Nutella crunch ice cream cake

That moment as a parent, when your kids turn into teenagers is when you try and pull the reigns a little.  An invisible one.  Tighten it up a little bit.  I guess its every bit exciting and daunting to have kids enter that phase.  You know when they start being independent, going out with friends without you.  There's that knot in my stomach everytime my teen is out with friends - at the movies, at the mall, at sleepovers.  There's always that unnecessary paranoia.  It gets animated, so I'm not going to have to tell you the details.  The ups and downs of understanding the hormonal changes in girl teens can be exhausting.  Its like a roller coaster ride.  One moment, high pitched and excited.  Then the next thing you know, there's some drama happening.  But then there are also those cuddles and hugs and kisses just because.  That's when I know she's still my baby.   

My daughter turned 16 recently.  A milestone number.  We hosted a sleepover party for 10 teen girls which can be listed in our "craziest things you've done" list.  Of course I lost some needed sleep that night.  More worried about our next door neighbour's sanity than mine, but we survived.  And here's a revelation. Girls eat as much as the next boy.  A bucket of KFC, mountains of chips and gravy and 2 large pizzas was dinner.  With breakfast, we made sure there's enough eggs and bacon for everyone.  Lunch onwards was a small backyard barbecue with close mates and family and friends.  A simple celebration that of course,  required cake.   She requested ice cream cake.  And this was a Pinterest-find.  And this was perfect - all her favourite things.  Nutella, rice bubbles and vanilla ice cream!  This recipe is adapted from A Family Feast.

Taken with my iPhone.  The photo's a bit blurry.  And the ice cream at melting point!

This is an easy cake to make.  Its got that crunch like a cookies and cream ice cream.  As it is winter in Sydney, the cake held itself up longer (20 minutes taken out of the fridge before slicing).  

To make this easy-peasy yummy ice cream cake:

3 litres vanilla ice cream

2 cups Nutella hazelnut spread

6 cups rice bubbles

Line one or two cookie sheets with baking paper.

In a large non stick skillet and on low heat, melt the Nutella then add the rice bubbles.

Mix thoroughly with a silicone spatula making sure all the rice bubbles are covered in Nutella.  

Spoon the Nutella rice bubbles onto the cookie sheet/s and spread evenly.  

Let it cool for 15 mintues at room temperature, then place in the freezer to chill further.

While the Nutella rice bubbles is cooling, bring your ice cream out from the freezer to thaw.  The ice cream needs to be soft, but not melting.

Prepare a 23 cm spring form cake pan/tin.  Spray the sides a little canola oil and line with baking paper.  This will make it easier to loosen the frozen cake from the tin when serving.

Once the Nutella rice bubbles have hardened (not frozen), use a knife and fork to separate them into small nuggets.

Using a large mixing bowl, place softened ice cream and mix with half of the chilled Nutella crunch. Use a spatula and mix thoroughly so that the Nutella crunch is evenly scattered within the ice cream.

 

Spoon the ice cream into your prepared pan, pack firmly and smooth the top with a spoon.

Scatter the remaining Nutella crunch on the top of the ice cream cake. Using the back of large spoon or spatula, smooth the crunch on top of the cake.

Freeze for 4-6 hours or overnight.

Take the ice cream from the freezer to thaw 10-15 minutes before serving.  Run a butter knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake.  Remove the sides of the pan then remove the baking paper.

Before serving, run the knife through hot water in the tap, then wipe dry with a kitchen towel.  Then slice into portions. 

 

Aah teenhood. It's always "Wow!" in all manner of emotions.  And we're only up to our oldest.  We still have our three younger ones to go through.   

And now that she's 16, she declares she wants to take her L's.

Someone please pass me some wine.

Peanut butter choc-chip cookie dough bites

"Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap." - Barbara Jordan

That would be a great idea, right?  I mean imagine, the whole world - politicians, world leaders, miners, teachers... everyone, would actually sit down at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, have some cookies and milk and take a nap!  Imagine what it would be like!  It would be WOW!  There's be some giggling, and laughing and for a few minutes each day, there'd be harmony and peace.  Really!  

I've read about that quote by American politician and leader of the Civics Rights Movement Barbara Charline Jordan in the book by one of my favourite authors Robert Fulghum in his book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. It's one of those staright-forward-simple books that inspires and makes you laugh and think a little.  I've quoted this book many times in previous posts, including this here.   And writing this post, I am once again drawn back to it.  If you haven't had the chance to read it, go get yourself a copy and read on!  I promise you, you'll sit back and smile at every page.

Now back to the order of things.  This month's theme at the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop is hosted by the lovely Nic from Dining with a Stud.  She's come up with a real challenge of sweets without heat. Check out her raw chocolate ganache tart - with a surprise ingredient!   The pictures are so drool-worthy!

Initially I thought there's no way I can make anything sweet without heat - but then I remembered when cookie doughs became a hit a few years back.  Maybe an onset from Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavour combinations.  Who knows.   But I first saw them from Joy the Baker , bookmarked and never really got the chance to try.  Recently though, I've been back on the Pinterest arena and once again hooked on pinning and browsing, with lots of hours wasted (?) bookmarking and planning stuff to do.  And so this post is inspired by a Pinterest-find from the Disney Family.com site - cookie dough bites.  

To make these peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookie-dough bites:

125g unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon peanut butter

1 cup bittersweet/dark chocolate chips

Method

In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugar and butter until pale.

Add the flour, vanilla, salt and peanut butter and continue to beat until everything is incorporated.

Add the chocolate chips and mix with a wooden spoon.

Using a teaspoon, shape into round balls.  

Chill for a few minutes.

These are quite addictive.  They're sweet with some bursts of saltiness.  Something like a chocolate-covered pretzel or a salted caramel ganache.  I must say the peanut butter made it a little bit better.  Packed and wrapped with a ribbon - they can be great Christmas presents too!  Eaten as is, chilled or covered with melted dark chocolate, these are great anytime of the day. With milk, and possibly a nap afterwards. 

Pink milk aka strawberry smoothies

Strawberries are still aplenty on the shelves here in Sydney. Sometimes, they're even on special at the local fruit and veg shop in our suburb. Some spill over harvest from summer means extra red yumminess to eat and in this case, drink at home!

This serves 4.

We used 2 250g punnets of strawberries

1 cup of ice cubes

2 tablespoons raw sugar

1 cup milk

Place everything in a blender and whiz away!

Tips:

• These can be made using frozen strawberries, which in case you won't be needing the ice.  Just add milk to get the consistency you want. 
• Vanilla ice cream or natural yoghurt can be a substitute for milk
• To make this into a non-dairy drink, just add orange juice in leiu of milk.

When I make these, I make sure there's extra punnets at home.  That's only because my kids can't stop at one serve each.  They can be demanding when it comes to food!