5242. Have ice cream at Frio Mexican Treats in Appleton

 Everyone kept posting about this ice cream place in Appleton called Frio. It looked really good. I didn't mention it the hubby since it was Mexican ice cream and wasn't sure he'd like it. Then he saw something in the paper about it being one of the best ice cream places in the area and wanted to try it. This is usually how things work, I find something I want to try or go to, then I wait for him to discover it, and then we ended checking it out.

Frio Mexican Treats is located on Wisconsin Ave in Appleton. They are open Wednesday-Sunday. They is also have a location in Neenah which is open Thursday-Monday.

We opted to go before we had dinner. When you are an adult you can eat dessert first. I was having a hard deciding what I wanted. There was ice cream and churro sundaes to pick from along with Mexican corn and a few other items. They had a variety of sundaes to choose from or you could build your own.  As tempting (and delicious) was the Ube Brownie, I opted for Yo Quiero Cookie Sundae. which was Oreo ice cream with Chips Ahoy cookies. I just wasn't ready to build my own.

I ordered a baby and it was more than enough. I have not had a churro sundae since Costa Rica and missed them. This really hit the spot. The churros were filled with custard. It was sweet and gooey and delicious. 

The hubby had Shiocton Blast and he loved it too. I am glad he's stepping out of his comfort zone.

It was bit pricy but no pricier than going to Dairy Queen for Blizzards. The choices of ice cream makes it well worth it. We definitely will be back.. this time after dinner.

You definitely need to check out Frio if you have not yet. Delicious and they even have coffee. 

Note: It looks like they may temporary close from January to Mid-February. We went in early November. 

6842. Try a cruffin

 Cruffins, Croffles, and cronuts are fabulous creations of the bakery industry and quite popular right now. I want to try them all. 

A Cruffin is a hybrid of a croissant and a muffin. It is essentially a croissant made in a muffin tin. It can be top and/or filled with a filling. So I was on the hunt for a cruffin. 

Seth's Coffee Shop in Little Chute where I have book club has an amazing bakery case full of wonderful treats. I told the hubby if Seth's had a sweet treat for dessert, I will bring one home from book club. I was not disappointed in the selection Seth's had. They had plenty of options to choose from but the one that caught me eye was the Salted Caramel Cruffin. 

I bought a Salted Caramel Cruffin. It was about $5. I sent a picture to the hubby and he was like what are those below it. So I had to get him an apple turnover also around $5.

The cruffin was amazing and I'm glad I did not have to share. The salted caramel topping did make it a bit sweet but it was still delicious. I wish I took pictures of the layers but I was too busy indulging. It was sugary, flaky, and very sweet. The perfect dessert.

The hubby said his apple turnover was very good as well but wasn't sure he'd spend $5 on it. I thought the prices are bit high but then again I'm cheap. However, I understand the cost of ingredients and being a local independent café the prices are reasonable. Would I get a sweet treat after every book club, no. would I splurge every once and a while sure. 

Now that I have tried a cruffin and have a brunch date scheduled next month for a croffle, I need to find a cronut in the area. We may had a cronut in Nashville at Five Daughters Bakery, they called the 100 Layer Donuts so close enough. I will gladly try another one. Stay tuned to see how I like the croffle and if you know where I can get a cronut, let me know.

23 in 2023: Try at least one new recipe -- Cherry Crisp

 Every August, the hubby and some of his officiating buddies get together for a fish fry. It is potluck style and one of the guys brought homemade cherry crisp made with Door County cherries. It was so amazing the pan was licked clean. I ended up getting some cherries when I went to see the fall colors back in October and wanted to make the cherry crisp. 

The hubby texted his buddy and we got the recipe via screenshot. Guys. I don't even know where they got the recipe to give credit where credit is due.

Since my cherries were already pitted, I drained the juice and added them to the sauce pan with the water and sugar. 

I used just the amount of sugar it called for. Because my cherries were already soft, I didn't have to cook them much once they started to boil. I just added the cornstarch and water and let cook until thickened.

To make the crust, I used my Ninja. Best thing ever to mix in butter. It makes it all crumbly. I'm glad the oatmeal was added after butter so I didn't pulverize the oatmeal too bad.

I added about a 2/3 of the mix to the bottom of my pan, added the cherries (which were not completely cooled), and added the rest of the mix to the top. I could have used a tad less on the bottom to have a little bit more on top. Live and learn.

I baked about 48 minutes. It could have gone the 50 minutes but I didn't want to get it too crisp.

It was a bit of mess to get out of the pan. Maybe it needed to cool more. Not really sure. Hopefully it will be better once it is cooled completely.

It was just as good as I remember. We definitely need to make a fall trip to Door County to get more cherries. Definitely a recipe worth saving and sharing. 

Go to Purple Door Ice Cream Shop

Purple Door isn't on the bucket list but probably should have been as it was one of the 13 best ice cream shops in Wisconsin according to Only in Your State.

This isn't your typical ice cream shop per se. Yes it serves ice cream made fresh. It has flavors of the day. You can get cones and dishes. You can even get sorbet. But that's where the similarities stop.

At Purple Door, they carry 31 different flavors a day like Baskin Robbins but theirs are more unique. And if you can't decide between Whiskey Sour and Brandy Old Fashion (yes, those are real flavors), you can always get a flight of ice cream. A flight of ice cream is 4 scoops of any flavors you choose. The flight is great if you are with a group of people and want to try different flavors.

We got a flight. It cost Stacy and I $3 each. Totally worth it for 4 scoops of ice cream. Stacy said I could pick since she will eat anything. I decided not to go with anything I could normally get such as chunky peanut butter or dark chocolate. After a few sample tastes, I decided on Cinnamon Roll, Brandy Old Fashion, Grame Marsal (or something like that), and Lemon Cardamon.

Our favorite was Brandy Old Fashion which if you didn't know you were eating ice cream, one could swear they had one in their hand. A close second was Cinnamon Roll which tasted just like a cinnamon roll right out of the oven complete with the icing. Lemon Cardamon wasn't bad. We both could take or leave Grame Marsal. It was good but the Whiskey Sour probably would have been better.

If I'm ever downtown Milwaukee again, I believe another trip to Purple Door is in order.