I’ve been on this crazy melon-eating kick this year, like I’m just inhaling it, buying melon every couple of days as if I’m feeding a family of five. But nope, it’s just me, shoving it madly into my face as I stand over the sink, juice dripping down to my elbows. Mostly I’ve been eating watermelon but cantaloupe has been keeping a respectable second place. The thing about cantaloupe, though, is it’s a little more annoying (to me) to cut–usually I slice it into thin wedges then shave off the thin rind, which is always a little tedious and makes me feel like I could cut off a finger at any moment.

This morning I read a tiny piece in the new Bon Appetit (July 2012, page 118) about how to peel and cut a cantaloupe, and it looked so easy I had to give it a try. What do you know, it was easy, way easier than my old method–it took just a few minutes to break down an entire cantaloupe, and as a bonus, I felt really cheffy while doing it. This will definitely be my new go-to method. Here’s what you do:

1. Wash the melon. All kinds of chemicals and bacteria could be all over that rind, and they can get transferred to the fruit when you cut it.

2. Trim off the two stem ends of the melon so that it will stand up without rolling.

3. Stand the melon on one of the flat ends and slice away the rind in thin strips, working all the way around.

4. Behold your perfectly naked, baby-head-like peeled melon!

5. Cut the melon in half, scoop out the seeds, and chop or slice however you like.

Happy summer melon eating!

I don’t want to get ahead of myself or anything, but I think I may be one blog post away from declaring 2012 the Summer of Ice Cream. I tried a new ‘scream recipe over the weekend, and it was off the charts: brown sugar balsamic ice cream! WHAT? Omg!

Thinking of what to serve with said ice cream, I thought of the classic combination of balsamic and berries, and knew there was only one way to go: berry cobbler. Oh yeah.

I introduced the brown sugar balsamic ice cream to the mixed berry cobbler and they totally fell in love. Or maybe I just fell in love with them. But either way I’m pretty sure all of us were very happy together.

OK, so this ice cream. The recipe is Brown Sugar-Balsamic Swirl Ice Cream from Bon Appetit. It’s a fairly standard vanilla base, but made with brown sugar instead of regular white sugar, so it has a wonderful deep maple flavor. The swirly bits you see, which look deceptively like chocolate, are actually balsamic vinegar reduction, which is made by simply boiling down regular balsamic vinegar (just the cheap stuff will do; it mellows out and gets a nice complex flavor once it’s reduced to a syrup). You mix the custard base in the ice cream machine, then add the syrup and whisk it in the machine for just a few seconds at the end, and it gets this lovely balsamic swirl. Holy cow it is delicious. Sweet and tangy, and interesting without punching you in the face and screaming hey I’m a crazy ice cream! I couldn’t resist adding a sprinkle of fleur de sel when serving, because everything tastes better with salt. (In fact, if I don’t declare 2012 the Summer of Ice Cream, it will have to be the Summer of Salty Desserts. See also: Chocolate Salty Cake.)

One helpful hint, the recipe tells you to boil the vinegar for about six minutes until it’s reduced to about two tablespoons, but it doesn’t tell you what heat to boil it at. I did mine on high and burnt the heck out of it, creating a solid block of carmelized vinegar. No bueno. The second batch I boiled a medium-low, which was much better. So, the point of this paragraph is: boil the vinegar at medium low. It probably takes about ten minutes or so. Also, don’t lean over the pan and inhale directly, or you could pass out from vinegar fumes.

And now let’s talk about the cobbler. Oh the cobbler. This is the Mixed Berry Cobbler from Bon Appetit; the recipe tells you you can make it with any berry mixture you want; and I do think it would work with just about any berries at all. I used raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and strawberries. It was wonderfully tart and the perfect accompaniment to the sweet, tangy ice cream.

One recipe note about the cobbler, the instructions have you knead the dough topping and roll it out on a board then cut it into squares, but mine was way to loose to be kneaded. I suppose I could have added more flour but instead I just mixed the dough/batter in the bowl and spooned it onto the fruit. It worked just fine–and hey, I’ll take spooning over kneading any day, so I was happy.

