They say you can always talk about the weather when chatting with strangers because it’s the one thing we all have in common. But you know what else is a great universal topic of conversation? Three things: bread, cheese and bacon.

It would be useful for parties in situations where you’re talking to a stranger and you’ve run out of things to say. Just pick up a piece of bread at the appetizer table and say something like, “Man, if there’s one thing I can’t live without, it’s some good bread and cheese.” I can only imagine their eyes will light up in agreement and they might even say, “And bacon!” Then you will be friends for life! Unless of course the person is vegan, allergic or obviously lame.

This Brie, Bacon & Chicken Sandwich combines the three things that most people love to eat. Grilled onions are added as the veggie ingredient but I sauté them shamelessly in bacon fat. The flavors from the meat and onions are cooked together in a cast-iron skillet which then doubles as my makeshift panini press. Once I place my assembled sandwiches on the grill, I smoosh them with the weight of the skillet on top. The brie slowly melts and melds with the other ingredients, while the bread gets hot and toasty. If I’m lucky, some of the brie will ooze out onto the grill and I’ll have some crispy cheese bits attached to the bun. It’s the best part.

And speaking of parties, this would be great party food. Just slice it into small pieces and you’ve got an instant appetizer.

Brie, Bacon & Chicken Sandwich
Serves 2

2 ounces brie cheese
2-3 ounces chicken breast or tenders
3 slices smoked bacon
1/2 onion
baguette, halved and sliced into 2 sandwich portions

1. Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Slice bacon into approximately 2-inch pieces and cook in skillet until crispy.
3. Meanwhile, slice onions and cut chicken breast/tenders into small bite-size pieces.
4. When the bacon is crispy, place them on a towel-lined plate and set aside.
5. Remove excess bacon fat in skillet. Lower heat to medium and sauté onions.
6. Add chicken pieces and cook until no longer pink and the onions have softened. Set-aside.
Now you’re ready to assemble the sandwich!
7. Heat a griddle over medium-high heat.
8. Place brie pieces, bacon, chicken and onions on bottom half of each baguette. Put the top half on and set both sandwiches on griddle.
9. With an oven mitt, take the cast-iron skillet (careful, it’s hot!) and place it on top of sandwiches.
10. Once the cheese is melting and the bottom is toasted, remove skillet and gently flip the sandwiches over to toast the other side. Again, place skillet on top.
11. The sandwich is ready when both sides are hot and toasty.

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“The bacon jam is coming today, I know it! It should only take two days to arrive from Seattle. I thought I saw the mail truck in front of the building but there’s no package at the front door? Have you checked the mail? Did you see a note outside our mailbox?”

I was like an excited puppy waiting anxiously for a doggy treat the day that my jar of Bacon Jam from Skillet Street Food was supposed to be delivered. I had everything planned out days in advance. All the ingredients for the hamburger were ready for dinner and I just needed was for the star of the show to arrive. To my relief (and my boyfriend’s), it finally showed up. Phew!

My fascination with bacon jam began when I read about it at Matt Bites. He jokingly wrote that it conjured up memories of “a full on addiction to crack cocaine”. The jam is made of quality bacon that is rendered down, mixed with onions and spices then simmered for 6 hours. Immediately after I read his post, with my mouth watering from all the imagery, I ordered a jar.

As I was getting the hamburgers ready, I snuck a taste of the jam and was struck by how sweet it was. It sort of reminded of Honey Baked Ham. I slathered it on the buns and took a bite of my burger piled with mozzarella cheese and arugula. Meh. It was a little too sweet for me but I was still intrigued. What else could I do with this jam?

A few days later, I spread it on a couple pieces of toast, scrambled some eggs and made a breakfast sandwich. It turned out to be much better than the burger because the eggs seemed to  tone down the sweetness of the bacon jam. But I wasn’t satisfied. What else? Where else do I like bacon? Aha! Bacon Fried Rice!

My idea was to take a basic fried rice recipe and mix in spoonfuls of bacon jam. Now I hope I’m not committing a culinary crime here, but the soy sauce combined with the jam totally worked! You know when you get those late-night cravings for something hearty, sweet and salty? You know what I’m talking about – burgers & milkshakes, pancakes & eggs, fried chicken & waffles? Well, you can add Skillet Bacon Jam Fried Rice to your list of fourth meals. I can’t think of anything better in the AM than a bowl full of carbs with sprinkles of sweet bacon. Ridiculous and indulgent? Oh yes.

