Chocolate Cookie for Ice Cream Sandwiches

Original recipe from Food & Wine. It's not a magazine I subscribe to -- maybe a 'free sample issue' along with one I do? This was definitely worth a try. And the cookie was a good texture for ice cream bars. I worked a smaller batch (halving the recipe) to test it out, and cut rounds rather than preparing a sheet to cut into bars...

Ingredients
1¼ C flour
1/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t salt
¾ t baking powder
½ C butter
¾ C sugar
1 T instant espresso*
1 egg
2 t vanilla

1 quart ice cream

* I used less; I like the way the bitter coffee brings out the chocolatey-ness over the sweetness -- using it this way is THE reason (the ONLY reason) I keep instant coffee/espresso in the house; but I do NOT like coffee and don't want to taste it. AT ALL. If you LIKE coffee--and depending on the flavor if ice cream you plan to sandwich--use the full tablespoon...or more.

Directions
Sift together flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder; set aside.

Beat butter, sugar and espresso until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, beating until well combined. On low speed, gradually add dry ingredients until just combined.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill (2 hours or up to 3 days).

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Roll dough on parchment paper, flouring the top as needed to prevent sticking, into a 1/8" thick 10x13" rectangle (mine was a bit thicker than that, but less than ¼", and I used a flour and cocoa powder mix to dust the top). Slide onto large baking sheet; chill until firm (about 30 minutes).

Dock the surface using the blunt end of a wooden skewer. You could simply do this with a fork, but using a skewer gives it the look of traditional ice cream sandwiches. Bake 9-11 minutes, until set in the middle but still soft. Cool completely before removing from baking sheet.

Cut in half. Invert 1 half; top with ice cream. Place remaining cookie half on top. Cover with aluminum foil; freeze until FIRM (at least 2 hours). Cut into bars; serve immediately.

Royal Icing ...and... Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

These recipes need not be made in combination. I certainly didn't intend them to be perceived that way. I'm only posting them like this because (idiot that I was)...I completely forgot to snap a picture of the cookies before covering them with the icing!

The shortbread cookies are a pretty basic shortbread recipe...with finely chopped rosemary. I'd love to try other herbs that may make the crossover between sweet and savory, but this is where I started -- likely because my rosemary plant is the only one really flourising so far this spring.

The royal icing is also a recipe that's a combination of 3 different royal icing recipes I had - one I found in a baking & pastry textbook, one from this past year's Fall Conference for FCS educators, and one from Allrecipes.com. Trying to take the best of each and arrive at a balanced final product that tasted okay and was a good, workable consistency.

These cookies were my first attempts with royal icing -- usually I'm a buttercream girl! Piled on a plate (where I can hide my less than stellar first attempts on the bottom layer!) they look decent enough if you don't look too closely. At least they were a sweet, bright spot for Easter. (I realized I have no egg shaped cooking cutter!)

Royal Icing Ingredients
1 lb powdered sugar
2 T meringue powder
½ t cream of tartar
5 T water; additional water for 'flooding' consistency
1 T vanilla (or lemon juice)
gel food coloring (s)

Royal Icing Directions
Blend powdered sugar, meringue powder, and cream of tartar. (I throw in a dash of salt as well.) Mix vanilla with 4 T water; blend into powdered sugar mixture. For a good outlining consistency, the icing should run in thick ribbons from the mixing spoon into the bowl, disappearing into the surface in abouat 10 seconds. Add the remaining tablespoon of water if needed.

Divide the icing into smaller bowls before mixing with food coloring(s) for multiple colors. If you only have liquid food colors, just remember that they will thin your icing - especially if you go for brighter or darker colors and not pastels, so adjust the water content accordingly. Outline cookies or areas to be filled with each color using a piping bag with a small round tip (or...use a disposable plastic sandwich bag and snip a tiny corner off). Save some icings at piping/outlining consistency to add details over flooding (once set), if desired. Then...

Add additional water (a LITTLE at a time) to achieve flooding consistency. Fill outlined areas with thinned icing, spreading gently to fill out to edges as needed.

Rosemary Shortbread Cookie Ingredients
1 C butter, diced
½ C powdered sugar (granulated sugar works fine too)
1 T finely chopped rosemary
2 C flour
½ t salt
1 tsp vanilla

Shortbread Cookie Directions
Preheat oven to 300 F°.

