Banana Splits and Homemade Ice Cream

So we have a very exciting and fun Summer theme planned out this year. We are picking some very unusual ice cream flavour names and then creating things that come from the inspiration of that name. Some will be baked goods, some will be crafts, and some will be fun activities.

To kick the ice cream theme off, we are going to share with you how to make the very popular classic, a banana split, from scratch (with your own homemade ice creams).

I love to make my own homemade ice creams in the Summer. I often try out new flavours, but also stick to many classic ones as well. I sometimes make frozen yogurt as well with my ice cream maker.

For the banana splits, we’re sticking with the basics, chocolate and vanilla.

I have a Cuisinart ice cream maker which I love. I always keep the bowl in the freezer so that it stays nice and cold. Having a completely frozen bowl and really cold ingredients are keys to success when making your own ice cream otherwise it can affect the process and it turns icy and slushy instead of creamy.

Usually the day before I make my ice cream, I’ll mix the ingredients and then let them get cold in the fridge.

For the vanilla ice cream, mix 1 ½ cup of whole milk with 1 cup of sugar. Then add in 3 cups of heavy cream along with 1 ½ tbsp. of vanilla. Chill overnight.

For the chocolate ice cream, mix 1 cup of cocoa powder with 2/3 cup of sugar, ½ cup of brown packed sugar, and then stir in 1 ½ cups of whole milk. Add in 3 ¼ cups of heavy cream along with 1 tbsp. of vanilla. Chill overnight.

When mixing day comes, I follow the machine’s instructions and pour the mix into a frozen bowl right out of the freezer. For the vanilla, it usually takes about 45 minutes for it to thicken up and for the chocolate, about 30 minutes. Once the ice cream is mixed, transfer into a Tupperware container and freeze. It’ll be soft serve for the first few hours, so if you want a more frozen ice cream, then let the ice cream stay in the freezer overnight.

Other than bananas, no banana split is complete without toppings so before you have your banana split/sundae party, gather up some toppings. You can use crushed pineapple, sprinkles, chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, Maraschinos cherries, whipped cream, and sauces. Speaking of sauces, I have included my famous gooey butterscotch sauce that you can drizzle on top.

Butterscotch Sauce:

In a sauce pan on medium heat, mix 1 cup of packed brown sugar, 2 tbsp. of butter, and 1 tbsp. of vanilla. Heat until all dissolved and bubbling. Usually 3-4 minutes. You can use after cooling slightly or if you want a thicker sauce, then let it cool sompletely.

A good fudge sauce is one that you’ll see us using as a glaze in a future post about Boston Cream cupcakes, but I like it as an ice cream sauce too.

Chocolate Fudge Sauce/ Glaze:

1 cup of semisweet chocolate

2/3 cup of heavy cream

¼ cup of light corn syrup

½ tsp. of vanilla

Microwave the chocolate, cream, corn syrup, and vanilla all together in a heatproof bowl. Stir every 30 seconds for 1-2 minutes until all of the ingredients are melted and smooth. Let it thicken for about 20 minutes.

Now it’s time to assemble your splits. There is no right or wrong way; make it exactly how you like it.

Donuts for Dad

 

It’s almost Father’s Day and if you have a Dad that loves a sweet treat, then this is the place to be because we are making mini donuts for Dad. You can wrap some up on a plate and bring them to Dad for his Father’s Day treat this weekend.

You can use one of those donut baking pans and do them in the oven, but these recipes will work best if you have a mini donut maker like this.

We are making three types of donuts, sour cream (plain), chocolate, and buttermilk spice.

I mixed all of the dry ingredients in separate bowls and then their corresponding wet ingredients in other separate bowls. It makes it a lot easier when you start doing all of your mixing.

The following are the ingredients and instructions for each of the batters.

Sour Cream Donuts:

1 ½ cups of flour

1/3 cup of sugar

1 Tbsp. of baking powder

½ tsp. of salt

½ cup of milk

¼ cup of vegetable oil

¼ cup of sour cream

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

Stir all of the dry ingredients together and in a separate bowl mix the wet. Add the dry ingredients to your mixer’s bowl and then beat in the wet ingredients until smooth. Make sure you don’t over mix. 

Set aside.

