Ice Cream Sandwiches
for Grownups
Gourmet ice cream recipes bring, obviously, more delicious than the cookie-cutter, generic varieties available in supermarkets. Making your own ice cream is not difficult if you have an ice cream maker or a handheld or stand mixer. Some even use liquid nitrogen in order to hasten the freezing process or impromptu easy dessert recipes in a humble jar or Ziploc bag. This recipe begins with a soft cookie that’s sturdy enough to handle during assembly (yet not so rigid that the ice cream squishes out when you bite down), but that’s soft and tender enough to remind you of the traditional ice-cream sandwich. The soft cookie, which I bake in a sheet pan, is a bit like a very thin brownie. Ithen sandwich store-bought ice cream between two layers of the brownie-cookie and cut the whole thing into easy-to-handle squares (from there, you can cut triangles, rectangles, or mini squares). These ice-cream sandwiches are perfect for picnics. Wrapped individually and stowed in a portable cooler with some ice packs, the sandwiches will stay good and firm up until serving time, even on the hottest summer day. Garnishes need to be finely chopped. For uniform pieces of peppermint, crush the candies first with a rolling pin in a plastic bag. Transfer to a food processor, pulse, and sieve out big chunks with a colander. Mix and match flavors
You can design your own sandwich combinations by choosing the ice cream, adding flavor to the chocolate cookie, and picking your favorite garnish. The flavoring possibilities are endless, but I especially recommend the following: • chocolate-mint cookie with vanilla ice cream and crushed peppermints • chocolate-orange cookie with raspberry sorbet • chocolate-ginger cookie with vanilla ice cream and minced crystallized ginger Ice cream vanilla chocolate coffee mint chocolate chip mocha swirl raspberry sorbet Soft cookie chocolate chocolate-orange chocolate-mint chocolate-espresso Garnishes hard peppermint candies, finely crushed
finely chopped or grated bittersweet or semisweet chocolate crystallized ginger, minced pecans, finely chopped and toasted sweetened coconut flakes, toasted amaretti cookies, crushed