Sweet things for my sweeties

My best boy is laying all floppy on the couch because he's rocking a fever and, when he's not sleeping, a whiny voice.  It's all good though, because we're having a rain storm, and while he napped and drooled and snored on my shoulder (sigh.  Haven't had this much cuddle time in months!) I was able to watch another episode of Downton Abbey.  So hooked.  I'm trying to make the 7 episodes of Season1 last, but I think that's going to be shot to heck if Uriah has to close another night this week.

Anyway...it seems appropriate to share with you the most delicious, pretty thing on a day that's full of cold and yucky rainy weather.  For Valentine's Day a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to do something special for my kiddos.  14 Days of Valentines was not enough...I needed to go big on the actual holiday.  I could have made a red velvet cake, which was my first choice.  And I'm sure Abby would have enjoyed the heck out of the creme brulee that I made for Uriah, but I didn't want a cake sitting around my house for days and creme brulee is literally made of sugar, egg yolks and heavy cream - maybe a little too much for Finn's system.  And besides, sometimes I like equality among my kids (someone tell me how that's going to work with nearly 11 years between them!).  So instead I made them ice cream sandwiches.  Homemade.  With fresh strawberry ice cream.  Also homemade.

If that's not love, I don't know what is.

These are about a billion times better than the ice cream sandwiches that you buy in the freezer section of the grocery store.  And super easy, too.  You don't have to make your own ice cream (sometimes I can be an over achiever.) whatever flavor you love from the store would be fine.  The sandwich part of the ice cream sandwich is a little bit soft, a little bit chewy, and even after spending hours in the freezer firming up, it didn't make it hard to bite into or chew at all.

Huge success.

I will be making these again this summer.  Or next week.  Whichever comes first.

• 1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature, for greasing foil
• ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 quart (4 cups) ice cream of choice, softened

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line the bottom and sides of a 9x13 inch pan with aluminum foil, leaving some of the foil to hang over the edges.  Lightly grease the foil with butter. 

Put the remaining ¾ cup of butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Stir with a whisk until butter is melted, then remove from heat and add the cocoa powder.  Whisk until the mixture is smooth and no lumps remain.  Add the sugar and continue whisking until blended.  Let the mixture cool for 2 minutes.

Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until well blended and batter is blended.  Put into prepared baking pan and spread evenly.  Bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool completely on wire rack. 

Remove the brownie from the pan and set on a cutting board.  Cut brownie in half, taking care because they are slightly soft.  Loosen both halves from the foil.  Spread softened ice cream evenly over half of the brownie into a layer about an inch thick.  Top with the other half of the brownie and press down gently.  Wrap in foil and freeze until hard, about 6 hours.

Peel foil and cut into 8-12 sandwiches, depending on the size you want them.  Serve immediately.  They will last in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.

If you have an ice cream maker, I used this recipe for my ice cream.

Sandwich recipe adapted from Williams-Sonoma The Kid's Cookbook (2000)

Thankfuls:

15. Medicine in the form of Sesame Street

16. Crock-pots

17. Light rain showers on the roof and against my windows