halva pops

last july, i spent an afternoon at an israeli defense forces base, inside of a pile of halva. my birthright friends and i had the task of making enough halva bread pudding to feed an actual army. as we sat unwrapping pounds of halva and mixing it with eggs and bread, soldiers came in every so often to say hi and introduce themselves, perhaps to have a bite of halva. i remember one of them was from brooklyn... that night we ate barbecue with hundreds of our new soldier friends and talked about their world and our world. before we got to the halva bread pudding, a few of them stood up and said ok, we've got to go to gaza now. 

...you know i'm not good at talking about political stuff or even any heavy stuff unless it's at home and with eggboy. but in my mind, so much energy is spent on what is happening in israel and palestine right now. while the answers to what are my exact opinions on this and what can i do about it aside from read articles are still being formed, today here i'm giving a nod to those involved and thinking of my time and friends in israel.

i guess while some express their thoughts through music and words, i'm doing it (or trying to) through dessert.

you can find the recipe for these halva popsicles here, in the latest installment of molly on the range.

-yeh

dessert pickles, two ways

just over a year ago, i made my first visit to the town i now call home. there were obviously many many food-centric emotions, most of which were excited in the i-can't-wait-to-try-hot-dish-and-also-only-have-one-asian-restaurant-to-choose-from way but, some were nervous in the what-will-i-do-when-i'm-bored-and-can't-go-on-a-donut-tour? way. 

i will admit that at times i was a little dark because as i rode in on my high pony from brooklyn i had this dumb uninformed idea that i could try all of the foods in grand forks in one week or less. but i soon started discovering all these tasty little secrets! like the most wonderful ribs in the middle of complete nowhere, earth-shattering wings at a dive bar behind this place called the valley dairy (which i think is an equivalent to a corner bodega, but i haven't even been yet!), a kimchi taco, this fantastic gem, and at the most adorable chocolate shop ever in all the land, a chocolate covered pickle.

it was the exact last thing i expected to see at our little town chocolate shop, but look, here's even a vintage instagram of them! for excitement's sake, i had one and got all smiley about it. it was like having the kid-friendly answer to a pickleback, all sweet and soury and pickly. when my mom came to visit, she became obsessed. 

so here i am today with a recipe for chocolate covered pickles, in case you live in like brooklyn, or somewhere else where a place to get a chocolate covered pickle isn't that obvious (hah! see what i did there?), and it's paired up with a candied pickle because how fun would that be? a pickle-centric dessert table? i am a little bit tempted to insert a raunchy joke about dipping a pickle in chocolate but today i am g-rated.

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chocolate covered pickles

ingredients

1 jar of farmer's garden by vlasic bread and butter chips

8 oz dark chocolate chips

2 tb coconut oil

sprinkles (optional, but strongly preferred) 

clues

drain your pickles and place them on a plate or baking sheet lined with parchment. (remove the carrots and red peppers... unless you want to dip those in chocolate too!) freeze your pickles until very cold, for a few hours or overnight. 

melt your chocolate with the coconut oil in a double boiler or in a microwave for 30-second increments. remove from heat and let sit for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until the chocolate is no longer hot.

dip the pickles either half way or all the way into the chocolate and place them back on the parchment. sprinkle with sprinkles. serve immediately or store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. 

candied pickles

ingredients

a heaping cup of farmer's garden by vlasic bread and butter chips

3/4 c sugar

2 tb water

optional for serving: ice cream and other sundae toppings!

clues

in a large saucepan, combine the pickles, sugar, and water. heat over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture begins to turn caramel brown, 20-30 minutes. remove the pickles from the sugar mixture and let them cool on parchment paper. 

(any leftover sugar syrup can be poured out onto parchment and left to cool to make pickle infused hard candy!)

serve immediately! over ice cream, perhaps!

-yeh!

this post was sponsored by vlasic's tasty new line of pickles, farmer's garden! all opinions are mine mine mine. these pickles come in super cute farmy jars and there are no artificial flavors in them (yay). they're inspired by pickling pioneer joseph vlasic, who started making pickles 70 years ago! aside from bread and butter chips, they make zesty garlic chips, kosher dill spears, kosher dill halves, and dill chips. to see what other fun things are going on it pickle word, you can follow #farmtojar.

also be sure to enter their sweepstakes: farmer’s garden is celebrating the authentic taste of #farmtojar with the savor simplicity sweepstakes running from 5/7/14 – 7/31/14. enter at www.farmersgardenvlasic.com for a chance to win a weekend cooking adventure or summer entertaining package, each worth $1,500. one winner will be chosen each month. a $1 off coupon will also be given to all entrants immediately following entry!

bacon and sweet corn ice cream sandwiches

there are a few acceptable responses to "oh crap, i am making sweet corn ice cream."

there's the oooooh-can-i-have-a-scoop route and then there's the route that suggests the ice cream be sandwiched between two cookies covered in bacon sugar. i attribute my quick-thinking for choosing the latter to an inspiring morning spent at the chocolate factory. 

