Grown-Up Ice Cream Sundaes {3 Ways}

Do you ever have one of those days that just feels difficult? The kind of day that, by the end of it, leaves you feeling completely deflated and exhausted? It doesn't happen too often, but when it does, it's quite the brick wall that smacks me in the face. I think part of the process of moving from Japan to Colorado must be learning to bottle up my emotions associated with missing/letting go of our former home while beginning to love our new one. Does that make sense? Then, it just all comes out at once and I begin to realize how much I miss the familiar streets, sounds, and routines of Tokyo. It's funny that a place that started out being so strange and different became so normal to me.

None of my problems are really that bad. But I think we all have times when the problems we do have become just a little too much. And we need a good cry. Am I right?

After an emotionally draining day, I seem to want something decadent and comforting to enjoy while I pick up the pieces of myself that have been scattered willy nilly on the floor. Ice cream usually does the trick. And it is especially appropriate with all the crazy heat we have been having here in Denver this week. Nearly 100 degrees, lots of sun, zero rain, and gusty wind. Not a great combination for our drought-stricken part of the country.

OK- enough of all that serious stuff. Let's talk about these sundaes.

First, we have a salted caramel macchiato sundae made with coffee ice cream, salted caramel and fresh whipped cream. Holy Hannah, that's delicious.

Salted Caramel Macchiato Sundae

Then, there is a classic sundae made boozy, with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, a cute little cherry on top and a splash of Cointreau. Can't go wrong with a combination that has stood the test of time, can you? And a little bit of boozy flavor makes it just right for adults. I also added some toasted pine nuts in place of peanuts. Yum.

Boozy Classic Sundae

And now, the best for last is this sundae made with chocolate ice cream, covered in both chocolate sauce and caramel, then sprinkled with buttery, salty popcorn and chopped pecans. I'm playing favorites and this is it.

I'm not really endorsing eating your sorrows away (or am I?), but I am saying that ice cream sundaes can have a fun, grown up twist that will brighten any day.

You don't really need a recipe for these, but I'll give them to you anyway. While we're at it, why don't you give me your favorite ideas for ice cream sundaes in the comments below! It's going to be hot here all week, so I'll need some more inspiration!

Salted Caramel Macchiato Sundae

• coffee ice cream
• caramel sauce
• course sea salt
• whipped cream

1. Drizzle the inside of an ice cream dish with some of the caramel sauce.
2. Sprinkle a little of the sea salt over the caramel.
3. Add two scoops of coffee ice cream and drizzle with more caramel and one more sprinkle of sea salt. Done!

Boozy Classic Sundae

• Vanilla ice cream
• 1 oz Cointreau
• Chocolate syrup
• 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
• freshly whipped cream
• 1 maraschino cherry

1. In an ice cream dish, add the Cointreau, then a drizzle of chocolate sauce and stir to combine. Add 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream and drizzle with chocolate sauce, sprinkle with pine nuts and top with a dollop of the whipped cream and a cherry. Serve immediately.

Chocolate + Popcorn Sundae

• Chocolate ice cream
• Chocolate syrup
• Caramel sauce
• buttered popcorn, popped (I used microwave popcorn and it was great)
• toasted, chopped pecans

1. In an ice cream dish, add 2 scoops of chocolate ice cream. Drizzle with chocolate syrup an caramel sauce. Then, top with popcorn and toasted pecans. Serve immediately.

Strawberry Fool

Sometimes my mind drifts. I'll be going from one room to another and, once I get to the next room, I can't remember why I'm there. Somehow, after only a few steps, I've slipped into another world. That happened to me today when my mind began to wander back to the days when my mom, sister and I would go strawberry picking. I don't remember every little detail about the experience, but I remember the feelings I had. I remember the warm sun on the back of my neck, probably sun-bleaching the wispy curls that always made their way out of my pony tail or braid. I remember the seemingly endless field strawberry plants with their green leaves and tiny, sweet strawberries just begging to be eaten right then and there, warm from the sun and glistening with the last of the morning dew. And I remember that the days that followed were filled with strawberry eating, cooking, and jam-making.

Then I realized I was standing in a room and I didn't know why. Mind drifted right out the window.

Strawberries & Cream

Sometimes my best recipes come from these drifts. That makes them worth it, right? I think so.

