Winning is good. Food is great. Winning food totally rocks! That's one of the awesome benefits of being a member of the
Foodie Blogroll. They have contests and giveaways every month for members. It simply requires checking in every now and again...perhaps following a link and checking out a product that has been donated for a giveaway...leaving a comment on the forum...updating your profile...simple stuff that as foodies we would probably do without thinking twice on any given day. Well, by simply commenting I won two jars of eyes-rolling-back-in-your-head-bliss! That would be goat's milk caramel...otherwise known as cajeta. Now, I was first introduced to cajeta by
Mexi...it's something he grew up spreading on bread, or just eating from a spoon as a treat....or sandwiched between to wafers. Oh man, it's good stuff.
Fat Toad Farm is a small family-run goat dairy located in the hills of Central Vermont that produces both goat's milk caramel and goat cheese...ahhhh, that must be a little slice of heaven, doncha think!? They make
"small-scale artisanal batches...spend hours hand stirring our caramel and labeling and packaging" it. The
ONLY bad part was having to choose only 2 of their 4 varieties of cajeta. Since I'd only ever had
original before, I went with the
cinnamon and
vanilla bean varieties...they also have
coffee bean. Guess I'll have to actually order some of that on my own.
Which I will, cuz the others rocked my world! A word of warning- you may want to hide a jar in a cupboard that only you know about. Otherwise you'll have to share.
Okay, in order stop myself from just eating both jars just like this
which is far easier to do than you might think...
...I decided that I should eat it with ice cream. Oh ho-lee mother, it is the perfect ice cream accompaniment. I even sautéed up some chunked apples in butter and then mixed some cinnamon cajeta in...too good to even stop to photograph. Seriously. But what I was really craving was some Fried Ice Cream. I haven't had it in ages! I used to order it from a local Mexican restaurant for dessert all the time...only drizzled with honey,
which I totally love drizzled on ice cream, btw. As I started thinking about it, I knew I
HAD to have it! I asked
Mexi if he had ever heard of fried ice cream...and just as I expected, he had not. I figured it wasn't
actually a Mexican dessert...just something our restaurant likes to pass off as one. No matter, though...that cold delicious ball of ice cream surrounded by a hot, crunchy layer is good no matter its origins. It was something you could order drizzled with honey, chocolate, or caramel sauce. As I said, I always ordered honey. Always. But if they had served it with actual CAJETA, I may have had a whole different ordering scheme!
Now, on to the actual
making of the fried ice cream. I'd never actually made it at home, but how hard could it be? Turns out, not that hard.
Fried Ice Cream w/ Fat Toad Farm's Cinnamon Cajeta
from the kitchen of girlichef
Vanilla Ice Cream
Corn Flakes
Cinnamon
Sugar
egg, beaten
oil, for frying
Fat Toad Farm Cinnamon Cajeta
Make a big ball of ice cream...as big as you want. Wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze for a few hours, until very hard.
Pour enough oil into a deep pot, enough to deep-fry the ball of ice cream that you made. Heat it until it's very hot...maybe 350°-375° F.
While the oil is heating, pour a bunch of corn flakes into a gallon-sized baggy...enough to fill it ~1/3 of the way. Pour in some cinnamon and some sugar. Zip it closed and crush it up finely with a rolling pin (roll it back and forth until it is a pretty fine crumb).
Drop the hard ice cream ball into the baggy and press the mixture onto the outside. Transfer it to the beaten egg and roll around to coat. Place it back into the baggy, packing the corn flake crumbs onto the outside of the ball until VERY well coated.
Drop immediately (and carefully) into the hot oil and move it around a bit with a large, slotted spoon/skimmer. This all happens very, very quickly. Pull it back and serve immediately...drizzled with a lot of Cinnamon Cajeta! Fry up a flour tortilla in advance to use as an edible bowl if you so desire...which I did. So desire.
Not to sound all school yard bullyish...but, TRY THIS OR ELSE! I mean honestly, if you've never eaten fried ice cream...you're totally missing out. You should totally also join the Foodie Blogroll...so you can win cool prizes like this. Or not...that just means more chances for me...and I like more chances to win. Because after all, winning food totally rocks, right? Right.
*I won this product through Foodie Blogroll and was sent my prize for free from Fat Toad Farms, I reviewed it because I enjoyed it so much, not because I was compensated or under any obligation.
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