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raspberry ice cream sandwich

When I was writing and churning up recipes for my ice cream book, I heard through the transatlantic wind that another ice cream book was coming out. It’s hard not to be influenced by others when writing and creating recipes, and even though I was sent a copy, I didn’t want to look through it, so I gave it a cursory glance, then shelved it away.

Once my book was wrapped up, I pulled Emily Luchetti’s A Passion for Ice Cream off the shelf (finally!) and was happy to find there wasn’t any overlap; her book focuses on desserts made with ice cream, with recipes, and mine is a more how-to book for making ice cream and other frozen desserts. As a pastry-pal and ice cream-colleague, I was relieved.

There are some pretty neat ideas for serving ice cream in this book: the Frozen S’mores Ice Cream Cake looks especially appealing, covered with toasted, billowy marshmallows, as well as a Brown Sugar Ice Cream Chocolate Roulade that hits every one of my buttons.

Brown sugar and ice cream…and chocolate?

Yes, yes, and yes.

But one very simple presentation of hers caught my eye, which were these little chocolate ice cream “sandwiches.” It’s a great idea for something simple, using one ingredient that you’re likely to have on hand, and makes a snack-sized treat that’s perfect for a quick grab and gobble.

Emily’s recipe uses milk chocolate, which you’re welcome to use, although I used dark chocolate. Between the disks, you can get creative and use any ice cream or sorbet that comes to mind. I used Raspberry Ice Cream, but I’m thinking Coffee Ice Cream would be really good, too. And there’s no law that I know of that says you can’t roll the side of each disk in crushed nuts or chopped chocolate, either.

Make sure whatever ice cream you use is slightly soft. If it’s too hard, you’ll break chocolate disks. Emily advises to make extra disks since some are likely to break, which was true in my case, although I didn’t have much trouble figuring out what to do with the duds.

chocolate circles

Simple Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches
About 18 sandwiches

In a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt 2 ounces (60g) of chopped dark or milk chocolate. Be sure to use a clean, dry bowl when melting pure chocolate; any water or humidity will cause the chocolate to seize.

Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper then place about 1/4 teaspoon-sized drops of the melted chocolate on the sheet, evenly-spaced apart. As you drop the chocolate, use the back of the spoon to spread the chocolate in a larger circle.

Cool the chocolate disks completely. Depending on ambient temperature, you can do it at room temperature, or in the refrigerator.

While the chocolate is setting, take a small ice cream scoop and make little balls of ice cream and put them on a chilled plate. Once done, stick the plate of ice cream scoops in the freezer.

When ready to fill the sandwiches, remove the ice cream scoops and let them soften slightly, then sandwich them between two disks of chocolate. (You can lift them off with a butter knife or small, offset spatula.) Refreeze until ready to serve.

Related links:

Chocolate Idiot Cake

Chocolate-Covered Caramelized Matzoh Crunch

Milk Chocolate and Black Pepper Ice Cream

Vietnamese Coffee Popsicles

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

Meet Your Maker

Tips on How to Make Ice Cream, and Q & A

How to Temper Chocolate

Chocolate-Dipped Florentines

Nonfat Gingersnaps

Ice Cream Tips (Archives)

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30 comments

    • maggie

    Just gorgeous. Lovely photos and looks so delicious.

    • parisbreakfast

    GAWD that looks irresistable…I can barely spell..
    Though I would have serious problem with the cookie dough -it looks ready to eat as is to me…

    • Jenni

    Sweet! Literally and figuratively. I vote coconut sorbet for the filling:)

    • David

    Jenni: I love coconut and chocolate! Great idea…and roll the sides in toasted coconut…or macadamia praline : 0

    • Sara

    The ice cream sandwiches look great but using coconut sorbet for filling sounds phenomenal!

    • elra

    Enticingly delightful as always. You the weather is getting warmer and warmer here in CA, so I am looking forward to try your recipe.
    Cheers,
    Elra

    • Faith Kramer

    When I started reading this I thought, oh, little chocolate COOKIES … Nope, just chocolate, what a great idea. Yum.

    • EB

    I like your idea of doing this with coffee ice cream. The Guiness would also be really tasty with that dark chocolate!

    • Elle

    Wow, those are beautiful. Could you use white chocolate? Because white chocolate with raspberry or lime might be pretty great…

    • David

    Elle: Because white chocolate has a lower melting temperature than dark chocolate, you could use it, but you might need to work a bit quickly to ensure the little disks don’t melt in your fingers.