These two gorgeous creations, when combined, were really just pretty amazing. I served them together at a small dinner I cooked for friends on Saturday, and then again over brunch with another friend the next day. Everyone kind of lost their minds over the combo, myself included. It hits just the perfect note between classic and surprising–you think you’re getting an old-fashioned dessert, just your basic cobbler and ice cream–but little do you know, something unexpected awaits.

So if you’re looking for a dessert that seems innocent but sneaks up on you and blows your mind, look no further. This is the good stuff. Just make it, you won’t be sorry.

Get the recipes here: Brown Sugar Balsamic Swirl Ice Cream + Mixed Berry Cobbler

And here’s the other ‘scream I made recently (s0 good!): Peppery Butter Pecan Ice Cream

The other day was my very good friend’s birthday–a very big birthday!–so I made him a very big cake. This here confection is a chocolate cake with salted chocolate caramel ganache filling and salted chocolate caramel butter cream, with a sprinkling of fleur de sel (fancy sea salt). Pure choco-salt-insanity!!! This flavor profile is based on a salty chocolate caramel truffle I’ve been making forever and which is a favorite treat of the birthday man in question, so I decided to see if I could turn the truffle into a cake. What do you know, it worked!

I’m going to share the recipe in another post, but for now I thought I’d talk a little about how I did the decorations. This cake was super, super easy to decorate and required just about zero skills, and was also really quick–so the next time you’re looking for something festive but fast and foolproof to put on a cake, try this! Start by piping the dots on the sides of the cake, working in rows from the bottom up. I used chocolate ganache for my side dots, but you could use butter cream or any type of frosting you have on hand, even the stuff that comes in the tube from the supermarket. I used a large tip, like a #12 for the bottom round of dots, then went down in size for the subsequent rows, down to a #2 or so. Easy peasy!

For the top I used butter cream and a #12 tip, and just piped dollops all over the surface, working from the outside in. You might think you need to have a really steady hand for this kind of thing, but honestly it doesn’t have to be perfect–in the end, you won’t even be able to tell whether all your rounds are perfectly circular or whether there are gaps between some dollops here and there. I swear!

I finished off the top with a light snow shower of fleur de sel. Because what’s better than a salty show shower?

Oh, chocolate and salt. I love you so.

Sigh.

So all that was left to do after the cake was dotted and salted was to party down and gobble it up (oh, and light a bazillion candles)…

Check back soon for the recipe for this cake… and I’ll have to post my truffle recipe too. Oof, there’s gonna be a lot of chocolate hanging around this house.

*Special thanks to Laura for the party pics! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY D! xoxo

My friend Dan threw his first barbeque of the season last weekend, and I whipped up one of my favorite summer side dishes: this southwestern-inspired, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink quinoa, corn and black bean salad. It’s so good. It’s fresh and light and healthy, and a nice change from the standard picnic-y sides. It goes great with hot dogs and margaritas, all while making you feel like you’re being somewhat virtuous.

This recipe is really super forgiving, you can add just about anything to it, and you definitely don’t need to worry about using exact amounts of any of the ingredients called for. And if you’ve never tried quinoa, this is the perfect recipe for giving it a shot. Even people who don’t think they eat things like quinoa (I’m looking at you, all the dudes in my life) usually gobble this up. I think they probably think it’s just rice, but whatever–this dish is a total summertime crowd pleaser.

Quinoa, Corn and Black Bean Salad
Adapted from Gourmet

2 cups cooked quinoa
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
corn kernels, either cut from two ears of fresh (cooked) corn, or about 1 cup thawed frozen kernels
chopped red bell pepper, about half a pepper or so
finely minced jalapeno (I use one pepper for a very mild kick; add more if you like spice)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (use parsley if you’re not into cilantro)
chopped scallions, about 4 or so
chopped tomatoes, about one cup (I use grape tomatoes except when regular tomatoes are in season)

Dressing
the juice of 1-2 limes
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
1/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Chop and toss all the vegetables with the quinoa, then mix the dressing ingredients, whisking till emulsified. Stir the dressing into the salad, and you’re done! The salad can be enjoyed immediately but is even better after it sits for a bit; I often make it the night before a party. It keeps for several days in the fridge and only gets better with time.

