When I was a kid, the ice cream truck (called The Bootsy Wagon) would drive around our neighborhood maybe once a week in the summer, and I would FREAK OUT. I never had money–I mean, I was outside playing in the dirt. What seven year old has money in that situation?– and it would inevitably speed by my house too fast for me to get it to stop, but when I did catch it I’d get a mickey mouse bar or chocolate-vanilla ice cream sandwich and eat it as it dripped down my fingers and chin.
Pure summer kid joy.
Brett would giggle and didn’t believe that the Ice Cream truck company was called the Bootsy Wagon, (He thought my references to it were some folksy, Mississippi way of saying “Ice Cream Truck” like I say “buggy” instead of grocery cart.) Then he read in a corporate donor report that The Bootsy Wagon was a Mississippi Black Owned Business based in Ellisville, Mississippi. 😉 Vindicated.
Anyway, since I started making my homemade ice cream six years ago, I’ve been nursing this crazy unlikely dream that one day I’ll own a tiny ice cream truck and be able to bring joy and happiness to children in the summertime.
I don’t know about all that (yet.) but I DO know that I’m having some progress on the portable ice cream sandwich situation… This chocolate-mint ice cream sandwich is WHERE it’s AT. Make them knowing full well you’ll want to eat them all in one sitting.
I’ve been looking for the perfect chocolate ice cream sandwich cookie, one that’s chocolatey, and soft, and chewy, yet firm. It needs to hold up the sandwich but not break your teeth when you bite into it, ya hear?
I wanted to pair it with fresh mint ice cream to make a kinda-sorta frozen thin mint sandwich because I love the combination when the mint isn’t overpowering and the ice cream isn’t green.
I mean, green? I LOVE pistacios and mint, but mostly shy away from things flavored that way since they’re always a weird, fake, alien-spaceship green.
But Y’all. REAL, fresh mint ice cream with soft chocolatey cookies? Now this is what good is.
It turns out that I didn’t even NEED to make the cookie recipe up since Country Living already had a pretty nice one on the web that just needed a little addition of mini chocolate chips. Then I whipped up a batch of my fresh mint ice cream and my oh my.
- For the Cookies:
- 2 c. all-purpose flour
- ½ c. cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp. cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 c. unsalted butter
- 1½ c. confectioners' sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- ⅓ Cup mini chocolate chips
- For the Ice Cream:
- 1 Cup of packed fresh mint leaves
- 2 cups sugar, (divided)
- 3 cups whole milk
- 3 cups heavy cream
- 6 large egg yolks
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- FOR the COOKIES:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Sift together the flour, cocoa, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
- Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer set on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg yolks and the vanilla to the butter mixture and beat it.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture.
- Beat until the dough is firm.
- Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for 20 minutes.
- Roll the dough out on a flat surface (ideally covered in parchment paper) into VERY thin sheets (1/8 inch or so) and cut into rectangles or circles using a cookie cutter. I like LARGE rounds.
- Bake on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper for 6 minutes (give or take a minute or so more depending on your oven). The goal is to have cookies on the softer side so they are easy to bite into.
- Place the cookies in the freezer to harden for 30 minutes or so.
- FOR the ICE CREAM:
- Make your standard custard. Heat the whole milk, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla in a saucepan just until it steams (not boiled! don’t curdle it!)
- While it’s heating, whisk 1 cup sugar and the egg yolks until the yolks lighten a little bit.
- Once the half & half has steamed, pour two cups slowly into the egg yolks and whisk. This heats up the eggs slowly, so they can be poured into the half and half without scrambling them (this. is. key.) Stir in the heavy cream into the egg mixture and heat it again until it’s steaming again. At this point, turn off the heat and put the cup of mint into the mixture to steep while it cools.
- To cool it, you could use an ice bath (see here) but this time, I poured mine into a gallon plastic bag and left it in the freezer for an hour so it would cool.
- Once the base has cooled, strain the mint and pour the liquid into your ice cream maker.
- Freeze it according to the directions of your ice cream maker, and get ready for something delicious.
- ASSEMBLE the SANDWICHES:
- Place an even number of cookies face down on a clean work surface.
- Scoop out 1 to 2 scoops of ice cream onto the cookie, and then place a second cookie on top, and squish down.
- Wipe around the edge with a spoon to smooth out any rough spots.
- Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and freeze until set -- about 2 hours
Many thanks for info. Waiting for more and looking forward to read you:-). Regards