Strawberries have been stuck in my head for a few days now and I just had to do something wonderful with them. Something strawberries-and-cream-y. So I made this strawberry fool which is quite literally strawberries and cream. Light, airy whipped cream is streaked with ribbons of fresh strawberries, dolloped in a dish and garnished with a little mint. And it is perfect.

Strawberries

Have you tried a strawberry fool before? Or any kind of fool, for that matter? If you haven't, I think it's time to change that. There are recipes that use different types of fruit, like blueberries and peaches. But I love the classic combination of strawberries and cream. There is no way those two things together could be bad.

Strawberry Fools

If you are having a dinner party, you can prepare this in advance and keep it in the refrigerator until time for dessert. It just needs to be scooped into a serving dish in big, billowy spoonfuls and served to your guests.

And can we just address the fact that this dessert has an incredibly weird and hilarious name? I love it. You will too.

Strawberry Fool

1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered

1/4 cup sugar + 2 tablespoons sugar, divided

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

2 cups heavy whipping cream

Mint leaves or fresh strawberries for garnish

In a medium bowl, toss the strawberries with 1/4 cup sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and salt. Let sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes, stirring once or twice.In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the heavy whipping cream until it begins to thicken. Add the 2 tablespoons sugar and beat until soft peaks form.Transfer the strawberries to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the mixture is coarsely chopped. Pour the strawberries over the whipped cream in an even layer. Using a rubber spatula, fold the strawberries and cream together until the strawberries have made ribbons throughout the cream. Do not over mix.Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve. Before serving, spoon the strawberry fool into serving dishes and garnish with mint leaves or fresh strawberries.

Dinner Parties + Miso Ice Cream Pies

With images of a warm, summery weekend still in the back of my mind and the remains of a little sun burn on my shoulders, I’m trying to wrap my head around what is happening outside right now. It’s snowing. Big fat flakes that are piling up fast. It’s May 1st and we are expecting somewhere between 5 and 10 inches. Personally, I love it but I am worried about the light blue bird egg that recently appeared in one of my hanging baskets. I didn’t bring it inside because I want to make sure the birds continue to take care of the little egg. Here’s hoping both the egg and the plant survive...

Over the weekend, not only were we able to enjoy some pretty amazing weather, we also brought out some of our treasures from life in Japan that we have been saving for a dinner party. We had collected some fun stuff for hosting a Japanese dinner party and hadn’t had the chance to break them out until now. It was time. We have an antique kimono panel that we use as a table runner:

Table Settings

And little Dachshund-shaped chopstick holders that were handmade in Kyoto...

Chopstick Dogs

Place setting

And we hung lights outside, even though it was a bit cool once it got dark to sit outside. Still, the glow added a nice, festive feel to the evening.

Party Lights

When it comes right down to it, the table was a bit eclectic between the dishes and decorations, but that is actually quite fitting for a Japanese-inspired table. Often times, dining out involves many small dishes piling up at the table. If you’re dining in a really small, traditional izakaya, those dishes often do not match. But there is an endearing quality to all the different patterns and shapes that litter the table top as you devour skewers of yakitori, plates of gyoza, and glasses of Kirin beer.

For our dinner party this weekend, I served my favorite Japanese-inspired dishes to 8 diners. We began the evening by making a toast with sparkling saké and nibbled on edamame crostini flavored with lemon and mint...

Edamame Crostini

Next, we enjoyed the lovely, mild flavor of scallop and corn gyoza with spicy sriracha sauce. Match made in heaven.

Scallop-Corn-Gyoza

Then moved on to perfectly grilled (by Brad) chicken yakitoriwith a fresh, flavorful yet light Asian slaw...

Chicken-Yakitori

Roasted salmon with miso butter and peas (apologies for the iPhone photo- I posted this on Instagram)...

Salmon with Miso Butter

And finally, a dessert with some umami, miso ice cream served on top of brownies. My original idea was to make mini ice cream pies, but after making the first 4 pies, my crust crumbled like sand when I tried removing it from the mini molds. So, I made an emergency batch of brownies and topped it with a scoop of brown sugar miso ice cream. If you haven’t tried this recipe that I posted on Tokyo Terrace a while back, you really must. It is the most lovely ice cream- different enough to mix up your usual ice cream routine without being totally weird. Sweet, white miso is my favorite, but you could experience with other shades of miso as well.

We enjoyed the 4 successful mini ice cream pies last night with Brad's parents. They were wonderful and will definitely become a frequent rotation in my entertaining repertoire.

