Sometimes you want a little nibble when it comes to dessert. They either reach for a treat in little hands, or else. Sometimes you're tired and you want to eat the entire package but other times, you way to want to house half a package of cookies and an entire pint of ice cream in one sitting.
Either of the above scenarios, and I find it hard pressed to come up with a more universally loved duo than Oreos and ice cream. Historically, cookies 'n' cream is often shunned into kids flavor status and that's just unfair and inaccurate. This two ingredient recipe takes justice back to Oreos and ice cream and sells them as simple, adorable mini ice cream sandwiches that everyone– kids and adults alike– will love.
It All Starts With Oreos
The beauty in using such Oreos is that they are not terribly sweet all by themselves. No other cookie can balance quite like that with your favorite ice cream flavor, and there's textural contrast as well. Now, the part to focus on is the important (and potentially controversial) part that the filling doesn't matter. We won't be using it. It's all about the cookie. There are the two most widely available options, Classic chocolate and the cult favorite Golden Oreos.
Cookie and Ice Cream Combos
I am of course going to always advocate for the best quality you can find and afford, and ice cream preferences are similar to underwear in matters of the personal. I will say, however, premium ice cream works best during the shaping step: and it's denser and creamier and melts slower than inferior, lighter, and cleaner (i.e., richer) ice cream, which is known in the ice cream world as overflow. If not, the only other thing required is that it be a flavor that matches your cookie of choice.
Chocolate Oreos: mint chocolate chip, black raspberry, coffee, salted caramel, peanut butter, and green tea (depending if I have them), and if not, Indulgences.
For golden Oreo cookies, I think lighter, fruitier flavors work best: And strawberry, peaches and cream, pistachio, or cake batter would be amazing. However, this is a great chance to get a little creative and explore flavor combinations that will please the taste buds of your family and dining guests.
Here's the Trick to Getting a Picture Perfect Ice Cream Sandwich
It seems simple enough in theory: assembly an ice cream sandwich from Oreos and ice cream — and it is, in practice! However, there is a cunning trick for making the ice cream come out just right in order for your sandwich to have the perfect bit of even ice cream to cookie ratio in every mouthful. You can whip out your slice and bake cookie skills because molding the ice cream into a parchment tube and then freezing will harden the ice cream to make a perfectly sliceable log which will create even, flat discs of ice cream ready to pair with their cookie partners.
Working with ice cream in pints is best for this technique: To serve, just free the ice cream from the pint with a dull knife around its edge, slip it out onto the parchment, and cut the cylinder in half lengthwise. Lining the two semicircular halves on their sides, end to end, will aid in the shaping process: the better, the less you have to work with the ice cream to squish into a log. Once, it's wrapped tight, leave it to harden in the freezer for a while before you could slice it. It's no better, but it is faster, and your patience will be rewarded.
Storing Ice Cream Sandwiches
And lucky for me, these ice cream sandwiches won't last long, because you probably won't want them to. Tested for science, of course, I found that letting the cookies soften a bit overnight in the freezer (at least 12 hours) gave me the best sandwich I could have. It was tender with a little give to it, but not totally crumbly. Of course, if you decide to eat them any sooner, they will crunchier cookie. But they will be so soft after 24 hours or more that you won't even need your teeth to chew them (fun for all ages!). All of this depends on what you're about.
However, however long you have them around, no matter how you keep them, store them in an airtight container, not all in one layer, all in a single layer like books on a shelf. That way the cookie tower won't be too heavy causing the ice cream to be pushed out of the sandwich.
