Tessa Arias had me at the recipe for the snickerdoodle ice cream sandwich
The concept behind an ice cream sandwich is easy. Put a slab of ice cream between cookies or cake, freeze until solid, then eat before it melts all over your fingers, clothing or sun-burned skin. Sounds simple, right? Not.
Arias, of the “Handle the Heat” blog, has taken the humble ice cream treat to new levels of deliciousness in “Cookies and Cream.” She has assembled a multitude of ways to get creative with ice cream sandwiches including a recipe for a boozy Sangria ice cream sandwich for those above the legal age of consent for liquor.
All of the ice cream and the cookies are made from scratch in these recipes. It won’t entail the purchase of a dairy cow or chickens but you will be buying a great deal of heavy cream, whole milk, and eggs.
Arias starts the book with the admonition that you should “read the entire recipes before you start” to keep yourself from “following a recipe as we go, only to unexpected encounter something like ‘chill overnight’” or having to find a tablespoon of vodka for the Peaches and Cream Ice Cream Sandwich.
It’s really worth reading the “Getting Started” part for the note on food safety about the use of eggs. She notes that in the book’s recipes the “eggs are cooked thoroughly, destroying any bacteria.” Good move.
She provides lists of equipment that would be helpful, and lists of ingredients such as mascarpone, espresso powder and dulce de leche.
Then you go to work making the ice cream using all that heavy cream and milk.
Some of the recipes are paired, such as the peaches and cream ice cream and cinnamon honey cookies, but don’t let that stop you from trying mixing-or-matching any of the other cookie recipes.
Banana oat cookies with peanut butter ice cream is a substantial treat to be pulled out of the freezer as desired. Try the Candy Cane Ice Cream Sandwich for an end-of-year holiday dessert.
If you’re a vegan, there’s the dairy-free banana ice cream, paired with vegan chocolate chip cookies.
As for the snickerdoodles, mix up the cinnamon ice cream, sandwich it between sugar cookies made with sea salt and cream cheese, sprinkle with cinnamon and freeze.
Pull them out of the icebox for a brain freeze on the hottest days of the year. Hello, summer!
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“Cookies & Cream: Hundred of Ways to Make the Perfect Ice Cream Sandwich”
Tessa Arias
Running Press, $18
256 pages