Pecan Praline Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches
Hi friends! Happy Thursday! How are you? I am so D-E-D dead in this heat – I just can’t handle it! Right now, Wednesday afternoon, it’s a very hot and sunny 28°C here in Bray. The status yellow heat wave warning has successfully kept Boyfriend & I inside for most of the week, only daring to sneak out in the very early morning or evenings for walks. The rest of the time, you can find us hiding in the safety of our shaded house, eating ice cream sandwiches. Specifically: Pecan Praline Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches. Because you better believe that when I heard about the pending heat wave, I stocked our freezer with treats to keep us cool. I’m talking: homemade pecan praline ice cream, sandwiched between two soft brown sugar cookies, frozen lightly, and then drizzled with chocolate – before being applied to face with as much grace as you can muster.
why you should make pecan praline ice cream cookie sandwiches
Pecan Praline Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches – it sounds like a lot of effort, right? Wrong! There are a few different steps, sure – but a lot the time involved is waiting for everything to freeze properly. Let me convince you why you should make these:
• the pecan flavour is super prominent in this ice cream. To begin with, we lightly toast them. This draws out as much flavour as possible, and makes them smell divine. To capture the nutty aroma in the ice cream, half of the pecans get steeped in the cream overnight, imparting their scent and flavour. The other half of the pecans get drizzled with a stovetop caramel to become praline. This gets chopped and laced through the finished ice cream for some pecan on pecan action!
• this is a no-churn ice cream recipe! Normally no-churn ice creams are made by combining condensed milk with whipped cream, but this one uses a pâte à bombe instead. Pâte à bombe is a French technique that involves stabilizing egg yolks with hot sugar syrup. When combined with lightly whipped double cream, this becomes our ice cream! It sounds more complicated than it really is – and it’s perfect for those of us that don’t like condensed milk ice cream recipes. Cough, Boyfriend, cough.
• simple, no-frills brown sugar cookies – in the best way possible. Think of them as the blank canvas vehicle for driving ice cream into your face. They’re soft and chewy and just perfect for making ice cream sandwiches with! I have found that it’s best to under-bake the cookies slightly so that they’re easier to eat from frozen.
• chocolate drizzle! Obviously, this is an optional, yet delicious, step. Chocolate & butter melted together, then drizzled generously over the top of the ice cream cookie sandwiches.
• these are perfect for those extra hot days! They only need max 5-mins out of the freezer before eating and they’re so dang refreshing!
• they’re endlessly adaptable! Have a favourite cookie that you like better than the recipe below? Use that instead! You don’t like pecan ice cream? Use store-bought or a different homemade flavour! You catching my drift?
Convinced yet? Details and recipes below!
how to make ice cream cookie sandwiches
There is a very very detailed recipe below, so rather than talking you through the process twice, allow me to give you a general overview. Ready?
• make your favourite ice-cream and spread it out over a lined baking tray. Alternatively, buy some! If it’s in a tub, allow it to soften slightly, transfer it to a lined baking tray, & spread it out. Freeze your ice-cream until semi-hard.
• make or buy your favourite cookies, whatever they may be. I went for a standard brown sugar cookie because I didn’t want any chunks interfering with my ice-cream flavour. Flip half of the cookies upside-down – these will be the base of the sandwiches!
• using a cookie cutter roughly the same size as your cookies, stamp out several circles of ice-cream. Place a circle of ice-cream onto each of the upside-down cookies, and top each circle with another cookie, right-side-up. Squish them together and pop into the freezer for 15-minutes.
• melt chocolate & butter together in the microwave, and drizzle generously across the tops of the cookie sandwiches.
• now you have two options: a) devour straight away or b) pop back into the freezer for another 5-minutes to set the chocolate. Either way: these ice-cream cookie sandwiches are ready!
There we have it: Pecan Praline Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches! Honestly, they’re the most satisfying things to eat in this heat wave – I speak from experience.
Stay cool and hydrated!
Vicki xo
Pecan Praline Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches
INGREDIENTS
for the pecan praline
- 100 g pecans
- 100 g caster sugar
- 4 tbsp water
- pinch of salt
for the ice cream
- 100 g pecans
- 600 g double cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 100 g caster sugar
- 4 tbsp water
- 2 large egg yolks
for the cookies
- 230 g salted butter, at room temperature
- 100 g caster sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 380 g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 200 g light brown sugar
to assemble
- 30 g dark chocolate, chopped
- 14.2 g salted butter
DIRECTIONS
make the pecan praline
- Preheat oven to 170°C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper, and have a large measuring jug nearby.
