How much fun is it to make your own ice-cream sandwiches? A lot more fun than I anticipated! When I was home in Canada in June, they were in such popular demand with the kids that I ended up making three batches. Lauren made another one after I left for the Cape. So it seems that 2021 will go down as the Summer of The Ice Cream Sandwich.

A couple of years ago, I purchased the Wilton Perforated Ice Cream Sandwich pan, figuring it might come in handy one day. Glad I picked it up when I did because it’s vanished from the face of the retail earth. It makes twelve 2 x 3″ cookies, which are fairly heftily sized ice cream sandwiches. Perfect for sharing (or not)!

My first effort involved a single batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies and double recipes for Bourbon Blondies (below) and King Arthur Bakery’s Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches. Each flavour yielded a dozen rectangular shapes and another dozen plain, round cookies, made using a 1 tbsp scoop and baking them on a rimmed baking sheet. 

I bought five quarts of ice cream from Baskin Robbins in the following flavours: Pralines & Cream, Peanut Butter & Chocolate, Mint Chocolate Chip, Burgundy Cherry and Vanilla. Working with one flavour at a time, I cut through the cardboard container and sliced 1″ thick slices of ice cream, quickly cutting those into rectangles of approximately 2×3″ before sandwiching the ice cream between two matching cookies halves. The ice cream melts very fast, so I was moving at lightning speed. As I worked, I placed each finished sandwich to harden up on a parchment-lined baking sheet sitting ready in the freezer. The leftover ice cream went back into the freezer, too. 

Once I’d run through all the flavours, and the ice cream sandwiches were firmly frozen, I rolled a couple of each flavour in sprinkles and small chocolate chips before placing the sandwiches in large zip-lock freezer bags, with pieces of parchment between the layers. It was enormously satisfying to have a stock of colourful, delicious desserts at the ready.

That evening, I let the kids have at it with the leftover ice cream and the freeform/round cookies to assemble any combination of flavours their little hearts desired. The kids, large and small, had a blast. The ice cream melted away in the blink of an eye; little ones voted it the most fun dessert ever, Nana.

Nana was a sticky, hot mess, but it was worth it. 🙂 

Bourbon Blondie Ice Cream Sandwiches

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Print Recipe

These caramel and bourbon flavoured chewy bars make delicious ice cream sandwiches. The recipe can also be baked in an 8×8″ square pan and cut into regular blondies. Yummy either way. 

• Yield: Makes twelve 2 x 3” ice cream sandwich halves or one 8 x 8” square pan 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 80 g or 2/3 c all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 150 g or ¾ c dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 45 ml or 3 tbsp bourbon
• 5 ml or 1 tsp vanilla
• 85 g or 3 oz unsalted butter, melted
• Flaky sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Spray the cavities of the ice-cream sandwich pan with a good-quality baking spray just before adding the batter. If using a square pan, grease and flour (or spray with good quality baking spray) and line the pan with a sheet of parchment paper, folded to fit the sides and long enough to act as handles for removing the blondies.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs together with the brown sugar until thick and lighter in colour. Beat in the bourbon and vanilla.
5. Alternately beat in the flour mixture and melted butter in three portions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the bowl between additions.
6. Divide the mixture between the cavities of the ice cream sandwich pan, or spread in the square pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula. Add a pinch or two of flaky salt to the tops.
7. Bake 18-20 minutes. (Do not overbake or the blondies will be tough, rather than chewy). Allow them to cool slightly before removing from the pan and letting cool completely on a rack.

 

Notes

The Wilton ice cream sandwich pan I bought a couple of years ago seems to have disappeared off the face of the retail earth. Perhaps eBay?

• Author: Helen Kain