Family Favorites - Ice Cream Sandwiches

I saw this idea using a Hershey cookie recipe on thekitchen.com and had to try it. They really do taste like boughten ones, without the preservatives, corn syrup, etc.  I thought my 8” square Calphalon cake pan would hold about the right thickness of ice cream if I used my favorite recipe for homemade vanilla - my recipe made a little too much. I made it a day ahead; and the cookie dough the next day. I used a 2 ¾” cookie cutter – a 2” one would make 16 sandwiches of a little smaller size. If you don’t make your own ice cream, slice a ½ gallon into 3/4” slices and cut them up the right size.  These are better the second day after they are made, so the cookies soften up some; they make a perfect make-ahead dessert.
Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies
1/2 Cup Butter -- softened
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 Large Egg
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Cocoa -- Hershey's
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat for 3 minutes. Add the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt and beat until a soft, dark dough comes together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and make sure the dough is fully mixed.
Pat HALF of the dough out in a 8" square on a piece of parchment paper. Cover with another piece of waxed paper and roll with a rolling pin into 1/4 inch thickness. Remove the top piece of waxed paper and cut out shapes with a 2 3/4" square sharp cookie cutter, but don't try to lift out the cut pieces of dough!
Lift the whole piece of dough on its paper and put it on a baking sheet. Freeze for an hour or until very stiff.
Heat the oven to 325°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and remove the frozen cookie dough from the freezer. Using a thin metal spatula, carefully transfer each cut-out cookie to the cookie sheet. If desired, prick each cookie with a fork in a pattern.
Bake 7-10 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched. Let cool for 10 minutes to firm up, then remove to a wire rack. Let cool completely before making sandwiches.
Sue's Vanilla Ice Cream
2 cups half and half
1 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix ingredients and chill several hours. Stir to recombine, and process in an ice cream maker until thick, about 20 minutes. Freeze to ripen, 4 hours or overnight. See directions below.
Ice Cream Sandwiches
1 quart vanilla ice cream or less (about 3 cups)
1 batch of Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies
Turn about 3 cups of the ice cream into an 8" square pan lined with wax paper cut to fit with overlap on each end to help get it out. Top with plastic wrap and level ice cream - about 3/4" thick. Save the remainder in another container.  Freeze the ice cream until very hard, then turn it out onto a cutting board. Using the same cookie cutter you used to cut out the cookies, cut or mark and cut slices out of the ice cream and sandwich between the cookies. Freeze the sandwiches on a cookie sheet until hard, then wrap up individually and freeze overnight. I used pre-cut waxed paper sheets to wrap them up.
This cost about $3.18 for the recipe or 36¢ each using homemade ice cream cut into 9 servings.