A new way to enjoy carrot cake! Photo ©
WeHeartFood.com.

In 10 years of writing THE NIBBLE, we’ve covered a lot of ice cream, especially during July—National Ice Cream Month. But here’s a first for us: carrot cake ice cream.

It’s part of today’s tip: Envision a fantasy ice cream flavor and make it.

This week, The New York Times acknowledged National Ice Cream Month by publishing a master recipe to help you make any flavor you like.

We had already found this recipe from the blog WeHeartFood, where Chris and Lisa took one of their (and our) favorite cakes, carrot cake, and turned it into ice cream.

The recipe incorporates the ingredients of carrot cake—spiced nuts, whiskey-soaked currants and carrots (they’re candied). The recipe takes time, but at the end of it we’ve included our own quick version of carrot cake ice cream.

Ingredients For 1 Quart

For The Spiced Pecans

 
For The Bourbon-Soaked Currants

 
For The Candied Carrots

For The Ice Cream Base

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the spiced pecans. Heat the oven to 350°F. Toss the pecans with the butter. In a small bowl, whisk together the cinnamon, cloves, brown sugar and salt. Pour the mixture over the pecans and toss to coat completely. Spread the pecans on a baking sheet and cook for 12 minutes, gently stirring halfway during baking to candy the nuts. Remove the tray to a rack and cool the nuts completely. Once cool, coarsely chop the pecans. Set aside.

3. MAKE the candied carrots. In a medium saucepan, combine the carrots, sugar, corn syrup and water. Bring to a low boil and cook until the syrup is reduced to about 2 tablespoons and the carrots are translucent and candied, 20 to 30 minutes. Keep an eye on the carrots during the last few minutes so they do not burn. Drain the carrots and set aside to cool.

4. MAKE the ice cream base. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, blend together the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and lemon zest until smooth. Chill thoroughly.

5. FREEZE the base in an ice cream maker. After churning, gently fold in the spiced pecans, soaked currants and candied carrot cubes. Freeze until firm.
 
EASY CARROT CAKE ICE CREAM

You can use this recipe with any leftover cake, including any icing. This recipe adds inclusions (“mix-ins”) appropriate to carrot cake. If you’re making a different flavor of cake ice cream, consider what to pair—chocolate chips with chocolate cake, for example.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. CUT cake into half inch cubes. Blend into softened ice cream with optional inclusions.

2. RETURN to freezer and let firm until ready to serve.

That’s why you can eat the white portion of watermelon rind—it tastes just like cucumber—or turn it into pickled watermelon rind, a.k.a. watermelon pickles.

And how about these tiny watermelon cucumbers (in photo), an heirloom cucumber variety native to Mexico and South America? They look like miniature watermelons, but taste like cucumbers.

They’re available now at Melissas.com.

The small fruits are often marketed as Mexican sour gherkin cucumbers, although they are not sour. Rather, they have a slightly sweet, refreshing flavor with a hint of lemon. They are cute, crunchy and perfect for pickling.

 
TIP: Always store whole cucumbers in the vegetable crisper section of your fridge.
 
MORE EXOTIC CUCUMBERS

Take a look at the lemon cucumber and the crystal apple cucumber which look, respectively, like lemons and apples.
  

By varying recipes with different malts, hops and yeasts, craft brewers produce summer beers, The goal is to deliver flavor while keeping the body lighter and more refreshing on a hot day.

Substituting wheat for some or all of the barley delivers a lighter body with crisp tartness. Different hops add summery notes, from the aromatic orange rind nose of Pacifica hops to the lemony, spicy flavor of the German Noble hop. Yeasts also play their part: Bavarian yeast, for example, add tropical fruit and a hint of clove.

Brewers can add extra flavors like fresh citrus zest, coriander or thyme, or a touch of caramel malt for sweeter notes.

For your drinking pleasure, we’ve pulled together a list of the classic summer beers. All are made by American craft brewers and available as imports. Consider having a tasting of the different styles, and pick your favorites to enjoy them through the rest of the summer. As the weeks fly by, they’ll be replaced on store shelves soon enough with Oktoberfest beer and pumpkin ale.

Fruit Beer. These include the classic Belgian lambics (look for cherry kriek and framboise/frambozen) and newer American styles. U.S. craft brewers add fresh puréed berries or other summer fruits into the secondary fermentation.

With its hazy golden color and bright character, Samuel Adams Summer Ale has crisp citrus notes from the Noble hops, wheat and lemon peel and the subtle peppery spice of grains of paradise. Photo courtesy LiteratureAndLibation.com.

