PBJ Icecream Sandwhich

I have been craving a PB&J sandwich, but with a heat wave and intense humidity in my area, a soggy PB&J just doesn't sound appealing.To satisfy my craving, I’ve made a PB&J style Ice Cream Sandwich.

Quick Break down:

• Peanut Butter: Homemade peanut butter magic shell. I used this as glue to keep the ice cream from sliding when you take a bite out of it. The secret to magic shells is coconut oil. Coconut oil has a freezing point of 77.18° F (25.1° C). The magic shell will stay liquid at room temperature but will freeze when it comes in contact with a cold surface. Coconut oil does have a strong coconut flavor, but the additional PB2 should help mask it.

• Jelly: I am allergic to strawberries, so I opted for a ginger rhubarb no-churn ice cream to try to keep the ice cream pink, which didn't end up working out. I would add some red food coloring if you want the ice cream to be pink. No churn means it does not require an ice cream machine.

• Bread: I opted for a marranito style cookie. A marranito is a mexican molasses cookie. I chose this for my base because it’s very soft and bready. It will remain soft after freezing. If you are not lucky enough to have grown up eating marranitos, I recommend stopping by your nearest panadería ASAP. These traditionally pig shaped cookies are similar to molasses cookies.

The marranitos work great for an ice cream sandwich, because a good ice cream sandwich needs a cakey cookie for the bread. If you have ever had a chocolate chip ice cream sandwich, you’ll notice the cookie part is soft and spongy, more like a cake than a cookie. Cookies become hard and near impossible to bite through upon freezing. The marranitos in this recipe have been modified to increase their soft cake-ness to them that allows them to be bitten through when frozen. They're also more spice intensive than a regular marranito to help maintain their flavor after freezing.

Overall the time to create these ice cream sandwiches is about 6 hours, but only 2 hours of active time, however prep of the ice cream and cookie dough could be done a day ahead. This recipe will yield about 15 ice cream sandwiches.

Peanut Butter Magic Shell:

• 1 cup chunky peanut butter
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, measured when solid
• 2 tsp powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp PB2 or other powdered peanut butter product

Rhubarb Ginger Ice Cream:

• 5 cups rhubarb fresh or frozen
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Navel oranges
• 4 inches of ginger root
• One 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract Pinch of salt
• 3 cups heavy cream, cold

Marranitos:

• 5 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 2 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1 ½ tsp Ground Allspice
• 1 tsp Cloves
• 2 ½ tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• ½ cup + 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter (Room temperature)
• 1 ⅓ cup Brown Sugar packed
• ½ cup Molasses
• ⅔ cup Buttermilk
• 3 Eggs (separated)

Equipment:

• Oven
• Stand mixer (optional)
• Hand mixer
• Mixing bowls
• Measuring cups
• Large cookie cutters or mugs (I used a 4” mug and a 3” cookie cutter)
• Pastry Brush
• Zester (optional)
• Hand Juicer (optional)
• Seran wrap
• Cookie sheets
• Aluminum foil
• Two 9x5x3" casserole dishes

Marranitos

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, baking powder, and salt In another bowl, use either a stand mixer or hand beaters to cream the butter and brown sugar
• Add molasses and buttermilk to the brown sugar mixture
• Add 2 eggs, one at a time
• Slowly add in the dry ingredients in parts. Wait for a part to be fully mixed in before adding more
• The dough should be very soft and sticky. Divide in half and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerator for at least 3 hours

*Refrigerating the dough allows for the flour to soak in the liquids and gives our cookie it's cakey texture. The dough can be left to rest overnight if created over two days*

• Preheat the oven to 350° F (176° C) Flour the working surface and rolling pin.
• The dough will be very sticky
• Place the dough on the floured surface and lightly flour the top of the dough
• Using small motions, roll the dough out to ¼ inches thick
• Use a large cookie cutter (or a mug as I did) to cut sections out of the dough and place on a lined and sprayed cookie sheet
• Crack 1 egg into a small bowl.
• Add 1 tbsp of water and mix Brush egg wash onto the cookies using a pastry brush
• Bake for 13-15 minutes

*Overdone cookies will result in hard, dense cookies which is not what we want. The outside should be pale. I've included a picture of an overdone and perfect cookie for comparison*

• Let cookies cool to room temperature before covering and putting in the freezer to chill for at least an hour.

Ginger Rhubarb Ice Cream

*If you are splitting into a two day process, this can be prepped the night before*

• Place a medium size bowl and beaters for the hand mixer in the freezer to chill for a least an hour. (They need be COLD)
• Remove ends from the rhubarb and chop into inch chunks
• Peel and mince the ginger root. An easy way to peel ginger is to use a spoon to get under the skin
• In a small pot add the rhubarb, ginger, sugar, and the zest from 1 orange peel.
• Juice 2 oranges into the pot
• Bring the pot to a simmer and stir. Cook until the rhubarb falls apart
• Once completed, set aside to cool to room temperature

*When taste testing the rhubarb mixture will still be sour. The sweetness in the ice cream comes from the condensed milk*

• In a large bowl whisk together sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and salt.
• Add the rhubarb mixture
• Retrieve the cold beaters and bowl from the freezer. Pour the cold cream into the bowl, Use the cold beaters to whip the cream until stiff peaks have formed
• Fold the whipped cream gently into rhubarb mixture one cup at a time. If you are too rough you will knock the air out of the cream and the ice cream will end up very dense.
• Place plastic wrap on the bottom of the casserole pan(s) (This might not be necessary, I just wanted to make sure my ice cream came out of the pan without issue)
• Fill the casserole pan(s) up 1’’ or as tall as you want your sandwiches to be. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until solid (approx. 4 hours)

Peanut Butter Magic Shell

• Place a medium size pot on the stove
• Add all ingredients to the pot and bring to medium heat
• Stir until melted and smooth
• Transfer to heat proof container and store at room temperature

*To check if the consistency is correct, test on an ice cube. The mixture should solidify to the ice after 10-15 seconds. If it does not solidify add in more coconut oil (only adding in 1 tsp at a time)*

• Once your ice cream is frozen and your cookies are chilled it is time to assemble.
• Spread out your Seran Wrap and place one cookie upside-down onto the plastic
• Put a teaspoon of Peanut Butter Magic Shell on the bottom of the cookie. This will help keep the ice cream in place while eating. Using your smaller cookie cutter, cut a section of your ice cream.Place the ice cream onto one of the cookies. Drizzle magic shell on top of the ice cream. Place another cookie on top

YOU ARE DONE

You may enjoy now or wrap up and store for latter. If you do wrap up for later the ice cream sandwiches are best left int he fridge. I found that after taking them out letting them defrost for a minute led to my happiest enjoyment.