Skillet Bacon Jam Fried Rice
4 cups of yesterday’s leftover white rice
2 eggs
2 tablespoons Skillet Bacon Jam
3 tablespoons chopped carrots
3 tablespoons chopped green onions
2-1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1-1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Heat oil in a wok or skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add in carrots and cook for about a minute. Then add green onions and cook until fragrant, about 10 seconds.
3. Crack eggs into pan and quickly stir it around with your spatula until scrambled.
4. Add in rice and toss it all together. Once combined, spread the rice out in the pan and let it heat up for 1-2 minutes.
5. Drop in Skillet Bacon Jam and stir.
6. Drizzle soy sauce all around the rice and mix until it is evenly distributed.
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let the fried rice sit for a bit until it’s nice and hot! Serve.

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When I first discovered guacamole at a young age, I was repulsed. Avocado mixed with tomatoes? And you scoop it up with tortilla chips? Ew. It’s not supposed to be salty. Growing up in the Philippines until I was 7-years-old, I only knew avocado as a sweet ingredient. It was a special treat when my mom brought home some pricey avocados from the store because I knew she would be making her special dessert. I would watch her scoop the avocado meat into a bowl, throw in a bit of sugar and cover the whole thing in cold Carnation evaporated milk. My family would gobble it up fast and fight over who got the last bit of avocado infused milk left over in the bowl.

Recently while sitting at the doctor’s office, flipping through my third magazine, my eyes lit up when I saw a recipe for Coconut Avocado Ice Cream. Ooh! I’ve had avocado shakes before but never ice cream. Plus the addition of coconut would be an interesting spin on my favorite Filipino dessert. I immediately pulled out my camera and snapped a picture of the recipe.

Well, I didn’t end up using the recipe (it called for condensed milk and I thought it would be too sweet) but I found many other versions online and came up with my own. If you’ve never used avocados in a sweet dish before, this ice cream recipe is a great way to warm up to it. The creamy texture of avocados makes a good base for ice cream and the subtle flavor combined with coconut milk will remind you of smooth tropical drinks from your last island vacation.

And if you want, try my mom’s quick avocado dessert. She likes to get people to sample it after they say, “Avocado with milk? Ew.” With a little taste, slowly their confused scrunched brows lift up to a pleasantly surprised expression. That’s how I felt the first time I tasted guacamole.

Notes:
- This recipe, as with all the avocado ice cream recipes I’ve seen, is best served the day you make it in order to maintain the soft-serve consistency. The ice cream gets hard after a day in the freezer but the addition of vodka does help it a bit. If you do freeze it overnight or longer, I suggest moving the ice cream into the fridge for an hour or so before serving.
- I highly recommend using good quality coconut milk like Mae Ploy or Chao Koh or else the flavor will get lost in the mix.
- And don’t worry, the ice cream’s beautiful mint green color will not turn brown.

Coconut Avocado Ice Cream
1lb avocados (about 2-3)
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups whole milk
1 can (19 oz.) Mae Ploy brand coconut milk, or any unsweetened type
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1-1/2 tablespoons vodka

1. Combine all ingredients into a blender and puree until smooth.
2. Chill mixture in refrigerator for 2-4 hours.
3. Process the mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

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Bonus Recipe!
Mom’s Quick Avocado “Soup”
Serves 1
1 avocado
1 tablespoon sugar or more to taste
1/2 cup evaporated milk, chilled

1. Scoop up avocado meat into a bowl. With a spoon, roughly chop up meat into pieces to whatever size you like.
2. Stir in sugar and evaporated milk. Add more of each to your desired sweetness.
3. If it’s not cold enough, you can add some ice cubes.
Serve or refrigerate until chilled.

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Even though a dozen large eggs cost about $1.50, throwing more than four yolks down the sink makes me cringe with guilt. When I was making batches and batches of macaroons for Father’s Day, I was left with nine egg yolks. I looked at them as if they were little abandoned orphans who needed to be saved from the dark hole that leads to the InSinkErator. Luckily for these cute, yellow buttons I always have the perfect home for them- whisked into the sweet, decadent goodness of creme brulee.

Creme brulee has become the savior of leftover egg yolks. It’s an easy and convenient recipe as long as you have the patience to wait for the custard to chill. Whenever my boyfriend and I are craving something sweet we grab a couple of single-serve ramekins out of the fridge for an instant dessert fix.