I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure etiquette says that when you bring food to a party you’re supposed to leave it there when you go home, right? Well not me. When it was time to leave Dan’s bbq, I took my container of quinoa salad and snuck out of there like a thief. I wanted those leftovers!

I love to put a big old mound of this leftover salad over a bowl of leafy greens (my fave: chopped arugula and baby spinach dressed with olive oil and balsamic), then top the whole thing with goat cheese. It’s healthy heaven.

Last night a few friends came over for dinner, and I decided to go outside my comfort zone and experiment with a type of dessert I haven’t made much of–ice cream! I have had an ice cream maker for a few years now and have only used it once, back when I first got it. Yikes! That kind of thing is my worst nightmare because I’m kind of a minimalist when it comes to small appliances, so the fact that I have this ice cream maker sitting around and never getting used is just not cool. Plus there are so many interesting ice cream recipes out there to try.

So I clicked around in my Epicurious recipe box and found this recipe from Bon Appetit November 2007, Brown Sugar Ice Cream with Cayenne Spiced Walnuts and decided to give it a try. While I was on the site I also came across the recipe for Cardamom Butter Squares from Gourmet December 2004 which had also been hanging out in my recipe box. Recipes, check. Nice long Sunday to hang out in my kitchen, check. Friends on the way, check. Game on!

First up was the ice cream. The base of this recipe is super easy to make. It starts with some egg yolks, brown sugar and salt, which you mix together into a sort of paste.

You warm up some cream and milk, then slowly add the cream mixture to the yolk mixture and put it back on the stove to cook for just a few minutes, till it reaches 170 degrees. I loved that the recipe specified exactly what temperature to cook it to, because whenever a recipe says to cook something till it thickens, I never know exactly how thick it’s supposed to be. So this was a no-brainer.

Then the custard went into the ice cream maker to churn away!

Meanwhile, I prepped the nuts. The recipe called for walnuts but I decided to use pecans instead, which I think was a very good choice. Pecans are just so buttery and yummy, while walnuts could have created walnut-overload in this case. (I love walnuts, but only in small doses. Plus they irritate some peoples’ mouths, and I wasn’t sure where my friends fell on the walnut-consumption scale.) So, the pecans got mixed up with some cayenne and black pepper, along with a bit of oil (the recipe called for vegetable oil but I used olive, hoping it would add an extra savory note). I also added some course salt because I love salty desserts. I didn’t really taste the salt distinctly in the finished ice cream, but–this just occurred to me–a sprinkle of course salt as a garnish on the finished ice cream would be a really nice touch.

So the nuts go into the oven to roast for a bit (I think I kept mine in there for 10-15 minutes, just till they became fragrant but before they started to really brown).

Then, the nuts get added to the churning ice cream mixture about 5 minutes before the ice cream is done. (Make sure the nuts are cool–I popped them into the freezer for just a few minutes to be sure.) Now, here’s the thing about adding the nuts 5 minutes before the ice cream is done: the spices from the nuts separate from the nuts themselves and get fully incorporated into the ice cream, so you wind up with a spicy ice cream all around. Which is fine, except that I was imagining this to be a sweet ice cream with bites of spicy nut nuggets. In the end I don’t think one is better than the other, but if you wanted the spicy nut nugget effect, I’d suggest folding the nuts gently into the ice cream after it’s out of the ice cream maker. Either way is fine, it’s just subtlety that I didn’t think of beforehand, but is definitely something I’ll keep in mind for the future.

After churning the ice cream in the maker, it gets transferred to another container and frozen till it sets–mine took about 6-8 hours to fully harden.

We really loved how this ice cream turned out. The texture was just perfect–soooo creamy and smooth. And the flavor is like a classic butter pecan, with just the right amount of peppery kick that hits you in the back of the throat at the end of each bite. Definitely a grown-up ice cream… but with a nod to a classic, nostalgic ice cream flavor, good old butter pecan.

Overall, I give this recipe an A++ and I’m super psyched to make more ice cream!!

