St. John Mini Grasshopper Ice Cream Pies

At the end of this week, we will commemorate the feast of the birth of John the Baptist. In Matthew's gospel we hear that while he was in the dessert, John the Baptist's food was locust and honey, so those are images we associate with him. In the past the idea of a grasshopper pie or parfait has been suggested here at Catholic Cuisine to associate with St. John the Baptist. There is the traditional grasshopper pie or a modified version with mint chocolate chip ice cream for a frozen alternative.

How did this combo become a "grasshopper" dessert? First came the grasshopper cocktail, a sweet after-dinner drink, whose main ingredient is green (thus the grasshopper) crème de menthe, and also white crème de cacao, and cream. Then in the sixties, using the same flavors, came the green mint pie with a cookie or graham cracker crumb crust. Making an ice cream pie with mint chocolate chip ice cream is a simpler version for the same flavors.

I had seen these mini graham crusts and thought they would be cute for making a couple variations. One is the mint chocolate chip version for the more traditional "grasshopper" flavor. The other is plain vanilla ice cream drizzled with honey. And the plastic grasshopper toy just adds to the effect.

To make the mini ice cream pies, set out ice cream until is softens enough to spoon into crusts and spread evenly. Refreeze. I sprinkled crushed graham crackers on pies to symbolize the sand of the dessert where John lived and preached. And a drizzle of honey was added to the vanilla pies.

As we experience the beginning of summer, long days, and warm evenings, this cool treat would be a refreshing way to celebrate.  Enjoy your John the Baptist desert dessert.

 

St. John the Baptist, Pray for us.

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Cardinal Sundaes

painting by Francesco Caccianiga

The memorial of St. Charles Borromeo is a very special one at our house. My husband and two oldest sons are alumni of our all-boys Catholic prep school named after St. Charles, and my youngest son is a student now. We always attend the feast day Mass celebrated by our bishop and it is a wonderful event which we look forward to annually. Saint Charles is the patron of seminarians, so remember to pray to him for your favorite seminarians, and even your own young men for which you might be praying for a vocation.

Tonight we celebrated the feast with a special ending to dinner. A simple dish, but one to remember for its connection to this great saint. It would, of course, be great for any of our great saints, who happened to be cardinals.

Cardinal Sundaes

serves 6-8

2 cups frozen red berries -- a mix or just one (I used 1 cup raspberries and 1 cup strawberries)

1/2 cup sugar

1 T. cornstarch

1/2 cup water

2 quarts strawberry ice cream

In a small saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch. Add water slowly to incorporate. Place saucepan over medium heat and stir until mixture bubbles and sugar completely melts. Mixture should thicken slightly. Meanwhile, microwave berries for about 2 minutes until they soften up (alternately you could let them sit at room temp until soft). 

When sugar has melted add berries and cook until berries are cooked and mixture is thickened, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and pour mixture into a blender or food processor (alternately you could leave mixture chunky). Process briefly just until mixture is smooth. You can strain mixture at this point to remove seeds, but we don't mind them.

Let mixture cool to room temp. (As an alternative to making the sauce, you could use a strawberry or raspberry jam, heating it until it is saucy.)

Place a few tablespoons of sauce in a pretty bowl or dish. Place a large scoop of strawberry ice cream on top and spoon another tablespoon of sauce on top. Serve immediately.

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Laetare Sundaes

 Today is the 119th anniversary of the Ice Cream Sundae! Maybe that's all the incentive you need to scoop up some creamy goodness but today is also Laetare Sunday so we decided to celebrate with sundaes. The best part is, you can make them however you want!
We opted to honor the rose colored vestments Father wore this morning and chose strawberry ice cream along with strawberry and hot fudge toppings, whipped cream, nuts and don't forget the cherry on top, unless you don't like cherries and choose a strawberry instead!

Happy sundaes! Happy Sunday!!!