Cream butter with sugar and rosemary; add salt and vanilla, blending until well incorporated. Add flower, mixing on low speed until dough just comes together.

Roll or press to  inch thick; slice into squares or cut with cookie cutters. Gently gather scraps, re-roll and cut...

Bake until bottoms are just beginning to brown (about 30 minutes).

Red (or purple) Velvet Rolled Cookies

I already have a red velvet drop cookie recipe. These were in Better Homes & Gardens magazine this month--specifically with red hearts for Valentine's Day (I'd link to it here, but I can't access it online; red heart photo is theirs). I opted for purple food coloring as I plan to take them to my students at NVHS...if the snow ever melts, roads clear and we actually have school again! Any color could be used, though with a bit of cocoa powder in these, if you want light or pastel colors it would be better to make a rolled sugar cookie.

Ingredients:
1 C butter, softened
1¼ C sugar
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 eggs
1 T liquid food coloring
1 tsp vanilla
2¾ C flour
    powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar. Add cocoa, baking powder and salt; beat, scraping sides of bowl to fully incorporate all ingredients. Beat in eggs, food coloring and vanilla.

Slowly add flour and stir until just combined. Chill 1 hour or until easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 375˚. Roll dough on lightly floured surface to " thick; Cut with cookie cutters and place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 7 to 9 minutes, until bottoms are very light brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Sprinkle cooled cookies with powdered sugar, using stencils if desired for decoration.

Makes about 3 dozen 2 - 2½" cookies.

Danish Salted-Butter Cookies

If you're going to decorate and cover them with icing and sprinkles, save yourself the trouble and just go for regular sugar cookies. But if the cookies are to be the main focus, these are worth the extra effort!

Thanks to Bon Appetit for the recipe.

I did find that mine -- even though I felt I was rolling them a little thin -- took longer than the 10-15 minutes to cook to really delicious, golden brown, light and crispy, buttery cookies...about 20.

Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

My nephew's request for his birthday dessert: "Moo-wiches" -- that's what the dairy women call them at their delicious ice cream booth at our local fair every summer. He had a list of different cookie and ice cream combinations to suggest... I managed to pull off three kinds of cookies (chocolate chip, peanut butter, and M&M cookies) all filled with either vanilla or vanilla chocolate-sauce-swirled ice cream. PB cookies rolled with chocolate sprinkles, the M&M cookies rolled in rainbow nonpareils, the chocolate chip cookies remain just 'classic' cookies and ice cream. No real 'recipe' for this one; it's fairly obvious:

Bake your favorite cookies and let them cool completely. Place a scoop of slightly softened ice cream on the underside of one cookie, top with another and press gently. Roll, if desired, in decorative sprinkles, colored sugars, mini-chips, mini-M&Ms, etc. Serve immediately, or--usually a better option--return to freezer so they can really 'set', and take them out just before serving.

These flavors were, of course, specifically to please my nephew (your birthday = your choice). :)  Chocolate cookies and vanilla ice cream is probably the most traditional of ice cream sandwiches, but I'd love to try other combinations: I have a recipe for a green apple sorbet that I think would be delicious sandwiched between molasses cookies. Sugar cookies and any berry flavored ice cream (or frozen yogurt, gelato, etc.) sounds good to me. Lavender shortbread cookies with vanilla bean ice cream or a light lemon gelato... endless possibilities!

Photo #2: I tried some new flavors for my niece's birthday ("moo-wiches" were her choice too): more of the 'classic'  peanut-butter chocolate chip with vanilla bean ice cream, some green apple sorbet sandwiched between molasses cookies, and a mixed berry gelato between chocolate cookies.

Sugar Cookies

MHS: Introduction to Foods and Nutrition*

Pre-heat oven to 400°

Cream together:

½ C shortening

¼ C butter

1 C sugar

Blend in:

            2 eggs

            ½ tsp vanilla

Mix together (in separate bowl) and then add:

            3 C flour

            1 tsp baking powder

            ¼ tsp salt

Blend thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Roll to ¼” thickness on lightly floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Transfer cookies to ungreased cookie sheets. Gather scraps of dough; re-roll, cut, etc.

Bake 6-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.

