Rainbow Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Rainbows........ Brownies........ Ice cream Sandwiches.......... Excuse me what?!?!?!?!?!

These ice cream sandwiches are so much fun to make and everyone will love them!!! The fudgy brownies are so delicious and rich with a creamy vanilla ice cream balances all the flavours perfectly. Also these are Gluten free!!!!

Plus the multicolour rainbow will brighten anyone's day and celebration. You have beautiful rainbow treats and you can make your own ice cream from scratch!!!

I hope you love these as much as we do!!! Also Happy pride month!!!

Brownie 'Biscuit' layer

- 170g (3/4cup) Butter

- 1 1/2 cup Dark chocolate chips (Gluten free to make this recipe gluten free)

- 3/4 Cup Caster sugar

- 5 Extra Large eggs, room temperature

- 2/3 Cup cocoa powder

- 1/2 tsp Bicarb soda

- 2 tsp Vanilla bean paste

- Pinch of salt

Rainbow Vanilla Ice Cream

- 600g Sweetened condensed milk (cold)

- 900mL thickened cream

- 1 Tbsp Vanilla bean paste

- Pinch of salt

- Food colouring (i'm using liquid food colouring as I prefer a paler colour, if you want the colour to be vibrant then either add a lot of liquid food colouring or get gel food colouring as this is more potent.

- Square Baking Pan 20cm x 20cm x 5cm (8inch x8inch x2inch)

- Microwave safe bowl

- Scissors

- Butter knife

- Sieve

- Spatula

- Mixing spoons

- Measuring spoons

- Stand mixer with whisk attachment and large bowl

- Baking paper

- Glad wrap

- 5 Piping bags or ziplock bags

- 5 Mixing spoons

- 5 Mixing bowls

Place the chocolate, butter and caster sugar in a microwave safe bowl and heat in the microwave for 30 second bursts, stirring in between each burst until fully melted.

To add the eggs place them in a bowl and add a few spoons of the warm brownie mixture to the eggs and mix together then add it to the chocolate mixture. This helps to "temper the eggs" to stop them from cooking if the mixture is too hot.

Then add the vanilla bean, bi-carb soda, salt and cocoa powder (sifted) and mix until it all comes together.

For these brownies you want to have a specific thickness so that all the ice cream fits into your pan. I am using a 20cm x 20cm x 5cm (8inch x 8 inch x 2 inch) square baking tin.

Then take 2 sheets of baking paper and cut them into long rectangles so that they can cross over each other in the pan. This will help lift out the brownies and ice cream sandwiches from the pan later.

Pour 1 and 1/3 cup of the brownie mixture into the brownie tin and spread it around the pan, then drag the knife through the mixture to even it out and remove any bubbles. Then place a square of baking paper over the top of the brownie mixture and this will help it bake evenly.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius (340 degrees Fahrenheit) and bake for between 15-17 minutes.

When the brownies come out, while they are still hot press a tea towel over the top to make the brownie more dense and to even it out. Then let them cool for 15 minutes, remove the brownie from the pan and repeat this process to bake the other half of your ice cream sandwiches.

When they are both done place them in the freezer to cool while you make your ice cream.

To make the ice cream place your thickened cream and vanilla bean into a large bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment on high until it reaches firm peaks (approx 90 seconds). Then add the cold sweetened condensed milk and salt and beat on high for a few minutes until light and fluffy with firm peaks.

Separate the ice cream evenly into 5 separate bowls (roughly 1 and 1/3 cup each) and add food colouring until you reach a depth of colour you are happy with. Making red, yellow, green, blue and purple.

**Then place each colour in a separate piping or ziplock bag. To make this easier you can place the bag in a mug and stretch the bag over the mug. This helps keep the bag open while you pour in the ice cream.

I find putting it in the bags helpful for layering the ice cream later (you will see what i mean).

Take the brownies out of the freezer, making sure that it is cold before adding the ice cream (otherwise it may melt).

Start by piping the purple ice cream layer on the bottom brownie. By piping the ice cream across the brownie you can see the thickness of the layer and try to keep it more even. Then with a butter knife lightly run in along the pan in one direction then perpendicular at 90 degrees to 'cross-hatch' the ice cream. this helps to make it even and remove any air bubbles.

Then repeat the same piping and knife technique with the rest of the colours in the order of blue, green, yellow and red. ** You will see that the amount of ice cream and the thickness of brownies is made exactly for this pan. if you make your brownies too thick the ice cream may overflow out f the pan.

Then add the top layer of brownie on top of the ice cream roughly in the middle over the brownie base to line them up to top off the sandwich.

Then cover with glad wrap and place into the freezer for a minimum of 8 hours (i typically leave in the freezer over night or the day before i need them)

Take the ice cream sandwiches out of the freezer and pull them out of the pan. Then run a hot knife under water and cut the sandwich in half. Make sure to run the knife under hot water in between each cut to make sure the colour stays beautiful and vibrant!

Then cut them into smaller bits to whatever size you like. Either 8 large slices or 16 smaller squares.

These are very rich so it might be better to make smaller ice cream sandwiches. Then individually wrap them in glad wrap and store in the freezer in a large zip lock bag for up to a month.