Peppery Butter Pecan Ice Cream
By Brett Bara, modified from Bon Appetit

I modified this recipe by adding more salt to both the base and the nuts, and by swapping the vegetable oil for olive oil, for more of a savory effect. I also swapped the walnuts for pecans, which made this delightfully buttery.

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
6 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup pecan halves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon course salt

Bring milk and cream just to a simmer in a medium saucepan, over medium heat. Mix together the sugar, yolks and salt. When milk mixture comes to a simmer, whisk it into the yolk mixture, adding very small amounts of milk at a time. When fully combined, transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and cook over medium heat till it reaches a temperature of 170 degrees (use a candy thermometer to measure). This will only take a few minutes. Transfer to a wide, shallow bowl and freeze for about 40 minutes, stirring about every 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat your oven to 375 degrees. Combine the pecans and all the remaining ingredients in a bowl and mix, then spread on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven, stirring every few minutes, until the nuts are fragrant and just lightly brown, about 10-15 minutes. (Watch closely in case your nuts brown more quickly.) Cool nuts completely.

Process the ice cream base in your ice cream maker according to your machine’s instructions, until thick and creamy and no longer watery. (My machine took about 40 minutes; yours may vary.) Add the nuts about 5 minutes before the ice cream is done (be sure the nuts are fully cool; chill in the freezer for a few minutes if necessary). Finally, transfer the ice cream to another container and freeze till set, about 6-8 hours, or up to 3 days.

Optional: garnish with a sprinkle of course salt.

Also, Cookies:

I wanted a little something extra to serve with our ice cream, so I also made these yummy cookies adapted from a Gourmet recipe I’d been saving forever. I altered this in a few ways, increasing the amount of spice while cutting the whole recipe in half (I just didn’t think we needed 6 dozen cookies, I mean, who does??). I also added the chocolate-dipped thing.

This recipe started with a simple butter dough, nothing crazy, no surprises, easy to whip up. After mixing the dough, you form it into a 12-inch log and wrap it in plastic wrap. Man, there’s just no way around it, logs of dough are creepy looking, right?

After chilling the log for an hour, it’s time to form it into a square-shaped log. This was super easy to do using my quilter’s ruler! (Seriously, I use my quilter’s ruler in the kitchen all the time. It comes in handy for so many things.) Anyway, I did this by unwrapping the log until there was just one layer of plastic on it (ie, not wrapped up in a bunch of layers, so that the dough would have some freedom to change its shape). Then I just used the ruler to flatten out the sides, rotating it and pressing several times, until it was a square. Super easy.

Square shape! Then it goes back in the fridge for at least one more hour, or up to five days, or even frozen, till you’re ready to bake. To bake, just use a sharp knife to slice the log into scant 1/4″ thick pieces, and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing them about 1″ apart. Just bake till they start to get golden around the edges.

The original recipe called for drizzling the cookies with an espresso glaze and a chocolate glaze, but that just sounded like a lot of trouble, and messy. So instead I melted some dark chocolate I had hanging around (I dunno, probably about 12 ounces), and dipped the cookies. It was quick and easy, and I liked the simplicity of the finished look. (I think the cookies would be fine without any drizzling or dipping, but they would be quite plain–more like a tea biscuit than a dessert cookie. Still, they would be nice that way, if that’s what you’re in the mood for.)

These were tasty little cookies. The spice flavor is subtle, but it interacts with the chocolate in a really nice way. I thought these were even better the next day, and they were super delicious with a cup of chai tea this morning. (Yes, I had cookies and ice cream for breakfast this morning while I was taking these photos. Oh the shame! Not really.) Anyway, this morning I realized what these cookies, with the layer of dark chocolate, remind me of: McVities Digestives, one of my all-time favorite store-bought cookies! A crumbly, buttery cookie with a semi-soft chocolate coating, not too sweet and not too rich, perfect with tea, and easy to eat by the dozen. Not too shabby.

I’m not sure this cookie was really the ideal pairing for the ice cream (my friend last night suggested that my rosemary shortbread would have gone great with the spicy ice cream, and I think he was right), but this was still a good little cookie that I’d make again… maybe for a tea party.

