By Brayden is one hundred and twenty-three weeks old. The pregnancy is at twenty weeks — the halfway mark. The blog gender-announcement post went up Sunday February 4 with a small photo of Brayden holding a small chalkboard sign that read “It’s a Girl. June 2024.” The comments-and-emails have been the standard small flood of family-and-friend congratulations.
Snickerdoodle ice cream sandwich minis are a small kid-friendly dessert — two snickerdoodle cookies sandwiching a single small scoop of vanilla ice cream, rolled at the edges in cinnamon-sugar, frozen on a tray for an hour, individually wrapped in wax-paper for storage. The minis are the small portable-dessert that works at a kid party, at a small family-gathering, or in the freezer for a slow Sunday afternoon.
The technique question on the ice-cream-sandwich format is the cookie-firmness. The cookies need to be slightly underbaked (eight minutes instead of ten) so they remain pliable when frozen. A standard-baked cookie comes out brittle and the bite cracks the cookie in pieces. The slightly-underbaked cookie holds the bite without cracking.
Sunday I made twelve minis. They went into the freezer Saturday evening. Sunday I had one. Dustin had three. Brayden had a small piece of plain cookie (no ice cream; we are still cautious with cold-foods for him this winter).
Mama and Cody have continued to run the small Sapulpa-cafe at its small steady-state pace. The breakfast rush moves through. The lunch-plate-special rotates daily. The Friday-regional-special slot keeps the small adventurous-element alive. Cody’s pop-up Tuesday continues to sell out within an hour of the Friday-menu-post.
The technique-detail I always lean on: the temperature of the cooking-surface matters more than the temperature in the recipe. A hot pan with cold ingredients fails. A medium pan with room-temperature ingredients succeeds. Let the small ingredients come to the small kitchen-temperature before the small cooking starts.
Snickerdoodle Ice Cream Sandwich Minis
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 1 hr (includes freezing) | Servings: 12 mini sandwiches
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream (or flavor of your choice), slightly softened
Instructions
- Preheat — and prep. Heat oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Make the dough. Whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate large bowl, beat butter and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until just combined.
- Roll in cinnamon sugar. Combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar with cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll dough into 1-inch balls (you should get about 24), then roll each ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat. Place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets and flatten slightly with your palm.
- Bake. Bake 10–12 minutes, until edges are just set and centers look slightly underdone. Do not overbake — soft cookies make better sandwiches. Cool on the pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Assemble. Match cookies into pairs by size. Scoop about 2 tablespoons of softened ice cream onto the flat side of one cookie and press the matching cookie on top, flat side down, to form a sandwich. Work quickly.
- Freeze. Place assembled sandwiches on a parchment-lined tray and freeze at least 30 minutes until firm. Serve straight from the freezer.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 185 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 25g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 95mg