    Tempering the chocolate (see the how-to link after the post) will raise the melting point, but that’s a bunch of additional steps.

    • Susan

    How cute those are! Doesn’t the chocolate shatter when bitten into?

    I think I might be inclined to use the chocolate to paint the inside of a mini cupcake liner or better yet, the inside of a Dorito Scoop then put the small scoop of iced cream in that. Maybe a add a curly-que of a chocolate swirl on top or any number of other appropriate garnishes, depending on the flavor of filling.

    • Laura

    I’ll admit these are quite adorable, but I’m finding it a little hard to get excited about them when it is five degrees outside!

    • Bron

    My girls would go nuts over these, very cute! (and you model them so well too!)
    I like the idea of raspberry & coconut – actually to be honest I can’t think of a flavour I wouldn’t like!

    • Bron

    My girls would go nuts over these, very cute! (and you model them so well too!)
    I like the idea of raspberry & coconut – actually to be honest I can’t think of a flavour I wouldn’t like!

    • Hillary

    This is a pretty nice idea! Thanks David and thanks Emily! Even if I don’t make the ice cream sandwiches, I’m definitely making these disks! :)

    • Juliana

    This reminds me of my favorite little ice cream concoction that I made one day after churning some fresh vanilla ice cream. I saw some Anna’s Almond Cinnamon Thins in the cupboard and put a generous spoonful of the ice cream onto a cookie, put another cookie on top and threw it in the freezer.

    A couple hours later, when I bit into my Almond Cinnamon Ice Cream Sandwich, I was sure I had gone to heaven. Freezing the cookies into the sandwiches actually made them pleasantly soft and pliable rather than brittle and crunchy. The treat was exploding with flavor and low in calories!

    Here’s a photo: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/d21ZsM4bXALYy4QVcPfubA?authkey=g-pClp8pYr4&feat=directlink

    • mutritious nuffins

    I love the contrast of the pink in the raspberry ice cream, with the dark obsidian of the chocolate. Very nice!

    • Jamie

    I received an ice cream maker for my birthday last April, and with it I received David’s book as well as Emily’s. And I have to say, I poured over both books, appreciated their differences, and I credit both books to getting me through my first year of ice cream making (almost first year!)

    Thank you for this post, I loved it!! And I owe my successful entre into the ice cream making world to David and Emily!

    • Food Woolf

    both delightful and delicious!

    • starman1695

    Okay, okay….I’ll make my own ice cream. Actually, I have been giving it some consideration lately, I just need to get off me arse and get into it.

    • krysalia

    yumm, coconut ! :)

    And what about mint ?

    • Linda H

    The broken cookies could be crumbled into the ice cream filling if you decided not to eat them all immediately.

    • Eileen

    And I thought nothing could beat the gingersnaps with lemon-candied ginger ice cream. I was wrong.

    • Wendy

    Yum! So easy and so perfect.They look beautiful with the pink raspberry ice cream, too. They would look fantastic for serving if they were made with a variety of tropical fruit sorbets in pastel hues. I will definitely file these away, they’ll be wonderful for summer entertaining — a tiny, cold chocolaty bite is just the kind of thing you want after a barbecue.

    • elarael

    I read somewhere that sales of ice cream in the US double in winter, or something like that. I know I’ve always eaten ice cream all year round. These look great. So handy to have in the freezer for a quick bite.

    • Margie

    So decadent, beautiful, and just so tempting. I think this is the year that I become an ice cream maker … and owner.
    Shame on you! ;)

    • Aran

    since i am an ice cream nut, i have about all ice cream books in the world and hers is really amazing (…so is yours). ice cream sandwiches are one of my favorite ways to eat it too.

    • Jeanne

    David, you’re an evil, evil man posting pics like that. How’s a girl supposed to stick to her new year’s resolutions?! ;-)

    • Bharti

    Oh that looks so pretty!

    • Emily Luchetti

    David

    Thanks for the mention! I haven’t made those since the book came out. I think I will this weekend. I too was happy when I looked at your book and saw we had each taken a different tact. With publishing timing we were both working on them at the same time but didn’t know the other one was. Just as well. Great ice cream flavors in yours. Excited about your upcoming book. Can’t wait to get it! Best Emily

A

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