strawberry sweet cream ice cream sandwiches

I love ice cream and I love cookies, so I put these two loves together and make ridiculously good ice cream sandwiches.

I "ruined" one plate by trying to build these when the ice cream was super soft.  Not a good idea.  I thought it would be easier since I could scoop and spread without utilizing any upper body strength but my laziness got the best of me.  The ice cream oozed out of the cookie sandwich and filled the plate with a puddle of ice cream and soft cookies.  

In the end, it was a delicious mistake because I froze it and then had a plate of cookie/ice cream goodness.  Sometimes laziness pays off.

By the time I got to the second plate, I had learned my lesson and used firm ice cream. Tip - build these suckers fast, ice cream melts!

strawberry sweet cream ice cream sandwiches {makes about 18}

for the cookies
-1/2 cup unsalted butter - softened 
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 egg and 1 egg white
-1/4 cup milk {I used non fat but whatever you have is fine}
-1/4 cup International Delight Sweet Cream {if you don't have this on hand, substitute with milk or cream}
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
-2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
-1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon salt

for the ice cream
-a pint of vanilla ice cream {you might need a bit more depending on how many cookies you have and how thick you want the filling}
-1 1/2 cup chopped strawberries
-the juice from one half a lemon
-2 tablespoons International Delight Sweet Cream {again, you can skip this and add in honey if you want the strawberries to be super sweet}

1. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
2. Use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and sugar.  Let mix for about a minute and add in the eggs and vanilla extract.  Continue to mix until well combined - about another minute.
3. While the mixer is on low, add in 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then the milk, then 1/3 more of the dry ingredients, then the Sweet Cream, then the remaining dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined.
4. This dough is sticky, so lightly flour parchment or waxed paper and roll the dough out onto it.  Using floured hands, make the dough into a log shape, wrap up in the paper and refrigerate for a few hours, until firm.
5. Once the dough is firm, slice in 1/4" thick pieces and lay out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.  Longer if you want the cookies crisp, but I like mine soft.  Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets then transfer to a plate to cool completely.

6. Once the cools are completely cooled, make the strawberry syrup.  Just chop the strawberries into tiny pieces and put in a small saucepan set over low heat.  Mix in the lemon juice and let the berries cook for about 10 minutes.  They will reduce and thicken.  Remove the mixture from the heat and allow to cool completely.  Once cooled, whisk in the Sweet Cream.
7. In a large bowl, combine the vanilla ice cream and strawberry mixture.  You could just skip all of this and use strawberry ice cream but the flavor from the fresh strawberries is pretty amazing....far better than any standard store bought strawberry ice cream.
8. Pop the bowl of ice cream into the freezer so it hardens.  This is where I messed up and began building my sandwiches that became a soupy delicious ice cream mess.

9. Once the ice cream is firm but still scoop-able, build your sandwiches and immediately place them in airtight containers {lining with parchment paper helps with stacking them on top of each other} in the freezer.

I want to make these again, except as a sort of cake.  My idea is to bake to halves of cookie crust in large sheets and then layer it all in a rectangle pan and slice into sandwich pieces.  I think this will make the sandwich building part a little easier because everything will be able to freeze together.

Also, different kinds of fruit would be amazing - peaches or plums sound pretty good to me :).

Love ice cream + coffee? This summer, International Delight is bringing your favorite Cold Stone Creamery ice cream flavors to coffee and they're celebrating by giving away five $400 grand prizes to throw this summer’s ultimate Ice Cream Social!  To enter, visit the ID + Ice Cream Pinterest board and pin your favorite image using the #IScream4ID hashtag. Good luck!
 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.