Chocolate Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches
I've gotten reasonably good at ice cream (or so I think). There is a recipe in Cook's Illustrated that I've had my eyes on for a while and I decided to put my ice cream and baking skills to the test. The picture in the magazine reminded me of the ice cream sandwiches I used to get at camp and since I haven't had them in so long, it was a good time to try to make an upscale version myself!
Rating: 4 scoops
The sandwiches tasted great with the chocolate chip cookies and chocolate ice cream. They were a little soft and fussy to make though as I describe below. This is the same ice cream I used last week.
It seemed like the cookies were a little darker and softer than the recipe implied. I'm not sure why this is. Looking at my pictures after the fact, I'm wondering if it was something to do with how the browned butter and brown sugar combined. It looked a little lumpy compared to when I make normal chocolate chip cookies (the recipes are similar, but there are some differences to account for the fact the cookies need to be frozen). I may just need to make the recipe again to see if they perform better.
Additionally, the ice cream was really soft - my intention was to put mini chocolate chips on the side but the ice cream was melting all over the place that it was next to impossible. I managed to get chocolate chips on six of them but stopped because I got concerned that I was going to end up with soupy cookies.
I also found it a little challenging to scoop the ice cream. Part of this may have been the softness of the ice cream and part of it may have been my scoop. One of the spring-loaded scoops would have worked well here. If I make these regularly, I should invest in one of those!
If I was to use this combination again, I think I need to adjust the chocolate ice cream recipe to be firmer. My working hypothesis is that there was too much sugar in the ice cream which led to a soft ice cream. There is glucose and sucrose in the base but the chocolates added some additional sugar. Different kinds of chocolate contribute different amounts of sugar, so I might need to experiment with the chocolate types or to remove some of the sucrose in the base. Alternatively, I could use a different recipe that naturally yields a firmer ice cream like a custard.
After I let the ice cream sandwiches rest in the freezer overnight, they did stay firm enough for me to wrap them individually for consumption over the next few weeks.
Chocolates used:
- Dark: Central Market 71% Cacao (origin unknown)
- Milk: Godiva Signature Milk Chocolate
- Cocoa Powder: HEB Select Baker's Select Unsweetened Cocoa
The milk chocolates were different between last week's and this week's batches (I had a coupon for the Godiva this week). Comparing the labels, it looks like the Godiva had slightly less sugar than the Lindt. The dark chocolate was the same. It looks like I can get an 85% cacao dark from Central Market too, which would have less sugar than the 71%, and may be worth trying to see how that affects the ice cream texture and firmness. If all else fails, I can try reducing the sucrose slightly.
Browned butter cookies are the best!