cynthia, aka miss two red bowls/aka one of my most favorite bloggers in the whole wide world/aka would have been my neighbor if i still lived in brooklyn, was the ice cream maker in this situation and she let me crash her ice cream photoshoot one summery afternoon, probably because i bribed her with bacon.

it was basically the greatest afternoon ever. we candied that bacon, she churned ice cream in her bathroom, and i got to see where she takes all of her magical photos. we dorked out over pinterest and camera lenses and corn husks and it was the most fun to style and photograph with another human. not just because being around fun people is fun, but also because i saw a new take on light, styling elements, camera angles, and silpats. and by silpats i mean that i'd never used one before, but now i think i need one.

the only thing that could have made the situation even more epic would have been if eggboy was there to play video games and drink beers with bowl #2 while this whole thing went down. (i think they'd be bffs in real life because they are both quiet and also good at waiting patiently while their food blogger fiancés style sandwiches (since those two things are what make a good friendship...)).

but speaking of epic, these ice cream sammiches: thick kernels of corn folded into corn-infused ice cream, sandwiched between chewy sugar cookies that are coated with pulverized candied smoky bacon and sprinkled with rosemary salt. tell me you did not just die. 

bacon and sweet corn ice cream sandwiches

makes 16-18 sandwiches

for the sweet corn ice cream:

head over to cynthia's blog for the recipe!

for the bacon sugar cookies:

(adapted from love and olive oil's goat cheese sugar cookies and michael ruhlman's bacon truffles)

bacon coating ingredients

1/2 lb applewood smoked bacon 

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c water

1/2 tsp baking soda

cookie ingredients

2 1/2 c flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 c sugar

1/3 c (3 oz) cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup reserved bacon fat

3 tb unsalted butter, melted

3 tb vegetable oil

1 large egg

2 tb milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

optional: sprinkles and/or rosemary salt

clues

to make the bacon coating, cook bacon until crispy and reserve the fat. chop bacon into small pieces.

line a baking sheet with parchment and set it aside. combine 1/2 cup of chopped bacon (any extra can be snacked on or saved for garnish), the 1/2 cup of sugar, and the 1/4 cup of water in a non-stick pan. cook over medium-high heat until caramel brown, stirring often to prevent burning. remove from heat and add the baking soda. pour the mixture onto the parchment-lined baking pan and let cool.

once it's cool, break apart into small pieces and pulse in a food processor or blender until it reaches a grainy consistency. set aside while you make the cookies.

to make the cookies, preheat oven to 350 and line a pan with parchment or a silpat.

whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. set aside.

in a large bowl, combine sugar, cream cheese, bacon fat, and melted butter and whisk until mixture forms a smooth paste.  whisk in the oil. add egg, milk, and vanilla extract and stir until smooth. gently fold in the flour mixture until incorporated and no dry ingredients remain. dough will be soft, but should still be workable. if not, refrigerate it for 15 to 20 minutes until it is.

use a small cookie scoop to portion out about 1 tablespoon of dough, then roll in the bacon coating (or sprinkles, if desired). place on your baking sheet a few inches apart. sprinkle with rosemary salt, if using.

bake for about 10 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are just set. for ice cream sandwiches, you’ll want them to be on the very, very soft side, or else they’ll turn too crunchy once frozen. if using sprinkles, shave 1-2 minutes off the baking time -- they will spread less and bake faster with sprinkles. cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

to assemble:

pop the cookies in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to make them sturdier to handle. in the meantime, remove ice cream from freezer and let soften slightly.  

place a scoop of ice cream onto one cookie on its flat side; press a second, similar-sized cookie on top and squeeze gently in the center to press them together. repeat with remaining cookies and ice cream.

place assembled ice cream sandwiches on a baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap, then replace in the freezer for 1-2 hours, or until hardened. after that, enjoy or wrap individually in plastic wrap for later.

-yeh!!!!!

choco tacos + friday links

happy fourth of july, everyone!!!!!! if you, like me, forgot about the fourth until two days ago, don't panic. you can still have a really fun party, even if it's just you and your cat and a taco. these choco tacos, which are up on food52 this week, only require really basic ingredients that you might (should) have in your kitchen already. and they're actually very easy to make, so it's ok if you're half in the bag already. go get the recipe here!

also check out these hot dog toppings. i am most excited about the furikake and everything bagel seasoning.

two weeks ago, i met up with todd, who had just wrapped up a boozy snow cone shoot (!!!) now that i'm seeing the photos, i am mad at myself for not just straight up crashing his shoot. 

as if each sound was dipped in butter.

it's another kind of chocolaty taco, but a savory kind! perrrrfect.

i plan on grilling a lot of fruit this weekend. specifically for this caramelized peach caprese.

steamed buns instead of a pita with your souvlaki? that is albert einstein genius. 

explain, how is a wedding diet in the cards when things like the funnel cake burger and this curly cheese fry burger and hand pie ice cream sandwiches are floating around the internet?

pop rocks truffles!!!!!!!

-yeh!!