Cinnamon Ice Cream is a sweet, rich, vanilla custard ice cream spiced with enough cinnamon to linger after each bite.

Until about 10 years ago, I’d never even heard of cinnamon ice cream, but once a friend mentioned it, it was stuck in my mind and I had to try making it the very next morning.

I’ve been making this ice cream ever since, and it’s become a fall favorite for all of us. Topping a warm dish of peach cobbler with a scoop of cold cinnamon ice cream is such a perfect pairing, you simply have to try it!

And it’s every bit as amazing over an old fashioned apple crisp or this Christmas cranberry pie.

Custard Ice Cream

This is a custard ice cream with eggs requiring a few minutes at the stove and the patience to let the ice cream base chill before freezing. That said, it is worth it. Let me reiterate that just in case you missed it.

This ice cream is completely worth the extra effort.

Cinnamon Ice Cream

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Tuxedo Brownie Cups

Brownies stuffed with a creamy white chocolate cream cheese filling and a big juicy strawberry on top. These tuxedo brownie cups are elegant and delicious!

Brownies are delicious and they go with just about any occasion or meal so they are the perfect “go to” dessert when you’ve got a lot going on, but it’s time to give brownies a little dressing up. We made it a black tie affair with these tuxedo brownie bites and I’m so glad we did!

The cream cheese filling is absolutely divine, but really can you EVER go wrong with cream cheese filling? It’s creamy and perfect along with that bold chocolate and the fresh, sweet berry.

Recommended Equipment

• Mini Muffin Pan
• Small Cookie Scoop

Ingredients for Tuxedo Brownie Bites

• Fudge Brownie Mix: Make the brownies following the cake like instructions. You will need eggs, water and vegetable oil.
• White Chocolate: adds a delicious rich flavor to the filling
• Milk: thins out the filling a little and adds creaminess
• Cream Cheese: use full fat cream cheese and make sure it is at room temperature (see section below for avoiding lumps)
• Powdered Sugar: adds sweetness
• Frozen Whipped Topping: adds structure to the filling
• Strawberries: adds flavor and freshness and pairs so well with chocolate
• Orange Zest: This is totally optional but it adds a beautiful depth of flavor. Mint or chocolate could also be used to garnish.

The measurements for all the ingredients can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

Lumps in Cream Cheese

Remember, when cooking or baking with cream cheese you need to either set it out for a bit so that you can soften the brick, making a smooth spread, or fill a sink with warm water and let it sit, still in its foil until soft. There’s nothing worse than lumpy cream cheese filling and no amount of beating will smooth out those pieces.

How to Make Tuxedo Brownie Bites

The beautiful thing about these brownie bites (besides how good they taste) is that they seem so decadent and fancy but they couldn’t be easier to make! Here are the basic steps:

1. Prep: Preheat the oven and spray all the muffin cups with cooking spray.
2. Brownie Mix: Prepare the brownie mix according to the cake like directions.
3. Bake: Using a small cookie scoop, fill the cups 2/3 full with brownie batter and bake.
4. Create: When the brownies are done baking, use the back of the small scoop the indent the middle of each brownie to create a “brownie cup”.
5. Filling: While the brownies cool, make the filling (see section below for more details).
6. Assemble: Add the filling to the brownie cups (more details below)

This is a classic shrimp boil with fresh shrimp, potatoes, corn, and sausage, boiled in a flavorful spicy broth, plus an abundance of additional fresh vegetables!

This stovetop shrimp boil is based on my cousin Rick’s crawfish boil recipe which also includes an abundance of vegetables. The vegetables turn out so flavorful, that I’m often left wishing I’d added even more to the pot.

Shrimp Boil on the Stove

I was determined to recreate our Louisiana crawfish boil as soon as we were home again, but guess what? Crawfish are a bit difficult to source in Ohio. Just in case you were wondering.

I’m happy to tell you that after learning from Rick, our family’s crawfish expert, my first attempt at a Louisiana shrimp boil on the stove turned out fabulously and we will be doing this on repeat in the future.

