Beardy Boys: Pecan Choco Ice Cream Affogato

Before I moved away, I spent a summer not working. I did it to read, to tan, to dye my hair and pierce my ears, and try my damnedest to reconnect with my mother. I drank a lot of coffee, heavily-creamed and sometimes four sachets of artificial sugar. Water bottles thrown in a corner, they piled up. I didn’t work. I smoked a lot of cigarettes then; stubbed them out under a rock next to my sister’s Marlboros. I was leaving for the West Coast when my boyfriend and I had saved up enough.

We never saved up enough, though. Never had enough to fly home unless someone else was paying my ticket.

And now I sit back in my old house. Four years later and working from home. Coffee is black and my hair is a different shade of blonde than what it was. I hide a pack of cigarettes in a grey duffle bag. Mosquitos kiss my feet when I dangle them off the porch swing. The constant hum of the rural mower drowns out the crickets, the peepers, the owl that built a nest where lighting struck the oak out back. I sit in air conditioning and feed my mother’s nine cats. My hair is a different shade of blonde four years later, but I have my father’s laugh lines and I notice them in this summer heat against my tanned face.

Pecan Choco Ice Cream Affogato

Ingredients:

6.5 or 7 oz nut butter (my preference is by far Beard Boys nut butter and here I used their Pecan Choco for a nutty, buttery taste against the coffee)
12 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 ½ cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups strong black coffee, freshly brewed

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, use a rubber spatula to mix together your nut butter and the sweetened condensed milk. Set aside
In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, whip your heavy cream on high until stiff peaks form
Put a little bit of the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture to lighten it and then dump the condensed milk mixture into the whipped cream
Fold together gently but thoroughly (it may deflate a little, but that is better than having pockets of whipped cream and no pecan butter!)
Pour into a loaf pan and freeze for about 6 hours before serving
When you are ready to serve, scoop ice cream into your bowls (the ice cream will not firm up to be hard due to the condensed milk) and pour your coffee over
Serve immediately.
If you are not making an affogato or have leftovers, ice cream can stay in freezer (covered with a bit of plastic wrap and aluminum foil) for 2-4 weeks, but check for freezer burn after week one

This post was sponsored by my partners at Beard Boys, Inc. Their nut butters really are superb and provide a natural, delicate flavor in every spoonful of this dessert. Check them out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Brett Braley-Palko 6/9/15 Brett Braley-Palko 6/9/15

Bringing in Summer

I speak about memory, but how cruel it is to be reminded of my mother in every season. She's stitched herself into every element, it's hard to lose sight of her in my periphery. Autumn trips in Greyhounds and train stations, holding hands and taking naps on our way to New York City. I'd go for my birthdays--13, 15, 16. In Winter, I'd lick the spoon she'd used to make icing for the gingerbread men. One big, one small. They'd hold hands, too. April was the cruelest month, it's the month my mother was born.

But in the summer, I remember my mother most vividly. She takes the whole summer off sometimes, to take care of us or of our dogs. She raised chickens one summer. She'd sit out at the pool for hours, she'd forget to eat sometimes. She liked the sun and never had a wrinkle. She doesn't burn that easy. There's Shawnee in her, close in the roots. You see it in the undertones, you see it in the cheeks.

My parents come to visit three days before their 25th anniversary. A handful of days after the Fourth of July. My mom said she cut her hair short for summer. My dad said he worked sixteen hours in one day and drove home with his eyes shut. On the day my mother got her hair cut and the day my father worked so many hours, I bought strawberries by the bag full at the stand on the road. Plump, their juices broke in the bag. They greeted me with memories of the macerated strawberries I'd pick out of the tupperware bowl with my fingers. We'd have shortcake for dessert and ice cream by the pool. When my parents come out, I'll make them this sundae and see if they remember those days the way I do: perfect, simple, and gone forever.

Balsamic-Pickled Strawberry Sundae

A complicated, interesting take on a childhood classic. Have some fun with this picking brine, add flavored liquors, more peppercorns for some spice, or even some citrus peel or ginger.

For the pickled strawberries: one quart mason jar of pickled berries and brining liquor

Ingredients:

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar (I cannot stress enough how much a "good" balsamic makes a difference when its flavor is the key here)
2/3 cup water
1 cup sugar
15-20 medium-sized strawberries (1.5 pints)
1/2 tablespoon of freshly cracked peppercorns (black)
2 teaspoons salt
6-10 green cardamom pods, cracked
2 sprigs mint, slightly muddled
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions:

In a small saucepan, combine vinegar, water and sugar together. Stir and allow to come to a boil and reduce by 1/4 to become slightly thickened (it won't be by much, but it will constitute better as a brining liquid this way). Allow to cool
While vinegar mixture is cooling, hull and slice strawberries lengthwise. Add to a mason jar (Note: follow proper canning techniques, if desired, but I was using them the next day and did not).
Add remaining ingredients, use a long spoon to mix gently to ensure some incorporation.
Once vinegar mixture is cool to the touch, pour into mason jar. Put lid on and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, preferably 36.

For the Ice Cream (this one is kind of a "cheat recipe", as I like to go towards technique and not convenience. So, if you're up for it, make some Chantilly Meringuée as I did here)

Ingredients:

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream, chilled
1 1/2 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon flaked sea salt
(Add anything else you want to it! Crushed black peppercorns would be great! Or swirl in some melted duck fat caramels for an even sweeter kick)

Directions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip heavy cream on high until stiff peaks form, 3-5 minutes
In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk condensed milk, vanilla, and salt together
Fold whipped cream into condensed milk mixture with a rubber spatula
Pour into a loaf pan or other pan of your liking and freeze 6+ hours