Hefeweizen (also called Hefeweisse, Hefeweissbier and Weissbier). This light bodied wheat beer from Bavaria can still offer great complexity; the body is crisp and effervescent. Hefeweizen is German for “yeast wheat” (Hefe = yeast, weizen = wheat); the traditional Bavarian Hefeweizen/Weissbier yeast strain creates flavors of banana and spicy clove. Hefeweizen is not filtered before bottling; thus, the yeast continue to act (this is known as bottle conditioning) and there may be sediment in the bottle (ignore it).

Kölsch. This pale golden ale, developed in Cologne (Köln), Germany, uses a strain of yeast that gives it a very distinct flavor profile. Light straw in color with layers of delicate fruit, Kölsch has a very balanced crispness with a slight sweetness.

Brooklyn Summer Ale is brewed with English
barley malt, which gives this light bodied
golden beer a fresh bready flavor. German
and American hops lend a light, crisp
bitterness and a citrus/floral aroma. Photo
courtesy Brooklyn Brewery.

Summer Lager. Also called Helles-style; “Helles” is the German word for “light.” Don’t expect anything like a mass-produced American “Lite” beer: These beers are maltier and hoppier summer lagers that are bright with fresh grain character. Brewers often choose hops hops that provide notes of citrus and spice.

Saison. Saison, the French word for season, is a French farmhouse ale. Historically, it was a refreshing summer ale made by farmers for their own consumption. Modern commercial versions are generally around 7% ABV, highly carbonated, fruity and spicy—sometimes from hops, sometimes from the addition of spices.

Summer Ale. Also called English summer ale, this is a lighter version of a classic pale ale. It retains the wonderful flavors and aromas of ale’s malt and hops, while using a significant portion of wheat for a lighter body and crisp finish.

Unfiltered Wheat Ale/Beer. See Hefeweizen, above. These beers are left unfiltered to retain all of the flavors derived from the malt and yeast. Don’t be put off by the cloudiness; enjoy the depth of flavor profile.

Wheat Ale. Wheat enhances the mouthfeel of the beer. Some brewers add orange peel, coriander or other flavors for refreshing notes

Witbier. A Belgian specialty, typically brewed with orange peel and coriander for summer refreshment.

Check out the history of beer and the different styles of beer.

In both bite-size recipes, lush summer strawberries are filled with a mascarpone whipped cream, a combination of rich mascarpone and heavy cream. Mascarpone cheese gives the whipped cream filling extra body and flavor.

The strawberries are easy to fill and decorate. Prep time is just 15 minutes. Add some blueberries for a red, white, and blue dessert.
 
 
RECIPE #1: STRAWBERRIES & MASCARPONE WHIPPED CREAM

Ingredients For 4 Servings

Strawberries filled with mascarpone whipped cream (photo © Driscoll’s).

1. CUT stems off of the strawberries and place stem-side down on the cutting board. You have two choices to proceed: (1) Cut the berry into three, including a “hat,” as shown in the photo; or cut off the pointed end and scoop out a bit of the strawberry pulp to create room for more filling. Both versions are shown in the photo.

2. PLACE the mascarpone cheese, heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer until thickened and smooth.

3. PLACE the mascarpone mixture in a piping bag with a star tip attached or in a plastic bag with one corner cut off. In option 1, slowly pipe the mascarpone cream atop the bottom and middle thirds of the berry and top with the “hat.” In option 2, pipe the mixture into the center of the berry, create a rounded mound on top, and top it with optional garnish.

4. REFRIGERATE until ready to serve.

RECIPE #2: LEMON MASCARPONE STRAWBERRY TULIPS

Here, the simple yet elegant strawberry treat is enhanced with a lemon-flavored filling and a tulip shape. Prep time is 15 minutes.

Ingredients For 16 Pieces

1. CUT stems off of the strawberries and place stem-side down on the cutting board. Cut each strawberry lengthwise into quarters, stopping just before the knife hits the cutting board, so the berries stay intact. Place on a serving platter.

2. COMBINE mascarpone cheese, heavy cream, sugar, lemon curd, and vanilla in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer until the cream is thickened and smooth. Place the mascarpone mixture in a piping bag with a star tip attached or a plastic bag and cut off one corner of the bag to pipe.

3. PRESS one small blueberry down through the center of each strawberry, taking care to keep the berries intact. (It’s a blueberry “surprise.”) Slowly pipe the mascarpone cream into the strawberries until filled. Top berries with a single blueberry and garnish with lemon zest.

4. REFRIGERATE until ready to serve.
 
 
WHAT IS MASCARPONE

Mascarpone is sometimes referred to as “Italian cream cheese.” It’s softer and richer than American-style cream cheese, with less of a tang.

