First Saturday of August. Texas has experienced an odd summer this year, as has most of the country. When I first moved here in the early 1970s we had hot, dry summers. In the 1980s they created numerous lakes in the area and the climate changed to hot and humid with milder winters. Maybe it is coincidence, or maybe it isn’t but what ever the reason our area has wildflowers you couldn’t find here in 1973, and I hardly ever see some that were prevalent in that time.
Anyway, what got me started on that was the fact that yet again …read more

By now you know about the ice cream addiction around here, right? I swear, every time I turn around I am pulling out the ice cream maker. Marc loves ice cream… the kids love ice cream..and I like playing with the flavors.
O.k..not that I don’t like to eat it, I do. But not as much as I like creating a perfect flavor. The thrill for me is in the challenge, not in the eating. I think I am like that with everything. I like the challenge of accomplishing something but after that? Meh.
This coffee ice cream was, quite possibly, the …read more

I obviously have been on an ice cream kick lately.  In fact, one day last week Erin and I fired ice cream flavor ideas back and forth.  There were flavors like:

chocolate chip mocha Irish cream
caramel apple with chopped peanuts
white chocolate blueberry pecan
vanilla apple pie

Eventually you will probably see all the flavors end up here.  One of the cool things about Erin and my relationship is that we can bounce those flavor ideas off each other..Lots of fun, and if you add the rest of the kids..well we can sit around and toss flavors back and forth the way some …read more

I love ice cream.  Nope, that isn’t the secret at all…that is coming up..but…I love ice cream.  Vanilla did not used to be a big hit with me.  It seemed to me that vanilla ice cream was an empty canvas, or a plate to hold the good stuff like hot fudge sauce.  When I started making homemade ice cream, though, I decided that vanilla…real vanilla …was a flavor to be reckoned with..and not one to ignore.

I found a french vanilla flavoring at the store the other day, and I was writing an article for a local magazine on..ice cream.  I …read more

I love banana splits and root beer floats.  Yes, I am that childish.  I think that it is an art to take these simple desserts from childhood and run with them.
The other night Marc was out of town with our 10 year old Sean.  Sean is involved with the JBQ (Junior Bible Quiz) group at church and they had regionals in Longview Texas.  Our kids won, by the way, and will be at Nationals in Rockford, Illinois.  Anyway, when someone is out of town the rest of us try to do something different as well.
Now, I admit..I am a weird …read more

If you remember, last week Chris Bui from Sees Candy contacted me about creating an ice cream with some of their candy.
It seemed like a great idea for several reasons.

I love challenges
I love chocolate
I love free candy

Wouldn’t you know? The candy got here in the midst of a crisis.  We all had stomach flu.

Coconut ice cream is a delicate and yet intense flavored ice cream.  It is almost like vanilla but with a little something more. I had several gallons of milk in the fridge and needed to use it up..The kids were at VBS camp all week and just were not drinking milk like normal. Unfortunately you can’t just turn goat’s mammary glands off and on as needed!

If you have been reading Baking Delights very long at all you will all ready be aware of my penchant for rose flavoring. It is a delicate flavor that seems to re-invent any other flavor that it comes in contact with.

Long before vanilla beans were being imported into Europe and North America, rosewater was being included in cakes, cookies, pies, and confections. A classic combination is rose and almond but the versatility of this flavor allows for more contemporary renditions. I love rose and white chocolate, and rose and lemon, for example. Don;t expect the flavor to …read more