FANCY PANTS MINT CHIP ICE CREAM SANDWICHfeatured

Growing up, I loved Dairy Queen. Or the DQ as I call it. After every dance recital my Dad would take me to the DQ in my pink tutu to pick out any treat I wanted. Dilly Bars, Peanut Buster Parfaits, Starkiss Bars… all the stuff of a kid’s dream. I even remember when they introduced the Blizzard. Pretty exciting stuff in my world. I remember around this time being convinced to try mint chip ice cream. It was bright green, so yeah, I was okay with giving it a go. And I did. And it was fine. Not great, but okay. So I went back to my Dilly Bars and Blizzards and never looked back.

Truthfully, I’ve always felt lukewarm on mint chip. It’s fine, better when turned into an ice cream cake, but never my first pick. Which given my love of mint and chocolate is kind of surprising. Until recently. LA is really bringing their A game with fancy pants ice cream shops and a few years ago I tried a mint chip ice cream sandwich from one of these shops. Game. Changer. They used real mint in the ice cream. Well played fancy ice cream shop. I would have eaten two if I hadn’t been on a date and trying to be a lady. So yeah, I’m now officially on team mint chip. At least when fresh mint is involved.

Side note: These chocolate cookies are awesome. They kind of play backup to the ice cream in the recipe, but don’t overlook them on their own. Kid you not, they are now my new go to favorite and I plan on making them over and over. They are sturdy enough to hold up as an ice cream sandwich, but still completely soft. Eat them plain or with just about any kind of ice cream and you will not regret it. Unlike the perm you had in 6th grade.

Recipe: Fancy Pants Mint Chip Ice Cream Sandwich Adapted from the Coolhaus Dirty Mint Chip Ice Cream Recipe  |  Soundtrack: Johnny Cash

• COOKIE
• 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Extra granulated sugar for finishing the cookies
• ICE CREAM
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/4 light brown sugar
• 8 large egg yolks, room temperature
• 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves very finely chopped
• 1/2  cup + 2 tbsp finely chopped/shaved dark chocolate
• 1/2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions for Cookie:
In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well blended. Add the vanilla.

Add the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt to the creamed mixture and mix well. Chill for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350º. Scoop dough and roll into balls. Roll cookie dough balls in sugar. Place on cookie sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Right after you remove the cookies from the oven, use the bottom of a glass to gently press the cookies to make the flat. Allow cookies to cool completely on a cooling rack (if not they will crumble) before making the ice cream sandwiches.

Directions for Ice Cream:

In a large sauce pan, add the cream, milk, and half of the sugar and cook over high heat until  stirring occasionally until it boils, about 5 minutes.

While this is cooking, whisk egg yolks and the remaining sugar until it’s fully blended, about 30 seconds.

When cream mixture comes to a boil, remove it from the heat. Using a liquid measuring cup, take half of the cream mixture and slowly add it to the egg mixture whisking the entire time to make sure the eggs mixture doesn’t curdle. Keep whisking until it is completely incorporated. Turn the heat back on to low. Whisking continually, slowly stream the yolk mixture back into the pan.

Using a wooden spoon, cook mixture until the temperature reaches 165-180° on a candy thermometer. Mixture should be slightly thicker and coat the back of a spoon. This should just take a few minutes.

Strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a clean container, cool for 12-24 hours. Cooling the base is a critical step, don’t skip it.

Once cool, add mint, brown sugar, shaved dark chocolate and salt. Mix into the base and then pour into ice cream maker and follow manufacturers instructions.

Let ice cream chill 12-24 hours. Scoop ice cream and place between two cookies. Slightly press on the top cookie to help flatten the ice cream. Place cookie in Saran Wrap and place in freezer.

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