Pink Lemonade Pie

I'm on vacation right now at the beach - we are in Corolla, North Carolina with some friends from college having a great time enjoying the beach.  We rented a house and have been making lots of simple BBQ meals and such.  I decided we needed dessert as well, after all we are on vacation, but wanted to make something easy that didn't have a million ingredients.  The perfect recipe - pink lemonade pie.  You can easily make this recipe in five minutes with just a few ingredients and its fantastic after a hot summer day, at the beach or not.  It has a really light, refreshing taste.  Ice cream at the beach is always a great treat.

I really don't remember where I originally got this recipe - I've been making this for several years now and haven't looked at a recipe for a long long time so I'm not sure of the original source.

Pink Lemonade Pie

1 pint vanilla ice cream
2 cups whipping cream (you can substitute Cool Whip or similar)
1/4 cup pink lemonade powder mix (such as Country Time)
1/4 cup water
1 graham cracker crust

Set out ice cream to thaw for a few minutes or pop into a microwave for about 30 seconds to soften slightly.  Beat cream until stiff peaks form.  Combine lemonade powder and water in the bottom of a mixing bowl.  Add ice cream and beat on low speed until smooth - you can use a wooden spoon to do this as well, it will just take a little extra effort to make it smooth.  Gently fold in whipped cream.  Pour mixture into prepared pie crust.  Freeze at least 4 hours until set.  Remove from freezer about 5 minutes before slicing. 

Traditional Vanilla Ice Cream

Homemade ice cream is one of my favorite summer treats. Growing up my mom had one of those old fashioned ice cream makers that you filled the metal insert with the cream and such and then loaded up with ice and rock salt. The machine would churn for what seemed like hours - but maybe that's because it was super loud and mom always seemed to start it around 6 am - I truly have no idea how long it took to make. But it would turn out the best ice cream, super rich and creamy with the best texture.


As a wedding present, I got a KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment for my stand mixer and I love it. All I have to do is remember to freeze the bowl over night (which is sometimes a challenge as I'm not the best at advanced planning all the time) and I'm just a few easy steps away from homemade ice cream.

For this one, I made a traditional custard base with egg yolks, half and half, sugar and vanilla. You can make homemade ice cream without the custard step but I think it adds a creamier texture and richness that's especially important when making vanilla. Good vanilla is also a must for this recipe - don't use the imitation stuff, if you have a vanilla bean, even better.


Traditional Vanilla Ice Cream
Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

2 tsp vanilla extract or seeds of 1 vanilla bean
4 cups half and half
3/4 cup sugar
6 egg yolks

In a large saucepan, heat 2 cups of half and half with the vanilla and 1/4 cup sugar until steaming. In mixing bowl, beat egg yolks with remaining sugar until light yellow and thick, about 3 minutes. Slowly stream in 1/2 cup hot half and half mixture to temper the yolks. Transfer egg mixture to the saucepan, whisking constantly while slowly streaming the egg mixture in. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly until the mixture thickens and reaches 180 degrees. Do not boil the custard. It will be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and if you drag your finger through it, the outline will remain.

Strain the custard through a mesh strainer into a glass bowl and stir in the remaining half and half. Cover and chill to at least 40 degrees or overnight. When cold, add custard to ice cream maker and mix according to directions. Transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze until solid.
I served the ice cream topped with simple ripe strawberries sprinkled with a bit of sugar.

Pumpkin Nut Ice Cream

Todd and I had some delicious pumpkin ice cream at the apple orchard last weekend and I wanted to try making some. I found a recipe at Williams-Sonoma so I thought I would try it out. The original recipe can be found here.



Pumpkin Nut Ice Cream


1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup brown sugar
5 egg yolks
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 T bourbon
1 1/2 cups half and half
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Combine pumpkin and vanilla, cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. In a heavy sauce pan, combine 1 1/2 cups of cream and 1/2 cup brown sugar over medium heat. Cook until bubbles form around the edges but do not boil (approx. 5 min.)

While cream mixture is heating, combine egg yolks, spices and remaining cream and brown sugar. Whisk until smooth. Remove cream mixture from heat and gradually whisk in about 1/2 cup of the hot cream to temper the egg mixture. Pour egg mixture back into pan. Cook, stirring constantly over medium heat, until thickened, about 4-6 minutes. Do not allow the custard to boil.

Pour the custard mixture back into a bowl, placing the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice water. Allow the mixture to cool and whisk in the pumpkin mixture. Cover and refrigerate the custard mixture at least 3 hours (I refrigerated mine overnight).

Transfer custard mixture to an ice cream mixture and pour in half and half and freeze according to mixer instructions. During the last minute of freezing add 1 tablespoon of bourbon and 1/2 cup pecans. Freeze at least 3 hours before serving.

Fall is in the air...

So I thought I would make a nice, fall dessert for a Labor Day weekend party we went to last night. I found a recipe for carrot cake in my Best-Loved Recipes cookbook that looked super easy and I had all the ingredients I needed. It was my first attempt at a layer cake and it turned out pretty well but I learned a couple things too. Namely make sure the bottom layer is flat to stack them so that there isnt a large gap to fill with frosting. I forgot to take the camera to the party so I don't have a picture but it did get rave reviews and was pretty much gone at the end of the night.

Carrot Layer Cake

For the cake:
1 pkg Yellow Cake Mix (I used Pillsbury Moist Deluxe)
4 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce (original recipe calls for vegetable oil)
3 cups grated carrots
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (I added this to the original)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour 2 9-inch round baking pans. Combine all ingredients and mix on low until moistened. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into pans and bake for 35-40 minutes. Let cool on wire racks.

For the frosting:
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar

Beat butter, vanilla and cream cheese in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Add sugar gradually, beating until smooth. If frosting becomes too thick, add milk to thin as needed. (Mine worked just fine with these measurements).

Put a layer of frosting on the top of bottom layer. Stack the 2nd layer on top and put a thin layer of frosting around the sides and on top. Chill for frosting to set. Add more frosting as desired. (I had plenty left over).

Since Labor Day also marks the end of summer, I made another batch of homeade ice cream this week as well. I had leftover buttermilk from my scones I made last weekend so I found a vanilla buttermilk ice cream recipe on cooks.com. It was a very simple recipe with only 4 ingredients and no cooktime required so I figured I would try it. The ingredients were too much for my KA ice cream freezer so I had to cut back a little. Here's the original and below is my adaptation. I think its a little on the tangy side with all the buttermilk, so if I make it in the future, I'll reduce the buttermilk a little more. It is excellent with caramel sauce.

Buttermilk Ice Cream

1 pint heavy whipping cream
6 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar

Combine all ingredients in ice cream freezer and blend per machine directions.