This was the beginning of it all. Way back in middle school, before I realized how much I really did like cooking, I made blueberry scones for a class project. I've never been the same since. 

Perfecting a recipe is kind of tedious. You make a little change here, a little change there, hope you can remember how the final product differed, and start all over again. I don't do this. I usually tweak in large ways, for example, replacing blueberries with cut up dried mango and adding cayenne and lime. But I have decided that in my lifetime I will perfect this recipe. 

I don't even particularly like blueberries that much. Fresh ones, that is. But put them in the right baked good and they can be divine. 

These scones were not that 'right baked good.' My tweaks in seeking perfection backfired (I'm going to blame it on the altitude). I tried adding egg whites, which, to me at least, drastically changed the flavor, especially since I always decrease the amount of sugar. Also, I sort of managed to fill the oven with smoke (again, blaming the altitude and its ability to mess with proportions). 

But, since I am basically Martha Stewart, I managed to salvage the scones. A little quick thinking, some open windows and a pathological need to not fail saved the day. I've made better, but these are definitely still worth eating. Or scarfing. Whichever eating method you prefer. 

That's right; I'm hopping on the summer blogging bandwagon. This is just the first of what I hope will be many, many, posts about ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet. 


I reclaimed an old ice cream machine from the give-away pile and got to work. 

If there is one flavor I love almost more than any other, it's coffee. So naturally my first ice cream would be of the coffee variety. And I say variety because I added a little crunch in the form of almonds and chocolate chips. 

A lot goes into making ice cream. At least, it was a lot more than I thought it was. First I brewed a small, strong dose of french press coffee since I don't have an espresso machine. Then I threw that in a sauce pan with some whole milk and heavy cream and let it boil. Then I added the secret ingredient. Or at least, the ingredient I was surprised to see in so many recipes: egg yolks.  

I was trying to make ice cream, not frozen custard! But it is my understanding that the egg yolks are what make a good ice cream especially creamy, so I met myself in the middle and added four yolks. (Some recipes call for up to 12...or some other ridiculous number.) First I added a little bit of the hot liquid to the yolks, then added that mixture back to the original. 

You then simmer this liquid down until it ambiguously 'coats the back of the spoon.' Or reaches a certain temperature. I am still without a thermometer, so I had to take the less accurate route. After reaching what I hoped was the coating stage, I cooled the liquid for two hours. 

Then the magic happened. The magic that is facilitated by the world's tackiest kitchen appliance. I poured in my not-quite-cold-enough liquid and waited for the pre-frozen metal cylinder to go to work. Now, the box says that you only need to crank the handle once every 2-3 minutes and that in 20 minutes you'll have ice cream. Let's just say that I am impatient, probably spun it more than I should have, and it took closer to 40. 

Once it reached a decent frozenness, I stirred my mixings into it, loaded it into a tupperware and stuck it in the freezer. 

The next day I had ice cream. Hard as a rock ice cream. I think the water content in the coffee changed the consistency of the ice cream, because it was less creamy and more crystalline. I also may not have boiled it down enough. But once it softens a bit, it's just as tasty and satisfying as ice cream should be. So, summer, bring it on. 

I decided to make tortillas on Wednesday for three reasons: It was Cinco de Mayo, I hadn't posted anything in a while, and it was the last day of classes ever in my undergraduate career. 


I've been making tortillas for a little over a year now. My theoretical recipe is lifted from the Food Network site and has an approx. ratio of 3:1:1/3. It's easy to remember- 3 cups of flour, one cup water and 1/3 cup oil. You mix them all together, let the dough sit for 30 min, then roll and palm it as flat as you can. 


Whenever I've made tortillas before they always end up too thick and too chewy. So this time I decided to try a little something different. I used three different kinds of flours: blue corn meal, whole wheat, and an unbleached all-purpose. 

I knew the coarse grind of the corn meal would help break up the gluten development of the other flours, which would help ease them into flatter tortillas. 

The whole wheat was used for its coarse grain and health benefits. 

To the three flours I added about one cup water, into which I dissolved some salt; this was not enough to evenly moisten them, so I added a few tablespoons of milk. 

After the milk I added the oil. This time I used olive oil, which I have never tried before, usually I just use vegetable. 1/3 cup was a little too much oil this time, I think because of the milk addition, but it wasn't really a problem.

After letting it sit I dumped it onto my Roll-Pat, began tearing chunks off of it and, using my extensive Play-Doh skills, managed to make about a dozen flat rounds. While doing this I had the skillet already heating on the stove, since these cook the best on immediate and high heat. If you're going to try this yourself, I recommend flattening a few before going back and cooking one, since giving each tortilla a little time to relax helps it stay nice and thin. The pan doesn't need to be oiled because of the oil already in the tortilla. They should unstick themselves after a few seconds, making it extremely easy to utilise any flipping skills you may possess. 

These were definitely the best tortillas I have made to date, but they still have kinks I'll be spending the rest of my life working out. The blue corn definitely helped the overall texture and the olive oil added some flavour. 


If you're going to try and make these yourself, just know that they will not be anything like store bought tortillas. They are chewier, dense and in no way the uniform circles that machines produce. But they are a fun project and a versatile food. Not to mention the fact that from tortillas you get tortilla chips...and it is guacamole season. 


-Bizzle