Mascarpone has an extraordinarily high butterfat content, unsurprising given that it’s made from the cream skimmed from cow’s milk. Truly fresh mascarpone has almost a sweet flavor, and this is a cheese with very low or no sodium. It’s highly perishable and must be kept cold.

In Italy, mascarpone is often served with fresh fruit instead of the American preference for whipped cream. It is what gives tiramisu its creaminess. While some think mascarpone is the chief component of cannolis, it is actually ricotta. Mascarpone or ricotta is used in Italian cheesecake.

Mascarpone is believed to have originated in the Lombardy region of Italy, most likely in the late 1500s or early 1600s. The name “mascarpone” may come from the Spanish “mas que bueno” (“better than good”), a holdover from the days when the Spanish ruled Italy.

Another possibility is that the name is derived from “mascarpia,” the local dialect term for ricotta, because both ricotta and mascarpone are made by very similar processes.

Look for American-made mascarpone from Crave Brothers or Vermont Creamery. Try eating it from the container with a spoon!

More about mascarpone.
 
 

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It you like Fig Newtons—or wish you liked them more—there’s a better “Newton” in town. (The history of Fig Newtons and more Newton content follows below.

It’s called Figgies & Jammies and the cookies are from Pamela’s Products, maker of delicious gluten-free cookies, bars and mixes. The flavors include:

 
Filled with real Mission figs and complementary fruits, this gluten-free version of the traditional fig cookie is so delicious, even people who don’t prefer gluten-free foods will prefer them.

The pie-like cookie portion is more tender, the fruit flavors are brighter. The size is a bit larger than Fig Newtons.

The cookies are not just gluten free, but egg free, low in sodium and all natural. There are no hydrogenated oils or trans fats, no cholesterol, no corn syrup.

The line is certified gluten-free by GFCO and certified kosher (dairy) by OU (the hechsher is hidden under the fold of the seam).

You can find a store locator on the company website, or buy them online from Pamela’s.

Below:

> The history of Fig Newtons.

> Beyond Newtons: elevated brands of fig cookies.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of cookies.

> The year’s 44 cookie holidays. (National Fig Newton Day is January 16th.)

> The 10 basic styles of cookies (Fig Newton is in the “filled cookie” category).

> The different varieties of of cookies: a photo glossary.
 
 
FIG NEWTON HISTORY: WHY A “NEWTON?”

January 16th is National Fig Newton Day, honoring a cookie so anchored in 19th-century history that it was a favorite of our great-grandfather. And our family history, too: Great-grandfather was born in the same year as the Fig Newton.

The Fig Newton was named after the town of Newton, Massachusetts. It was the custom of the original manufacturer, Kennedy Biscuit Works of Cambridgeport (now Cambridge, Massachusetts), to name cookies after towns in the Boston area.

According to Nabisco, the cookie was co-invented in 1891:

 
The machine was patented in 1892, and Mitchell approached the Kennedy Biscuit Company to try it out. They were impressed—all that was needed was a name. Newton, Massachusetts got the honor (the Boston-based company often named their cookies after local towns, and had already produced cookies named Beacon Hill, Harvard, and Shrewsbury).

Just think: We could have Fig Lexingtons or Fig Concords instead!

In 1898, Kennedy Biscuit Works and New York Biscuit Company became part of the massive National Biscuit Company (later named Nabisco), leading to nationwide distribution and iconic status, with sales growing exponentially and the brand eventually diversifying beyond fig, though the original remains a classic.

In the 1980s, Nabisco launched additional flavors of Newton. Today you can revel in Newtons! Beyond Original Fig came Apple Cinnamon, Blueberry, Cherry, Mixed Berry, Strawberry, Triple Berry, and Raspberry, plus fig bars, fig cookies, and . Here’s the current lineup.

Given additional fruit flavors, in 2012, the brand became simply Newtons, with packages labeled by flavor.
 
 

[6] Turn a cookie snack into a full-blown dessert: Fig Newtons à la mode with caramel sauce.
 
 
FIG NEWTON ALTERNATIVES

[1] Yes, they’re better than Fig Newtons (photos #1 and #2 Elvira Kalviste | © The Nibble).

[2] Four figalicious flavors.

[3] Bake your own standard-gluten cookies with this recipe (photo © Ruffles And Trends).

[4] A sophisticated snack: Brie and sliced almonds atop a Fig Newton. Here’s the recipe (photos #4, #5, and #6 © Nabisco | Mondelez International)

[5] Now, they’re one of several flavors of Newtons.

Here are some brands that make elevated takes on Fig Newton‑style cookies or fig bars:

Shortbread or butter-cookie fig sandwiches: buttery and more indulgent than Newtons.
 

[7] Cuccidata, a Sicilian fig cookie. Here’s the recipe (photo © Taste Of Home).

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