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Coffee and Ginger Ice Cream Sandwich

Now that we’ve broken the 67 consecutive days of 100 degree temperatures , it almost feels like fall here in Austin. So gearing up for fall, I thought it might be time for me to attempt my first blog post with possibly the best two (fall-ish) flavor combinations…coffee and ginger.

Both of these recipes are great as stand alone recipes, but my idea was to make the ultimate ice cream sandwich. Smooth, creamy coffee ice cream sandwiched between two soft and chewy gingersnap cookies. If this isn’t a flavor combination you have tried before, you definitely need to experience it!

First I made the gingersnap cookies. They are one of my favorite cookies to buy from Whole Foods, but I’ve never tried making them before. I was slightly surprised to find that crystallized ginger and ground cloves are so expensive to buy…but I most definitely could have found them for cheaper at a bulk foods section in a grocery store.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine softened butter, sugar, molasses, and egg in mixer. Beat well. Sift dry ingredients together and add to wet mixture. Stir until just combined. Stir in crystallized ginger. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place on silpat or greased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. (I tried baking them for 8 minutes so that they would stay soft for when I froze the ice cream sandwiches.)

For the coffee ice cream I wanted to experiment with making this dairy free, since recently I’ve been attempting to give up dairy in efforts to eat a more Paleo type diet. Granted, neither of these recipes are at all Paleo, but I’ve been meaning to make these for awhile. Next time I would like to try regular and light coconut milk in place of cream and regular milk, but this time I just substituted the cream with regular coconut milk.

Combine eggs, yolks, sugar in mixer and blend thoroughly for approximately 5 minutes. Heat milk and coconut milk in saucepan until just scorched. Do not let this boil. Turn off heat. Slowly pour 1 cup of milk mixture into egg mixture, beating rapidly with a whisk. Once it is all beaten in, pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk mixture, while beating with whisk. Heat mixture on medium low, stirring constantly for a few more minutes or until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Turn of heat. Pour mixture into bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely cool. After it is cooled, poor mixture into ice cream maker and follow machine’s instructions.

The ice cream was soft serve consistency when it was finished in the ice cream machine. I decided to put it into freezer over night before making ice cream sandwiches. The next day, it was frozen pretty solid so I set it out to soften for a while before making sandwiches. I scooped a good size portion onto a cookie, smooshed it with another cookie and individually wrapped them to put back in freezer for later!