Mini Ice Cream Sandwiches

Last week, I found out that I passed the Anatomic and Clinical Pathology boards - after all these years of training, I'm finally board certified! This was quickly followed by the humbling realization that although I am now authorized to sign out cases on my own, I still have so much to learn. I have to believe that the first few years when I sign out independently is when I will learn the most. In some ways, this whole process is like learning how to ride a bike. My training wheels are just about coming off....there's no going back! 

My Dad likes to remember how he tricked me into riding my bike without the training wheels. At first I was terrified - I insisted that he stand right behind me as I rode away. He complied the first few times, and then did "phantom steps". He stayed put while I rode away, stomping loudly so I thought he was right behind me. Eventually, I realized he wasn't behind me - and I realized I knew how to ride a bike! Residency is a similar process - although I'm still in the wobbly "I wish I had my wheels" stage. All joking aside though, I am profoundly grateful for the support of my family, friends, and mentors for helping me reach this point. You have helped me through my most difficult times with encouragement and love, and I could not ask for a better group of people to go through life with. 

  To celebrate, my husband took me to  Zinc downtown, which offered a delicious summer dinner with lots of juicy, sweet peaches. It's only a matter of time before we head to our local orchard to nab some peaches of our own! In addition to summer fruits, we've been on an ice cream kick lately - who doesn't love ice cream in the summer? (or fall? or winter? or spring?) 

These miniature ice cream sandwiches are inspired by a dessert we had at 121 Restaurant, a beautiful, rustic farm to table restaurant in North Salem. 

My husband ordered the ice cream sandwiches for dessert, which were two MAMMOTH sized ice cream sandwiches. I can't believe it's taken me this long to realize that my husband (who likes everything cold - I find potato chips in the refrigerator - don't ask) would love ice cream sandwiches. And of course, after not having had one for a long time and tasting a bite, my love was renewed. I decided to create a similar, scaled down mini sandwich, just big enough to nip that after dinner "I need something sweet" feeling, but small enough not to destroy your healthy eating resolution! I tinkered with a traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe to optimize the consistency of these cookies with the ice cream - they're a more cake-y cookie. Maybe a mini ice cream whoopie is a more accurate description? The airy texture of these cookies is due to greek yogurt - see here for a substitution chart, and more greek yogurt recipes here, here, and here).

Maybe a mini ice cream whoopie is a more accurate description? 

Mini Ice Cream Sandwiches

makes 10-15 mini sandwiches

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

4 tbsp butter

1/4 cup full fat or 2% greek yogurt

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup (more or less) dark chocolate chips (roughly chopped, if larger morsels - you could also just use mini chocolate chips)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. Cream butter, yogurt, and sugar together until well combined. Ideally, let the butter come to room temperature. If you're impatient, zap for 20 minutes in the microwave. 

3. Stir in egg, vanilla, baking soda

4. Add flour all at once, and stir to incorporate

5. Stir in chocolate chips

6. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a nonstick baking sheet. The dough will be very sticky - if this makes you uncomfortable, chill the dough for 20 minutes prior to forming cookies. Otherwise, just power through it. They'll look very small, like this:

For scale, that's a teaspoon to the right - they're small! Don't worry, they'll flatten out (see below)

7. Bake for 5-7 minutes until tops are very slightly golden brown - watch carefully to make sure these little guys don't burn!

8. Remove from oven. Cool for 1 minute and transfer to a cooling rack. Allow cookies to cool to room temperature

9. Remove ice cream from freezer; let sit out at room temperature for 3-5 minutes to soften

10. Use a tablespoonful of ice cream for each sandwich - this can get messy (aka delicious). Feel free to flatten out the edges and squish the cookies together to make the sandwich more seemly. 

11. Store in an airtight container in the freezer. I recommend using wax paper if you're stacking these cookies - their tops are slightly sticky

12. Enjoy! 

I hope you try this delicious mini-sandwiches - let me know how they turn out for you! 

I'm curious - what are some of your favorite summer recipes?

I hope you're enjoying your summer. Thanks for reading! 

-R