Daring Bakers: Flourless Chocolate Cake with Homemade Ice Cream

I wanted to start by saying that this will be my last post until I get home and get settled. I don't know about all of you, but I am a little disappointed with my recent posts. They have been extremely rushed and kind of boring. I want to get my blog back up and running and as soon as we get back to Germany (flying on Tuesday) and over the jetlag, I will start working on getting everything back on track. I really appreciate those of you who have continued to read and comment on my blog through these crazy months. It means a lot to me!

The February challenge for The Daring Bakers was a flourless chocolate cake and homemade ice cream. The cake consists of three ingredients; eggs, butter, and chocolate. I decided to use white chocolate and, with the advice of other DBers, cut the butter in half to compensate for the extra butter in white chocolate.

The cake was eh. Not good. Not horrible, but I will admit that it ended up in the trash. One serving and that was it. I'm sure it would've been better had I used real chocolate and had I been at home I would've tried again. Maybe I'll try it again in the future.

The ice cream on the other hand was a hit. I LOVE making ice cream. There were so many possiblilites running through my head and I just couldn't decide on one. So, I turned to my mom and made her choose. She decided on strawberry ice cream and I used a Ben & Jerry's recipe. It was so delicious!!! Believe me, the ice cream did not get thrown away!

I will share the pictures, but please know that I am disappointed by the cake. It really didn't turn out pretty at all. I only took the picture as proof of my failure - I mean, participation. :)

February Cheese of the Month

The cheese for February is one of my all time favorites: FETA! I love feta. It is soooooooo good! I was wanting to try something new and fancy with feta this month, but with being on vacation (is anyone sick of that excuse yet???) I just didn't have the time. I still wanted to participate, though, so I am sharing one of my favorite lunches. I know it is really simple, but I hope that it still counts!

My friend, Monica, made these Chicken Caesar Wraps for me a few years ago and they are so yummy. I love making these for lunch, or on really busy nights, as a quick dinner before running out. Load up on the feta... it is fantastic!

Chicken Caesar Wraps

Tortillas

Grilled Chicken Breast

Black Beans (warmed)

Tomatoes

Romaine

Black Olives

Feta

Newman's Own Creamy Ceasar Dressing

Warm chicken with dressing. Pile everything onto a tortilla and wrap up. ENJOY!

February Cookie Carnival

This months cookie selection was Chocolate Fudge Cookies with Tofee and Dried Cherries from Regan Daley. I love chocolate cookies, so I was excited about this selection. I don't care for toffee that much, though, so I knew that I was going to make some of these without the toffee.

I split the dough in half and added toffee to one half and just the dried cherries to the other. I really enjoyed the cookies without the toffee. The addition of the toffee was weird to me. Not just because I don't like toffee, but mostly because it just seemed to be too much going on.

I would make these cookies again (without toffee). They were fantastically delicious.

As always, thanks to Kate from The Clean Plate Club for hosting this wonderful group!

TWD: Caramel Crunch Bars

See? I promised I made this week's recipe! Whitney of What's Left on the Table chose Caramel Crunch Bars. These were phenomenal!!! I didn't think that I would like them because they have toffee on top and I am not much of a toffee fan, but I couldn't stop eating them. I think my mom actually scolded me for making these because she couldn't stop eating them either!

The bars start with a shortbread crust and are then topped with chocolate and toffee bits. Mmmmmmmm!!! Another no-fail recipe from Dorie. This woman may just be the baking queen!

(Don't judge my ability to write posts lately! Crazy life right now, but in a good way! The zoo was fun but now I am pooped!)

TWD: To be continued...

I did make this week's recipe and I have the pics to prove it. ;) But... I am taking the kiddos to the zoo right now and don't have time to upload the photos and write. So... I will try to get my post up when we get home from the zoo. :)