NEDFM Challenge Day 11: Ice Cream “Bon-Bombes”

The following is a faithful account of my rather tenuous encounter with airport security as I was flying back to school last holiday season.

I was armed with your standard wayfarer airline-approved duffel bag, a bunch of frozen Lunar New Year bamboo-wrapped glutinous rice bundles (if you have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s this), and some not-so-common-sense.

Security guy (holding up my duffel from the x-ray machine): Miss, is this your bag?

Me: Oh. Yeah, that’s mine.

SG: What’s in here?

Me: My clothes, some books I brought from home.

SG: Is that all?

Me: Yeah.

SG (pulling out the bundle of zongzi): Do you want to explain what this is, then?

(The zongzi have apparently, by this time, begun to defrost in my bag. They’re dripping like a very suspicious, heavily-wrapped bag of liquid uranium or something.) 

Me: Oh. (Stopping short for a second. Probably looking very suspicious in general as I consider how to explain it, and then just decide–rather stupidly–not to bother.) Yeah. That too. I forgot about that.

SG: Well? What is it?

Me: It’s this thing I’m bringing home for, like, Chinese New Year. It’s this sticky rice, er, thing wrapped in bamboo. (Pause) Yeah. That’s about it.

SG: Why is it dripping? Is it a liquid?

Me: No…it’s just…melting. I mean…yeah, it’s not a liquid. It’s sticky rice. In bamboo.

SG (Tossing the bag up and down in his palm): And it’s rock hard?

Me: No, it’s actually soft. Well, we froze it. So it’d last longer and…stuff.

SG: Miss, you’re going to have to take it out and show us what’s in there.

(At this moment, I stare down and notice with a sinking feeling that my mom has wrapped, tied up, layered, and sealed the entire package with a rigidity that only my mom can accomplish. It’s completely leak-proof. It is also completely tamper-proof, openable-proof, dent-proof, security-proof, and me-proof.)

Me: Er, yeah. Just hang on…

A full two minutes later, after my fingers are raw from digging through layers upon layers of glacially-sealed plastic bags, I finally manage to pry out a frozen zongzi that–truth be told–could probably kill someone if I threw it at them.

Terrorist weapon? Not really.

Just a really dangerous thing to be putting in the hands of a girl who might at any time trip over a first-class seat cupholder and send those rocks flying at somebody’s head? Maybe.

So after receiving several credulous looks from the security guards, none of whom seem to know what to do with these potential security hazards, they finally let me pass. I’m assuming that they assumed that a rather lacking-in-common-sense gal like me probably wouldn’t know what to do with an armament even if she had access to one on board.

That’s probably true, too.

So what’s the lesson that we all learned from this little anecdote?

Don’t ever, ever let me attempt to board an airplane while carrying a tray of these bon-bombes, a.k.a. mini dessert bombes.

Why, you ask?

Well, let’s just think about it for a straight second…

Security Guard: Miss, what are these?

Me: Oh, those? Just some bombes I made.

……….

Yeah, I’ll let you figure out the rest.

By the way, aren’t these just the cutest shot glasses in the world? Meet Rabid Rabbit, Skulk the Schizophrenic Cat, and Post-Security-Guard-Encounter Me.

  

I used them to hold some of the extra bon-bon/bombe frozen filling I made–half raspberry, half cookie butter swirl (I swear, it’s like I’m possessed by cookie butter or something! Not that I’m complaining…).

Hope you make some “bon-bombes” too to celebrate National Raspberry Bombe Day! If you have an airport anecdote to tell, or a funny story about something a rather embarrassing lapse of judgment that has hit you recently, please share! I’d love to feel, you know, not completely alone in my less-than-common-sense encounters.

Happy reading, and happy eatings!

Ice Cream Bon-Bombes a.k.a. Mini-Bombes, Raspberry and Cookie Butter Swirl

Yield: Approximately 36 mini bon-bombes, depending on the size of your explosives–I mean, molds. I also had plenty of frozen filling left, and you can serve this as ice cream if you want!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 – 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 (8-oz.) tub frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup raspberry preserves, room temperature
• 1/2 cup cookie butter, homemade or store-bought from Trader Joe’s
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided

Directions:

1. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips and butter. Microwave for 20 seconds on power level 5. Remove and stir quickly, until all chips are melted and mixture is smooth.
2. Brush your bon-bon molds with chocolate, making sure to coat the entire inside of the mold to prevent leaking after your chocolate has set. Place in freezer for 5 minutes while making frozen filling.
3. To make frozen filling: In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add condensed milk and mix until creamy. Fold in whipped topping, then add vanilla extract and mix in.
4. Divide mixture into two bowls–one for the raspberry flavoring, one for the cookie butter. (If you prefer to make only one flavor, or have another flavor you want to try, skip the dividing and go wild!) In one bowl, mix in preserves to make raspberry frozen filling.
5. To make cookie butter swirl filling: In a microwave-safe bowl, heat cookie butter, syrup, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon for 10 seconds, then quickly stir together. Pour into the other unflavored bowl of filling, then add remaining cinnamon to mixture. Stir until cookie butter is incorporated but not completely dissolved; you should still have a few nice swirls in your filling.
6. Add filling to your hardened chocolate shells, making sure to fill each mold just a bit less than full. Return to freezer and freeze until firm, or about 15 minutes.
7. Completely cover each ice-cream filled bon-bombe with a smooth layer of the remaining melted chocolate. Make sure the chocolate is sealed so that it doesn’t leak! Return to freezer for another 10 – 15 minutes, or until completely hardened.
8. Remove bon-bombes carefully from your molds and turn onto a plate. Store any uneaten bon-bombes (unlikely, but possible) in freezer.

Here’s the early-birthday-present bon-bon mold I used: