Max Krippler wrote:
> We've been coming up with some really great ice creams with the new
> gelato machine, and as a novelty I'd like to fill my own ice cream
> sandwiches. Does anybody have a resource on where I can find those
> dark chocolate wafer cookies that are commonly used for ice cream
> sandwiches? They all look and taste so remarkably similar, there must
> be only one or two companies making them.
>
> I know that the die-hard chefs out there will tell me to make my own,
> but I would lose the novelty of having sandwiches that look exactly
> like the commercially made ones! (Sick right? What's really sick is
> that I actually love those dark chocolate cookies! Especially when
> they have gone cakey from absorbing the ice cream's moisture...)

I've occasionally seen those cookies being sold with the loose cookies
at some stupidmarkets but have never seen them sold packaged.

You won't be able to make those cookies at home, leastways not the
precisely molded ones with the small piercings... but there is no
reason you can't bake a reasonable facimile thereof.

I happen to like ice cream sandwiches made with chocolate grahams.

BLACK-AND-WHITE ICE CREAM SANDWICHES
Mint chip ice cream (or the flavor of your choice) is the filling
between tender chocolate cookies that have been dipped halfway into
white chocolate.

2 pints mint chocolate chip ice cream, softened slightly
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 ounces good-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or Baker's),
chopped

Drop six 2/3-cup mounds mint chocolate chip ice cream onto
waxed-paper-lined baking sheet. Using metal spatula, shape each mound
into 3- to 3 1/2-inch square; freeze squares.

Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until smooth. Beat in egg yolk and
vanilla. Sift flour, cocoa and salt onto butter mixture. Stir until
blended and soft dough forms. Gather dough into ball; flatten into
rectangle. Roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to 13 x
10-inch rectangle. Place dough, still between waxed paper sheets, on
baking sheet. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 300=B0F. Line large
baking sheet with parchment paper. Peel top sheet of waxed paper off
dough. Trim dough to 12 x 9-inch rectangle; cut dough into twelve
3-inch squares. Transfer squares to parchment-lined sheet, discarding
waxed paper and spacing squares about 1 inch apart. Bake until cookies
are firm to touch, about 20 minutes. Cool cookies completely on sheet.

Melt white chocolate in medium metal bowl set over saucepan of barely
simmering water, stirring until smooth (do not allow bottom of bowl to
touch water). Remove bowl from over water.

Holding corner of 1 cookie, dip cookie into melted chocolate until half
covered on diagonal, tilting bowl if necessary to submerge. Shake
cookie gently to allow some excess chocolate to drip back into bowl.
Return dipped cookie to parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with
remaining cookies and white chocolate. Freeze cookies until chocolate
coating is firm, about 10 minutes.

Arrange 6 cookies, flat side up, on work surface. Top each with frozen
ice cream square, then another cookie, flat side down, pressing
slightly to adhere. Cover and freeze sandwiches. (Can be made 4 days
ahead. Keep frozen.)=20

Bon App=E9tit
August 1999
---

Sheldon