You can make ice cream sandwiches three ways. Any way you choose, you can make far better ice cream sandwiches than you can get at the convenience store down the street. And you can be creative mixing and matching cookies with ice cream flavors and maybe dipping them in chocolate or frosting them.
We’ll show you all three ways and give you the advantages of each so that you can choose the way that is best for you.
Method 1: Making Ice Cream Sandwiches with an Ice Cream Sandwich Maker
This method uses a slick ice cream sandwich maker to make uniform and professional looking ice cream sandwiches. The tool cuts a cookie sheet into uniform rectangles. A cookie is placed in the tool, ice cream is spread on top of the cookie, and second cookie is placed over the ice cream. Using the tool, the ice cream and the two cookies are compressed together.
Read on to see how to make ice cream sandwiches with an ice cream sandwich maker.
Method 2: Making Ice Cream Sandwiches with the Sheet Method
The sugar cookies are baked in pans lined with parchment paper. After the cookies are cooled, they are lifted from the pans by grasping the edges of the paper. You can use nearly any sugar cookie recipe or mix. (We use our sugar cookie mixes in flavors like Huckleberry, Raspberry Lemon, and Cinnamon Banana.)
Once you learn the methodology, you can use any sugar cookie mix or recipe. Our sugar cookie mixes are perfectly sized to make a 9 x 13-inch sheet. You can use the frosting mix that comes with the mix to decorate or frost you ice cream sandwiches.
What you’ll need:
- sugar cookie mix or recipe
- 2 baking pans, 9 x 13 if you are using our mixes but other pans may accommodate other mixes or recipes
- ice cream
- parchment paper or aluminum foil
Step one: Making the Sugar Cookie Sheets
Let the cookies cool in the pans on a rack. Once cool, lift one of the sheets from the pan and set it on a cooling rack. Leave the other in the pan.
Step two: Putting Ice Cream between the Two Sugar Cookie Sheets
Soften the ice cream on the counter until it is no longer hard. Spread the ice cream with the back of an ice cream spade or spatula. For a 9 x13-inch pan, nearly a quart of ice cream is the right amount. Place the pan with the ice cream in the freezer.
Place plastic cutting board over the cookie sheet on the rack. Grasping the cutting board and cooling rack together, invert the cookie sheet onto the cutting board. Peel off the parchment paper. You will now have a whole cookie sheet upside down on the cutting board. Replace the cooling rack, hold the cutting board and rack together, and invert the combination. You will now have the cookie sheet on the rack right side up.
Carefully slide the cookie sheet off the rack onto the frozen ice cream. Gently press the cookie onto the ice cream. Place the pan with the cookies and ice cream into the freezer to freeze solid.
Step three: Cutting and Finishing Your Ice Cream Sandwiches
Use a ruler to determine cut lines. Score lines in the cookie where you want the cuts to be. Use a stiff-bladed serrated knife to saw the sheet into ice cream sandwiches returning each to the freezer once cut. If the ice cream starts to soften before all the cuts are made, refreeze the ice cream.
You may dip your ice cream sandwiches in melted chocolate coating one end. As you remove the ice cream sandwiches from the chocolate, you may dip the soft chocolate end in sprinkles or other decorations.
You may also chose to frost the top of your ice cream sandwiches and sprinkle decorations onto the frosting.
Method 3: Making Ice Cream Sandwiches Using the Cookie Cutter Method
You need some solid cookies like gingersnaps or Snickerdoodles , not dainty cookies, to absorb the moisture and not come apart when you bite them. Our favorites are chocolate sugarsnaps, gingersnaps, and Pennsylvania Dutch sugar cookies.
What you’ll need:
- cookie mix or recipe
- a baking pan
- ice cream
- parchment paper or aluminum foil
Step one: Baking the Cookies
Bake the cookies according to package directions and let cool.
Try to make the cookies the same shape and size. Match the cookies in pairs and set aside.
Step two: Preparing the Ice Cream
Line a 9 x13-inch baking pan with foil or parchment paper.
The ice cream needs to be barely softened enough to squish into the foil or parchment paper lined pan. If you let it get too soft, ice crystals will form. If you use a spatula or the back of an ice cream spade, you can squish the ice cream into a layer while it is still frozen. Smooth the ice cream into a 1/2-inch thick layer. Refreeze the ice cream.
Step three: Cutting the Ice Cream and Assembling the Sandwiches
Once the ice cream is frozen hard, remove the pan form the freezer. Lift the ice cream from the pan by grabbing the edges of the foil or paper and lifting.
Cut round circles of ice cream with a cookie cutter. Place each ice cream circle between a cookie pair. Press firmly together and then refreeze.
Dennis Weaver is the founder of The Prepared Pantry. He is the author of How to Bake, a 318 page book about the art and science of baking. You can download a free copy of How to Bake here. Kindle, Nook and iPad versions available.