October #SeriousSandwich fest, Part 3: Ginger Ice Cream Sandwiches with Ginger Molasses Cookies PLUS a GIVEAWAY!

For my October #SeriousSandwich fest party (here's a link to my first post about it), I definitely had to make a dessert sandwich.  Obviously.

Kicked-Up Sandwiches contains lots of recipes for dessert "sandwiches" - in mocking quotes because I think that some of them use the term loosely...is a turnover a sandwich?  Hm.  But, I'm so glad the book has some sweet options!  On my first browse through, I was most intrigued by this recipe (a close second is for chocolate wafer sandwiches filled with peanut butter fudge) because I think it is really representative of the season.  The spicy ginger-y flavors say FALL! to me, but there is ice cream in it, which means you don't really want to make or eat this if it is too cold outside. Last week we had some lovely, warm, summerish fall days here in New York, so I was in the mood to make these before the weather took a cooler turn.

My in-laws gifted me the ice-cream maker attachment to my KitchenAid mixer a few years ago, and for a while afterward I used it often.  But then, for some reason, several seasons went by and I never even got it out of the deep, dark storage spot where I keep all of my rarely-used kitchen stuff.  (Also back there: holiday cookie-cutters; an egg-cooker that my brother bought for me approximately 10 years ago that is incredibly awesome because it is shaped like a chicken; and a blender I haven't used in so long I have no idea if it is functional.)   This recipe gave me an excellent opportunity to dust it off and take it for a spin.

I know that Tavia, the fearless leader of the #SeriousSandwich bloggers and one of the voices behind the Morrow Cookbooks' blog, The Secret Ingredient, also made Emeril's "Ginger Ice Cream Sandwiches with Ginger Molasses Cookies." She mentioned it the other day when she was on Mario Cooks Radio, Chef Mario Porreca's show (he is a fellow participant in this cook-along), and I have a sneaking suspicion that she is posting about her experience with the recipe today, too!  By the way, here's a link to that podcast, if you are interested.  They mention my rillettes post at around the 35-36 minute-mark.

Many, if not all, of the #SeriousSandwich bloggers are posting simultaneously today at NOON, to celebrate the book's release today (FINALLY! IT'S HERE!).  You should click through to their blogs and say hello, then run right on over and order a book of your own.  Here is a link to help.

Also to celebrate the books exciting release, this week (October 16-19) I'm running Pages Stuck Together's first ever GIVEAWAY!  I will be giving a copy of Kicked-Up Sandwiches (a new one, don't worry, not my stained used version) to one lucky commenter.  All you have to do is tell me in the comments what type of sandwich you would like to see me write about.  I'll pick a winner, and also make and post about the Emeril recipe that most closely matches your request.  Send me a good challenge!  Fun, right?  I'm excited.  

This could be yours! 

Now, back to the recipe.  Ice cream sandwiches.  Go.

First of all, this makes a righteous mess, has several steps (one overnight) and uses a lot of dishes, but it is worth it in the end.  I swear!

This is only the beginning of the HUGE mess I made.  I didn't take a picture later in the process because I had ice cream all over my hands.

The first step for me was to bake the ginger molasses cookies, because the batter had to chill overnight.  Oh, I also had to remember to pop my ice cream maker bowl into my freezer, because I have made the mistake before of forgetting to freeze it and ending up having to wait hours and hours longer than expected.

Giant hunk of fresh ginger, almost all of which I used in this recipe.

Cookie batter coming together.  This stuff was VERY STICKY.

 After the batter mixes together, the recipe called for me to roll it up into a log and chill overnight.  I completely understand why, because this batter was crazy sticky.  More so than other molasses cookies I have made in the past.

Cookie roll ready to chill in the refrigerator overnight.

The cream for the ice cream also had to chill overnight, so I got that together the night before, as well.  This ice cream recipe wasn't a traditional custard base, just milk, sugar (and ginger!), etc., so it wasn't terribly challenging to get right.   All I had to do was bring it to a simmer, then refrigerate it overnight.

Ice cream, phase one.

After those steps were finished, I went to bed and started again early the next morning.  I was meeting some friends for a little run that morning, but I baked the cookies before I left.  All I had to do was slice up the dough roll and bake - as a warning, these cookies spread a LOT more than I expected.  Also, the recipe instructs to chop up candied ginger until it crystallizes, which I found a little misleading.  Maybe your candied ginger will be less sticky than mine, but there was nothing crystal about the lump that formed as I chopped it (see below on the cutting board on the right).   Another tricky part of preparing these cookies was that the recipe said to "sprinkle" the candied ginger on top, which was in no way possible.  It was more of a "pinch of some sticky bits and try to get them on top" of the cookies process.

Sliced cookie dough, and lump of candied ginger.

Ready to bake!  

 Despite all of the challenges with the candied ginger, once these came out of the oven, they looked gorgeous!  I let my husband taste-test one before reserving the rest for the ice cream sandwiches later.

See what I mean about how much they spread?  Whoa.  They were enormous! 

Early in the afternoon before my guests arrived, I churned the ice cream so that it could freeze up for a few hours before sandwich assembly time.  I just dumped the base into the mixer and went for it (without straining) because I do like some little bits and bobs in my ice cream.  If you like it to be smooth, I recommend straining, because this ice cream definitely has some spicy chunks of ginger hanging around.

Ice cream coming together.

After a sandwich feast of oyster po'boys, rillettes, and pimento cheese, we were ready for dessert.  I halved the sandwiches for some people, because they were giant and we were getting full.  John, my husband - true to form - went for a whole one.  

Everyone loved these!  They liked the novel dessert sort of sandwich, and agreed with me that the flavors of fall are incredible.  

Sorry about the dark picture, but you get the gist.  The delicious gist, I hope.

 As a final note, I had lots of ice cream left over, and it goes GREAT with pumpkin pie.  :)

If you have leftovers...

p.s. - Don't forget about the giveaway, which will be going on all week!