3tablespoonslemon zest(approximately 3 large lemons worth)
¼cupfresh lemon juice(approximately 2 large lemons worth)
1pinchsea salt
2cupsheavy cream
For the cookies:
3½cupsall-purpose flour
2 teaspoonscinnamon
2teaspoonsground ginger
1teaspoonbaking soda
½teaspoonsalt
¼teaspoonground nutmeg
¼teaspoonground cloves
¾cupunsalted butter, softened(1½ sticks or 12 tablespoons)
¾cuplight brown sugar, packed
½cupmolasses, unsulphured
1largeegg
1teaspoonpure vanilla extract
Optional: holiday sprinkles to decorate the sides
Instructions
Make the ice cream:
Place the bowl and whisk attachment for a stand mixer into the freezer. (Or, if using a hand mixer, put the beaters and a large bowl in the freezer.)
Whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, lemon zest, lemon juice, and pinch of salt in a large mixing bowl. Set this aside.
Get the stand mixer bowl and whisk from the freezer and attach them to the mixer. Pour in the heavy cream; whisk the cream on medium-high speed for three to five minutes, until it becomes whipped cream with stiff peaks. Watch the cream carefully and don't overmix it!
Fold the whipped cream into the sweetened condensed milk mixture, scooping from the bottom of the bowl and gently folding the ingredients together. The goal is to keep as much of the airiness of the whipped cream as possible in the mixture.
Scoop the mixture into a 9-inch loaf pan or an 8-inch square baking dish. Cover the dish tightly with plastic wrap and freeze it for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Make the cookie dough:
Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cloves in a large bowl.
Beat together the softened butter and brown sugar on medium speed in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer. Cream the ingredients for about five minutes, scraping the bowl once, until they look light in color.
Add in the molasses and run the mixer to mix it in. Scrape the bowl. Next, beat in the egg, and finally, the vanilla extract.
Run the mixer on low and add in the dry mixture, half at a time, until the dry ingredients are completely mixed into the wet.
Refrigerate the dough:
Heavily flour a cutting board. Turn the cookie dough out of the pan onto the board.
Squeeze the dough together with floured hands until it all holds together. Divide the dough in half and flatten them into disks. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least an hour, or as long as overnight.
Roll and cut the dough:
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Have your cookie cutter ready; a bench scraper if you have one is also very handy here.
Note: this is a very sticky dough, so it's important to keep your board and rolling pin floured as you work. A bench scraper is helpful to help carefully move cut pieces that are sticking, and to clean the board.
Flour the cutting board again as well as your rolling pin. Take a disk of dough from the fridge; unwrap and dust both sides with flour.
Roll the dough to a ¼-inch thickness: to do this, roll from the center of the dough outwards; turn the dough a quarter-turn, and repeat. If the dough sticks when you move it, dust more flour underneath.
Cut out the gingerbread men with your cookie cutter and move them to the baking sheet, leaving about an inch between them.
When the pan is full, pop it into the fridge (or outside on a porch or deck if it's very cold out) and chill it for 10 minutes.
Bake:
Then, bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes. They should be set enough to move, but soft enough that they don't get too firm once cooled. Move the cookies to a cooling rack.
Continue these steps with the rest of the dough, including the scraps, until all the cookies are baked and cooled.
Make the ice cream sandwiches:
Pull the ice cream out of the freezer to soften on the counter about 15 minutes before you want to begin assembling the sandwiches, so it has time to soften a little.
Have ready a small spoon and place a tray or large plate in the freezer to hold the sandwiches once you put them together.
Spoon about a ¼-cup of softened ice cream over the bottom of one cookie, getting it onto the arms, legs, and head. Make the ice cream as even a layer as possible.
Top it with another cookie, with the good side facing up. VERY GENTLY squeeze the cookies together, just enough to force the ice cream to the edges of the cookies.
Use a small spoon to scrape away any excess ice cream around the sides. It will be melty, so just do the best you can; you'll have another chance later to clean up the sides.
Place the assembled sandwich on the plate or tray in the freezer.
Continue with the rest of the cookies until all of the ice cream sandwiches are made and chilling in the freezer. Let them set for an hour.
Add sprinkles and wrap:
If your ice cream sandwiches need any tidying along the edges, do that now: use a small spoon to scrape away the excess, smooth the sides, and make them look neat.
To add sprinkles: Pour the sprinkles of your choice into a shallow bowl. Working one at a time, hold an ice cream sandwich over the bowl and press the sprinkles onto the sides, turning and pressing them in to coat the sides completely. Return the sandwich to the freezer, and continue with the others.
Wrap each ice cream sandwich in plastic, or slide them into clear plastic treat bags tied tightly at the top. You can then put them into a larger container or freezer-proof bag if you'd like, to keep them together in the freezer.
While they can be eaten right away, they're the best the next day because the cookies have had time to soften just a little.
Store the ice cream sandwiches in the freezer for one month.
Notes
The Gingerbread Ice Cream Sandwiches can be eaten right away, but they're the best the next day when the cookies has softened just a little!The Gingerbread Ice Cream Sandwiches can be eaten right away, but they're the best the next day when the cookies has softened just a little!
You'll notice that this no-churn ice cream has a slightly icier texture than traditional ice cream—that's normal. Once it softens a little, it's easy to spread inside the cookies. And it tastes fantastic.
The dough is very sticky, so use a generous dusting of flour on your work surface and rolling pin. If the dough does stick, a bench scraper like this one will help move the dough and will clean stuck-on bits from the board.
There are lots of chilling times in this recipe but they're important:
to let the ice cream properly freeze
to make the cookie dough easier to handle
to help cookies hold their shape when baked
to let the ice cream sandwiches firm up. So factor these into your plan!