Why Your Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches Are A Melty Mess

Making ice cream sandwiches hardly requires a degree in molecular gastronomy. In fact, it could hardly be more straightforward — acquire cookies, then, as the name straight-up tells you, sandwich them together with ice cream. Still, even the simplest things can go wrong if you let them, and Mashed developer Molly Allen warns us that you're bound to mess up her homemade ice cream sandwich recipe if you lack the necessary patience.

What does she mean by this? Well, you see, Allen's recipe starts with you actually baking the cookies from scratch. This means that you need to let them cool down all the way before you can proceed with the sandwiching bit. As Allen explains, "Any small amount of warmth from the cookies will melt the ice cream immediately," which means you'll wind up with a big old mess in the kitchen instead of a tasty snack.

If you do succeed at assembling your cooled cookies correctly, you should of course stick them in the freezer ASAP. Well, unless you can't resist eating one or two right away, that is. Allen advises keeping the sandwiches in a resealable container of some sort, though, so they won't wind up freezer-burned or otherwise negatively impacted by their stay at sub-zero temps.

What if you want ice cream sandwiches and you want them right now, though? In that case, you probably won't want to go through the bother of baking cookies yourself, much less waiting for them to cool. We do have a recipe for mini ice cream sandwiches that starts with ready-to-bake refrigerated cookie dough, thus eliminating much of the prep work. If you want to go ahead and use store-bought cookies or graham crackers, we won't judge you. Nor must you limit yourself to cookies — cake slices, waffles, or brownies would work. You could also swap out cookies for baklava or use conchas as another alternative should you happen to have either of these in the house. If not, even toast can be used to make ice cream sandwiches.

Of course, the cookies aren't the only thing you can change up when you're making homemade ice cream sandwiches. Molly Allen says of her recipe, "The beauty [lies in] is its versatility" since you can use any ice cream flavor you like. While she opts for what she terms a "classic" combination of chocolate cookies and vanilla ice cream, you could go the opposite direction with chocolate ice cream sandwiched between sugar cookies or maybe use cookies and cream to make cookie-flavored ice cream cookie sandwiches (very meta). Choose the cookies (or cookie alternatives), choose the ice cream, and choose your own adventure. A world of appetizing alternatives awaits.