July 7, 2011

The other day, I made chocolate graham crackers for my Gluten-Free Tuesday column on SeriousEats.com. On the counter were a few leftover crackers. Suddenly, in what can only be called a flash of brillance, I realized I could make ice cream sandwiches with them! Ice sandwiches! Why had this never occurred to me before?!?! The mere thought of an ice cream sandwich prompted me to jump in the car to buy some vanilla ice cream at the store. 

Since then, I've made another batch of ice cream sandwiches just, ya know, to test them. For research. While I love brown rice flour in graham crackers, I decided that I liked the smoother texture of white rice flour for the ice cream sandwich base. Use whichever flour you have on hand.

As for the ice cream, vanilla, of course, is traditional. But mint chocolate chip, my research found, also makes an amazing ice cream sandwich.

For the Cookie Base

Dry Ingredients

6 ounces (1 1/2 cups) white rice flour plus extra for dusting counter

2.5 ounces (1/3 cup) dark brown sugar

1 ounce (1/4 cup) corn or tapioca starch

0.75 ounce (1/4 cup) cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients

5 tablespoons cold butter

6 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Granulated sugar (for sprinkling)

For the Filling

One pint of your favorite flavor ice cream. (If you want a really generous ice cream sandwich, you might need more than a pint.)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In bowl of a food processor, combine dry ingredients. Pulse to combine.

 

2. Add butter. Pulse until no large pieces of butter remain. Add milk and corn syrup. Pulse until dough forms.

 

3. Turn dough out onto a lightly rice floured piece of 12 x16 parchment paper. Pat dough into rectangle. Dust top of dough lightly with rice flour. Place another piece of 12x16 parchment paper on top of dough. Roll dough out until it covers all of the paper. Dough rectangle will be about 1/8 inch thick.

 

4. Using pizza wheel, score dough into rectangles about 6 x 3 inches. Prick dough all over with fork. Chill dough for 15 minutes.

 

5. Sprinkle granulated sugar lightly over top of dough. Bake until crackers are set, about 15 minutes. Remove cookies from pan and place on wire rack to cool. (I slide the parchment, with the crackers, directly onto the cooling rack.)

 

6. Once cookies are cool, snap apart. Sandwich cookies together with ice cream. Either serve right away or store ice cream sandwiches in the freezer in plastic sandwich bags. 

Makes about six ice cream sandwiches