double dark chocolate-dipped fresh mint ice cream sandwiches.

By vealam

Ingredients

• 2 2 2 cups whole milk
• 1 1 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 2 2 to ounces cream cheese*, softened to room temperature
• 1/4 1/4 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/4 1 1/4 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 2/3 2/3 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 2 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• large handful large handful of fresh mint, either from your backyard or from your local market, roughly torn or chopped into small pieces
• to 1/2 1/2 teaspoon of pure peppermint extract (optional)**
• a few drops green liquid food coloring (optional, but it gives it that hint of green)
• 2 2 to boxes Nabisco Famous Wafers (check for broken pieces prior to purchase and then snuggle them all the way through the checkout and on the car ride home, not kidding). Handle with care.***
• 1 1 1 pound Chocoley dark or extra dark Bada Bing Bada Boom dipping and coating formula chocolate

Details

Servings 32
Adapted from aperiodictableblog.com

Preparation

Step 1

Things to do ahead of time:

Remember to throw your ice cream maker in the freezer for the required amount of time prior to starting this recipe: sometimes I forget, so I wanted to remind you. As i mentioned above, you extend your assembly time if you work on a cold surface, so throw a half sheet pan lined with parchment in your freezer as well, and remove it just before you begin to assemble the sandwiches. As far as tools, you’ll need a melon-baller or very small (like the smallest one) ice cream scoop and a regular teaspoon to scoop the ice cream balls.

Make the ice cream base:

In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of the milk. Set aside.

In a large bowl (which will fit inside a larger bowl when you do your ice bath later on), whisk together the cream cheese and salt until smooth and blended. Set aside.

In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk together the remaining milk, heavy cream, sugar, and corn syrup over medium-high heat. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring frequently, and once the mixture begins to boil, stir constantly for 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk together your cornstarch mixture once more (it tends to separate out if it sits too long) and add it to the cream mixture, stirring constantly. Place back over medium-high heat and cook, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Pour heated cream mixture slowly into cream cheese mixture, whisking constantly, until smooth and homogenous. Fill a larger bowl with cold water and ice, and float the bowl with your ice cream base inside it, stirring occasionally, until cooled. Remove from ice bath and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight to steep.

Spin the ice cream:

Remove from the refrigerator and strain out the mint leaves using a fine mesh strainer. Pour the ice cream base into your ice cream machine and spin according to manufacturer’s instructions. Pour frozen ice cream into canisters and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours, until solid.

Assemble the sandwiches:

Before you do anything, open your boxes of cookies carefully and remove them to see which are still intact, and lay them out gently so they’re easier to grab. Have your melon-baller/very small ice cream scoop and teaspoon at the ready, then set out your frozen ice cream and frozen sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

Using the melon baller, scoop a heaping ball of ice cream out, rounding it out with the teaspoon. With a cookie face-up in one hand (support the center), gently set the ice cream ball in the middle. Top with another cookie and carefully press down from the center to spread the ice cream out to the edges evenly. Set on the prepared frozen sheet pan and repeat; I usually can get about 8-10 sandwiches assembled before I need to throw everything back in the freezer for a few minutes. Have a container ready to store your finished sandwiches, and repeat the process until you’ve completed all of your sandwiches. Let firm up in the freezer for at least an hour.

Melt the chocolate:

So the Chocoley people send along really great and really specific instructions (which you should follow) on how to melt their chocolate, and it’s exactly how I did it, and it worked beautifully. If you’re not using their chocolate, I suggest heating your chocolate in a double boiler over just simmering water, stirring frequently until it has melted. Set aside and allow to cool slightly: no one wants to put molten chocolate and frozen ice cream together unless they’re asking for trouble. My favorite thing about the Chocoley product is that it stays creamy and melted even when it’s basically at room temperature, which makes for easier sandwich assembly.

Dip the sandwiches:

Once your chocolate has cooled down but is still creamy, set up your workstation and remove your frozen pan once again from the freezer, along with the sandwiches. Working quickly, dip each sandwich halfway into the chocolate; I used a back-and-forth motion to really get the chocolate on the cookies and to make an even line. Bonus: the chocolate helps to stabilize any cracks or weak spots which happened along the way, so look at each sandwich before dipping to see if there’s any cracks to cover up. Set onto the parchment-lined frozen sheet pan and repeat until the chocolate begins to firm up again or the sandwiches need to be transferred to the freezer; like the sandwich assembly, you should be able to get through about 8-10 sandwiches, maybe more, before you need to reheat the chocolate and scoot the sandwiches back to the freezer. Repeat the process until all your ice cream sandwiches are chocolate covered.

These are best served either the day of (the chocolate coating firms up fast, so they’re ready maybe 20 minutes after you finish coating them, and that’s only to re-freeze the ice cream), and they store well up to 2 days in the freezer. Be sure to store them in an airtight container with wax or parchment paper in between the layers.