The best part has to be burning the sugar with the mini torch. We both like to add more sugar than normal to create an even thicker shell on top.

You can really get creative with the recipe and add all sorts of flavors into the custard mixture. Maybe something rich like chocolate or something more floral like lavender. I often stick to the classic version since I’m usually just trying to save the poor little egg yolks. They’re better off in my appreciative tummy than the dingy sink.

Classic Creme Brulee
Adapted from Mark Bittman via New York Times

2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar, plus more for topping

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare some boiling water to be used later for baking the custard.
3. In a saucepan, heat heavy cream and vanilla extract until the edges begin to bubble.
4. Meanwhile, whisk together egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until light in color.
5. Take about a quarter of the cream mixture and pour into the bowl while stirring with a whisk. Once the eggs have tempered, pour it all back into the saucepan and keep stirring until combined.
6. Divide mixture into six small ramekins. Put them into a baking dish and place in oven.
7. Pour the hot water you prepared earlier into the baking dish until it is halfway up the ramekins.
Note: I like to do this in the oven instead of bringing a baking dish full of ramekins and hot water into the oven. Doesn’t sound safe, does it?
8. Bake for 30 minutes or until the center of the custard is wobbly like jello and the edges are firm.
9. Carefully remove each ramekin from baking dish and let cool. Cover each with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
10. When ready to eat, place about of teaspoon of sugar on top of custard and move the ramekin around to get an even layer.
11. Torch sugar until it browns. Let it sit for about a minute to cool and harden. Enjoy!

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I think my dad and possibly five other people in the world might say that their favorite American candy bar is Hershey’s Mounds. Remember those dark chocolate-covered coconut bars? Surprisingly, they still exist. My dad will happily eat any coconut confection you give to him, unless you pour white chocolate all over it, which would cause him to cringe in horror. For Father’s Day I wanted to make my dad a coconut-y treat and what else could I choose but the classic Coconut Macaroon.

Perhaps my dad is just getting older and his palette has changed, but he has recently developed a low threshold for anything sugary. The man who used to pack soda in his lunch bag everyday for work suddenly realized that it’s too sweet. Oh well, more for me!

I searched for recipes and skipped over ones that called for sweetened shredded coconut especially since I wanted control over the sugar content. But there was another popular ingredient in macaroon recipes that I definitely didn’t want to include. The mother of all things sugary, syrupy and thick: sweetened condensed milk. Ack!

Finally, I came upon Chocolate & Zucchini’s extremely easy recipe for macaroons that didn’t contain the two ingredients I was avoiding. Even better, it required just four ingredients, five if you want to add chocolate. Her recipe had just the right amount of sweetness for dad’s sensitive taste buds. The texture of the macaroon is crunchy and grainy on the outside but the soft, chewy center is where the coconut flavor really comes out. I couldn’t resist adding chocolate but instead of dipping the macaroons, I decided to drizzle the chocolate on top to maintain the subtle sweet flavor. The coconut is the star here after all and I didn’t want to ruin it for my dad.

The macaroons were a surprise hit with my family and friends. All these closet coconut fans suddenly emerged out of nowhere! Who knew? Maybe they’re the ones buying all the Hershey’s Mounds and Almond Joy- fooling me into thinking they don’t exist anymore.

Notes:
- What may be the only challenging part of this recipe is finding unsweetened coconut. I found mine in 200g bags at an Asian market and it was called desiccated coconut, an unnecessarily fancy name for dried.
- I used a scale this time because I wanted to be fairly accurate with Chocolate & Zucchini’s recipe. So I apologize in advance for the strange American conversions!

Chocolate Coconut Macaroons
Adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini
Makes about 24

200 grams (7 ounces) unsweetened dried coconut flakes
130 grams (1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon) sugar
Pinch of salt
3 large egg whites
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix well with a fork.
3. Scoop out rounded tablespoons and form into a dome or a ball.
4. Place each macaroon onto baking sheet, spaced evenly. (I managed to fit all the mounds in one sheet.)
5. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden. Do not brown them too much or they will dry out.
6. Let set on baking sheet for 2 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
7. Once the macaroons have cooled, place them on a cool baking sheet.
8. Microwave the chocolate in 10-15 second bursts, stirring chocolate in between until melted. (You can also use the double-boiler method if you prefer but it’s only a small amount of chocolate.)
9. Scoop melted chocolate into a sandwich bag and snip off a tiny portion of one corner of the bag. Or you can use a small pastry bag, but again, it’s such a small bit of chocolate!
10. Drizzle chocolate over the macaroons in a zig zag motion. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes to set the chocolate.

