I almost feel guilty posting this recipe, because these sandwiches are so tasty and addictive!  They are fantastic in their simplicity, and I can’t imagine anyone not liking them. I took these to a super bowl party a few weeks ago and they disappeared ridiculously fast, and I even got a few sad eyes from people who didn’t get one before they were gone, and not from the kids at the party.  That’s always a good sign! These are actually quite easy to make. I got the cookie recipe from www.smittenkitchen.com and they were fantastic. They hold up really well in the freezer, not getting too hard or too soggy.  I used ice cream from the store (Breyers) because my homemade ice cream always gets too hard.  The combination of chocolate cookies and strawberry ice cream was delicious, but I think there is a whole series of these you could make: chocolate with mango sorbet, chocolate with peanut butter ice cream, chocolate with mint ice cream… I am also thinking about experimenting with this cookie recipe to see if I could remove the cocoa and make them into peanut butter cookies, or just vanilla cookies. Or even chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips, or mint chips.  That would really make the ice cream and cookie combos fun to play with!  Anyway enjoy these sandwiches and if you are taking them to a party, leave some behind at your house, you won’t regret it!

Cookies from Smitten Kitchen, reprinted below for your convenience.  The recipe calls for rolling out the cookie dough and then cutting it with cookie cutters.  This way you can make fun shapes.  I rolled mine out but just used a glass to cut them into circles. Another option if you want circle cookies would be to shale the dough into a log and wrap in saran wrap and chill, then slice the log into the thickness you want. To make ice cream sandwiches, 1/4-inch cookies worked well.

Brownie Roll-Out Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup lightly salted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Whisk dry flour, salt and baking powder in bowl and set aside. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa in mixer. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least one hour.

Roll out cookie dough on floured counter. Cut into desired shapes, brushing extra deposits of flour off the top. (It does disappear once baked, though, so don’t overly fret if they go into the oven looking white.) Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 8 to 11 minutes (the former for 1/8-inch thick cookies, the latter for 1/4-inch cookies) until the edges are firm and the centers are slightly soft and puffed.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Making the Sandwiches

To make the sandwiches, let the cookies cool completely, and make sure the ice cream you are going to use is completely frozen.  Tear off enough pieces of saran wrap to wrap each cookie, and set aside.  Then take a large knife and cut the ice cream carton away from the block of ice cream.  Then cut the ice cream into the right thickness and shape you want, and put between two cookies. You want to do this as fast as possible, and get them into the freezer as soon as each cookie is made.  Or you can just serve them right away!

Another option would be to let the ice cream soften a little bit and then use an ice cream scoop to scoop the ice cream onto a cookie, and then smoosh it down a little with the top half of the sandwich.  Either way works well, so take your pick.