Bourbon + Walnut + Sorghum Swirl No-Churn Ice Cream

Dale and I have come to the conclusion that we can never make dinner on Mondays. We like to plan our meals for the week and always include one for each weekday. But it never fails that we end up running some errand or working late or meeting up with someone or spending way way too long in the consumer culture Halloween store black hole, looking for a plastic skeleton to spookily hang on our front porch and candy to hand out to the little ones. We inevitably end up grabbing pizza or tacos or whatever else is easy and quick and actually available on a Monday at 9:00 PM... because we waited too long to eat and got all hangry.

I have similar experiences with store bought ice cream. Virtually every time I am at the grocery store, I head to the frozen food aisle in search of something sweet. But the flavors are either too generic or just the wrong combination of flavors. I hate when I read the description on the tub and something sounds delicious until I get to the last component, which most often ends up ruining the entire thing for me. It's like when you go shopping and see an awesome dress that you would totally try it on if only it didn't have that weird buckle thing on the shoulder that's not at all necessary and pretty much ruins it. Yeah, it's exactly like that. Anyway, even though I never find the ice cream I really want, I continue to traipse to the aisle and gaze at the massive selection and settle for something I wasn't looking for or leave empty handed.

You'd think I would have just bought an ice cream maker by now, but alas, I have not. My kitchen doesn't offer much in the way of real estate, and the last thing it needs is another gadget. So in the aftermath of a recent failed ice cream hunt, I decided it was officially time to give the no-churn thing a try. And holy moly is it a thing. A delicious, creamy, sweet thing. It's sort of a play on semifreddo, substituting sweetened condensed milk for the zabaglione (some versions also include meringue). I am probably definitely in love with it. And so was everyone else who tried it.

Since fall is here, I decided to pit warm flavors--bourbon, walnuts, sorghum molasses--against the cold. It was the perfect combination. Boozy and nutty with sparks of exceptional syrupy sweetness. Dale and Thomas (our temporary roommate) devoured it on the most precious ice cream cones (which also happen to be gluten-free), and I reveled in the glory of my creation. It was pretty epic. Especially the part where grown men eat ice cream from tiny cake cones. It was the best, really.

Bourbon + Walnut + Sorghum Swirl No-Churn Ice Cream

Note: Go for a nice bourbon here, as it's the primary flavor and what makes this ice cream so delicious. I ended up using a touch over 1/4 cup of bourbon, but I (and my better half) like a pretty good kick. Of course, feel free to adjust to your tastes.

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
3+ Tbsp. bourbon (see note above)
100 g (1 cup) raw walnut halves
480 ml (2 cups) heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sorghum syrup

Toast walnuts in a skillet over medium heat or on a baking sheet in a 350 degree F oven for 6-8 minutes until fragrant. Once walnuts are cool enough to handle, roughly chop.

In a large bowl, whisk together the condensed milk and bourbon. Stir in walnuts, reserving a small handful for garnish. In another bowl, beat cream to medium-soft peaks then fold into the bourbon mixture until thoroughly combined. Pour half the mixture into a loaf pan. Drizzle 2 Tbsp. of the sorghum syrup over top and run a knife in a zigzag motion to create a swirl effect. Top with the remaining ice cream mixture and repeat the drizzling/swirling of the sorghum syrup. Cover and freeze until firm, preferably over night. Keel over.

The Best Damn Bloody Mary

Weekend afternoons at our house are one of my favorite things these days. The sun comes in through the kitchen window just right. The neighborhood is the perfect combination of lively and quiet. We do things like plant, hang, lounge, bake, craft, create, and nap. Lately, it's been particularly delightful. With the cooler weather comes open windows and patio chilling. And now that our house is pretty well together, I hope to have more daytime visitors.

This past weekend, Dale and I saw friends who were in from out of town. Rather than go out for brunch, we decided to make a Saturday afternoon feast of sorts. We had fresh coffee, Chemexed by Dale, which is a treat for me since most mornings I make it myself, and it's just never quite as good. We also had a veggie-loaded frittata with zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, and things. I made some butternut squash pancakes with buckwheat and oat flours. And Dale made these damn delicious Bloody Marys. Because my friend can't eat gluten (unless she wants to pass out and feel like poop), everything we made was gluten-free, including the Bloody Marys. It's sort of weird to me that Worcestershire sauce is not gluten-free and is typically not vegan either, so Dale left it out and came up with this amazing concoction, which I have officially declared my favorite Bloody Mary of all time. We found the cutest gluten-free salami sticks at Whole Foods, which we used to garnish. These Bloody Marys fit in perfectly with the rest of our epic brunch, with the chatting, and with the porch sitting, perfect weather afternoon.

Seed and Nut Loaf

Over the past year, I have become much more conscious of the nourishing qualities of my food. At least for the foods I eat regularly and for those I make at home, I much prefer the idea of eating food that's as whole and nutritious as it is delicious, as opposed to food that's been stripped of its nutrients through heavy refining or other processing or that's been otherwise modified or adulterated. I want sustenance, food for strength, food that's complete.

Although not practical or possible in every instance, eating with purpose is pretty straightforward. It's a simple matter of paying attention to ingredients, doing your best to determine how food was treated before it got to you, and making deliberate and informed choices. And not sacrificing taste along the way! Take this loaf for example.