Decorating tips: Cookies can be…

-         sprinkled with colored sugar before baking

-         ‘painted’ with colored egg yolk before baking

-         glazed or frosted after baking and decorated with assorted sprinkles and/or candies

 

Powdered Sugar Icing:

2 ½ C powdered sugar, 2 Tbls softened butter, 1 Tbls vanilla, 2 Tbls water, food coloring

* This recipe is one used in the introductory culinary course I teach. 
(Fat and Oils - Cookies)

Gingerbread Cookies

MHS: Introduction to Foods and Nutrition*

Pre-heat oven to 350°

Cream together:

8 Tbls butter or margarine

½ C brown sugar

½ C sugar

 Blend in:

            2 eggs

            4 Tbls molasses

Add and blend in:

            1 tsp cinnamon

            1 tsp ginger

            ½ tsp ground cloves

            ¼ tsp salt

Gradually add:  2½ - 3 C flour

(More flour makes a stiffer dough -- not as soft to eat, but better for constructing a gingerbread house.)

Gently mix dough until smooth and elastic (3-4 minutes)  Don’t overmix the dough; it will get tough.

Roll dough on a floured surface to ¼” thickness. Cut with cookie cutters and transfer to ungreased cookie sheets. Gather scraps of dough; re-roll, cut, etc.

Bake approximately 15 minutes until dough feels dry and firm to the touch. Remove from oven; cool on wire racks.

* This recipe is one used in the introductory culinary course I teach. 
(Fat and Oils - Cookies)

Glazed Butter Cookies

This is a basic recipe that is easy to use in lots of variations... Though not excessively rich or decadent, it is perfectly fine as a simple butter cookie. It's also substantial enough (not so light and buttery that it crumbles easily) that it makes a good base for bar cookies topped with fruit preserves, nuts, caramel, chocolate... You can get creative with it!

2½ C flour
¾ C powdered sugar
1 C butter
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbls cream cheese

Combine flour and powdered sugar; cut butter into pieces and add, one at a time, until mixture is crumbly and damp. Add vanilla and cream cheese, mixing until incorporated. Divide dough in half; shape each half into a disc. Refrigerate 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375°. Roll out dough and cut into shapes...OR, for bar cookies...press into the bottom of a baking dish, and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Glaze and/or decorate...OR top with preserves, nuts, chocolate, etc.

Glaze:
1 Tbls cream cheese
2-3 Tbls milk*
1½ C powdered sugar

* Instead of milk, try pineapple juice, lemon juice, orange juice...

Cream Wafers

Wafers:
(makes about 100 cookies)
1 C butter, softened
1/3 C heavy cream
2 C flour
sugar

Thoroughly mix butter, cream and flour. Roll out thinly. Cut in tiny rounds using a cookie cutter or mini-biscuit round. Put a thin layer of sugar on a plate or shallow dish. Turn (flip) wafer rounds in sugar, pressing gently on both sides. Place on ungreased cookie sheeets; prick with a fork. Bake 7-9 minutes at 375°. Cool completely.

Buttercream Filling:
½ C butter, softened
1½ C powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla

Mix butter, egg yolks and vanilla until creamy. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Spread buttercream filling on a wafer, top with a second wafer...


Decorating the top really adds to the visual appeal (red and green 'holly' for festive Christmas cookie plates; pastels or brights for showers or other holidays, etc). But they're so light and creamy and buttery they'll be a favorite even served without any embellishments!

This recipe uses egg yolks. I often make meringues or divinity with the egg whites. :)

Gingerbread

These photos are from past years; I'm not sure if I'll make one this year. They're scanned, and the color isn't great, but here are a couple of my gingerbread house creations. ...and a shot of my nephew Tate and I enthusiastically preparing to devour one. :)

1/3 C shortening
1 C brown sugar
1½ C dark molasses
6 C flour*
2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp each: allspice, ginger, cloves, cinnamon







Mix shortening, brown sugar, molasses and 2/3 C cold water until thoroughly combined. Combine flour, soda, salt and spices; stir into molasses mixture until well combined. Chill dough 1 hour. Roll and cut into desired shapes. Bake 15 minutes at 350°.

* For gingerbread houses (or gingerbread men), add another cup of flour. The firmer cookies are easier to build with. :)