9 replies to this topic

[DonRocks]

I too had a problem with the ice cream sandwich. We got the chocolate/coffee/coconut one and it refused to be eaten. Ice cream too soft, cookies too hard, the ice cream gushed out when we tried to take bites out of it. We were left with sticky hands and faces and empty tummies.

This is an interesting phenomenon with cookie-based ice-cream sandwiches. Recall in the days of old, the chocolate-y wafers were almost matzah-like in thickness, stimpled, and almost never hard.

Everywhere these days, baking-oriented pastry chefs seem to be offering this dessert (EatBar was the first that I can remember using cookies, a few years back). The thick-hard-cookie, soft-ice-cream Bite&Squirt syndrome seems to be a common problem.

What do we make of this?

[jayandstacey]

We make a stop at a gas station for a proper Hershey's ice cream sandwich frozen to the proper temperature; available for 99 cents.

[weezy]

The biggest difference is that the ice cream is stuffed between the cookies of whichever variety and wrapped and allowed to meld. The cookie draws some moisture from the ice cream while it is freezing, and then becomes softer and more pliable as it thaws and thus becomes a better match for the ice cream stuffing. It's the last minute prep that really makes it difficult to eat.

[discojing]

The best ice cream sandwiches I've had were always the kind where either cookie and ice cream were prepared separately (warm cookies, a fresh scoop of ice cream in-between them) so that both the ingredients were soft. I one like this at the Wine Kitchen in Leesburg and they were great!

The other kinda of acceptable sandwich is the grocery store freezer kind where everything is rock hard and the same consistency.

I think the problem with the Sugar Magnolia version was what weezy says leads to a *good* sandwich. The cookies and ice cream were combined together in the freezer, but they have different densities and thaw rates, hence the bite and squirt.

[rbh]

Ice cream sandwiches remind me of elementary school and getting them as rewards for whatever (most books read, highest score on a test, etc).... iirc, they were probably like good humor ice cream sandwiches.

[KMango]

Maybe we can have an ice cream sandwich contest/experiment at the June picnic!

I still dream of the ones from Food Matters, forged from house-made cookies and Great Falls ice cream. As weezy described above, wrapped and allowed to meld in the freezer, resulting in ridiculous levels of deliciousness and ideal texture.

(i miss that place)
(i miss that place)
(i miss that place)

[ad.mich]

This is an interesting phenomenon with cookie-based ice-cream sandwiches. Recall in the days of old, the chocolate-y wafers were almost matzah-like in thickness, stimpled, and almost never hard.

Everywhere these days, baking-oriented pastry chefs seem to be offering this dessert (EatBar was the first that I can remember using cookies, a few years back). The thick-hard-cookie, soft-ice-cream Bite&Squirt syndrome seems to be a common problem.

What do we make of this?

What do we make of this? I make that if I was running a restaurant I'd want to slap two cookies around a scoop, toss it in the freezer, and then sell it for $4-6 too. Everyone else is dead on about the consistency issues that come from fancypants ice cream sandwiches. I think those 99 cent quicky mart ones benefit strongly from the stabilizers in the cookie and ice cream to avoid the firmness issues.

Frankly, a really thin blondie or brownie might be the better way to go if you're doing the upscale route. Chewy is your friend.

[ol_ironstomach]

What do we make of this? I make that if I was running a restaurant I'd want to slap two cookies around a scoop, toss it in the freezer, and then sell it for $4-6 too. ...

Frankly, a really thin blondie or brownie might be the better way to go if you're doing the upscale route. Chewy is your friend.

The gourmet ice cream sandwich was already well established by the time New York Magazine wrote their review six years ago. Bierkraft was just around the corner from gubeen's house, and their sandwiches really were superb.

However, the use of cookies is ancient. The vernacular San Francisco area ice cream sandwich is the chocolate-dipped "It's It", which uses oatmeal cookies and has since 1928. And yes, you can stuff your face with these at the big Google cafeteria.

[ad.mich]

Safeways up and down the west coast used to stock It's It. They are awesome. I had one last summer while I was in California and they are as good as you remember.

[DonRocks]

Ice cream sandwiches remind me of elementary school

Me too and they were 15 cents.

(I like this thread!)