Summer Sandwiches

That's what I'm talking about. If I'm going to eat ice cream for dinner it might as well be portable, without the need of a spoon and bowl. The key is a sturdy yet soft cookie. I realize that it's been a million degrees with a million percent humidity so you might not want to actually bake these cookies now (you could just buy some, or just buy some ice cream sandwiches for that matter), but they are amazing! Chocoholics will DIE. I die. They have that deep chocolate flavor that requires a cold glass of milk to wash it all down, so why not have them with some cold ice cream? I recommend making the ice cream sandwiches as you want them because when I tried freezing a whole sandwich, the cookies got a bit too hard to really enjoy properly. You want a soft cookie and soft ice cream so that the ice cream doesn't all squish out the sides. Maybe an open-faced ice cream sandwich is the way to go...



Double-Chocolate Brownie Cookies
Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

9 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped into chunks
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside. In a heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) summering water, melt 5 ounces of the semisweet chocolate, the unsweetened chocolate, and the butter. Stir until smooth. Set the mixture aside to cool slightly, about 5 minutes.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the chocolate mixture and sugar on medium speed until well combined, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, and mix until completely combined. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour and salt, and beat until just incorporated. Stir in the remaining 4 ounces of semisweet chocolate.

3. Shape 2 tablespoons of dough at a time into 1 1/2-inch balls and place about 1 1/2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. (My dough was pretty soft, perhaps due to the extreme heat, so some cookies were not perfectly round dough balls. See elephantine photo below!) Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until the edges are set and the centers are still a bit soft, 9 to 11 minutes. Transfer the parchment and cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.


Elephant cookie