"Half Baked" Cupcakes

So, by half baked I don't mean stop baking them half the way through the baking time.  I mean Ben & Jerry's Half Baked Ice Cream.  Which just happens to be my favourite.

If you don't know what half baked ice cream is, it's premium vanilla ice cream mixed with raw cookie dough and brownie chunks.

I decided to make cupcakes based on this combination, and might I say while they are very rich and require a glass of milk, they are the best damn cupcakes ever.

The idea behind the cupcakes is a brownie base and a raw cookie dough frosting.  You can either make your favourite brownie recipe (it's fun to make with blondies and caramel brownies too) or use a packaged option.  All though I don't use a package too often, there is one that far surpasses the others. The Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate mix is amazing.

To make the cupcakes, prepare your recipe or mix to the instructions and fill cupcake liners to just over 1/2 full as they don't rise too much.  I usually put mine in the 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or a little more.  It's hard to tell when the using the above mix is done because of all the chocolate chips in it (but no one got hurt from a little underdone brownie).  

Once your brownie cupcakes have cooled it's time for the frosting.  I found this recipe from Cupcake Project, I halved the recipe as you don't need a lot of this frosting, just enough for a nice taste.  What's awesome about this recipe and why you need to make it is because there is no eggs and saying that there is no cooking going on you need to shy away from using eggs.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough frosting

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tbsp. vanilla extract

1/4 - 1/3 cup milk or cream

as many chocolate chips you want, remember the large ones have a hard time passing through the piping tip.  

Mix all together and add more milk or cream until the frosting reaches the correct consistency you prefer.

Pipe the frosting on the cupcake and add a cookie or chocolate chips on top for decoration.  These also make great mini-cupcakes, they seem to be just the perfect amount of sweet in a mini .  I found the larger ones were really hard for people to finish.  

Mini Half Baked Cupcakes

Photo tutorial - How to make Peanut Butter Ice Cream

So last week I got an ice cream maker (talked about in my previous post) and a couple of ice cream recipe books.  Out of the three I got (Weinstein, Lebovitz and Cohen & Greenfield) my favourite is the one by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield (it could be because I’m obsessed with Ben & Jerry’s).  Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream and Dessert Book has tons of flavour possibilities, I decided to combine a couple to make Peanut Butter and Brownie Ice Cream.  This ice cream is absolutely delicious!  The texture is perfect like any other premium ice cream you get from the store.

Below is a picture tutorial on how to make this wonderful tasting ice cream.  The recipe is at the bottom.

Peanut Butter and Brownie Ice Cream

First you need to start by making your favourite brownie recipe.  Once the brownies have cooled, cut it into chunks and put them into the freezer.

Secondly choose your favourite ice cream base. Mine is:

2 eggs

2 cups, whipping cream

1 cup, homogenized milk 

3/4 cup, sugar

Follow steps in the picture tutorial.

You will need between 1/3 - 1/2 cup of peanut butter, smooth 

or chunky.  

Once you have incorporated the eggs, sugar, milk and cream, you 

need to take some of the mixture and mix it with the peanut butter.  

Once that is smooth add it back into the main mixture.  

Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and follow the directions

provided with your machine.

With two minutes left add the brownies.  You might have to stop the machine and fold the brownies in by hand.  

Put the mixture into an airtight container and put into the freezer until it reaches the consistency you desire.

Scoop and Enjoy!