Serve or store at room temperature in an airtight container.

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]]> http://www.tasteduds.com/2009/06/24/recipe-chocolate-macaroons/feed/ 6 http://www.tasteduds.com/2009/06/18/recipe-the-manly-steak-sandwich-grr/ http://www.tasteduds.com/2009/06/18/recipe-the-manly-steak-sandwich-grr/#comments Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:00:24 +0000 sheila http://www.tasteduds.com/?p=710

Why is it a manly sandwich you ask? Only because I stumbled upon the recipe in Esquire magazine’s website flanked between a picture of some half-naked woman and Scarlett Johansson giving me a come hither look. Maybe it’s another one of those subliminal messages telling you that this sandwich will attract the ladies. You could say it worked because that sandwich sure got me! Oh, that was bad.

I had one piece of rib-eye steak in the freezer and I was in one of those moods where the idea of eating it plain just felt… too meaty. But for some reason a steak sandwich sounded less heavy and more like a well-rounded meal. A quick Google search led me to Lee Hefter’s steak sandwich and as the executive chef at Cut steakhouse, I figured the man must know how to do it right. It’s also one of his favorite sandwiches so of course I had to try it out for myself.

I know it's hip to be medium rare but I like mine medium.

Surprisingly, Chef Hefter’s recipe isn’t overly gourmet or complicated at all especially when one of the ingredients is good old A1 steak sauce. It sounded strange at first but it created a pretty impressive glaze when I poured it over the sautéed mushrooms and onions. Who knew A1 had so much potential?

There are a lot of components involved that I even omitted a couple of ingredients from the original recipe but once that sandwich is assembled, I promise it will be worth it! There are so many great flavors and textures going on in there. You get a nice crunch from the toasted bread combined with the gooey cheese and a kick from the garlic spread. The steak is juicy and flavorful and blends well with the bitterness from the arugula and with lots of tart from the vinaigrette and A1 sauce. It’s delicious and messy to eat! Kind of like those Carl’s Jr. commercials with scantily clad celebrity girls eating burgers all weird.

I suddenly feel like part of the boys now that I’ve made a sandwich from Esquire magazine under the category “Recipes for Men”. I will have to pair it with one of my favorite beers while I relax on the couch so I can feel all macho. Now where is that remote woman! I have to get my ESPN on.

Manly Steak Sandwich
Adapted from Lee Hefter’s Steak Sandwich via Esquire
Serves 2

6-8 oz. rib-eye steak
1/4 cup onions, sliced into half moons
1/2 cup sliced white mushrooms
1 Tbsp steak sauce (like A1)
French roll, cut into 2 sandwich portions and split horizontally
Garlic mayonnaise (see below)
2 slices Vermont white cheddar (about 2 oz)
Arugula, dressed with balsamic vinaigrette
Unsalted butter

1. Cook steak using your preferred method. Since I don’t have an outdoor grill, I use Alton Brown’s recipe and it works great! (Open the windows. There will be a lot of smoke.)
2. For the garlic mayonnaise: peel 1 garlic clove and mince. Combine with 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise. Set aside.
3. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter on a skillet over medium heat until slightly brown.
4. Saute onions until softened, about 2 minutes.
5. Add mushrooms until cooked through, about 2 minutes.
6. Pour in 1 tablespoon of steak sauce into skillet – I use A1 sauce. Let it simmer to a glaze and coats the onions and mushrooms nicely. Season with salt and pepper.
7. As you are sauteing the vegetables, butter both sides of bread and lightly toast in an oven or grill pan.
8. Once the steak has finished resting and the vegetables are cooked, spread garlic mayonnaise and then the cheese on bottom sides of toasted bread.
9. Place bottom sides of bread on foil-covered pan and broil in the oven until cheese is melted.
10. Meanwhile, slice steak thinly and toss arugula with a touch of balsamic vinaigrette.
11. Assembly: Place steak slices on top of melted cheese. Top with glazed onions and mushrooms and dressed arugula.

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Of course when you think of outdoor lunches, you think refreshing drink and the first thought is lemonade. Despite the June gloom hovering over Los Angeles the past week, summer is just a couple of weeks away and it’s time to get squeezing.

