Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwiches

Hi Bakers!

Welcome back to Strawberry Fest! I have another fun recipe for you that uses the sweetest berries of the season: Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwiches. I got an ice cream maker last spring, and I’ve been churning new concoctions weekly. With about a dozen recipes tried and tasted so far, I am so excited to share this one with you.

Despite my height of 5’8”, I have pretty petite kids. They are all incredibly active and play competitive sports, so on top of feeding them their typical meals, I’ve been trying to keep up their caloric intake through track, baseball, and dance competition season. I talk regularly about cooking from scratch with whole foods as much as possible, so I won’t get into that too much right now. But I am here to make the argument that ice cream has good health benefits for growing kids.

Ice cream, made with fresh ingredients, has essential nutrients and is a great source of calcium and decent protein. Organic eggs, whole milk, heavy cream, and a moderate amount of sugar - ice cream has been fueling my household in the most delicious way. And let’s be honest, I love eating ice cream too. You can read more about it here.

Anyway, I’ve unlocked this new passion for ice cream making, something I was never great at previously. I’ve made a good number of no-churn ice creams to help keep us cool in the summer months, but I am very pleased with these new ones and plan to make more all year long.

Here’s the thing about strawberry ice cream: strawberries have a lot of water content that can make the texture icy. I love starting with a rich, creamy egg-based custard recipe, so that helps, but not as much as cooking down the fresh strawberries and evaporating some of that water. This also intensifies that sweet strawberry flavor.

The tricky part about making ice cream sandwiches is finding a cookie or crust that doesn’t freeze harder than the ice cream itself. This brown sugar cookie crust is pretty close. It’s chewy and tasty enough to eat on its own. Biting into the sandwich isn’t too difficult with minimal ice cream squishing out the sides. Sure you could scoop ice cream onto fresh cookies without freezing to make things a bit easier to chew, but this option is great for making a big batch at once and freezing in advance.

I sliced the first half of the sandwiches into 2-inch rectangles before realizing how big they were, so then cut them into squares. The second half were cut into smaller pieces, yielding about 15 servings. You do you.

560g (about 4 cups) sliced strawberries
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar

1 ½ cups (360ml) whole milk
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
½ cup (120ml) sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt

• Place the strawberries and sugar in a saucepan set over medium heat. Cook the berries until they start to soften. Continue to cook until the mixture becomes jammy and bubbly. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

• Remove from the heat and purée the strawberries with an immersion blender or mini food processor. Return to the stove to simmer for another 10 minutes to reduce the liquid.

• Pour the strawberry purée into a new container and chill in the fridge until completely cold.

• Rinse out the saucepan and add the milk and remaining sugar. Set over medium heat and bring to a slight simmer.

• Meanwhile, add the egg yolks to a medium mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Also, in a separate large bowl, mix together the heavy cream and sour cream. Set a mesh sieve on top then set aside.

• Once the milk mixture is warm, slowly pour it into the egg yolks, while whisking constantly. Pour the egg-milk mixture back into the saucepan.

• Cook the custard over medium heat, stirring slowly but constantly, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon (170 to 180°F).

• Pour the custard through the sieve and into the cream mixture. Discard any cooked egg bits in the sieve. Stir the mixture, along with the vanilla extract and salt. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until completely cold.

• When ready, mix about 1½ cups (360ml) of the strawberry puree into the vanilla ice cream mixture. Pour it into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer instructions then assemble the sandwiches.

1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
¾ cup (150g) dark brown sugar
¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 ½ cups (315g) all-purpose flour

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a half sheet pan (13x18-inches) with parchment paper.

• In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, and melted butter until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs and vanilla then whisk until smooth.

• Add the baking soda and salt and whisk to combine. Add the flour (sifted, if it isn’t super fresh) and stir until combined into a thick dough.

• Dollop the dough all over the prepared pan. Use an offset spatula to smooth it out into one large layer. This can get a little tricky, but just be patient.

• Bake the cookie crust for 11 to 13 minutes, or until set around the edges and the surface is dry to the touch. Cool on a wire rack.

• Line a 9x13-inch cake pan with two pieces of plastic wrap, criss-crossing in the middle with sides long enough to overlap on top. Cut the cookie crust in half to create two large slabs. Fit one layer of cookie crust into the bottom of the pan. It will be slightly smaller than the pan; that’s okay.

• Scoop the churned strawberry ice cream on top of the cookie crust. Dollop on any remaining strawberry puree and gently swirl. Use an offset spatula to spread the ice cream into an even layer. Set the second cookie crust on top and gently press down. Wrap everything in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.

• Remove from the freezer. Unwrap the ice cream slab before carefully cutting into portions with a sharp knife.

Store wrapped in plastic or in a zip-top freezer bag for up to 1 month.