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Makingice cream sandwichesat home is one of life’s greatest gifts. Sure, the ice cream truck version is perfect on a hot afternoon in the park, but when considering a (crowd-pleasing, no-bake) dessert to throw together for a barbecue or birthday party, why not be your own Mister Softee? My favorite version, which is made entirely with store-bought ingredients, has multiple advantages. You can get more ice cream sandwiches for your buckandgrab a sleeve of the best possible cookies for the job:digestive biscuits.
The lightly sweetened crunchy cookies known as digestive biscuits have a shortbread-like, sandy texture, almost like a cross between graham crackers and Biscoff cookies, and a nutty, not-too-sweet flavor. They’re a popular accompaniment to tea or coffee in the U.K., but just wait until you try them in an ice cream sandwich. Chocolate chip cookies might be simpler to find at the supermarket—or maybe you already have a batch ofdoughon hand—but after a trip to the freezer, CCCs get so hard that some overeager biters might wind up at the dentist. Packaged digestive biscuits, however, are made from a simple dough of mostly whole wheat and all-purpose flours, oil, and milk; even frozen solid, they maintain a light, crumbly texture.
To put this combo to the test, pull a pint of ice cream out of the freezer to soften while you arrange a sleeve of digestive biscuits on a parchment-lined sheet pan. If you want to use half regular biscuits and halfchocolate-covered biscuits, be my guest. If you’re into this chocolate idea but can’t find the cookies, I have a solution—just hold tight.
Cover half the cookies with a heaping#16 (2-oz.) cookie scoopor ¼ cup ball of softened ice cream—any flavor you like, about 10 minutes out of the freezer, and well-stirred to channel a sort of soft-serve texture. Gently smoosh another cookie over each scoop until you can see ice cream just peeking out from the edges. If you want to be a little fussy, you can run an offset spatula around the perimeter of each sandwich to ensure the edges are filled in. Place the sheet pan in the freezer for 15 minutes for the ice cream to firm up a bit.
At this point you have a few options, the easiest being to keep the sandwiches in the freezer until you’re ready to eat them. But for a little more fun, after 15 minutes, roll the edges of each ice cream sandwich in a shallow bowl filled with a topping like sprinkles or mini chocolate chips (I add a pinch of flaky salt to these), or chopped toasted, salted nuts.
Chocolate fans, remember when I said I have an option if you can’t find chocolate biscuits? Here you go: While the ice cream sandwiches are freezing, melt a few ounces of your favorite percentage of chocolate with a tablespoon of coconut oil. Dunk half of each ice cream sandwich in the melted chocolate, then if you’d like, dunkthatin one of the aforementioned toppings. Return to the sheet pan and pop them back in the freezer to set for at least another 15 minutes before devouring.
Digestive biscuit ice cream sandwiches can be made up to 2 weeks in advance (freeze them until solid, about 2 hours, on the sheet pan, then transfer to an airtight container.) But I strongly doubt any will last that long. Good thing it takes barely any time to make another one.
