Andy Kryza of Thrillist realized that because Ben & Jerry's brand cookie dough ice cream is wonderful as ice cream, there would be a good chance that it would make great cookies as well.
He made small balls of cookie dough from the cookie dough ice cream, which he reports baked pretty well. But it's not necessarily a good idea:
It's essentially the same as the minis, but less flat and way more flavorful. If somebody said this was made with store-bought dough, I'd absolutely believe it, then laugh and inform them that most store-bought dough doesn't cost $4 per cookie. Then I'd patiently listen as they scolded me for wasting money and ice cream.
California Donuts in Los Angeles makes a lot more than just glazed donuts. The shop is filled with pastry wonders that will make you slobber all over your computer monitor, such as this donut with a whole Snickers candy bar baked inside. Other donuts feature popular kids' cereals as toppings.
Buzzfeed collected 30 recipe guestimates for food favorites from popular restaurant chains. Sometimes these approximations taste close enough to the real thing to satisfy cravings. Even if one tries the copycat recipe and feels that it's a bit off, it's a great starting point from which to add or subtract ingredients and try again. Practice makes perfect... and something tells me even the practice runs of these dishes will be pretty tasty.
Below is the recipe of the dipping sauce for Outback's Bloomin' Onion, which originated on the Domestic Superhero blog. See the full Buzzfeed article for all 30 recipes.
Image: Domestic Superhero
Copycat Outback Bloom Sauce
Ingredients
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used reduced fat)
2 TBS creamy horseradish
1 TBS ketchup
1/3 tsp paprika
1/3 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
Instructions
In a bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Cover and put in the fridge for at least 3 hours to let flavors meld.
Stay-at-home dad and pancake revolutionary Nathan Shields of Saipancakes (previously at Neatorama) is back with these zombie pancakes, just in time for Halloween. He's also made a video that gives us mere mortal pancake makers insight on how to make these culinary creations. Brain eating, walking corpses have never been so delicious (or better paired with bacon). Via Laughing Squid
Neato's own Miss Cellania wrote this delicious piece for Mental Floss entitled French Fries Around the World. The more examples I read, the hungrier I became. French fries are probably up there in my top five favorite foods. I don't meet many fries that I wouldn't go home with.
Aside from Canada's poor fries that are drowning in a sea of creepy brown gunk, I'm all for every kind of fry mentioned in the article. My favorite way to eat french fries is definitely how they serve them in Britain. The last time I was in London, I ate at fish and chip shops just for the chips. I love them with a generous amount of malt vinegar on top. What french fries on the list sound best to you?
Amy of the food blog Oh, Bite It! has a great idea for dinner tonight. Her grilled cheese sandwiches are perfect for an elegant evening. To make one, first defrost 5 frozen taquitos. Line them up on a griddle and pour a beaten egg over them. Then add a slice of cheese-like food product over it. Cook an identical platform of 5 more taquitos and combine the two halves.
A Jack and Coke is a cocktail consisting of Coca-Cola and Jack Daniel's brand whiskey. Amy, the food blogger who we last saw making deep fried tequila shots, found a way to turn this sweet cocktail into a delicious pie.
The dark chocolate filling consists of bittersweet chocolate, cocoa, Coke, and whiskey. The syrup on top is a mixture of caramel sauce and more whiskey. It looks amazing! I suggest pairing it with a Jack and Coke.
It's fall, so it's time to have a Pumpkin Spice Latte--a drink that Starbucks offers only during this time of year. But you can do more with it than just drink it. Properly prepared, it's an entire meal.
Amy runs Oh, Bite It!, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite food blogs. She's been redefining what can be deep fried. You may remember that she successfully deep fried tequila shots. Now she's turned her mind to deep frying this caffeinated treat.
Her deep fried Pumpkin Spice Latte consists of pound cake soaked in Pumpkin Spice Latte, then deep fried. So it's quite simple. She suggests coating the cake bits with powdered sugar or whipped cream.
