Little Debbie Ice Cream Review

Recently, Little Debbie announced that they are turning seven of their classic snack cakes into ice creams with Hudsonville Ice Cream. I immediately put it on my schedule to grab them as soon as they came to my local Walmart. When I got them home I immediately tried a spoonful of each. Let's break down each flavor.

Honey Buns:

This is the one I was honestly looking forward to the most. The ice cream consists of what tastes like a vanilla base with little donut pieces and a swirl of cinnamon sugar. This is the only one that I thought might be too sweet. The donut pieces are a little tougher than I expected, but are still good. The swirl has a surprising amount of nutmeg flavor and I love it.

4/5

Strawberry Shortcake Rolls:

Probably the best one here and a really solid ice cream. The vanilla base is perfectly complimented by a sharp strawberry creme swirl. The little pieces of shortcake are a great texture contrast. It is a surprisingly adult flavor, not too sweet at all.

5/5

 Zebra Cakes:

Again, I was really looking forward to this one, and it was honestly the most disappointing one here. Surprisingly bland with cake pieces and a little ribbon of chocolate. Honestly the one I am least likely to finish.

2.5/5

Oatmeal Creme Pies:

The only other disappointing one. Seems like it is just vanilla ice cream with cookie pieces, and there are not enough cookie pieces for it to just be that. The pieces are nice and chewy and soft, like you would expect.

3/5

Nutty Bars:

Pretty much rocky road. A vanilla base with peanut swirl and chocolate covered ice cream cone pieces. really solid. I wish it had more peanut in it, like a peanut butter ice cream base, but it's a really great expression of this snack as an ice cream.

4.5/5

Cosmic Brownies:

Another one that they just nailed! Chocolate ice cream, the iconic sprinkles, and brownie pieces. Surprisingly, it is not an overwhelmingly sweet ice cream. If you like cosmic brownies, this one will perfectly hit that itch.

4.5/5

Swiss Rolls:

Again, a solid chocolate ice cream. Not too sweet and really well balanced. The marshmallow swirl and cake pieces are a fantastic emulation of the snack cake. Marshmallow is not personally a preferred flavor of mine, but I cannot fault them on execution.

3.5/5

Altogether, a surprisingly great collection of ice creams for such a limited run event. I honestly hope they sell well enough to keep them going, or to encourage other manufactures to throw their hats into the ring. If you can find them, try them. I do not think you will be disappointed.

Apple Butter BBQ Sauce

One day my SO posted on twitter that she was missing one of her favorite meals from when she was in college: quesadillas with apple butter BBQ pulled pork. After doing a bit of research, I found that it really was just apple butter mixed with BBQ sauce and it tastes amazing with my delicious BBQ sauce.

Ingredients:

17oz bottle of Apple Butter

BBQ Sauce

Directions:

Mix together one recipe worth of BBQ sauce with one bottle of apple butter until smooth and evenly mixed. Enjoy!

Serving suggestion: works amazing with pulled pork.

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Food for Protesting

So things are going crazy in the States right now. Black Lives Matter and other groups are protesting the public lynching of George Floyd, one of hundreds of Black people to die at the hands of the police in the last decade.

If you are going out to support the protest, and you want to help provide some supplies, I am putting together a list of recipes that are easy to make in large quantities, easy to portion, and can be kept hot in a crock pot or similar for a long time.

Chickpea Curry

This is a vegan curry that is still plenty creamy and is quick and easy to make.

Chicken Tikka Masala

An easy to make crowd pleaser that is easy to sub out things like cream and yogurt with coconut cream and easily swapped out protein to make a vegan or vegetarian option.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Classic family favorite, keeps well, portions well, cheap and quick to make.

Bring water, milk, masks, snacks, anything you can to help. If you are white, be a shield, not a savior, be a partner, do not take control. 

If do not want to join the protests, for whatever reason, please consider donating to local bail funds and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Also, make sure you are registered to vote. Vote early, vote often.

Oatmeal Bread

Well, it certainly is crazy out there. Covid-19 has people panic buying, so I am going to go over how to make a couple of staple, in my opinion, products that seem to be flying off the shelves, starting with a loaf of my favorite oatmeal bread.

Ingredients:

Bread

365 gr bread flour
1 cup rolled oats (old fashioned oats)
2 tbsp butter or oil
1.5 tsp salt
4 tbsp honey
3 tsp instant yeast
1.25 cup warm milk*

Topping:

1 egg white**
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp rolled oats (old fashioned)

Directions:

I recommend using a stand mixer for this, it's a pretty loose dough that is hard to manipulate by hand.

Using the bread dough hook of your stand mixer, gently bring all of the bread ingredients together in the bowl of your stand mixer. Once everything is incorporated and a sticky, gluten-y mass has formed, knead on medium high speed for 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth.

Place the dough ball in a greased bowl and allow to rise for 1 hour. It should nearly double in size.

After an hour remove the dough and press it out into small (6"x8") sheet before rolling it into a log. The easiest way is to fold the upper corners in and then roll it into a log. Place in a greased loaf tin and allow to rise for 1.5 hrs or until it rises about an inch above the tin.

When the loaf is nearly ready, preheat the oven to 350.

Before placing your loaf in the oven, whip the egg white with the water and brush over the top before sprinkling on the rolled oats.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the internal temp reads 190. If the top browns too quickly, cover with tin foil to prevent burning.

Turn it out on to a rack and cool completely before slicing.

*Putting the milk in warm helps the dough rise faster, a slower rise will yield more flavor, but you might need to adjust the amount of time you let it rest.

**I know that separating eggs is a bit of a pain, but a whole egg will brown quicker than just an egg white. This might fool you into thinking the bread is done too soon, which might ruin the loaf.

Cheddar Bicuits

Well, I gave you a recipe for biscuit mix, I guess I should give you something to make with it too! These cheesy cheddar biscuits are great by themselves or as a side with some good BBQ. This is a really simple recipe that is quick to whip up if you just need to add something to dinner.
Feel free to add other things to the dough like chives or green onion or even cooked bacon bits. This is really just a jumping off point.

Ingredients:

2 cups biscuit mix
½ lb cheddar cheese
½ c milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425.
Mix together the biscuit mix and the cheese before pouring in the milk and kneading to form a stiff dough. Feel free to hold back some of the milk to keep the dough from getting too wet and sticky, you want to be able to work it without adding extra mix.
Roll out into ½ inch thick sheet and punch out 2 inch rounds and place "shoulder to shoulder" or gently touching each other on a lightly greased or lined baking sheet.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
Let cool for 10 minutes before enjoying with butter or with pork belly or your favorite BBQ

DIY Biscuit Mix

So awhile ago I inherited a treasure trove of recipes from my grandmother. It included a lot of things that can be made with Bisquick. A lot of them looked like they could be pretty fun to experiment with, but first I had to come up with my own baking mix. This is a modification of my own buttermilk biscuit recipe and, while it does need to be refrigerated, it can keep for two months if sealed and even longer in the freezer.

Ingredients:

500 gr AP flour
2 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
½ c buttermilk powder
½ c shortening, butter, or lard chilled and cut into cubes

Directions:

In a food processor combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk powder.
Pulse a few times to make sure everything is combined.
Add your choice of fat, one cube at a time, and pulse until incorporated before adding the next one.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two months.

National Junk Food Day

Today is National Junk Food Day! I cannot think of a recipe of mine that more represents the spirit of the day then my Grillswith. You start with a donut, fry it a little more, and add ice cream. Which is also appropriate because it is National Ice Cream Day! Two for one! I love it when a plan comes together.

Checkout my Grillswith recipe here. It is one of my most popular, and with good reason.