Chocolate Donuts:

1 ¼ cups of flour

½ cup of cocoa

½ cup of sugar

1 Tbsp. of baking powder

1 egg

¾ cup of buttermilk or see buttermilk recipe below

¼ cup of vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla

Stir all of the dry ingredients together and in a separate bowl mix the wet. 

If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, then you can make some up really quick. Just add 2 ¼ tsp. of lemon juice or white vinegar into a glass measuring cup and then add enough milk to equal ¾ cup. Let it stand for 5-10 minutes.

Add the dry ingredients to your mixer’s bowl and then beat in the wet ingredients until smooth. Make sure you don’t over mix. Set aside.

Buttermilk Spice Donuts:

1/3 cup of vegetable oil

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1 ¼ cups of buttermilk

½ tsp. of vanilla

2 cups of flour

4 tsp. of baking powder

½ tsp. of baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

Once again mix all of the dry ingredients together. Beat together the oil and eggs and then stir in the buttermilk (follow the above recipe for homemade buttermilk; even though it calls for 1 ¼ cups still make the above amount seen in the Chocolate Donut recipe).

Now add the wet into the dry ingredients and mix until smooth being careful not to over mix.

After making your batter(s), you can now start cooking the donuts. If you have a mini donut maker, be sure to follow the instructions for cooking that comes with it. I preheat mine as according to the instructions and then I brush on a little oil so they don’t stick. I scoop in about a tablespoon of batter into each of the molds and cook for 3-4 minutes. 

Cool the donuts on a wire rack as you continue to bake the rest.

While all the donuts are cooling down, you can make the glazes.

You can put whatever glaze on whatever type of donuts you want. We put a vanilla glaze on some of the sour cream donuts and a chocolate glaze on some too and then we put a chocolate glaze on the chocolate donuts and dusted the buttermilk ones with cinnamon and sugar.

Vanilla Glaze – Melt ¼ cup of butter and then add 1 1/3 cups of icing sugar and stir until well blended. Stir in the vanilla and blend in 1 Tbsp. of hot water.

Chocolate Glaze – Whisk ¾ cups of icing sugar with 2 Tbsp. of cocoa, 2 Tbsp. of half and half, and 1 tsp. of vanilla until well mixed.

To ice/glaze the donuts, we just dipped the tops in the glaze that we wanted so that the tops got completely covered. Depending how thick you make the glaze, you could spread it on with a knife also.

Cinnamon Topping – Just mix 1 cup of sugar with 2 Tbsp. of cinnamon and mix well. We made the buttermilk donuts last and while they were still warm, we brush them with a little bit of melted butter and then dip the tops in the sugar mixture. If you want the entire donut covered, brush the donuts all over with butter and then put your sugar mix in a brown paper bag and toss the donuts in there so that they get covered.

The finished products...

If you don't have a donut maker, but still want to make some donuts for your dad, then try this recipe for mini Snickerdoodle Donut Muffins. We tried it a couple months ago, and it was pretty yummy!

DAD Card

Father’s Day is coming up and today we’re sharing a really simple idea for a card for dad.

All you need is patterned paper, cardstock in the colour card you want to make and one for a layer, glue, letters to trace, and scissors.

First of all find some letters that you can trace and cut out. We are using the Silhouette to cut our letters, but if you don’t have one, no worries, just find letters in Word and in the font and size you want and print and cut them out to trace.

Pick a colour for your card first. We chose a dark brown for our card colour as it matches the patterns that we like. We made the card our regular 6 ¾ x 4 ¾ inches.

Now choose a layer the top. We went with Kraft as it matches the card and pattern well. On this layer, you are going to using a cutting machine to cut out or trace on top and cut out, the letters DAD. Our card is vertical but if you want to do a horizontal one, then that works too.

Pick one pattern or multiple patterns to put behind your DAD. Our letters are roughly 1 ½ x 1 ½ inches in size. We are using the same pattern for the top and bottom letter so we just glued one strip down for both and then a small piece of different pattern paper to go under the A. If you’re using multiple patterns then you can glue pieces of each behind the letters.

Now glue the top layer onto the card and you’re done.

We left ours blank inside but you can stamp or print words on the inside if you like.

Soooooo simple, but a really neat looking card for your dad this Father’s Day.