Caramel Pumpkin Sauce for fall

In the fall, I feel that pumpkin should be put in everything. This sauce is no exception. Pumpkin caramel is soft, gooey, and great anytime you need to put a sweet sauce on anything. The incredible pumpkin flavor is accomplished simply with pumpkin puree!

Making caramel can be daunting because it is a tedious process, but I promise with following all the instructions; this recipe will go smoothly! 

Ingredients Needed

• Granulated Sugar: This is the base of the caramel – no substitutions
• Unsalted Butter: Sliced into tablespoons so it melts easier
• Heavy Whipping Cream: No substitutions!
• Pumpkin puree: Not pumpkin pie mix!
• Pumpkin pie spice: To give those warm flavors for fall
• Salt: Put a little extra salt aside if you want to have “salted” pumpkin caramel. 

How to make Pumpkin Sauce

• Place sugar in a sauce pan over medium low heat.
• As the sugar warms it will clump. Do not walk away from the stove!
• The clumped sugar will continue to heat, melting into a liquid that is amber in color.
• Continue melting until all the sugar has melted into liquid, stirring occasionally but being careful not to splash sugar up the sides of the pan.
• Once the sugar is all amber in color, add the butter and cream and stir until smooth.
• Remove from heat and stir in spices, pumpkin, vanilla, and salt.
• Pour the caramel carefully into a jar and let cool to room temperature.

Easy Homemade Chocolate Sauce

Have you ever thought about making your own chocolate sauce? You may be wondering why make a homemade chocolate sauce recipe- like, isn’t this the same thing as hot fudge?

Hot fudge has a rich, thick, and chocolatey flavor similar to this chocolate sauce recipe, but it’s the texture and process that makes the difference. Hot fudge needs to be reheated every time you use it because it hardens up.

That’s why I made this easy chocolate syrup! You still get the delicious flavor and use of hot fudge but without the extra steps of warming it up and letting it cool: This homemade chocolate sauce is ready whenever you are. 

You can pour it over ice cream, or in milk for a hot chocolate or my favorite, an iced mocha coffee. You’re going to love the endless uses of this one easy recipe. 

Ingredients Needed

• Cocoa powder: You’ll need half a cup of unsweetened cocoa powder – you can use regular or Dutch process.
• Water: if you want a creamier and thicker chocolate sauce, use milk or coffee creamer instead of water.
• Sugar: granulated sugar sweetens the chocolate syrup.
• Vanilla: I’m using a half teaspoon of vanilla extract to give the syrup tons more flavor.

How to make chocolate sauce

1. Whisk together all ingredients in a small saucepan and boil over medium-low heat; cocoa, water, sugar, and salt. 
2. Mix until the mixture is thick and the cocoa has completely dissolved.  
3. Remove the mixture from the heat and add your vanilla.
4. Pour the melted mixture into a jar or covered container. 
5. Cool at room temperature, then cover and store in the refrigerator.

Ingredients Needed

• Heavy whipping cream: You can substitute 2 containers of Cool Whip for the heavy cream.
• Sweetened condensed milk: I like to use fat-free sweetened condensed milk for this recipe but you can use regular as well. Just make sure it’s not evaporated milk, the cans look so similar! 
• Cake batter extract: for some extra cake batter flavor or use a teaspoon vanilla extract for a simple ice cream. 
• Sprinkles: rainbow jimmies sprinkles for some colorful fun
• Sprinkle Cookies: totally optional but if you want to use this cake batter ice cream as an ice cream base for cookie sandwiches. You can bake your cookies using my easy recipe or use store-bought!

How to make cake batter ice cream

1. Beat heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form and set aside.
2. Place the sweetened condensed milk in a large bowl. 
3. Stir in the cake batter extract 
4. Fold in the whipped cream and the rainbow sprinkles.
5. Place the ice cream mixture in an airtight container.  
6. Freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Cake Batter Magic Shell

Ready for a lazy day in the kitchen? My regular readers know that I’m all about easy, delicious recipes. Even though this white chocolate magic shell sounds complicated, trust me, this DIY magic shell recipe is easier than you think. 

It’s incredibly easy to make and makes a LOT. The magic shell mixture lasts a while on your counter too, so it’s perfect to have around this summer for the hot ice cream eating days. 

Ingredients Needed

• Oil: Traditionally, coconut oil is used in the making of homemade magic shell but you can also use vegetable oil.
• Chocolate: use your favorite white chocolate chips to melt with the oil to create the magic shell mixture. 
• Cake Extract: I’m using a few drops of cake batter extract for our desired flavor but you can swap this for cake mix instead! 
• Ice cream toppings: chocolate chips, peanut butter, chocolate sauce, or sprinkles. The list can go on so I’ll leave it up to you to decide! I wanted to keep the fun cake theme going, so I used rainbow sprinkles. 

