chipwiches!

It’s the first ever Popsicle Week here on the old bloggity. We’ll be featuring a few recipes by yours truly and some other gems from rest of the participating food blogiverse. 26 bloggers, 26+ popsicles. It’s a popsicle party and you’re invited.

First, just to buck non-existent tradition, we’re starting off with chipwiches! While not at all a popsicle, chipwiches are a novelty ice cream treat that can be procured in the same section of the grocery store as popsicles. Also, they are very delicious. Based on these facts alone, I’ve deemed it acceptable to submit a non-popsicle as my first entry into these great popsicle olympics.

Vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies, chipwiches are as delicious as they are decadent. They show none of the healthy restraint of a fruit pop, nor are they a particularly revolutionary dessert. But, they are dang good and every time I visit the corner store, I consider grabbing one, and that really is enough for me.

Chipwiches!
For the cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (Guittard is king)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the sugars and beat a few minutes more. Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add the flour mixture and stir to combine. Add the chocolate chips.

Spoon well-rounded tablespoons onto a cookie sheet. Take care to make your spoonfuls as even as possible. Sandwiching does require a certain degree of precision. Bake 8 – 10 minutes, until just starting to brown on the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool.

To assemble
1 quart vanilla ice cream (We’ve done a lot of testing and Trader Joe’s Vanilla Ice Cream is our current favorite. If you’re feeling feisty, you could make your own, but that’s bonus points.)
a large-ish spoon
a cup of warm water
a parchment paper lined cookie sheet
room in your freezer

Once your cookies have cooled, remove the ice cream from the freezer. Put the cookies (two for each sandwich you want to make—we made 8) on the parchment lined sheet and let them sit in the freezer for 15 minutes. Let the ice cream soften for 15 minutes to make it easier to scoop and shape.

Using a large spoon, spoon a few decent scoops of ice cream onto your base cookie. You can rinse the spoon in warm water between scoops if your ice cream is sticking too much to your spoon and giving you trouble. Top the ice cream mound with another cookie and smooth the edges to make sure you’ve got a firm adherence between ice cream and cookie. Return the chipwich the cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. Return the chipwiches to the freezer and freeze for another hour to two. After a few hours in the freezer, the chipwiches will meld, transitioning from separate ice cream and cookie entities to a chipwich sum greater than its parts (depending on who you ask around here).

We recommend you eat chipwiches for dessert after a large meal of burgers and fries.  You want the true American summer experience, after all.

-Emily