Ice Cream Pies

I won’t post the recipe I originally used for the chocolate cookie crust, since it obviously did not work very well for me. But here is another one from Food & Wine that I have had a lot of success with in the past. I’d stick with that.

The crisp chocolate crust with the creamy ice cream and rich whipped cream make a decadent, elegant dessert with layers of subtle flavor that guests will love. I especially love that you can make this in advance. Just assemble the pies, place on a cookie sheet and wrap well with plastic wrap before putting them in the freezer. They will last about 3 or 4 days this way. And if you aren’t interested in making your own ice cream, find your favorite store-bought flavor and use that in place of the miso ice cream in this recipe. Strawberry, salted-caramel, mint chocolate chip...they would all work beautifully!

What are you favorite dinner party recipes? I'd love to hear what you all make for company!

Mini Miso Ice Cream Pies

Makes 4 individual pies using 4-inch molds, a or one 8-inch or 9-inch pie or tart

1 quart brown sugar miso ice cream (click here for recipe), chilled in the freezer and then softened so it can be easily spooned into the crust

1 recipe chocolate cookie crust (click here for recipe)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Begin my making the crust. Once it has chilled, spoon the ice cream evenly into the 4 mini crusts, or your one larger crust. Place the pies on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer for about 3 hours. If you are going to wait a few days to serve them, wrap them in plastic wrap after the 3 hours and leave them in the freezer until you are ready to serve them.

Before serving, place the whipping cream in a medium bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on medium high speed until the cream begins to thicken. Add the sugar and vanilla and continue to mix until soft peaks form. Spread a spoon full or two on each pie. Serve immediately.

Raspberry-Thyme Sorbet (no ice-cream maker needed!)

I started planting some seeds yesterday. Nothing crazy- just green onions, radishes, sweet yellow onions, and a bunch of herbs. I have never grown anything from seed before. How many of you start your gardens from seed? It's definitely another exercise in patience, not that I need any more practice in that area with a toddler running around. I also planted some herbs in a window box that are not from seed. They are too small to harvest anything from just yet, but I needed something that gave more immediate satisfaction. They are also a backup in case my seedlings don't work out. Plus, seeing the tender leaves stretch towards the sun is a beautiful thing. Why should we wait for that? I think we all love to feel the warmth of the sun the same way little plants do.

Box of Herbs

Herbs are fun to play with in the kitchen. There are so many things you can do with sweet basil, earthy sage, and grassy parsley. Have you tried adding herbs to sorbet? Match made in heaven. This raspberry-thyme sorbet is a great example of something easy and elegant that you can serve at the end of a spring dinner party. Or, if you're like me, you can have a scoop at the end of a regular day as a healthy treat. And good news- you don't need an ice-cream maker!

Raspberry & Thyme Sorbet

Thyme simple syrup adds the perfect amount of herbal flavor to the bright raspberries. In mere minutes, this sorbet comes together in the food processor and after about an hour or 2 in the freezer, it is ready to serve! Since I made this sorbet, I've been thinking of other great ways to take advantage of the lovely flavor and color of this icy treat. Put a scoop in a champagne glass and top with some Prosecco? Yes, please! Or perhaps layer it with some dark chocolate cake or chocolate gelato in a loaf pan and freeze it all together for a stunning, rich dessert.

Whatever you decide to do with this sorbet, I know you'll love it. Now that the weather has begun to show signs of an actual spring for many of us, this is the perfect time to try it out!

Raspberry-Thyme Sorbet

Makes 1 quart

• 4 cups frozen raspberries
• 1/2 cup thyme simple syrup, cooled (recipe below)

In the bowl of a food processor, add the raspberries and cooled simple syrup. Run the food process for 2 or 3 minutes or until the raspberries have transformed into a smooth, creamy mixture. Transfer to a container with a lid and place in the freezer for about 2 hours or until the sorbet is firm. Serve with a sprig of thyme as a garnish, if you'd like.

Thyme Simple Syrup

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup thyme sprigs (you can mostly estimate the amount here, but just loosely pack the thyme sprigs in the 1/4 cup measure if you want)

Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. When the sugar just begins to dissolve, add the thyme. Bring to a gentle simmer and allow to cook for about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the syrup cool for about 10 minutes before straining it into a jar or lidded container. Cool completely before covering and store in the fridge until ready to use.

*Note: If you have leftover syrup, save it to mix into a cocktail, mocktail, or iced tea.