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Watermelon Pie for the Feast of St. Anne

Last year Charlotte shared a great post with recipes for Watermelon Cookies and Lemonade in honor of the traditional colors of St. Anne.   According to My nameday--come for dessert (You can find the whole book online here),  St. Anne "is often shown in art teaching Our Lady to read the Scriptures. Through the ages she has been depicted wearing a green mantle and a red dress, colors symbolic of immortality and divine love. Rev. Edgar Schmiedler in "Your Home: A Church in Miniature" mentions the custom in Louisiana of children of French extraction named Anne wearing red and green ribbons in her honor. These are colors to bear in mind for party decorations on her feast. There is no need to look "Christmasy" by using equal amounts; rather, use cool green for the main color scheme with accents of red."

So, inspired by Charlotte and a recipe I ran across last year at Make and Takes, we just finished preparing a "Watermelon Pie" to celebrate the feast of St. Anne tomorrow!    I am still currently without a kitchen, and probably will be for another month or so, but this recipe didn't require any baking and was quite easy to make.   Not to mention in turned out super cute.  Here's the recipe:

Watermelon Pie

Ingredients:

•  Key Lime Sherbet

•  Vanilla ice cream or Pineapple sherbet

•  Red/Pink-colored sherbet

•  Mini chocolate chips

Note:  Let the sherbet/ice cream soften for a few minutes before preparing the pie.  

Directions:

1.  Using a round springform pan (You may want to line the bottom of the pan with wax paper or parchment paper if you plan to transfer the entire “pie” to another dish before serving),  start with the lime, spread a ring of sherbet around the edge of the springform pan – about 2 inches high and about 1-2 inches wide from the outside edge of the pan.  Put pan in freezer to harden lime layer.

Mine was a good two inches and next time I plan to make it closer to 1" wide... I guess I was leaning towards using "cool green for the main color scheme with accents of red." ;)  

2.   Spread a ring of Vanilla Ice Cream inside the lime ring, but make the layer much thinner – maybe 1/2 inch. Use a butter knife to flatten the top, even-ing out the lime with the vanilla. Put pan in freezer to harden again.

3.  Mix the mini chocolate chips into the red sherbet.  (I wasn't able to find red/raspberry sherbet so I bought a berry rainbow and added a bit more red food coloring along with the mini chocolate chips.)

4. Fill the center of the pie with the red/chocolate chip sherbet.

5. Flatten the top of the pie with a butter knife and then freeze.

6. When it’s time to eat, run a knife around the edge of the pan before popping off the outside of the springform pan. Use a nice thin-blade knife to slice.

You can find more ideas for celebrating the feast of St. Anne in the archives!

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Carmelite Sundaes

Yesterday my family celebrated the lives of sixteen Carmelite sisters who died as martyrs during the French Revolution, in Compiegne, France.

Sixteen Carmelite sisters were taken from their convent in Compiegne in northeastern France when their convent was seized by the government. Eventually they were imprisoned and on July 17, the day after the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, they were taken to their death, by guillotine. It is said, they rode in carts to the place where they would be put to death, singing: the "Miserer," "Salve Regina," and "Te Deum," and as they stood at the foot of the guillotine they sang "Veni Creator Spiritus." (You can read the complete story here.)

They turned the bitter, hideous, unjust death by guillotine into sweet martyrdom with their beautiful faith in God. In their honor I made caramel sauce for ice cream sundaes with nothing but heat and white sugar. Just a few moments before the heat turns the sugar into a bitter, acrid substance, it turns it into sweet, molten caramel, just as the Carmelite martyrs turned their bitter death into something joyful and glorious.

This recipe for caramel sauce is most amazing. It is nothing but sugar and water and heat. You can certainly used jarred caramel sauce to make your sundaes, but I love the magic of taking burned sugar and turning into something sweet and decadent.

This recipe for caramel sauce can be used for any Carmelite feast day, like Our Lady of Mt. Carmel...St. Teresa of Avila...St. Therese of Lisieux...St. Mary Magdalen di Pazzi...St. John of the Cross. There are many and a list can be found here.







Use this Caramel Sauce over chocolate or vanilla ice cream -- or go all caramel and use caramel swirl. Top with whipped cream, cherries and chopped nuts, if desired.

Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar
water

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1/4 cup water and place over medium-high heat. Without stirring, very gently swirl the pan until a clear syrup forms. It is important that the syrup clarify before it boils, so move the pan off and back on the heat if necessary. After the sugar dissolves, raise the heat to high and bring the syrup to a rolling boil; cover the pan tightly and boil for 2 minutes. Uncover the pan and cook the syrup until it begins to darken around the edges. Gently swirl the pan by the handle and cook the syrup until it turns a deep amber and begins to smoke -- stop before it becomes red or mahogany. Remove from the heat. Standing back (take one giant step backward and cover your hand with a towel or hot pad -- it's going to spatter) add 1/3 cup water, then stir until smooth. If the caramel remains lumpy, stir briefly over low heat. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then serve over ice cream.

Source: modified from The Joy of Cooking

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A Trio of Sundae Solemnities

When the Church enters Ordinary Time after the feast of Pentecost, our time to celebrate is gratefully not over. The two Sundays following Pentecost are solemnities honoring the Most Holy Trinity, and the Corpus Christi , or Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. The following Friday, the Church celebrates the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which our family likes to honor after Mass on the Sunday of that week. I have always wanted to come up with an idea for an ice cream treat, or sundae, to celebrate each of these Sundays as, in my mind, they sort of usher in the beginning of summer. With a little help from a friend, I was able to come up with a trio of sundaes to celebrate these upcoming feasts. I am delighted for the opportunity to share them here at Catholic Cuisine.

For Trinity Sunday:

Three in One Sundaes

• Neapolitan Ice Cream: The three flavors in one represent the Three Persons of our One God.
• Chocolate Syrup, Strawberry Topping, and Whipped Cream: These represent each of the three flavors of the ice cream individually, just like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit each manifest one of God's Three Persons.

For Corpus Christi Sunday:

Bread and Wine a la Mode

• white chocolate bread pudding (recipe follows): to represent the bread
  
• warm blueberry or blackberry syrup (homemade or store bought) in wine glasses: this can be poured over the bread pudding after it is served to represent the wine
  
• coconut ice cream or sherbet: this can be placed on top the bread pudding, and used to surprise your family...what looks like vanilla ice cream is actually something else--a reminder that the bread and wine we receive at Mass appears to be bread and wine, but has actually become the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus

White Chocolate Bread Pudding:

Ingredients:
6 c whipping cream
2c milk
1c sugar
12 oz white chocolate
15 egg yolks
4 whole eggs
Sauce:
1/2 c whipping cream
8 oz white chocolate

Cut or tear 24 in of french bread into chunks. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 275 for ten minutes.

Heat whipping cream, sugar and milk just until bubbling at the edges. Add white chocolate and stir until melted.

Slowly add hot mixture to eggs while whipping steadily.

Place bread into a 9x13 baking dish and pour half of the liqid mixture over bread and press until absorbed. Pour remaining liquid over bread and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour on 350. Remove foil and bake an additional 30 min until golden brown. Let cool and set for a little while before slicing.

For the Feast of the Sacred Heart:

Heart Aflame Sundaes

• Strawberry ice cream or sherbet (to represent Jesus' heart)
• peach slices arranged like flames on top (I used canned peaches in the photo above, but fresh would give that red edge to make it ever so much more flame like)
  
• chocolate chips or sprinkles across the middle to represent the crown of thorns

I hope you enjoy the chance to step into summer with the Church as we rejoice in the goodness of our God! Blessings to you all.

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Ascension Sundaes

The following recipe was submitted by Tiffany, from Family at the Foot of the Cross, for publication here at Catholic Cuisine.  It is such a great idea, especially for those dioceses that celebrated the feast of the Ascension today.   I apologize for taking so long to add the post, but at least it will be in the archives for next year.  I hope you all had a very blessed feast of the Ascension!

Ascension Sundaes

Vanilla Ice Cream = Mt. of Olives

Chocolate Syrup = The trails from the mountain

Whipped Cream & Mini Marshmallows = The Clouds on top of the Mountain

The topper = Jesus Ascending to Heaven

You can click over to Tiffany's blog to see additional pictures, including pictures of their "cloud pizza!"  Thank you Tiffany! Pin It

Trinity Cake and Ice Cream

The mystery of the Holy Trinity is not one that we will ever "solve." But just because it's not a solvable mystery doesn't mean we shouldn't continually explore it. Like the other moms who contribute here, I frequently explore our Church's liturgical year with food -- I think food provides a most teachable and memorable moment, especially for children -- even when it's a simple chocolate cake.

