Top Chef Just Desserts is back for its second season. I didn’t watch the first season and I should be cutting back on sugar, but I’m going to see how this week goes.
For dinner, I tried my new cookbook, The 4 Ingredient Vegan by Maribeth Abrams. I made tempeh BBQ: tempeh, onion, green pepper & BBQ sauce. It’s four ingredients, so this is not going to be complex, but it was tasty and super easy. I served it with corn on the cob and Walnut-Crusted Artichoke Hearts. The artichoke hearts didn’t go so well.They tasted fine, but they look nothing like the picture. I’m not very good with frying (that’s probably a good thing!)
Now on to the star of the meal:
Oreo Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwich with Chocolate Milk
from Just Dessert season one chef Morgan Wilson
Chocolate Milk:
- 2 cups So Delicious coconut Milk
- 1 cup Coconut Creamer
- 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Peppermint Schnapps (optional)
- Rice Whip (optional)
Oreo Cookie Sandwich:
- 1 package chocolate sandwich cookies (approximately 32 cookies)
- 1 cup semi-sweet Chocolate chips
- Purely Decadent Mint Chip Ice cream
Mint Syrup:
- 4-6 sprigs of Fresh Mint
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1/3 cup Water
- 2 tbsp. Corn Syrup
- 1 tbsp Grapeseed Oil
Directions
Chocolate Milk:
1. Put coconut milk and creamer into high speed blender. Melt chocolate to completely fluid (adding some of the milk to the melting chocolate makes it a little easier to blend) and pour into dairy with the blender running. Blend on high speed until mixture is homogenous. Strain and reserve.
Oreo Cookie Sandwich:
1. Pulse the cookies in a food processor until a course crumb is all that remains. With the processor running pour the melted chocolate in and run until a dough is formed.
2. Roll the dough out to 1/8” thick and freeze. Cut into rounds slightly larger than your ice cream scoop.
3. Scoop the Purely Decadent ice cream onto one disc of the cookie dough and press it down with another disc. Reserve the assembled sandwiches in the freezer until needed for service.
Mint Syrup:
1. Blanch and shock the fresh mint in boiling water and then in ice water to set the color. Strain the water off of the mint and squeeze as dry as possible. Place the mint pulp into a high speed blender.
2. Cook the sugar and water to 240F (soft ball stage) and pour into the blender over the mint. Turn the blender on and blend on high until all is pureed. Blend in the corn syrup and oil. Strain through a fine mesh strainer and reserve for service.
Assembly:
1. Pour milk and a shot of peppermint schnapps into a glass and dollop of rice whip to the top. Drizzle some of the mint syrup over the cream and into the milk. Place a desired quantity of ice cream cookies on the plate and drizzle a bit of the mint syrup around. Enjoy!
Oh my goodness, these pastry chefs are insane!! The things they can do with sugar. And without the huge focus on meat like the regular Top Chef, I bet a vegan chef could compete on this show.
