9.2.16 Double Dark Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches
Let’s be clear, I’m not the kind of person who makes their own ice cream. At least nothing more complicated than the easiest no-churn variety. I’ve had way too many failures at making real, actual churned ice cream. In fact, I can only recall it working for me exactly once - a lovely chocolate gelato. I was so proud. A feat that, as I write this, has yet to be repeated.
The thing is, I’m sure that with enough time, perseverance, and some actually decent ice cream making equipment, I could probably make this whole homemade ice cream thing work. But I’m in no rush. Wisconsin is full of great ice cream. And until I get the kinks worked out, I’ll just have to be the kind of person who takes already-made ice cream and finds even more delicious things to do with it.
You know, things like making it into ice cream sandwiches. Because as bad as I am at making ice cream, I’m totally awesome at making cookies. And from cookies, you’re not far from ice cream sandwiches.
These double dark chocolate cookies are bolstered with a bit of espresso powder, and are undoubtedly the preferred ice cream sandwich making cookie in our household. As far as your ice cream filling goes, it’s up to you to get creative. Use any flavor of ice cream you’d like for these. I can personally vouch for mint chip (both the kind with chocolate chunks and the green kind with the tiny chocolate flecks) and, my personal favorite, pistachio.
I celebrated my birthday earlier this week, and with a big batch of these guys in the freezer, and some lovely late summer weather outside, I think it’s pretty obvious that we went with birthday ice cream sandwiches instead of birthday cake. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Double Dark Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches
Makes 12 small ice cream sandwiches
- 1 cup flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 Tbsp instant espresso powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 pint ice cream
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a larger bowl, mix the butter and both sugars together until smooth. Mix in the egg and vanilla and stir until combined.
4. Stir in the flour mixture, followed by the dark chocolate chips.
5. Form cookie dough into 1” balls and drop onto greased cookie sheets. You should end up with about 2 dozen cookies.
6. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. As soon as cookies come out of the oven, use the back of a large, flat spatula to smash them down flat (not required, but really flat cookies are so much easier to build into ice cream sandwiches, trust me).
7. Cool cookies completely. Once cool, take your ice cream out of the freezer and allow it to soften slightly.
8. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and place half of the cookies on it. Top each with an equal amount of softened ice cream, then place the rest of the cookies on top. Place sheet pan in the freezer and freeze until ice cream sandwiches are solid, at least 1-2 hours. Wrap ice cream sandwiches in parchment paper and store in the freezer until ready to eat.
