Monday, May 20, 2013

Ice Cream Sandwiches - A messy success!

This past weekend my youngest son Jack turned 3! I can't believe how quickly time goes by when your older. I also can't believe I just said that, I am officially turning into my mother! Birthday's are a big deal to me and I always want my kids to know how special they are! I usually go all out and throw a big party with lots of food and I always make some elaborate cake specifically for them! For Jack's 3rd I decided against a huge cake and went with homemade ice cream sandwiches! It turned out to be one beautiful messy success! My boys are always wanting to help me in the kitchen when I am baking, so this dessert was a great way to let them be creative and feel involved. Now these can take you 10 minutes or a couple of hours depending on how much work you want to do. I will give you some ideas for the long version and also let you know the ultimate shortcuts!
First the cookie. I went with homemade chocolate chip. The boys got to get their hands dirty and that's just the thing that my boys love! They rolled up the cookies for mommy and placed them on the cookie sheet.
Short cut: Buy the cookies from the bakery at the grocery store any kind you like, you could even buy mini cookies and make bite size ice cream sandwiches.

Next the ice cream: I made homemade cream cheese ice cream. Yes it's as delicious as it sounds! Here's the recipe (you need an ice cream maker)

8oz cream cheese - room temperature
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cups sugar
1 Tbs light corn syrup

Have your cream cheese ready in a large bowl. Bring your milk, sugar, and corn syrup to a simmer. You want to simmer long enough for your sugar to dissolve about 10 min. After your milk is done simmering, pour over your cream cheese and let sit for 2 minutes. Using an emersion blender (use regular blender if you do not have emersion) blend your cream cheese into the milk until smooth and silky. Let cool fully in a refrigerator. Once your ice cream base is chilled all the way through, pour into your ice cream maker and spin until frozen.
Let your ice cream set in the freezer until it's frozen enough to scoop. You do not want your ice cream to be to soft when making your sandwiches.

Shortcut: Just buy the ice cream. Any flavor you want!

Once your cookies have cooled and your ice cream is soft enough to scoop, start to assemble your sandwiches. We had a nice little system down. I would scoop the ice cream onto the bottom cookie and Riley would place the other cookie on top. Then we chose to roll our sandwiches in mini M&M's. That was Jack's favorite part. Just make sure your ice cream is not to soft, this causes the M&M's to melt and fall all over the place. We learned the hard way!
As soon as you finish a sandwich place it directly in the freezer. That's it! You can make these ahead of time!
Also if you don't want to use M&M's you can choose any kind of candy your kids like! Get creative! It's all about spending time with your kids and getting them involved in the kitchen!
As much as I like my desserts or cakes to look beautiful, I had to put that aside and embrace the mess! It was a huge success in the Mandap house! Jack approved!
Happy Eatings!