chocolate ice cream sandwiches

In 2006, mere weeks into launching this internet food blog presence, I shared a recipe forice cream sandwich cookiesthat I’d made for a friend’s rooftop birthday party. Oversized, utterly delicious cookies plus a scoop of ice cream on a hot summer day, what could go wrong? Alas, several things. First, regular cookies in the freezer become tooth-breakingly hard. Second, assembled ice cream sandwiches that are not returned to the freezer for several hours after filling melt way too fast, mostly down your arm, delighting the bugs around you but perhaps nobody else. Do know that none went to waste, but I think we all agreed it was all just too much, both massive cookies and massive messes of ice cream. Not learning my lesson, Itried againseveral years later with a slightly softer, but still not soft enough, cookie, yet it was still enough work that I’ve not made them since. I’ve also tried them withbrownies(better) andsalted caramel crackers(wildly delicious) but I still wanted to get the classic American ice cream sandwich right at home. Fifteen years later I’m taller (whoops, no), have more time on my hands (yikes, no), smarter (not always), and a much better cook (ding ding ding!), and over the last few months of making friends and family suffer through rounds and rounds of ice cream sandwiches, I have finally created the last classic ice cream sandwich recipe I hope we will ever want or need. Several things make this perfect: We’re making a hand-whisked, one-bowl cookie that’s (secretly) halfway to a cake, which is why when it comes from the freezer, it doesn’t feel like you’re biting into poured concrete. We’re making it in a single 9×13 pan, then cutting this slab in half and using the very same pan to fill it with ice cream, pressing the halves together for a moderately-sized slab that, once firm again, can be cut into exactly 8 perfectly-sized or 12 petitely-sized (i.e. the size I prefer for kids) ice cream sandwiches. Did you read the one-bowl, one-pan part? The active work of making these is barely 20 minutes; I’ve timed it. What that means is that our summers are about to have a lot more ice cream sandwiches in it, lucky us. 6 months ago:Brussels and Bacon Frittata1 year ago:Smashed Potatoes with Sweet Corn Relish2 year ago:Chocolate Budino3 years ago:Garlic-Lime Steak and Noodle Salad4 years ago:Grilled Pepper and Torn Mozzarella Panzanella5 years ago:The Consummate Chocolate Chip Cookie, Revisited6 years ago:Crispy Frizzled Artichokes7 years ago:Coconut Brown Butter Cookies8 years ago:Rhubarb Cream Cheese Hand Pies9 years ago:Asparagus with Almonds and Yogurt Dressing10 years ago:Fudge Popsicles11 years ago:Spring Asparagus Pancetta Hash12 years ago:Grilled Shrimp CocktailandGraham Crackers13 years ago:S’more Pie14 years ago:Zucchini Carpaccio Salad