Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Who can resist a tray of ice cream sandwiches?

Ingredients 

250g (9oz) butter or margarine softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2/3 cups cocoa powder

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups white chocolate chips

1.3 liters (2.75 pints) vanilla and/or chocolate ice cream (you can also use other flavors that you like, but try to avoid flavors with chunks in them.)

How to do it

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350°F)

Leave space between the cookie dough blobs for the cookies to spread

2. In a mixer, cream the butter/margarine and the sugars until they are fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until they are combined. Add the vanilla. Slowly beat in all the dry ingredients until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

3. Line cookie sheets with baking paper. Drop heaped teaspoons of cookie dough about 5 cm (2 inches) apart on the tray – try to be consistent with this quantity and the shape so the cookies are uniform in size. Bake for 15 minutes, turning the trays around in the oven mid-way if necessary. (I always find that with cookies, ovens are never sensitive enough and tend to be hotter in some areas, even with the turbo, so I always turn my trays around.)

Making the sandwiches

4. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for a few minutes on the tray before using a spatula to remove them from the trays and allow to cool on a wire rack. Keep going until all your batter is used up. Tip: To save paper, after I have baked one batch, I turn the baking paper over and use the other side. It works just fine because you don’t have to grease the paper and it doesn’t get soggy.

5. Once they are cooled, store the cookies in an air tight container, and place in the freezer when you are done for at least 4 hours. I try to pair up the cookies according to shape so they make even sized sandwiches.

Ice cream sandwiches ready to eat

6. Once the cookies are frozen, take out the ice cream and let it stand for a few minutes to very slightly soften up. Scoop about one large dessert spoon full of ice cream and spread it onto the flat side of a cookie. Take a second cookie, and place its flat side on top of the ice cream and squeeze the ice cream between the cookies so it reaches the edges. You can fill in some extra ice cream with a teaspoon if you haven’t used enough to fill the sandwich out to the sides. You can smooth the sides with a teaspoon, but don’t worry about making them too perfect – they will taste great no matter what!

7. Work quickly to make sure the ice cream doesn’t melt. After making 6-8 sandwiches, start storing them in the freezer so they don’t melt. If your ice cream starts to get too soft, put it back into the freezer for a while and continue making the sandwiches once the ice cream is no longer too soft. You can keep the sandwiches in the freezer, covered for 2-3 days.

Makes about 70 cookies/35 sandwiches.