Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Short Trip to the New England of my Youth

Hey New Englanders, remember these?

I've heard that they have ice cream cups in other parts of the country, called things like Dixie Cups, but none of them can be quite the same as a dual-flavor delicacy of the light, whipped Hood ice cream cup.    I bought a package of Hoodsies the other day.  They might not have come with the flat wooden spoon, and they sure seemed smaller than I remembered (could be that I've grown...), but the sentiment was the same and the flavor brought me back to hot summer days and sticky elbows.  I gave one to the three year old niece and discovered that they have the same affect on kids now that they did when I was that age.  Utter glee!

Then, of course, I made the mistake of checking the nutrition facts (NEVER, EVER check the nutrition facts on ice cream, just don't do it), and now, I can't eat them ever again.  It is so much better to go to an ice cream parlor and be in the dark.  But, last night, I did discover the best purpose for them ever:  Ice Cream Sandwiches.

It started when I made the famously delicious Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies of Cooks Illustrated fame to bring tonight's potluck.  When they came out of the oven, I was marveling at how perfectly round and equal in size they all were.  It was also about 150 degrees in the kitchen and my thought went immediately to using them for ice cream sandwiches.  

I pondered what kind of ice cream to get and how exactly to do this on my entire ride home from the Cape and realized about half way back that I had the answer already in my freezer, in the form of 3oz chocolate/vanilla swirl ice cream cups.  

It was the perfect (though maybe not most cost-effective) solution, especially since I wasn't going to eat them as they were.  

I simply ran a knife around the outside of the cup plopped the ice cream onto the bottom of one cookie.  It was already in the right shape...  

...and after a quick spread with the knife, was ready to be topped with the other cookie.  Then back into the freezer they went to get nice and solid and ready to be eaten.

Honestly, what could be better than that?


4 comments:

  1. Few things are better than that. Speaking as a recipient of said chipwiches, yum.

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  2. mmmmm wish I was eating one right now.

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  3. WOW those look good. I made these cookies a couple of months ago and have been meaning to make them again. My son would love love love them as ice cream sandwiches!

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  4. My only recommendation for those who want to make them (and I highly recommend making them), is to use a harder ice cream than Hoodsies. The ice cream never froze up as well as I wanted it to. I am going to try them again (potentially many times this summer), but with a more traditional kind of ice cream.

    Enjoy!

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