I made my favourite Whoopie Pies when I went to a friend’s house for dinner a while ago, and when I took the fudgey cookies out of the oven, I thought, these would make the most amazing ice cream sandwiches.
So a couple of months later, with temperatures soaring, here we are – and sure enough, they make to-die-for ice cream treats. The cakes or cookies or whatever you want to call them (they’re really a cross between the two) are tender and moist and deeply fudgey. Frozen, they take on an addictive chewy-brownie quality, that is so incredible with melty ice cream.
Man-oh-man did I have a hard time getting photos to share with you, but I was determined to get photos during toddler nap-time. You see, I took the ice cream out of the freezer to soften for ten minutes or so… and totally forgot about it. It was about a half-hour later when I remembered, and sure enough it was soft! Very, very soft.
I should have just popped it back in the freezer for 15 minutes, but I was impulsive and went for it. The photos you see here were taken in 2 minutes, after that, there was ice cream everywhere and it was a melty mess. Still delicious, but not very photogenic.
Food styling/photography tip when working with frozen goodies!!!! Set everything up perfectly using a stand-in for the ice cream/popsicle/whatever it is – choose something that’s about the same size, or just an empty bowl. Plan your composition, style the scene perfectly, take test shots, adjust your camera settings to what they need to be – all of this before the star subject gets removed from the freezer.
As an extra precaution, chill whatever dishes or surfaces you’re using – the beat-up old baking sheet you see here? It was in the freezer for an hour beforehand. A marble pastry slab (this is the one I have) is great for frozen subjects, because you can freeze the whole thing in advance and it really holds the cold – your entire photography surface will be chilled, buying you a lot more time.
What you don’t see, due to my race against the clock, is that I rolled the edges in mini chocolate chips. It was really yummy. I used mint chocolate chunk ice cream, but you can use any flavour.
Next time, you know what? I’m going to take them to the next level and add a layer of this hot fudge sauce, which gets super chewy when frozen. If you want to beat me to it, just let the fudge sauce cool until thick enough to stay put on a cookie, spread it over, then freeze until firm before you add ice cream.
Fudgey Mint Ice Cream Sandwiches
Ingredients
For cookies:
- 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cups dutch process cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp coarse salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 pint 500 mL/2 cups mint chocolate chip ice cream
- mini chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Beat butter and sugar in a standing mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, pausing occasionally to scrape down sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in egg, then vanilla extract.
- With mixer speed on low, beat in ? of the flour mixture, followed by ½ of the buttermilk. Repeat, ending with the final ? of the flour mixture.
- Drop by level tablespoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake 5-6 minutes, or until they just lose most of their sheen but are still slightly underdone - if you press the centre, it will leave an indent. (Slightly undercooking them is essential to chewy, delicious cookies.) Cool completely on wire racks, then freeze in a single layer until very firm.
- Soften the ice cream at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Spread one cookie with 2 tablespoons of ice cream then top with a second cookie. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining cookies, then freeze on the baking sheet in a single layer until firm. Transfer to a large freezer bag. Before serving, let stand at room temperature for a few minutes to re-soften ice cream.