Chocolate Cardamom Cookies

I made these cookies following the original recipe rather closely, so I won’t repost it here in full. (The link to the full recipe is here.) The changes I made were:

• I cut the recipe in half completely.
• I used double the amount of cardamom, allspice and cinnamon (ie, I used the full amount of spice called for, while cutting all the other ingredients in half).
• I dipped the finished cookies in melted dark chocolate and skipped the drizzled-icing portion of the original recipe

We had such a lovely Sunday supper last night. And actually, we didn’t just eat dessert! Here’s the full menu of what I made, in case you’re looking for some new recipes. I really like to be able to relax and enjoy my guests when they arrive, so everything on this menu was chosen because it can be prepped in advance, with very little cooking on the spot:

• Green Olive and Goat Cheese Crostini — these were interesting; kind of weird but they got a thumbs-up in the end. Very easy to make and easy to make in advance, so I would consider these for a party in the future or just for a little munchie before dinner again some time. I skipped the fennel seeds because I’m not always a fan.
• Spring rolls brought by one of the guests who is an amazing cook; sorry no recipe!
• Pink Grapefruit, Avocado and Watercress salad — this was a nice little salad with a lot of stuff going on. It felt “special” enough for company while still being simple and easy to prep completely in advance. I’d make it again, definitely swapping out ingredients for whatever I have on hand. For example, I didn’t think the prosciutto was really worth it, given the cost of good prosciutto–next time I’d just cook up some sliced bacon and add that instead. (I actually think the bacon would be an improvement, texturally.) I also used almonds instead of hazelnuts, just because that’s what I had on hand. But the basic bones of this salad were great, and it’s a good jumping-off point for modifications.
• Roasted Cod on Saffron Mashed Potatoes — I made this exactly like the recipe, except that I mixed corn in with the mashed potatoes, which I highly recommend. I’ve made this entree before and I really like it. It’s simple, easy to prep in advance with minimal cooking right before serving, and hits a nice note of comfort-food-meets-fancy.
• Peppery Butter Pecan Ice Cream and Cardamom Chocolate Cookies, of course!

Happy Monday, all! Hope you had a nice weekend too. xoxo

I’m so pleased today to share this food feature I worked on with the amazing home goods store West Elm. Recently they asked me to develop a dozen deviled egg recipes for their spring catalog & blog, and being the egg fiend that I am, I was thrilled to egg-cept the challenge!

This was such a fun project. I came up with a basic deviled egg recipe plus twelve flavor variations that can be added to the base. All kinds of cool flavors like bloody mary deviled eggs, kim chi deviled eggs, beet & bleu cheese, bacon, asparagus, sriracha, and more!

West Elm photographed the eggs on their amazing serving pieces. Not only do they have some adorable spring-themed dishes, but they’ve got lots of egg-serving vessels as well. (I’m such a sucker for a good egg cup.)

And then, they put the whole package together on their web site with some really charming animation! So when you click through to view the feature, you’ll see eggs dancing around, ingredients marching on the tabletop, and bunnies and frogs hopping about. I’ve never seen deviled eggs look so cute!

Bonus points for some yarn making it into one shot!

The feature is also mentioned in the new West Elm catalog (the one with the Moroccan cover).

There’s me and my eggs, on page 42-43!

So click here to visit the West Elm site to view the cute animated feature and download my deviled egg recipes. I hope you’ll give some of them a try (especially if you find yourself with lots of hard-boiled eggs at Easter time)! I have to say, when I was creating these recipes I served a bunch of them at a party I hosted and they were a huge hit–they were literally the first thing at the party to go.

If you want to try several of the flavors, here’s a tip: mix up one batch of the basic deviled egg recipe, and divide the filling into four batches. Then pick four flavors you want to try and add 1/4 of the amount of the flavoring ingredients called for. It’s super easy to mix up mini-batches this way… so try a deviled egg tasting bar at your next party. It’s a real crowd pleaser!

Thanks again to West Elm for featuring my recipes! xoxo

What’s this, a snapshot from a gemstone display at the Natural History Museum?

Nope! It’s chocolate! Chocolate gems!

