Make Better Ice Cream Sandwiches than You Can Buy

You can make delightful ice cream sandwiches?better than those in the store--for much less than store-bought ones. Besides you get to be creative. You can pick your favorite ice cream, you can make different shapes, and you can use different cookies. While these are square chocolate cookies with vanilla ice cream, be creative. Make them round with cherry ice cream . . . or whatever you would like.

Ice Cream Sandwich Recipe or a Mix

The secret is in the wafer cookie. You want crisp, thin wafers that crumble when bit rather than squishing the ice cream out. Both sugar cookies and shortbread cookies make excellent ice cream sandwiches. Or you can use a mix available online.

The following chocolate shortbread cookie recipe works particularly well. It makes thin, dense, rich shortbread cookies that are sturdy but crisp. The cornstarch in the powdered sugar holds the cookie together to make it less crumbly. (If granulated sugar was used, the grains would cut through the butter leaving tiny air pockets that would tend to leaven the cookie and make it less sturdy.) This dough can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or frozen for two months.

If you are a chocoholic, you can make a richer, more intense chocolate cookie with four ounces unsweetened chocolate instead of the semisweet. Add two tablespoons powdered sugar.

Ingredients

3 one-ounce squares of semi-sweet baking chocolate
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 dash salt
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour

Ice cream

To make the cookies

1. Melt the chocolate and one tablespoon butter in the microwave. Set aside.
2. Cream the remaining butter and powdered sugar together. Add the salt.
3. Add the four egg yolks, beating after each. Add the vanilla.
4. Add the flour in three parts, beating after each addition.
5. Scrape the dough onto a large sheet of waxed paper. Pat the dough into a square or round log. Wrap it in waxed paper and smooth the edges into a uniform log. Refrigerate the log for at least an hour.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the dough into 3/16-inch thick slices. Place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for eight to ten minutes or just until set. Cool on a wire rack.

To assemble the sandwiches

Once the cookie wafers have cooled, you're ready to assemble your ice cream sandwiches. It's easier if the ice cream is slightly soft. Place a cookie wafer face down on a flat counter surface. Use a small spatula to press the ice cream onto the cookie. You can make them as thick or as thin as you like. Top it with another cookie and press the two together. Use the spatula to clean up the edges. Wrap the sandwiches in plastic wrap and put them back into the freezer for an hour or more. You can store your ice cream sandwiches in the freezer for two weeks.