Impossibly Light Pineapple Whip

Perfect Pairing:  Favorite frozen fruit

I am an adult Disney fan and proud of it.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t wear Mickey ears (I may proudly wear a vintage Mickey t-shirt to bed) and I don’t wait in lines to meet characters, but I unabashedly love Disney World.  Every time I am there I truly feel like I am in the happiest place on earth.  They just do everything right!  It is magical.

I was lucky enough to go to Disney twice in 2014.  No complaints here!  The first trip was with my parents in March inspired by a free hotel stay. Then in July I had an incredible trip with my parents, brother and his family (including two little girls), and his in-laws.  I wrote about that trip in this post. 

I have some must-dos at each park, especially at Magic Kingdom.  I run a tight schedule.  I wore my parents out!  My fitbit told me I was averaging about 25,000 steps per day.  Most of the requirements are the attractions like Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Small World, etc. but there are also some mandatory food stops.  While I am on the subject, the dining at Disney is pretty incredible.  One of the best meals I have ever had was at Canada at Epcot.  Back to the Magic Kingdom and required snacks.  One is a Mickey shaped rice krispy treat with the ears dipped in chocolate.  They make me so happy.  The other one is the Dole Pineapple Whip sold at Aloha Isle in Adventureland.

Apparently the Dole whip is only sold at Disney and at the Dole pineapple plantation in Hawaii.  Honeymoon stop??  It is a pineapple flavored ice cream concoction that you can eat solo, mixed with vanilla soft serve, or topped with pineapple juice.  It is unbelievably tasty.  When I was at Disney in March I was pretty darn bummed that the line was REALLY long and I didn’t have enough time to wait.  Remember, I was on a tight schedule.  I made it a priority when I was back in July.  It did not disappoint!

When I got home I was determined to try to make something similar.  I finally came up with an incredible substitute.  Not only is it light and delicious it is ridiculously easy and healthy. 

A bag of frozen pineapple chunks are whirred in a food processor until broken down into tiny pieces.  This will make a REALLY loud noise and will rock the processor violently.  Stick with it and it will settle down.  Then you add a single egg white and some honey for sweetness and it turns into this unbelievably light pineapple whip.

Of course, I have to add a disclaimer about raw egg whites.  Be sure to use pasteurized eggs and if you are squeamish about it, avoid the recipe.   I will let you do your own research on the egg white issue.

I have also done this same method using mixed berries and it was equally delicious. 

Guilt free, refreshing, and so so tasty. 

One year ago on Perfecting the Pairing:  Slow Cooker Calico Bean Bake

Two years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Turkey Meatball Sandwiches

Three years ago on Perfecting the Pairing:  Thai Chicken Pasta

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Chocolate Sauce

Perfect Pairing:  Oreo Ice Cream Pie

This chocolate sauce is so easy to make and it is about 100x better than the store-bought version.  My family has been making this for years.  The original recipe card (that we still use) was written on a typewriter.  I believe the original came from my Grandma Rosie.  Who, by the way, was also the originator of Grandma Rosie’s Ice Cream Dessert.  The perfect pairing on that post was chocolate sauce.  They are a great combo.

Over Christmas I needed to make a dessert to serve a large group of people.  I wanted to find something I could do in advance.  I decided to make Oreo Ice Cream Pies.  They are not fancy, but they are really tasty.  They do get fancied up a bit when you drizzle on the homemade chocolate sauce. 

There is no recipe for these pies.  I started with pre-made Oreo crusts, a few half gallons of ice cream in various flavors, and Oreos.  

I used one crust for each half gallon of ice cream.  I let the ice cream sit out to soften a bit.  Once the ice cream starts to soften I transferred it to a large bowl and stirred with a wooden spoon until it was spreadable, but not melted.   

Half of the ice cream went into the pie shell, then that was topped with a handful (okay, maybe two handfuls) of chopped Oreos, another layer of ice cream, and then a few Oreos on top for good measure.  Then back to the freezer.  Dessert for 20+ people in just a few minutes!

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Nutella Crunch Ice Cream Cake

Perfect Pairing:  Freezer Space

When I saw this cake on Foodgawker I knew I had to make it.  There are only three ingredients, vanilla ice cream, rice krispies, and nutella.  These are all very good things.  It kind of reminded me of everyone’s favorite Lake House Brownies.

I followed this recipe from Family Feast exactly, down to chilling the bowls and pan.  They give great instructions.  It takes up quite a bit of freezer space, but it is worth making the room.  They recommend letting the finished product freeze for 4-6 hours or overnight.  I believe I took it out around 4 hours and it was a little soft.  It would have been fine to eat right away but I wanted to take pictures.  This ended up being quite the scene. 

I removed the dessert from the springform pan and placed it on the pedestal I had picked out for the pictures.  It looked lovely!  Maybe a little soft, but I would make it work.  Plan A was to put it on the counter and stand above it on a chair.

Well the lighting was all off and it clearly was not going to work.  It was also melting very fast.  I knew I needed to hurry.  In my rush to jump off the chair I sustained an injury.  This particular chair has sharp metal corners.  I had spent the day by the lake so I was in my swimsuit and a skirt.  The sharp metal corner got me in the back of my leg right by the, uh…. Tush.  I don’t often swear but man I wanted to at that moment.  Grandma Rosie was right there so that was not going to happen.  Once I stopped seeing stars I carried the cake into a different room with better light.  Annnnd dripped the entire way.

OK, the dessert was in good light and I started snapping away.  It kept dripping. 