These little treasures may look fancy but they’re super easy to make yourself. Like a craft project you can eat (which is pretty much the most perfect thing in the world, if you ask me).

Ready to see how easy this is?

To start, simply melt yourself some chocolate. Be sure to temper it–if you’ve never tempered chocolate and need some advice, I like these instructions (which includes a video) explaining how the process works, in very simple terms. Tempering chocolate is one of those things that sounds intimidating but really isn’t, so don’t let that step stop you, okay? Please?

Then grab yourself some gem-shaped candy molds (you can pick them up here).

And pour a bit of chocolate into each mold. You don’t need to grease the molds first or anything like that–just pour the chocolate directly into the clean, dry mold. I like to use a small spoon or ladle for this, or even transfer the melted chocolate into a small squeeze bottle and squeeze it in. Just be sure to work quickly so your chocolate doesn’t get too cool (if it does, warm it back to the minimum temperature per the tempering instructions).

Place the filled molds into your fridge for about 5-10 minutes, just to allow the outer surface of the chocolate to begin to set. Then remove the molds from the fridge and place them at cool room temperature (away from sunny windows!!!) until they are set. They’ll be set after a few hours, but for best results, allow them to rest in the molds for 24 hours. (After the chocolate sets for 24 hours it will be less likely to pick up fingerprints when you handle it.)

Then just pop the chocolate pieces out of the molds, and the hardest part if this project is done!

Next it’s time to add the bling. Applying the sparkly color to the chocolate shapes is ridiculously easy–you just brush it on! I used Luster Dust–a powdered, edible pigment–in a few different hues of jewel tones and metallics.

Simply brush the Luster Dust right onto the chocolate with a small, soft brush–and that’s it! The dust will adhere right to the chocolate, you don’t need to use any kind of adhesive or anything. (As for what type of brush to use, I use small, soft artist’s brushes, and reserve them for food use only.)

(PS: Looking at this photo I just noticed for the first time that my gold highlighter is labeled “non-edible use.” Um, oops? Guess I won’t eat the gold gems.)

So just swipe your color of choice in a thin, even coat over the top surface of each chocolate piece, and you’re d-o-n-e! Crazy easy!

But when everyone freaks out over your gorgeous, fancy-looking confections, you don’t have to tell how easy they were to make. Go ahead and blow everyone’s minds–I won’t tell.

I can think of so many lovely uses for these little gems. Display them on an ornate platter at a party. Wrap them up in a fancy (velvet-lined!) box for a gift. Place a few in glassine bags for party favors. Stick them on top of cupcakes. Shove them into your mouth by the fistful and pretend you’re Marie Antoinette. The possibilities are endless!

Tell me, are you interested in working with chocolate? I’m thinking of doing more chocolate-molding posts in the upcoming weeks, and am wondering if that’s something you all are interested in. Do tell! xoxo

Last week I had to have oral surgery (boo), so to comfort myself I wanted to make something I could eat afterwards that would go down easily and still feel like a special treat. Enter: the ice cream bombe!

I’ve always loved combing a scoop of ice cream with a scoop of sorbet – I can’t believe it took me this long to figure out I could transform that preference into a molded beauty like this! It was SO easy to make, and it just feels more special than some scoops in a bowl. I feel quite like a lady enjoying my elegant bombe, I must say!

As a bonus, it also seems to make the ice cream easier to portion and manage. I don’t know about you, but I kind of hate the whole ice-cream-at-home serving situation. You take it out of the freezer and it’s too hard to scoop, so you let it soften and then it melts halfway, then you put what’s left back in the freezer and it gets icy. Ick! (Or, you just sit on the couch eating it straight out of the carton, and it half melts, and then you put it back in the freezer, spoon marks and all. Not that I would ever do that. But someone might.)

Anyway, the beautiful thing about the ice cream bombe, I discovered, is that it’s much easier to portion out and serve over time. I sliced my bombe into single servings and wrapped them individually so that I can take one and and enjoy it whenever I want. (I also left a big portion of the bombe, maybe 1/3 of it, unsliced – in case I want to serve it to guests.)

The whole thing really took no time at all to make, and almost no effort. The no effort part is because I used store-bought ice cream – you could certainly use home-made, but eh, I wasn’t up for it. It’s August – it’s okay to be lazy.