To illustrate the three equal, but different natures of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity today, I decorated the top of a simple box-mix chocolate cake. While there is no one official symbol for the Holy Trinity, there are many possible symbolic designs to use. I used three circles together -- the Borromean rings -- to illustrate the Holy Trinity on our dessert cake. In each circle, I placed a letter, P for Pater, F for Fillius, an S for Spiritus.

I also made a batch of vanilla ice cream and folded in some chopped Kit Kats after it finished churning. I found a bag of mini Kit Kats at the store and thought they made a perfect teaching tool for the kids. I know they're only Kit Kats, and I apologize if my method offends your sense of reverence for the Trinity, but really, it worked. The mini Kit Kats were white, dark and milk chocolate. Just like the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father, the white is not milk, and the milk is not dark, and the dark is not white. And just as the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Spirit is God, the white is a Kit Kat, and the milk is a Kit Kat and the dark is a Kit Kat. Maybe too simple for your taste, but it was very tasty! Pin It

Grasshoppers and Honey

From the Gospel for 2nd Sunday of Advent, Year B, Mark 1:1-8:

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.”
John the Baptist appeared in the desert
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins....
John was clothed in camel’s hair,
with a leather belt around his waist.
He fed on locusts and wild honey.

This Advent our family is focusing on the four primary figures of the Advent Liturgy, Isaiah, St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. I shared our Advent Wreath and Poster idea on my blog.

This week starts our focus on St. John the Baptist, who ate locusts and honey. Today would traditionally be St. Ambrose feast day, and his symbol of honey ("Honey-Tongued Doctor,") is also a perfect match for the honey that St. John the Baptist. All the wonderful food posts for St. Ambrose can do double duty.

I also plan on making a Grasshopper Pie this week to celebrate St. John. The simplest recipe would be using mint chocolate ice cream in a chocolate cookie pie shell -- easy and delicious. Although Cooks.com has several versions, this recipe seemed to have the most detail. I'm actually going to make this for my son who has food allergies to milk, eggs, and wheat. I have some allergy free chocolate cookies, Cool Whip (contains a small amount of casein which he can tolerate), and almond milk to replace some of the ingredients and we're good to go. We'll see if it works out.

Now, if you want to be a little more authentic, you can actually order food grade crickets in sweeter flavors.

Prepare the Way of the Lord, Make Straight His Paths! Pin It

Coupe Saint-Jacques

Our favorite treat for the feast of St. James is Coupe Saint-Jacques (Ice Cream Cup St. James).

In Cooking with the Saints, the author says to "Put any mixture of fresh fruits in season in a parfait glass. Pear, grapefruit, orange, and dark grapes or strawberries make a delicious combination. Spoon lemon sherbet over the fruit. Top with a spoonful of chocolate syrup if desired."

In My Nameday -- Come for Dessert, the author suggests mixing "two or three kinds of fruit with two or three kinds of ice cream neatly arranged in deep glasses, flavored with liqueur and garnished with whipped cream."

Personally, I don't think there is any wrong way to make an ice cream cup!


Updated to add a photo of our 2012 Coupe Saint-Jacques, served in Chocolate Dipped Ice Cream Cups and topped with handmade Chocolate Cockle Shells, the symbol for St. James:

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A Fluffy Cloud Dessert

... for the Feast of the Ascension.

I found this recipe in a BH&G magazine while waiting for the girls to finish piano lessons and thought it would be fun to serve for the Feast of the Ascension (which technically has been moved in our diocese, but not everywhere). I made a few changes to the recipe. First, I doubled the Oreos and the butter to make a good thick "crust". I also eliminated the strawberries on top to make the whole thing look more cloud-like and chopped the berries on the inside instead of mashing them so that the inner fluff would stay white instead of turning pink. It is chilling in the freezer right now.

Update with pictures......
Here's a peak inside!

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