I finally got a somewhat decent picture and quickly got the whole thing back in the freezer.  The next day when it came out of the freezer it was the perfect consistency and sliced beautifully.  Also, it was absolutely delicious.  How could it not be amazing?  Totally worth the embarrassing injury and messy floor.

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Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Perfect Pairing:  Last rhubarb of the season

There are not many desserts you can make with a vegetable.  Rhubarb is such a funny ingredient.  The raw form is anything but tasty, but once it is cooked with some sugar?  Amazing. 

During my childhood we had rhubarb growing in the backyard.  My dad kept a keen eye on its process and as soon as there was enough for a pie he would bring it to my mom.  His favorite thing in the world is rhubarb cream pie.  In fact, about 30 years ago my mom decided to start up her own business with Longaberger.  She needed a few hundred dollars for her start-up kit and asked my dad if they could spare the extra money.  He jokingly said he would lend it to her, but would charge interest of two rhubarb cream pies.  I am sure he would have said yes no matter what, but was serious about the pies.  It ended up being a very good investment on his part as my mom is still with Longaberger today!  I plan on making my dad a rhubarb cream pie this weekend for Father’s Day.  If you are looking for some manly recipes, check out last year’s Father’s Day post.

On a recent trip to the grocery store I saw a huge display of rhubarb.  I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but bought a bunch since I knew it was going to be going out of season soon.  I decided to make a quick dessert with rhubarb’s perfect pairing, strawberries.  This Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp is so simple and delicious.  I used orange zest and juice to give it some freshness; it also helps to balance the sugar.  The topping is pretty standard, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts.  Of course this is best served warm with vanilla ice cream! 

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Brown Sugar Pear Sauce

Perfect Pairing:  Sandwiches and Ice Cream

Oh man, this sauce.  It is good, really good.  How can you go wrong with brown sugar, pears, and rum?  You can’t.  It is fantastic on all sorts of things, including a spoon.

I made grilled sandwiches with roasted turkey, brie, and the pear sauce.  I pulled the pears out of the sauce with a fork before layering them on the sandwiches so that I did not have a complete mess.  A good amount of the sauce clings to the pears but you could also drizzle a little extra over the top if you are feeling... saucy.

So good.

My mom served the sauce on ice cream.  She poured the warm pear sauce over good vanilla ice cream and topped the whole thing off with a few salted pecans.  Yep, that works too.

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Chocolate Cobbler

Perfect Pairing:  Vanilla Ice Cream

One of the most popular desserts in restaurants is the delicious chocolate lava cake.  The first time I ever heard about it was years ago when my parents came back from a trip to France with some friends.  The entire group raved about the chocolate dessert they had at a restaurant in Paris.  So I remember it was a really big deal to find it on a dessert menu here in the states.  Now it seems like it is a staple.  Even though it no longer has the same exotic appeal, it is usually pretty outstanding.

I tried to make a version at home a few years ago and I can’t say it was a complete success.  I overcooked the individual desserts so there really was not much of a lava flow.  Overall they were kind of a disappointment.

I ran across this chocolate cobbler recipe last summer and tried it out for some family.  It was a hit!  I thought it was very similar to the chocolate lava dessert.  The top of the cobbler forms a crust but underneath is the “lava” portion.   The best part is that it is so much easier to make than individual lava cakes!

The Perfect Pairing for this recipe is vanilla ice cream.  You can’t beat that combination!

 

The recipe can be found here.

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Blueberry Crisp

Perfect Pairing: Vanilla ice cream

This is officially my new favorite dessert…. to eat and make!   There is nothing exceedingly fancy or sophisticated about this blueberry crisp but it is so tasty and very easy to make.  I adapted a recipe that was recently featured in Cooking Light magazine.  I added some lemon zest to the berries, removed the walnuts, decreased the salt, increased the cinnamon and doubled the amount of oatmeal.  All of these changes are noted below.

The blueberries are tossed with corn starch, vanilla, brown sugar and lemon zest.  They are topped with a combination of flour, cornmeal (adds a nice crunch), brown sugar, cinnamon, butter and oatmeal.  The oatmeal portion is combined in a food processor which makes it a piece of cake, er crisp, to put together but it chops up the oatmeal more than I would like.  I like to sprinkle some whole old fashioned oats on top right before it goes in the oven so you still see the oats.

The Perfect Pairing for this crisp is nothing original but it is a necessity.  This blueberry crisp is best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.  Enough said.

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Grandma Rosie’s Ice Cream Dessert

Perfect Pairing:  Chocolate sauce

This dessert is great to make in advance and keep in your freezer until you are ready to serve it.  The only problem with that is you have to find space for a 9x13 dish in your freezer.  That can be a challenge for some people.  Not me, I never have that problem (insert sarcasm).  I definitely did not inherit that problem from my mother.  Thanks mom.

My grandma, Rosie, has been making this dessert for at least 25 years.  It obviously had a different name at one time but no one remembers what that was.  We just call it the Grandma Rosie’s Ice Cream Dessert and everyone knows what you mean.   It is a combination of a sweet and crunchy top and bottom with vanilla ice cream in the middle.  The crunchy part is made right in the 9x13 and cooked in a low oven until golden brown.  After the mixture has cooled half is removed and set aside to be used on top.  The trick is in the ice cream.  You have to buy the old school ice cream that comes in a box.  You unfold the box around the ice cream, cut it into 1 inch pieces and layer over the crunchy mixture.  We always use light ice cream.

The Perfect Pairing for this recipe is chocolate sauce.  The dessert is great on its own but it is so much better with a drizzle of chocolate sauce.  Go figure.

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