Maple leaves are more than just a national symbol of Canada. In Osaka, Japan, they're a snack. Brian Ashcraft describes them at Kotaku. People collect fallen maple leaves, then preserve them in salt for more than a year. Cooks then fry them in a sweet batter for about 20 minutes to produce a pretty and tasty treat.
Between the vine and the liquor store, plenty of secrets are submerged in your favorite bottle of vino. Here the author of Black Lane Wineries of Sonoma spills some of the best.
1. Digital eyes are everywhere in vineyards. Certain premium estates in Bordeaux and Napa are beginning to look a little more like an army base -or an Amazon.com warehouse. They’re using drones, optical scanners, and heat-sensing satellites to keep a digital eye on things. Some airborne drones collect data that helps winemakers decide on the optimal time to harvest and evaluate where they can use less fertilizer. Others rove through the vineyard rows, where they soon may be able to take over pruning. Of course, these are major investments. At $68,000 a pop, the Scancopter 450 is about twice as costly as a 1941 Inglenook Cabernet Sauvignon!
2. There are also lots of cow skulls. They’re not everywhere, but biodynamic farming techniques are on the rise among vintners who don’t want to rely on chemicals, and this is one trick they’ve been known to use to combat plant diseases and improve soil PH. It’s called Preparation no. 505, and it involves taking a cow’s skull (or a sheep’s or a goat’s), stuffing it with finely ground oak chips, and burying it in a wet spot for a season or two before adding it to the vineyard compost.
3. Ferocious foliage is a vintners friend. The mustard flowers blooming between vineyard rows aren’t just for romance. Glucosinolates in plants like radishes and mustard give them their spicy bite, and through the wonders of organic chemistry, those glucosinolates also double as powerful pesticides. Winemakers use them to combat nematodes -tiny worms that can destroy grape crops.
Are these just on the secret menu? I doubt it. There's a wide array of wonderful foods served at McDonald's restaurants around the world that just aren't for sale in the United States. Jessica Misener of BuzzFeed rounded up 25 strange and wonderful dishes that are inspiring me to travel abroad.
Charles Phoenix is famous for his quirky, over-the-top recipes, such as Frosty the Cheeseball Man and the Cherpumple. Now he brings us his Six-Layer Milk Soaked Cereal Cake with Frosted Flake Frosting! Different layers contain Apple Jacks, Trix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cap’n Crunch, Froot Loops, and Coco Puffs, embedded in different flavors of cake batter. And then there’s the frosting. Just looking at it, I feel the need for a quick dose of insulin. Get the complete recipe at Phoenix’s site. -via Blazenfluff
A few months ago, the Canadian pizzeria chain Boston Pizza hosted a contest which invited customers to vote on an outrageous pizza innovation that it could make. Among them was a pizza cake. I'm fairly sure that the pizza cake image shown on the contest page was actually a photoshop.
This cake, however, is real. Shawn Syphus of Pillsbury set her wits to work designing and constructing this marvel of dough, cheese, tomato sauce, and pepperoni. It is a complex build that requires a 6-inch deep cake pan. But it looks quite do-able and certainly worth the effort. I mean, it's a pizza cake! The opportunity is easily worth the effort.
Danish musician and pepper enthusiast Chili Klaus (Claus Pilgaard) talked his friend, singer Michael Caroe, into eating a Dorset Naga ghost chili pepper, which can register a million Scoville units. Then they perform the song "My Way," or try to, while fighting back the tears.
Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew When I bit off more than I could chew But through it all, when there was doubt I ate it up and spit it out I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way
That particular verse is so appropriate, but they didn’t spit it out. The rest of us would have been running to the nearest fire hydrant. -via Buzzfeed
Singaporean mother Li Ming is a master artist in the kitchen. She started developing her craft to entertain her sons. Now she makes wonders that are no doubt tasty--if you can bring yourself to bite into one of these works of art.
(Photos: Andy Kryza)
Maple bacon peanut butter and jelly
Fruit Loops
