Ice Cream Sandwiches

Summer is a wonderful time for so many obvious reasons. For the past couple of years, it's also proven to be a trying time for us financially since my husband's employer decided to make him a ten month employee. We've had to learn to be more frugal, more intentional and more creative which really, isn't too bad of thing. One of these way we lived out these qualities was by making something homemade to celebrate my mom's birthday yesterday. We didn't have much but we did have what we needed to make a delicious treat!

We decided on making ice cream sandwiches, with my daughter baking (by herself!) the cookies. I made a salted dark chocolate sauce and together with vanilla bean ice cream, it made the perfect summer birthday treat. It was also a test for me as well, managing overseeing my nine year old in the mixing and baking process, while keeping a good eye on my toddler. At one point, I just let him have a go at the Tupperware cabinet while my daughter was assembling a few of the sandwiches together.  All in all it was a success. We were give my mom a special homemade treat and naturally, my daughter loved that everyone enjoyed her cookies very much!

 

Chocolate and Pecan cookies

(recipe from Ghirardelli)

11 ¹/₂ ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Chips
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
³/₄ cup sugar
³/₄ cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 ¹/₄ cups unsifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¹/₂ teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional) - See more at: http://www.ghirardelli.com/recipes-tips/recipes/chocolate-chip-cookies#sthash.U96Cr85a.dpuf

11 ¹/₂ ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Chips
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
³/₄ cup sugar
³/₄ cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 ¹/₄ cups unsifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¹/₂ teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional) - See more at: http://www.ghirardelli.com/recipes-tips/recipes/chocolate-chip-cookies#sthash.U96Cr85a.dpuf

2 1/4 cups unsifted flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt (we used applewood smoked salt)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

10 oz chocolate chips (I tend to use dark chocolate chips but this time we used semi sweet)

1 cup (plus a tiny bit more!) chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside. Beat butter with sugar and brown sugar until creamy. Add vanilla and eggs, mixing until incorporated. Gradually blend flour mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.

For the Dark Chocolate Sauce, I really didn't use measuring cups or spoons. I had a few dark chocolate chips that I put in a small sauce pot over low/medium heat. I added almond milk to make it creamy but since I didn't have quite as many chocolate chips, I also added a little cocoa powder. I continued to stir it over the heat until most of the lumps were gone. Afterwards I added Applewood Smoked Salt little by little until it had the saltiness I was looking for.

Once the cookies and sauce were cooled, we laid a station out. A little sauce on one cookie, ice cream and the second cookie pressed on top. Ta-da!

Of course we had to try a few cookie before, you know, to test them out...

 Thankful to have all the ingredients we needed, for a daughter who was eager to learn (and now has called her company 'Big Bow Bake Shoppe'), for a son who creates little challenges to make us stronger and more resourceful, and for grace upon grace in even the small things. Above all these things, thankful for my mom, her relationship with her grandchildren and for God blessing all her years here on earth.

Andrea