- Spread the pecans for both the ice cream & the praline (200g combined) on the lined tray & bake for 5-minutes. The aim is not to roast them, only to heat them long enough to release their oils and start to smell luscious. Set aside to cool for 5-minutes, before dividing into two 100g piles again. Roughly chop one of the piles of pecans and place into the measuring jug; leave the other pile unchopped and spread them out of the prepared tray.
- In a small pot set over a medium heat, combine the sugar with the water and salt. Lightly stir the mixture together until the sugar dissolves, and then stop stirring. Bring the heat to high and continue cooking the mix until it turns a deep amber colour and smells like caramel.
- Working quickly, pour the caramel over the nuts on the tray & leave to cool. When cool, roughly chop the praline into bite-sized chunks and store in an airtight container until using.
make the ice cream
- Add the double cream and vanilla extract to the chopped pecans in the measuring jug. Give them a good stir, cover with cling film, and transfer to the fridge overnight/for 8-hours.
- The next morning, strain the cream pecan mixture into a large mixing bowl and discard the nuts. Using an electric whisk, beat the cold cream until soft peaks appear; set aside. Clean the electric whisk thoroughly and have ready nearby for use. Place the egg yolks into a separate medium bowl and also have ready nearby. Line a 9×13-inch baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.
- In a small heavy bottomed pot, combine the sugar and the water over a medium-high heat – do not stir. Measure the temperature of the mixture on a candy thermometer. When the mix hits 110°C, begin to lightly beat the egg yolks with the electric whisk. When the mixture hits 115°C, remove from the heat & slowly begin to stream it into the egg yolks, beating on medium all the while. After all of the sugar has been added, turn the mixer to high and beat until the mix is fluffy, very pale, and cool to the touch.
- Add half of the whipped cream to the egg yolk mixture, and beat to combine. Add the second half to the yolks and use a rubber spatula to gently fold them together. Add the chopped pecan praline to the bowl lightly fold them in. Transfer to the prepared baking tray, spread it out evenly, and transfer to the fridge for at least 4-hours.
make the cookies
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, use an electric whisk to cream together the butter & sugar until pale & fluffy, about 3-minutes. One at a time, add the eggs into the bowl; ensuring you scrape down the sides after each addition. Add the vanilla extract; scrape down.
- Sieve the flour, baking powder, and bicarbonate of soda directly into the bowl, and, with the whisk on low, beat into the dough mixture until homogenous.
- Portion the dough out into 15 equal sized balls – about 2 tablespoons worth -, place on a lined baking tray, and pop into the freezer for at least 2-hours.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C, and line two baking trays with parchment paper.
- Bake the cookies from frozen for 18-ish minutes, or until golden brown, set around the edges, but still slightly underdone in the centre. Leave to cool on the tray for 5-minutes, before removing to a wire rack to cool entirely.
to assemble
- When the cookies are mostly cool, remove the ice-cream from the freezer & allow to soften slightly – about 10/15-minutes. Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with cookies and turn half of them upside-down.
- When the ice-cream has softened, use a cookie cutter roughly the same size as the cookies to stamp out 7 circles. Use an offset spatula to transfer the ice-cream circles to the upturned cookies, and top each circle of ice-cream with another cookie, this one right-side-up. Press the cookies down lightly to glue to the ice-cream, and transfer to the freezer for 15-minutes.
- In a small heatproof bowl, combine the chocolate with the butter and melt in the microwave – no more than 20-seconds at a time. Stir together, set aside.
- Remove the ice-cream sandwiches from the freezer and drizzle liberally with the melted chocolate. Either enjoy immediately or return to the freezer for later.
NOTES
- the cookie recipe makes one extra cookie than you’ll need for the sandwiches – bonus!
- ice cream recipe adapted from Claire Ptak.
Did you make this recipe? I’d love to know! Please leave a comment & a rating below, or tag me on Instagram @imvcki. Thank you so much for supporting Passionate Baker!
These tasted even better than they look! Perfect summer treat:)