Ice. cream. sandwiches.
So simple. So delicious. So indulgent. So easy.
Needing a dessert for a dinner party I was throwing, but running short on time, I realized I had some frozen cookie dough on hand (always great to have in the freezer for times of crisis- both of the personal and hosting variety). Paired with some creamy vanilla bean ice cream, and rolled in chopped chocolate, I had a hit dessert ready to go with literally zero prep time.
These treats are a great way to impress with a dish that you can do ahead of time, but that’s fun to put together, and brings everyone back to the proverbial ice cream truck of their youth.
Bake a batch of your favorite cookies- keep in mind, you’ll need 2 cookies per guest, as the sandwiches are rich enough so that one per person will be fine (every time I’ve served this, my guests ended up splitting theirs in half!). You can go All-American and do a classic chocolate chip, but my favorite thing about this recipe is that you can gourmet it up and really get the chance to wow your guests by using a cookie that’s unexpected and different. The sandwiches pictured here use oatmeal cranberry triple-chocolate chip cookies.
*Freeze any leftover dough, as it’s always great to have on hand (point in case why this is such an easy dessert if you’ve already got the frozen dough!).
As the cookies cool, leave the ice cream out to soften (I recommend vanilla, as it will blend beautifully with the flavors of most any cookie, as well as the chopped chocolate).
However, if you’re in the mood to experiment, try basing the cookie on the ice cream, and you can really go wild. Think lavender. Salted caramel. Peanut butter. Sesame.
Once the cookies are cool (trust me, you don’t want to spread softened ice cream on warm cookies- your sandwiches will merely become two sticky cookies before you can blink), use a spoon or ice cream scoop to place a ball of ice cream between two similar-sized cookies, then press down so that the ice cream bulges out the sides a bit.
Immediately roll the cookie across a pile of chopped chocolate (I’ve used both semi-sweet and milk; go off the kind of dough your using); the chips are a great way to give a finished and professional look to your sandwich, and the more the ice cream sticks out, the easier it will be for the chips themselves to stick.
Have saran wrap at the ready and quickly, but loosely (so as not to smush the look of your sandwich), wrap up your creation and stick it in the very back of the fridge. It should only take a 3-4 hours for your cookie to harden.
Once ready to serve, unwrap and plate!
Et voila!
The Haute Chef 