It turns out that a seafood boil is a heck of an awesome experience for everyone – expert or amateur!

Stovetop Shrimp Boil Equipment

• 30-quart stockpot
• Long stirring paddle
• Long skimmer lad

Sharing the books I’ve read recently and if I recommend adding them to your collection. 

Hi friends! How are you? How was the weekend? I had high hopes for Halloween fun, but ended up getting sick. I had to miss P’s birthday party, which was devastating, but madre and Tom took the reins and all of the kids had a great time. Thankfully, I’m much better today and am getting an IV later this morning. This weekend, I binge watched Never Have I Ever and spent a lot of time reading in bed, which was a treat.

I haven’t had as much time to read lately. We’re officially in the holiday whirlwind, and with client test results (I looove going through them but it’s definitely a time commitment), the girls’ schedules, the Pilot’s schedule, it’s just been wild around here. Also, we’ve all been going to bed a little too late, and since I have to do my eye mask before bed, it really squashes some of my reading plans lol. I’m really trying to create more reading blocks throughout the day, and I’m so looking forward to November travel (Palm Springs and Arkansas) so I can read during all of the plane travel.

Something that has made it a bit easier to squeeze in reading time: my Kindle! I LOVE this is one fits in my purse and I’m not tempted to scroll on my phone. It’s been pretty convenient to tote this around with me!

There have been a couple of incredible books in my life lately, and I’m excited to share the details with ya.

Recent books I’ve loved

XOXO, Cody

If you’re going to read this book, I definitely recommend the Audible version so you can hear it in Cody’s voice! What a treasure of a human. I had high expectations for this one – I expected it to be highly entreating – and it didn’t disappoint. It gives you all of the laughs and warm fuzzies of an XO, Cody Peloton ride, while you get a deep dive into his story and background. It was fascinating to learn about his upbringing, his relationship with his mom, the Dancing with the Stars experience, and how he became such a huge fitness personality. 10/10

From Amazon:

Cody Rigsby has a lot of opinions: Kevin is the hottest Backstreet Boy; grape jelly is a crime against nature; if you wear flip-flops in New York City, you do not love yourself. But if there is o

Paula Deen’s Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Paula Deen’s Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake is a yellow cake crust topped with a creamy pumpkin layer and the most popular pumpkin dessert at our Thanksgiving table.

This is the very first recipe I had ever made from the Food Network. Paula Deen inspired something in Cade and I and that is the only reason this blog exists.

Cade’s from the South and as super poor newlyweds we didn’t have much entertainment that didn’t cost money and since cable was free in our apartment we would watch Paula cook up delicious foods and I got to learn about Cade’s Southern side.

It was so fun to surprise him with classic southern dishes like, Fried Chicken, Southern Macaroni and Cheese, Perfect Pecan Pie and Tomato Basil Pie. But then we saw a few pumpkin recipes using pumpkin puree like, pumpkin cake, pumpkin gooey butter cake and other pumpkin dessert recipes.

We just knew Thanksgiving was going to be extra special.

Our First Thanksgiving Home as Newlyweds

Cade and I had been married for just shy of a year and we had gone home to Washington for the holidays. It felt so special to finally be a married couple enjoying the time with family. We had been thinking up pumpkin ideas for weeks.

I can’t remember why I was making pumpkin recipes, it must have been that we decided to not do pumpkin pie or something but either way this gooey butter cake ended up being what I chose and my whole family has been hooked on Paula Deen’s Gooey Butter Cake recipe ever since.

Now, I’ve waited this whole time, choosing to not post any Food Network recipes because I totally get how hard those chefs work, but after almost 12 years I decided that:

• it’s one of our favorites
• it’s already all over the web
• you want to know the recipes that people are obsessed with so you can make it a family favorite too!

What Ingredients for Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake Crust

• Egg
• Butter
• Cake Mix

Start off by making the crust with the above in