So whether you’re having oral surgery or a dinner party, I highly recommend an ice cream bombe for a show-stopping dessert that won’t cause you to break a sweat!

RECIPE: How to make an ice cream bombe

Ingredients

• ice cream and sorbet, your flavors of choice, enough to fill the capacity of your mold or bowl. You will need a larger quantity of the flavor you use for the first layer, and smaller quantities for subsequent layers. I used a half-gallon for my first layer and one pint for the other layers; of course, this will all vary for you depending on the capacity of your mold. The flavors shown here are: vanilla ice cream, raspberry sorbet, mango ice cream, and raspberry sorbet again.
• a round mold or bowl

Instructions

1. Place your first flavor of ice/cream sorbet in the fridge to soften for about 20 minutes. Note: don’t do what I did, which was to think I could skip this step and just soften my ice cream at room temperature faster – that doesn’t work. The outer layer of the ice cream will melt while the center stays hard. In the fridge though, it will soften uniformly and be much easier to spread!

2. Spread your first layer of ice cream into the mold, using the back of a spoon to spread it evenly. You don’t need to worry about making it perfectly smooth and even; some variations in the layers look nice, I think. Place the mold in the freezer and allow this layer to harden; about 10-20 minutes depending on your freezer.

3. Spread the next softened layer over this one, then place it in the freezer to harden before adding the next layer. Simply repeat till the mold is full, softening the ice cream for the next layers in the fridge when you’re ready for them. When the mold is full, cover it with plastic wrap and freeze for several hours or overnight.

4. To unmold, place the mold in a bowl of hot water for several seconds. Remove, dry the outside of the mold, then invert a cake plate or platter over the mold, and in one motion flip both the plate and the mold, so that the mold is now on top. Gently lift the mold away (if the ice cream is still stuck inside, let it sit for a few minutes, or drape a hot towel over the top of the mold). Once unmolded, pop the bombe back in the freezer for about ten minutes to stop any melting that will be occurring on the outer layer (this will be a life-saver in avoiding major drips while serving). Finally, soften the bombe in the fridge for 20 minutes or so, then slice and serve. (If your bombe is difficult to slice, run hot water over your knife before cutting.)

Enjoy!

This past weekend it was just me, a couple bottles of Champagne, and a lot of Jello.

If you think that sounds like the makings of a wild party, think again. It was, in fact, the makings of some jiggly experimentations, mad-scientist style – complete with crazy hair, wild eyes, and red Jello splattered over every surface of my kitchen.



You see, when one adds carbonated liquids to Jello, one can get a cool bubbles-suspended-in-gelatin effect. I’m working on figuring out all the different types of bubbly looks I can achieve.


This mold didn’t come out very bubbly, but it was still kind of a happy accident. I thought it was going to be a complete failure, but after unmolding it I thought it was really beautiful.

It reminds me of a geode.

I’m not sure if I could ever recreate this effect – it really was an accident. But rest assured, I’ll try!


This one was a little less beautiful and a little more gross. I got the large bubbles I wanted, but it’s pretty icky looking, don’t you think? This is the kind of thing that gives Jello molds a bad name.

I know exactly what I want to change on this one though, so I’m hopeful I’ll nail it on the next try.

I’ve got another bottle of bubbly chilling in the fridge, with Jello’s name on it, so I’ll be hitting the lab again very soon.

Sorry for no recipes this time around, but these really are just tests. Recipes to come when the formula is perfected!

Looking for something fun to cook up for your Labor Day picnic? Make a jello mold!

I’m very excited to share this video which I made with the wonderful folks at Rarebit Productions. It will show you everything you need to know to get your jello on, from layering to unmolding.

I hope you enjoy! Now get out there and make some jello—because nothing says party like a wiggling tower of colorful goodness.

Jiggle on!
Brett

PS: Are the Rarebit Production peeps talented or what? (I seriously think they made Jello look more amazing it ever has before in the history of the world.)

PPS: Is there anything you’re dying to learn to make? Let me know in the comments, and maybe we’ll make a video of it soon!