Maple Oatmeal Raisin Ice Cream

At Elon we have a local ice cream placed called Smitty's that makes a killer oatmeal ice cream. So of course, immediately upon tasting it for the first time I knew I had to try and make it at home. I also happen to have developed an oatmeal addiction this year and have eaten it almost every day for breakfast since August...no idea how I haven't gotten sick of it yet, but there it is. I finally got around to making this ice cream and - i'm not exaggerating - this is hands down the BEST ice cream I have made so far. It's amazing; not too sweet, perfectly creamy and just downright dope. UGH it's just...too good. like jeez louis my mouth is watering just thinking about it. AND once again, its pretty dang easy to make too and could potentially involve ingredients that you already have lying around...apart from the heavy cream - that's a zinger. 

Also this is random, but for some reason I have never been able to make 1/3 look like ¼...why is that? It has been annoying me for YEARS. If anyone knows that the deal is with that PALEASE help a sistah out...

Oatmeal Raisin Ice Cream Base 

Ingredients 

2 cups milk 

4 tsp. cornstarch 

1 ¼ cup heavy cream

1/3 cup white sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons maple syrup

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ tsp. and one pinch salt 

3 tablespoons cream cheese

½ cup toasted rolled oats, lightly processed 

*sweetened raisins 

Sweetened Raisins:

½ cup raisins 

¼ cup water

2 tablespoons sugar

For the Ice Cream base: 

In one small bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup of milk and the cornstarch

Place the 3 tablespoons of cream cheese in a bowl and set aside.

Open plastic bag with edges folded over set over an ice bath

In a 4-quart saucepan, add the remaining milk, heavy cream, sugars, maple syrup and salt. Whisk together until somewhat incorporated

Over medium high heat, cook the mixture until it comes to a rolling boil. Then let boil for 4 minutes.

Pour in the cornstarch slurry and the oatmeal and mix well. Bring back to a boil and cook for 2 more minutes then remove from heat. Stir frequently so the oatmeal gets fully incorporated.

With your small measuring cup, scoop out about 1/4 cup or more of the hot mixture and pour into the cream cheese bowl. Mix very well and then pour it back into the main pot. Stir well until thick.

Pour the hot cream into the plastic bag over the ice bath. Let sit for at least 30 minutes or until completely cold. If you don't want to freeze right away, you can also put the plastic bag in your fridge for up to 3 days.

To prepare the sweetened raisins: 

Soak the water and raisins in the unheated saucepan for about 15 minutes. Add the sugar and cook over medium-low heat. Stir frequently to prevent burning, until most of the water/syrup has been absorbed - about 5-7 minutes. Remove from the heat, drain out remaining liquid and let cool. 

Freezing the ice cream:

freeze according to your ice cream makers instructions and add the raisins 2 minutes before it's finished. I had to break them apart with my hands first so they wouldn't form a big raisin clump.

Oatmeal Raisinet Chip Cookies

So I started making this one cookie recipe, and I just couldn't stick to it. I wanted to add more of one thing and take some things out - so basically, at least in my own head, I ultimately made up this recipe myself. And I'm going to stand by it... Because most cookie recipes have a pretty basic foundation - you have either one stick, or a stick and a half, of butter, with equal parts sugar, an egg, a cup or so of flour and so on. It's when you get to the baking soda, flour, corn starch part that is the real game changer - and the hardest part in creating a cookie recipe - that and the mix-ins obviously. Of course things change when you are making a chocolate cookie or something, but I feel like then you would potentially just replace some of the flour for cocoa powder. I have a lot to learn still, but I definitely want to trust myself more with making up my own recipes. I have enough experiences after all. It's just a matter of wasting costly ingredients that grinds my gears...

But about these cookies. I was seconds away from putting popcorn in them, because the raisinet and popcorn combo is one of my favorite indulgent snacks. I decided against it; only because I wanted to bake them the next day, and I thought the popcorn would get soggy and lose it's crunch. Actually, popcorn tends to lose it's crunch if you leave it out too long, so I was also afraid that would happen in the cookie. When I ultimately take on this challenge of putting popcorn in cookies, I think I will start with caramel corn, which locks in the crunchiness. 

Oatmeal Raisinet Chip Cookies 

Ingredients

1 stick butter

½ cup sugar

½ cup light brown sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup rolled oats

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup raisinets

½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips 

Start by creaming together the butter and sugars. If using a hand mixer, remember this part takes twice as long as using a stand mixer. If you think it's creamy enough, it probably isn't. A good indicator apart from fluffiness is the color should be come noticeably whiter.

Add the egg and vanilla and mix for a few minutes more. In a separate bowl (although not totally necessary) mix together the dry ingredients. Mix into the butter mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips and raisinets with a rubber spatula. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375. Do not bake immediately out of the fridge. Give the dough a bit of time to get soft again so it can spread. If you bake it immediately, the cookie doesn't spread as well, so they end up smaller and thicker. If you are into that though, go for it! Bake for 9 minutes.

**If you have time, always make one test cookie. Nothing is worse than baking half of your cookie dough or cupcake batter only to find out your oven is too hot or you cooked it for too long. More cookies do end up taking like a minute longer for some reason, but it's good to get the gist of things - and under-baking is always better than over-baking a cookie, anyway.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Last night my Big (Lauren Difiglia) and my G-big (Megan Nolan) and I made a pot-luck dinner together. Lauren made the apps, Megan made the din and I, of course, was in charge of the dessert. Picking out a dessert for these two was definitely a challenge because 1. they have never actually tried any of my culinary confections before, so obviously I had to impress and 2. Megan is one of those truly unfortunate people that doesn't like chocolate OR most things with dairy (aka cheesecake and all things amazing). So basically there wasn't a lot of options to choose from. Fortunately I've been wanting to try out an oatmeal raisin cookie recipe anyway because I recently discovered I actually love them now (unlike back in the day - too healthy for my chubby, candy addicted self) AND it also happens to be the favorite cookie of 3 - maybe 4 - of my 6 uncles, one of which being my godfather. Thus, these cookies seemed like the perfect solution. And they were! Granted I felt lame just making cookies (again), but they were delicious nonetheless and will definitely become a new staple in my cookie portfolio.
(another thing to make note of, my roommate even loves them - and she doesn't even like raisins soo....kind of a big deal.) 


This recipe is adapted from one I found in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook - Martha's had coconut, which is just gross in my opinion. I can't stand coconut though, so I'm probably not the best judge. Feel free to add 1 cup of coconut if you're into that, but I definitely don't think its necessary.

Ingredients 

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup packed light-brown sugar

1/3 cup maple syrup (the recipe calls for pure grade B syrup aka the fancy stuff but I had Aunt Jemima so…)

1 large egg (room temp)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup raisins

Directions

1.      Preheat the oven to 325˚

2.      With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

3.      Add the maple syrup and mix until combined

4.      Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until lighter and fluffier

5.      In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. With the mixer on the lowest setting, gradually add the dry ingredients in 3 increments. Immediately after the dry ingredients are incorporated, stop. You don’t want to over mix otherwise you will get tough, rock-like cookies.

6.      With a rubber spatula, fold in the oats and raisins until combined. 

7. 7. Scoop the dough with an ice cream scoop, making sure there are at least two inches apart on the cookie sheet. 

8.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. (I baked them for 16 – shocking I know. Rarely do I bake a cookie for more than 12, but these actually did need a little extra time to brown properly)