homemade ice cream sandwiches: tied up with strings.

For me, ice cream sandwiches always signal the beginning of summer in Big City, NS. For the past two summers, I was lucky enough to live a short walk from the greatest late-night corner store in the city: nay, the WORLD!

I spent my junior high years visiting this store in search of lunchtime penny candy, and after school JonesSoda. In high school we waited until the evening to stock up on orange juice to go with our stolen vodka and to try and buy cigarettes from the shifty-eyed guy who manned the store after dark. Then, 10 years later,  having moved back into the neighborhood as an adult, it was the homemade ice cream sandwiches that lured me from my humid, over-heated apartment and over to the store of cool delights.

It may not surprise you to hear that Small Town, NS is lacking in the perfect-homemade-ice-cream-sandwich-corner-store department. Unacceptable. With summer just around the corner (right? RIGHT?) it seems evident that I'll be forced to fulfill my cravings on my own... I'd better start practicing now!

So, here they are. A slight variation on my favorite Big City summer cooling agent - guaranteed to fill my freezer all summer long.

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

{cookie recipe adapted from Tartlette}

{the stuff} 

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

{how to do it}

Using an electric mixer or food processor fitted with a dough blade, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Lower the speed and add the vanilla and two eggs one at a time. Continue beating for two minutes until the mixture is smooth and fluffy.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix just until the dough starts to come together. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead by hand until the dough is dark, moist and shiny. Refrigerate the dough until firm, but still easy to work with.

Once the dough has firmed up, roll out to 1/4 inch thick and use cookie cutters to cut out your desired shapes. Bake on a parchment cover baking sheet for 9 minutes at 350 degrees, rotating half way through.

Once the cookies are completely cooled, you're ready to assemble your sandwiches!

 

Choose a brand of ice cream that comes in a brick rather than a tub. Slice the brick into pieces 3/4 inch thick and use the same cookie cutter to cut out shapes. Sandwich the ice cream between two cookies, wrap them and freeze until solid.

Eat.

Often.

x. {B}