To make it more interesting I decided to combine lemon, lime and a lesser-known citrus called “calamansi“. This sour and fragrant citrus with a hint of orange flavor is the Filipino’s lemon and for many like myself, we grew up drinking calamansi juice instead of lemonade. So why not bring these two worlds together and add in lime to the mix? I did and it is dee-licious! It’s tart like old-fashioned lemonade or limeade but with added sweetness from the calamansi.

You can find calamansi at your local Filipino market or possibly at Asian stores. They are either green or orange but the color doesn’t matter too much. It’s about the size of a cherry tomato and it looks like this:

If you can’t find it at the store, befriend a Filipino and they will most likely give you a source. Mine was my parents’ backyard. As a last resort you can always make lemon limeade.

I call this combination Mint Citrusade. Like the name? I was thinking calimemonade, or lemocalimeade or limecalemonade but just looking at it hurts my eyes so I can’t imagine trying to say it loud. I highly recommend including the mint because it makes the drink extra refreshing. Mint is aromatherapy after all. So sit outside, sip your drink and relax!

Mint Citrusade
1 cup sugar
4 cups water
1/3 fresh lemon juice
1/3 fresh lime juice
1/3 fresh calamansi juice
1/4 cup mint leaves

1. To make simple syrup, combine sugar and 1 cup of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Let cool for about 5 minutes.
2. Squeeze lemons, limes, and calamansi to make 1/3 cup of juice each into a measuring cup or bowl.
3. Strain juice through a sieve to remove seeds and pour into a pitcher.
4. Add remaining 3 cups of water and cooled simply syrup into pitcher.
5. Drop in mint leaves and chill for at least an hour.

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During my health nut phase, I ate a lot of peanut butter and apples as my healthy snack. But one day I was reaching for the peanut butter in the pantry and I saw the Nutella jar sitting innocently right next to it. Hmm, I thought. I slathered on the Nutella and it was even better than I imagined. You would be surprised how well they go together. Try it! You can use any apples you’d like but so far I’m sticking to my favorite, the Fuji apple. The one above as you can tell are Granny Smith apples but it didn’t wow me like the Fuji did. I thought the tartness would complement the Nutella but the sweetness of the Fuji apple fits much better.

And if you’re curious about the calories, it has the same amount as reduced fat peanut butter but with more sugar (of course) and less vitamins. But we don’t really care about that stuff, right?

One more tip: stir in a small spoonful of Nutella in your oatmeal. Hmm-mmm! Dessert for breakfast.

I volunteered to bake cupcakes for a friend’s baby shower and got instantly inspired when I found out her favorite flower is from her home state of Hawaii: the plumeria. Opportunities like these push me to try new recipes and it was also a chance for me to finally play with fondant. I know most people think it’s the most horrible thing ever but you’ve got admit that it can sure make a cake look pretty.

The fondant flowers were easier to make than I thought especially because plumerias have a very basic shape. I bought Wilton’s Flower Making kit and it is the secret to making your cakes look Martha Stewart good. I also purchased their ready-made fondant because really, why would I torture myself with trying to make one of my own? It’s only going to be decoration.

Once I started making the plumerias, you know what I discovered? This is exactly like playing with Play-Doh and it’s just as fun. It’s really easy to make basic flowers that your kid can probably do it. Try it yourself and then watch an episode of Ace of Cakes so you can be appalled that they charge $1000 minimum per cake. You will then proudly say, “Pshh, I could do some of that.”

You can see step-by-step instructions here. I was doing some experimenting which explains the pink fondant. I ended up using the white flowers instead and painted the inside with yellow luster dust using a paintbrush. See, you don’t even have to color the fondant which makes it even easier!

As for the cupcakes, I knew I wanted to try some recipes from CupcakeBlog. I’ve always admired all her cupcakes and it was a sad day when she decided to take a break from it. I wanted to start simple and decided to make a basic chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting with just a hint of white chocolate. The cake is sweet on it’s own so I really didn’t want to pile on even more.

This can be labor intensive so I would suggest doing each on separate days if you can get as lazy as I do. You can make the flowers days or even weeks in advance. I made the frosting a couple of days early and stored it in Tupperware in the fridge. Of course the actual cupcakes should be done the day you serve them if possible. In my case, since I was bringing them to the office in the morning I made the cake the night before and assembled everything that night. I placed the cupcakes in a box and tried my best to wrap it in plastic wrap and stored it in the fridge.

Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from CupcakeBlog
Makes about 16 cupcakes

1 stick unsalted butter
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Note: Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature!
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Sift the flour into a bowl and add baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Gently stir to combine.
3. In another bowl, stir the vanilla extract and milk together.
Now that you’ve finished the prep work, you’re ready to start mixing!
4. With an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugar and beat at medium speed for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
5. Add eggs one at a time until combined. I like to scrape down the sides of the bowl after each egg.
6. Add in 1/3 third of the dry ingredients (just eyeball it) and beat on low to medium speed. Then add in about half of the wet ingredients. Continue alternating the dry and wet ingredients, ending with the dry. Make sure not to over beat once the dry ingredients are in or you will have a tough cake! Because I get paranoid, I prefer to beat on low speed and stir by hand with a spatula at the end just to make sure everything is combined.
7. Scoop batter a little more than half-full into a muffin pan with cupcake liners. (Don’t fill it up too much or it will overflow! It happened to me and I had to start ALL over again. Sniff.)
8. Place pan in oven, turn the temperature down to 350 degrees and bake for about 20-22 or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.
9. When cupcakes are done, keep in pan for 10 minutes and then remove each cupcake and place on cooling rack.

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White Chocolate Frosting
Adapted from CupcakeBlog

1/3 cup white chocolate chips
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

1. Melt white chocolate chips in a bowl over a pot of simmering water (double-boiler method) or nuke in the microwave in 10-second bursts. Cool for about 10 minutes.
2. Beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Add cream cheese and beat until combined.
3. Add the white chocolate and vanilla and beat until combined.
4. Carefully put in the powdered sugar and beat at low speed.
5. Turn off mixer and give it a good stir to make sure everything is combined.

While it’s not necessary, I like to chill my frosting in the fridge for about an hour. It holds its shape better when I pipe it on the cupcake. If the frosting is a little too cold, you can fluff up the frosting using a spatula. Once cupcakes have completely cooled, place a large star tip inside a piping bag or a freezer bag with one corner cut off and pipe the frosting in a swirl motion starting from the outside and working in. Don’t worry if the center looks bad because you will cover it with the flower. You can also spoon the frosting on with a knife if you don’t feel like being fancy. Top each cupcake with a flower and you’re done!

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When I first heard about balsamic strawberries with ice cream, I was really curious about this combination and I thought it’s so weird that it’s got to be good. Surprisingly, once you put that syrupy balsamic vinegar into the vanilla ice cream it almost tastes like chocolate sauce. It’s like an elevated sundae!

Because I’m not rolling in money, I don’t have a pricey aged bottle of balsamic vinegar sitting in my pantry and I have to make one MacGyver style. Good quality balsamic vinegar is already thick and syrupy on its own but you can achieve this consistency by reducing the inexpensive ones you get from the grocery store. It’s easy to do and you will feel super cool when you say you’ve made a balsamic reduction.

Balsamic reduction sauce
Take a cheap bottle of balsamic vinegar and pour desired amount into a wide saucepan or skillet on medium high heat. Once the liquid has been reduced by about half, let vinegar cool. You should see that the vinegar has thickened a bit, similar to the consistency of maple syrup. One trick is to check if it coats a spoon or a bottle like this:

Voila! You now have your balsamic vinegar reduction and you even saved some money. I put mine back in its original container and it can be stored at room temperature. Note: I have seen some recipes that suggest adding sugar to the reduction but I’m already adding sugar to the strawberries and don’t want to overdo it. If you do add sugar, store it in the fridge. The vinegar will thicken even more but will loosen up once it’s back to room temp.

Now you’re ready to put everything together. The recipe below shouldn’t be followed too strictly since really it’s based on your personal preference. You can add more sugar, maybe less strawberries if you want, or go crazy and drench your ice cream in balsamic vinegar for extra tartness.

Balsamic Strawberries with Vanilla Ice Cream
1 cup strawberries
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons reduced balsamic vinegar
2 big scoops of vanilla ice cream

1. Wash and slice strawberries.
2. Pour sugar and vinegar into a bowl with the strawberries.
3. Chill in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to let the flavors blend or if you’re impatient you can skip this step.
4. Scoop up some vanilla ice cream and pile strawberries on top with a drizzle of the balsamic vinegar to your taste.

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