Cinnamon Ice Cream

Looking back over the recipes I made last month, I realize I made lots of things with cinnamon in them.  Strange.  One Sunday I had some leftover whipping cream so I decided to make homemade ice cream.  It was a little stormy outside so I felt like something "fall-like."  I looked up some ice cream on my All Recipes app and found this cinnamon one.  A review mentioned that they had added some chewy oatmeal cookies to compliment this and so I did the same.

Cinnamon Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 c. white sugar
1 1/2 c. half and half
2 eggs, beaten
1 c. heavy cream
1 t. vanilla
2 t. cinnamon

Directions:

Stir together sugar and half and half.  Cook on medium low.  When it begins to simmer, remove from heat.  Whisk 1/2 into eggs quickly.  Pour egg mixture back into saucepan.  Stir in heavy cream.  Continue cooking over medium low, stirring constantly until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.  Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and cinnamon.  Cool.  Put in fridge for several hours.  Freeze in electric ice cream machine.  Serve with oatmeal cookies!

In my test kitchen:

Some reviews said that it was too sweet and to reduce the sugar.  So I took mine down to 3/4 c. and it was great.  I also think 2 t. cinnamon is very over-powering.  So I reduced the cinnamon to 1 t. Perfect.

I think this recipe would even be good served with apple crisp or break up the oatmeal cookies into large chunks and while the ice cream is still soft, mix them into the ice cream.

~Happy Cooking!

Crock Pot Cinnamon Almonds

This was being shared on Facebook a few weeks ago.  I love the smell of these almonds at the mall kiosks during the holiday season.  So when I saw this recipe I thought it might be fun to try.  It was really easy to make so...neighbors and friends...be prepared.  This is what I think I will be giving out for Christmas this year!

Crock Pot Cinnamon Almonds

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
3 T. cinnamon
1/8 t. salt
1 egg white
2 t. vanilla
3 c. almonds
1/4 c. water

Directions:

In medium bowl, mix sugars, cinnamon, salt.  Set aside.  In another bowl, whisk egg white and vanilla until a little frothy.  Stir in almonds until thoroughly well coated.  Add cinnamon mixture to almonds.  Toss until well coated.

Spray crock pot well with cooking spray.  Add almonds.  Cook on low, covered 3-4 hours, stirring every 20 minutes.  During last hour, add 1/4 c. water.  Stir well.  Cook another 45 minutes - 1 hour.

Line baking sheet with wax paper.  Spread almonds to cool.

In my test kitchen:

I added about 1/8 c. more water to the crock pot in the last hour.  I also feel like there was a lot of extra cinnamon mixture so I think I will probably put 4 1/2 cups of almonds in the mixture next time.

These tasted wonderful warm.  And they made the house smell really good while they cooked too!

~Happy Cooking!

Pumpkin Cake Doughnuts???

I know. I know.  This is not a picture of the doughnut.  That is because this recipe (to me) was an EPIC FAIL as a doughnut.  But it worked out pretty well as a muffin.  So that is what I'm going to recommend you use this doughnut recipe for.

Pumpkin Cake Doughnuts 
(or muffins)

Ingredients:
1/2 c. vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. canned pumpkin
1 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 3/4 c. + 2 T flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease two standard doughnut pans.  (I searched all over for mine and finally found some at Michaels.)  Beat together oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spice, salt, and baking powder until smooth.  Fill the wells of the doughnut pans about 3/4 full.  Bake the doughnuts for 15-18 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes.  Remove the doughnuts and transfer to a rack to cool.  While the doughnuts are still warm (but no longer fragile) gently shake them in a bag with cinnamon-sugar.

In my test kitchen:

I have read countless recipes/reviews about making homemade cake doughnuts that you fry in oil.  The general consensus is that the batter is very thin so it's almost impossible to cut the dough into a doughnut shape.  So then I came across these baked doughnuts.  I thought, "Why not try to bake them first and then fry them afterward for a few seconds to get that yummy crunchy outside that I love so much."  Ummmmmm, didn't really work so well.  It didnt' taste horrible but it didn't taste the way I wanted it to.  I also tried the doughnut exactly as the recipe stated and baked, then coated them in sugar.  They were so-so. 

The site where I pulled this recipe actually suggested that you could make these into  muffins.  So when my first few doughnuts didn't taste amazing, I just added about 1/2 chopped chocolate chips to the batter and put it in a greased muffin tin. (I floured the chocolate chips first to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the muffins.)  Then I added some mini-chocolate chips to the top of the muffins just before baking.

If you make muffins, they will need to cook for 23-25 minutes.

~Happy Cooking!