Two quickies – both were good! If you’re putting together a birthday party for the kids (or heck, who needs a party to eat these goodies?), these are easy to make.

Heath Bar Vanilla ice cream

I based my recipe on one from Alton Brown.

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
4 Heath bars (toffee coated in chocolate)

Heat the cream, milk, sugar, and vanilla bean on low heat, stirring frequently, until it reaches a gentle simmer (170F). Cool mixture in the refrigerator overnight. Freeze according to ice cream maker instructions. Using a meat mallet or hammer, break the candy bars (still in the wrappers) into small pieces. After the ice cream is at a soft-serve consistency, remove to a freezer container, stir in candy pieces, and freeze until hard.

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Earlier this week, I made brownies. I used the recipe here (a Hershey’s recipe) without modification, but I did use Penzeys cocoa. It makes a nice cake-like brownie without much of a crust.