baking sheet
  9. Lightly brush the tops of the biscuits with the egg wash
  10. Sprinkle turbinado sugar on top of the biscuits
  11. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a rack before serving

To Serve

  1. Slice each biscuit crossways in half
  2. Spoon some of the vanilla cream on the bottom half
  3. Top with a generous amount of the maple macerated pineberries
  4. Top with the other half of the biscuit
  5. Repeat with additional dollops of vanilla cream and macerated pineberries
  6. Serve and enjoy!

Pickle Dust Snack Mix

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This bountiful mix of Umami goodness started as an experiment with my air-fryer. I had previously used said air-fryer to dehydrate pears for cake decorations but…could I use it for something else? To dry ingredients so as to alter them altogether? I’m aware that sounds a LOT more intriguing than the actual result. I mean it’s not like I’m going all Star Trek and altering matter! Using my air fryer I dried pickles to the point where, using a spice grinder I ground them to a powder with the zingy briny flavor of pickles. (Trivia- it remains my most viewed piece of social media with 29.7K views on TikTok, albeit with some questionable comets!)

A point to note on the use of pickles. Using “Bread & Butter” pickles doesn’t work. The sugar content of the slices yields a piece that on dehydration becomes sticky, gummy and more chewy than what is needed. The spears that I used were 1/2 sour and quartered and ended up looking like “the Chocolate Lady from Sponge Bob Squarepants“…or so I’m told!

I digress! Once you have your pickle dust, it along some no fuss ranch dip seasoning become the flavor bombs in this tasty and utterly moreish snack mix. In fact, so easy is it to make that I even roped the kids in to doing it. After much chorusing of, “Not another handful” they eventually managed to combine the ingredients into the savory buttery coated mix you read of now.

Once It’s made and cooled you can store it in a tin at room temperature and it’s good for a couple of weeks. I find this is great for this summer time of year when it can be bagged up for road-trips, picnics, or taking along to BBQs and cookouts. Oh! and also perfection with an ice cold beer.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Shreddies
  • 2 cups cheerios
  • 2 cups Chex
  • 2 cups mini-pretzels
  • 1 cup pecan halves
  • 1 cup unsalted peanuts
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 Tablespoon pickle dust*
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 pack (1oz) ranch dry seasoning
  • 2 Tablespoons half-sour pickle juice, from the jar
  • 1 Tablespoon white vinegar

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 300oF
  2. In a large bowl combine the Shreddies, Cheerios, Chex, mini-pretzels, pecans and peanuts. Give them a good stir to mix up
  3. In a pan, combine the butter, pickle dust, garlic powder, ranch seasoning, pickle juice and vinegar. heat over a medium heat, whisking occasionally until the butter has melted. Continue to heat for another 2 minutes
  4. Remove the butter mixture from the heat and pour over the cereal mix
  5. Using a spoon (or when it’s cooled for a few minutes you can use your hands) mix up to ensure all the cereal is coated and slick with the butter mixture
  6. Transfer the buttered cereal mixture to a large cookie sheet and place in your preheated oven
  7. Bake for between 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cereal starts to lightly brown
  8. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray on a cooling rack
  9. When fully cooled, transfer to an airtight container, or jars, for storage and eventual scoffing!

* I make pickle dust by dehydrating pickles in my air-fryer. For this recipe I dehydrated 2 medium half-sour pickles, cut lengthwise into quarters. Arrange on your system’s drying rack and dry at 150oF for 6 1/2 hrs. Once they have dried out successfully (they will shrivel up quiet a bit) they will cleanly snap rather than bend. Break them into smaller pieces and using a spice grinder, or coffee grinder, blitz the pickle pieces to a find powder. This will give you 1 tablespoon of pickle dust (powder). Keep in an airtight container until ready to use.

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Quick Individual Cherry Cobbler

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So I’m a sucker for cravings. Once I get something in my mind that’s it- I won’t rest until I’ve tasted it. That was that was the case with this cherry cobbler. Sure it’s a cheat’s version- using canned pin filling. But I craved it and the quicker I got it the better. Also lets face it- using canned filling cuts down on the stove-time involved in the making off this. If you feel so inclined, go right ahead with your favorite mix of cherries that you might use for your fillings. I’m definitely not one to dictate how you should run your kitchen.

The topping here is an adaption of a regular biscuit dough that I use to biscuit top stews and casseroles. Here I’ve slightly upped the sugar for a sweeter finish, adding in some cinnamon and oats for a more rustic dessert finish.

I love the flavor combination of cherries and almonds, thinking that it’s one of the best out there. Food trivia moment- both are linked by the compound Benzaldehyde, which is the second most popular flavor and fragrance after vanillin. Baking- educational too! (Darn! now I’m thinking I need to make a Cherry Bakewell…curse you infernal cravings!

With the use of pie filling these are so quick and easy that even making them in the current warmer weather can be justified. Plus adding a scoop of your favorite ice cream on top even more so!

Makes 4

Ingredients

  • 1 can 540ml (20 oz) cherry pie filling
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/4 cup toasted, flaked almonds
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Jumbo rolled oats
  • 3 teaspoons granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Pinch teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons melted butter
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 4 Tablespoon Turbinado sugar

Method

  1. Butter four 0.25L ramekins
  2. In a bowl mix the pie filling and the almond extract. Divide the pie filling equally among the ramekins
  3. Sprinkle the tops of the pie filling with the toasted almond flakes. Set them aside on a foil-lined baking sheet until later
  4. Preheat oven to 375 F
  5. In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, ground cinnamon and salt. Whisk to combine
  6. Add the melted butter and milk, stirring just until moistened. The biscuit batter will be quite thick and lumpy. Drop batter by heaping scoopfuls onto the filling
  7. Sprinkle the turbinado sugar over the biscuit dough
  8. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until biscuits are browned and filling is hot and bubbly
  9. Leave to cool for about 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Pride Funfetti Popcorn

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Ingredients

  • ¼ cup popcorn kernels
  • 10 ounces white melts*
  • ½ and ¼ cup funfetti or white cake mix**, divided
  • ½ cup sprinkles

Method

  1. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment/ waxed paper and set aside until needed later
  2. Pop popcorn in your preferred method and salt to taste. Pour into large bowl and set aside.
  3. Melt white candy melts in a microwave in 10 second bursts, stirring frequently until smooth and being careful not to overheat
  4. Add ½ cup of the cake mix to the white chocolate and stir to combine
  5. Immediately pour the candy/cake mix mixture over the popcorn and use a spatula to combine.  Add the remaining ¼ cup of the cake mix and the sprinkles and stir or toss again to combine until thoroughly coated
  6. Spread onto prepared baking sheet in a single layer and top with some extra sprinkles if you like. Leave on the baking sheet until set and then break apart into small clusters. Serve and enjoy!

*White chocolate bars may ne used as well but your final coated popcorn won’t set as hard or be as crunchy.

**Before using the cake batter mix, treat it in the oven by spreading it on a lined baking tray and toasting it at 350 F for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Once cooled, use as per the recipe above. One thing to note is that the sprinkles in the cake mix may discolour a little or melt a bit. More reason to add those extra sprinkles!