How to make magic shell

1. Melt white chocolate chips and oil in a microwave-safe bowl
2. Whisk in cake batter extract
3. Cool the mixture 
4. Stir in sprinkles and transfer to a jar

Ice Cream Cake with Brownies

I love ice cream cakes but this one? It’s a decadent dream come true! This brownie ice cream cake is has brownies, ice cream, Cool Whip, and sprinkles!

It has lots of steps, but luckily they’re all easy to follow. And don’t worry, I’ll guide you through it. And since we’re using a brownie mix as the cake, this process just got much quicker. 

It starts with your favorite ice cream flavor from the grocery store (I used vanilla) or you could make your ice cream from scratch with my no-churn ice cream recipes. Then I made brownies in cake pans to make my layer cake! This is the PERFECT cake recipe when you have a brownie lover in your house.

What is Moose Tracks Ice Cream?

If you’ve wandered by the Walmart ice cream section, maybe you’ve seen Moose Track Ice Cream – this is my homemade copycat version, and it’s so easy to make.

It’s a vanilla ice cream with chocolate peanut butter cups and ribbons of fudge sauce mixed in. It was first developed by a company called Denali Flavors, but other brands have their versions. Blue Bell has a version called Happy Tracks which is basically the same thing.

What’s in Moose Tracks Ice Cream?

• Heavy whipping cream: This is to make the whipped cream. You can swap Cool Whip for a semi-homemade twist (see below) but you there is no substitute for heavy whipping cream for making the whipped cream.
• Sweetened condensed milk: Regular or fat free
• Mini Reese’s Cups: Or you can chop regular size ones.
• Warm hot fudge – I like to use Hershey’s Hot Fudge topping

How to Make Easy No Churn Ice Cream

1. Whip the cream in a large bowl with an electric mixer until it holds stiff peaks.
2. Carefully fold the sweetened condensed milk into the whipped cream. Fold in the peanut butter cups.
3. Pour the ice cream mixture into a 9×5” loaf pan. Drizzle the warm hot fudge over the top, and then use a butter knife to swirl it with the ice cream.
4. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and freeze the ice cream for five to six hours or until it’s firm.
5. When you scoop it into bowls, top it with a drizzle of warm hot fudge and a sprinkle of chopped peanuts!

No Churn Peanut Butter Brownie Ice Cream

Out of all of my no-churn ice cream recipes, this is the one that I find myself re-making. And it’s not only because it’s so easy to put together, all of my no-churn ice cream recipes are easy. That’s the beauty of homemade ice cream without a machine.

Surprisingly, I had some leftover brownies and was craving a cold dessert. And if you’re a regular reader here, then you know how much I love peanut butter. But I love chocolate peanut butter even more. There’s just something terrific about the two flavors when combined. 

That’s where this delicious peanut butter fudge ice cream comes in. A mind-blowing, drool-inspiring, machine-free ice cream. Serve it in a cone, a cup, or on top of a brownie with homemade chocolate sauce.

Ingredients

• Sweetened condensed milk: no need to add any sugar since this milk is sweet enough. I like to use the fat-free kind but use any kind you like. 
• Vanilla: vanilla extract adds an incredible depth of flavor to any sweet treat 
• Peanut butter: natural peanut butter should be okay once it’s fully mixed but I always use Skippy Naturals, which is more “natural” but is no-stir. 
• Cool Whip: regular, light, or fat-free. Or use freshly whipped cream. 
• Brownies: baked and cooled brownies. You can use a brownie mix or store-bought brownies for this. 

How to make peanut butter ice cream with brownies

1. Place the sweetened condensed milk in a large bowl 
2. Mix in the vanilla extract and peanut butter 
3. Fold in the Cool Whip and the brownie chunks
4. Cover the ice cream mixture in plastic wrap or place it in an airtight container 
5. Freeze for at least 4 hours or leave it overnight in the freezer. 

No Churn Ice Cream with Caramel Corn

If you’re like me and always want caramel corn, then you will obsess over this ice cream recipe. There’s caramel corn flavor in every bite! 

There’s something seriously so delicious about sweet and salty combinations but when you add caramel to the mix, it’s insanely addicting. Trust me when I say this caramel corn ice cream recipe will have you coming back for more.

We are actually adding one simple step that I don’t normally do in my no-churn ice cream recipes. We will infuse the caramel corn flavor into the milk for our ice cream base. But don’t worry, this process only takes about 5 minutes. 

Fun Banana Split Cupcakes

Who knew banana split and cupcakes could be such a perfect match? I just created the ultimate dessert mashup – banana split cupcakes!

This cupcake is my favorite banana cake recipe ever, the same one I made my Banana Cake with Caramel Filling from. Then I topped it with “ice cream” which is a generous scoop of vanilla frosting, drizzled with hot fudge (melted chocolate) and sprinkles and a red M&M cherry.