Baked Alaska. Created in 1876. Mainly created to celebrate the acquiring of Alaskan territory. Why did I not get to learn about this history? It is what I would prefer to learn in school. Not only history, here is science: Can you bake ice cream in an oven without melting. Short answer. YES. Why? Because of science! The meringue is used as a protectant around the ice cream because the sugar and egg whites are being cooked, not the ice cream.
BAM. History and Science all in one. Two for one deal. Below are the ingredients for the Baked Alaska Brownies:
• Butter or Shortening, for preparing pan.
• 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 cup of unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/2 cup of melted butter
• 1/4 cup of whole milk
For Baked Alaska:
• 1 pint of dulce de leche ice cream
• 1 pint of vanilla ice cream
• 1 pint of coffee ice cream
• 1 batch of double chocolate brownies (ingredients above) For Baked Alaska Meringue:
• 3/4 cup of water
• 3/4 cup of egg whites (5-6 eggs)
• 2 1/4 cup of sugar
Our Financials
I did my shopping at Walmart and Publix for these ingredients. This is what makes me happy about making items at home; reusing ingredients to save money. The great concept about baking is that ingredients are versatile. Simple ingredients that can be altered to create multiple types of dessert.
Below in the breakdown in financials:
For the brownies:
• Flour- $2.49 from Publix
• Sugar- $1.98 from Publix
• Cocoa powder- $2.98 from Walmart
• Baking soda- $0.99 from Publix
• Salt- already had the salt
• Vanilla- already had the vanilla
• Egg- $5.99 for 60 eggs from Walmart
• Whole milk- $2.21 from Walmart
• Butter- $2.98 from Walmart
For the Baked Alaska:
• Dulce de leche ice cream- $3.88 from Walmart
• Vanilla ice cream- $3.88 from Walmart
• Coffee ice cream $3.88 from Walmart
• Double Chocolate brownies (breakdown of ingredients above)
For Baked Alaska Meringue:
• Water- free from my sink
• Egg whites (5-6 eggs)- $5.99 for 60 eggs from Walmart
• Sugar- $1.98 from Walmart
The total ingredient cost to make these brownies is $19.62. Under $20 for ingredients that you can reuse for other desserts. Chocolate brownies made from scratch at your finger tips.
The total cost for making the Baked Alaska is $39.23. That included the ingredients for scratch brownies, ice cream, and meringue.
Those Cash Back Millennial Application Earnings
In addition to saving money and reusing ingredients, as you know, I use Ibotta, Fetch Rewards, Shopkick, and Coinout most frequently. Here is how I got to score on the cash back application front:
Unfortunately, I did not score any luck with Ibotta this shopping trip. No specialty deals or cash back on any items.
Fetch Rewards was an better application for me today. I earned 100 points from two receipts. I earned 50 points from each shopping trip to both Walmart and Publix.
For walking into Walmart, I got 10 kicks for just walking in to the store.
For my penny rewards from Coinout, I earned 15 cents from Publix. I earned an additional two cents from my Walmart receipt. Altogether, I got 17 cents from this ingredient shopping spree.
Our Ratings:
Here is a continuation of the ratings based off our brownie rating and when we added in the ice cream and experience with the meringue.
Shayne’s Rating: He gave it a 9 out of 10. Wished he could taste the cake with the meringue though.
My Rating: For taste, I say an 8 out of 10. Mainly because of the amount of cocoa that is used. That chocolate amount is not what I am usually used to. In addition, I would have liked to taste the meringue as well. The sweetness of that might have off set the taste of coffee and chocolate.
Chelsea’s Rating: She gave the brownies an 8 out of 10. Mainly because of the density, they need to be more cakey and light. That is a fair warning with scratch brownies. The brownies are more dense than say a mix. Thanks Betty Crocker. Furthermore, she would have liked to taste the meringue. The ice cream she mainly tasted was the coffee and vanilla ice cream. Dulce de leche ice cream could not really be tasted. She also suggested that maybe to make the ice cream at home versus buying the pints. The flavors may be more apparent.
Chris’ Rating: He gave the brownies a 9 out of 10. I mean chocolate, ice cream, and a man. Cannot really go wrong. He was the first one to ask for two pieces among everyone else.
Baya’s Rating: She is starting to do a thumbs up when, she likes, dislikes, or is okay with a food. She gave the brownies a middle thumb. Along with the ice cream, she gave a middle thumb as well.
Outcomes and Recommendations
Full disclosure is about to be unleashed. I could not make the meringue. I attempted to make the meringue with regular sugar because that is what is disclosed. So that
batch did not work. The water from creating this simple syrup ruined the egg white mixture. Regular sugar does not work. Powdered or superfine sugar will work better. I unfortunately ran out…here is a thought for next time.
In addition to that, I do not have a blow torch. I am not that sophisticated. I will also place the Baked Alaska in the oven for four minutes at 500 degrees. Thank you Food Network for that tip.
One thing for sure about this recipe, I will experiment with different techniques to master the science of creating Baked Alaska. I like when there are other ways to enhance and improvise a traditional dessert such as Baked Alaska. I will keep you posted on the rendition of Baked Alaska.
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