This loaf is nothing short of revolutionary. I have made it a few times now, and I am officially obsessed with it. Not only is it full of wholesome, nutritious ingredients, it's freaking delicious. Toasted, room temperature, or straight out of the fridge, with cashew cream, fruit, jam, hummus... or cheese.

Calming Banana Granola (vegan and gluten-free)

This week, I officially became a full-time member of the workforce. It's pretty weird, what with having been in school full-time for the past... my whole life. Although a lot is different, mornings especially are. I mean, I've had early classes before, but you can sort of just roll out of bed, throw on some leggings and Keds, and pretty much sleep type your way through classes. That isn't so much the case now. I've really been hoping that I will, at some point, become a morning person. Mornings for me, are a sort of slow, disorderly routine. Alarm --> snooze --> alarm --> snooze --> alarm --> etc. I generally blame my cat for the fact that getting out of bed is so hard. He lays right between me and the edge of my side of the bed, making it pretty much impossible for me to get up. Impossible. It's totally the cat.

I always think I look funny in the morning. Not in a sleepy way, more in a I-shouldn't-be-seen-by-other-people-at-this-hour way. I usually will take a few seconds to gaze in the mirror and decide whether or not my hair "slept" well enough that I don't have to do anything to it. The bangs I'm trying to grow out typically do not, but I will generally decide that the rest of my hair has. And I don't have time to do anything about it anyway. But I do have time to make coffee. There is always time for coffee. So, while brushing my teeth, I'll start a kettle of water, weigh out my coffee beans, grind them on the setting Dale has instructed me is the one for Chemex. At some point I'll stop brushing my teeth after realizing that I am still brushing my teeth and have been for much too long. I may make a salad for lunch, or not and instead grab a banana and some PB or chips and hummus or whatever else I can stuff into a plastic baggy or throw in my massive handbag. I may turn on the Today show for background noise about some band called One Direction or whether it's appropriate to spy on my toddler's Facebook account or the latest opinions of professionals on professional things. I may do my makeup while sitting on my bed, or in the bathroom, ...or in the car (only at stoplights, y'all, chill). I almost always accidentally let the water for the coffee get too hot and have to wait for it to cool to the proper temperature (coffee-making is serious business), during which time I likely could have done something about that poorly slept hair. Then I'll realize that not only is the water too hot, I'm freaking hot and so I'll fall flat on my back on my bed with the fan on high to try to stop sweating and then think about the fact that I'm still in pajamas and was supposed to leave 20 minutes ago and "what happened to all that time I had?" and ohmygodmorningsaretheworst.

No Bake Almond Cream Tartlets (with vegan and gluten-free options)

I have tried to write this post so many times but can't seem to figure out what to say. Disappearing from this blog for five-ish months was not in any way intentional, and I hope I have not lost any of you along the way. Life sort of took over, and I decided to just let it. I took my final finals ever in April. I graduated law school mid-May then left town for a road trip from Atlanta to San Diego to help a friend move. When I got back, I immediately began studying for the bar exam. I started a new job mid-June. I went home to Texas mid-July and took the bar exam at the end of July. Then about a week and half ago, I moved from my condo to a house, and here we are.

I baked quite a bit throughout all the foregoing madness, played with new-to-me ingredients, had many a failure, and many sweet and satisfying successes. The more I think about it though, my absence here wasn't just a result of being busy in real life (and I hate when people complain/brag about being busy anyway). I also spent some time just thinking about my food, how I want this little internet space of mine to move forward, the conversation I want to contribute to, and generally how I want to live my food life, both savory and sweet. I have so much that I want to share, and my thoughts will come out in due course. For now though, I am back with tartlets.

Campfire Oatmeal Cream Pies (Gluten-Free)

I have sort of been meringueing my face off lately. I made meringue for precious coffee custards. I made tons and tons of meringue for buttercream for Dale's coffee shop anniversary party cakes. And then these lovely little (or should I say huge!) cream pies.

These cookie sandwiches came into being in steps. It all started with a search for a gluten-free cookie recipe of the chocolate chip variety. I found a recipe by Aran Goyoago and adapted it based on what I had in mind and what I had on hand. The cookies turned out wonderfully chewy and subtly spiced with oatmeal leanings. The addition of chocolate chips and pecans added the perfect sweetness and warmth.

Gluten-Free Rosemary Apple Cranberry Crisp

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that it snowed at my dad's house on Christmas day. It's quite the rarity in Texas (and Georgia). So the day after Christmas, Dale and I woke up early to take a snowy walk before everything started to melt. It was beautiful and quiet and so so cold.

Part of my dad's land houses wild horses being broken for riding. They're all so majestic with hair-covered hooves, long manes, and feisty spirits. Seeing them run and play in the snow was nothing short of amazing.

See more photos from Texas here.

When we got back from Texas last Saturday, Dale and I headed to Pura Vida for a final dinner there. It closed as of the 31st and was our most favorite date spot with the best coconut steamed buns and sangria. I will miss it.

I must say, it was nice to return to my kitten and my bed and a bit of normalcy. Although I do miss Texas.

On New Year's Eve, we had dinner with some friends. It was a southern style potluck situation, and I was asked to bring dessert. Our friend who was hosting the party has Coeliac disease, so I wanted to make something gluten-free so that she too could have dessert!