You can always tell the holidays are here by the smells coming out of the kitchen. Warm spices, sweet sugar, and creamy vanilla. Another holiday staple in our family is Gifford’s Ice Cream. So it only made sense to combine the two for today’s recipe!
The boys and I were recently at a local general store when we spotted those cookie ice cream sandwiches in the chest freezer. And that is when inspiration hit! The boys of course pointed them out but I suggested that instead we make some at home with Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream. But then I threw in a holiday twist and told them we’d be making them with a family favorite: ginger snap cookies.
So that is exactly what we did! These ginger cookies are made with 3x the ginger flavor thanks to the ground ginger, fresh ginger and crystalized ginger. The spicy ginger is perfectly balanced with the creamy vanilla found in Gifford’s Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream. Now you could absolutely make these cookie ice cream sandwiches with any type of cookie you’d like. Or try changing up the ice cream flavor for the filling. But one thing that has to stay the same in this recipe: you must use Gifford’s Ice Cream. Made in a small town in Maine, with 5 generations of ice cream lovers behind their recipes, it is no wonder Gifford’s is not only a family favorite but nationally and internationally recognized.
While my family got to enjoy this recipe over the weekend, it has already been requested that I make them again! I’m thinking I’ll whip up a batch of these cookies and make sure I have Gifford’s Ice Cream in the freezer for Thanksgiving weekend. I have a feeling it’s going to make a fun Thanksgiving night dessert for these little guys during a year where we could all just use a little more ice cream (and cookies!)
Gingersnap Ice Cream Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 TBSP ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 2 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 stick (½ cuunsalted butter - melted and cooled
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 large egg
- 1 TBSP fresh grated ginger
- ½ cup crystalized ginger - coarsely chopped
- ½ cup raw or demerara sugar - to roll dough
- 1 quart Gifford’s Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 and prepare your baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Combine all the dry ingredients, dried spices and sugars and give it a good stir to incorporate everything. In a separate bowl, add the molasses, egg and fresh ginger to the melted and cooled butter. Combine to the dry ingredient and mix until thoroughly combined; you will have a soft dough. Fold in the chopped crystalized ginger.
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Using a 1 ½ TBSP sized cookie scoop, scoop and roll your dough into even sized balls. Roll each ball in the demerara (rasugar, and flatten on your cookie sheet. You will definitely want to flatten each dough ball so you get the perfect thickness for your cookie sandwiches.
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Bake at 350 for 11 minutes. The cookies will be set and still a little soft in the very center. Let cool thoroughly before filling with ice cream.
To assemble:
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Let the ice cream sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes to make assembling your cookie sandwiches just a little easier.
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I found that by using the same sized scoop as I did for the cookies yielded the perfect amount of ice cream.
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Place one cookie on a piece of plastic wrap, add your scoop of ice cream and using the plastic wrap smoosh your ice cream a little before topping with your final cookie (this helped keep the cookies from breaking).
