ice cream sandwich oatmeal cookies

i made these for diana's 26th bday/engagement party for immediate family that we held three nights ago. they did not seem to flatten out as suggested below, but they were good nonetheless. the first i made with cherry garcia, to test. the party sandwiches were assembled by elizabeth using ben and jerry's dulce de leche. they were great. i put one cookie in the drawer in the small antique English table we use in the kitchen, because when david bought the table i envisioned putting surprises for grandchildren in that drawer. he is 19 months old and understood immediately my aim.

the recipe is heidi's from 101. she has great stuff.

As with most cookies, I bake these to order. The dough freezes well. Bake off as many as you want, then portion off any leftover dough into appropriately sized balls. Double-bag, then freeze. You can bake these straight out of the freezer, you'll just need to tack on a few minutes of extra baking time (because the dough will be colder). Your cookies won't be quite as flat or snappy, but they are delicious just the same, and will still work for ice-cream sandwiches.

2 3/4 cup / 9 oz / 255 rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup / 4.5 oz / 125 g whole wheat flour
2/3 cup / 1 1/2 oz / 45 g wheat bran (or germ)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

1 cup / 8 oz / 225 g unsalted butter

1 cup / 6.5 oz / 185 g natural cane sugar or light brown sugar

1 cup / 6 oz / 170 g firmly packed Muscovado or dark brown sugar

2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

10 oz / 285 g semi-sweet chocolate bar, chopped and shaved into chunks and splinters

Preheat the oven to 350F / 180 C, with racks placed in the middle. Line two baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl combine the oats, flour, wheat bran, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Either by hand, or using an electric mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar for 3+ minutes, scraping down sides a few times along the way. Incorporate the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla - scraping the sides of the bowl another time or two. Add the dry mixture, and stir until everything barely comes together. Then stir in the chocolate, mixing until it is evenly distributed throughout the dough.

Use a small ice-cream scoop, spoon, or 1/4 cup measuring cup, to make uniform dough balls. I used a metal 1/4-cup measuring cup, filling it about 3/4 full. Arrange each cookie at least 3-inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. They'll flatten out quite a bit. For extra crisp cookies, bake until deeply, deeply golden on the bottom, about 15+ minutes. Rotate the pans once about 2/3 the way through baking - back to front, top to bottom. Like your cookies a little chewier? Bake for less time. Cool on a rack.

Makes about 2 dozen large cookies.

Mexican chocolate ice cream

Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe
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If you have access to Ibarra Mexican chocolate you can use this instead of the semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate and cinnamon called for in the recipe. Use about 1 disk and 2 triangles of the chocolate. After heating with the cream, blend in a blender. Do not add any additional cinnamon as there is enough in the Ibarra.
Ingredients

* 2 cups heavy whipping cream
* 1 cup milk
* 1/4 cup cocoa powder
* 4 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 2 teaspoons cinnamon
* Pinch salt
* Pinch cayenne
* Pinch espresso powder (or instant coffee)
* 6 egg yolks, lightly beaten
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 Tbsp brandy (optional)

Method

1 Heat one cup of cream in a small saucepan (1 qt). Whisk in cocoa powder. Bring to a simmer. Whisk until cocoa powder is well incorporated. Remove pot from heat. Stir in chocolate until completely incorporate.

2 Put mixture into a metal bowl and add the remaining cup of cream. Set that bowl over a larger bowl half-filled with ice water to help cool it down. Place a mesh sieve over the bowl with the chocolate mixture.

3 Put one cup of milk, the sugar, cinnamon, salt, cayenne, espresso powder (or instant coffee) into a saucepan and heat until steamy (not boiling), stirring to incorporate the spices and dissolve the sugar. Place egg yolks in a medium sized bowl. Slowly pour the heated milk and mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly so that the egg yolks are tempered by the heated milk, but not cooked by it. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

4 Stir the milk egg mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spoon so that you can run your finger across the coating and have the coating not run. This can take anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes, depending on how hot your burner is.

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If the custard base doesn't coat the back of the spoon, it's not ready.

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The custard base coats the back of the spoon.

5 As soon as the mixture coats the spoon, remove it from the heat and immediately pour it over the mesh sieve into the bowl of the chocolate cream mixture. (The sieve is there to catch any curdled bits.) Stir into the cream mixture.

6 Add a teaspoon of vanilla. Let the mixture cool a bit in the ice bath and then chill in the refrigerator until completely chilled, a couple hours or overnight. Right before churning, add 2 Tbsp of brandy to the mix. This is an optional step, but it will help keep the ice cream from getting too icy if it is stored beyond a day. If you are planning on eating the ice cream the same day you make it, you can skip this step.

7 Churn the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Store ice cream in an airtight container in your freezer for several hours before eating. The ice cream will be quite soft coming out of the ice cream maker, but will continue harden in your freezer. If you store it for more than a day, you may need to let it sit for a few minutes to soften before attempting to scoop it.

Makes 1 qua