4 cups apple juice
½ cup water
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
2 whole cloves
4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine apple juice, ½ cup water, sugar, rosemary, cinnamon, and cloves in saucepan. Bring mixture to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until mixture is reduced to 3½ cups, 20 to 25 minutes. Strain into 4-cup measuring cup; cool to room temperature. Stir in vinegar and vanilla. Divide among 12 ice pop molds (each ¼- to ⅓-cup capacity). Insert ice pop covers and sticks. Freeze until firm, overnight or up to 5 days.
Here’s a frozen treat you don’t have to feel guilty about: It’s mostly berries and yogurt, plus some honey and sugar. And that vivd blue color? It’s all natural. Makes 8
2½-pint containers blueberries
1 8-ounce container blueberry yogurt
¼ cup water
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons sugar
Combine all ingredients in processor and puree until smooth. Divide mixture among 8 ice pop molds (each ¼- to ⅓-cup capacity). Insert ice pop covers and sticks. Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours and up to 5 days.Technique Tip: No Molds?If you don’t have any molds, just use little paper cups. Partially freeze the ice pop mixture in the paper cups before inserting a wooden stick into the center of each. Then freeze overnight. If you have trouble unmolding them, cut a slit in the paper and peel it off.
Tender oatmeal cookies form a sweet sandwich with purchased vanilla ice cream. The cookies are so good that you might want to make a double batch and fill up the cookie jar. Makes 12Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
⅔ cup sugar
⅔ cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 large eggs
1½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups old-fashioned oats
⅔ cup raisins
1 quart vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 2 large baking sheets with nonstick spray. Using electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars in large bowl until well blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Add to butter mixture and beat just until combined. Stir in oats and raisins.
Using generous 3 tablespoons dough per cookie, place 6 dough mounds on each baking sheet, spacing mounds 3 inches apart. Bake cookies until light golden, about 15 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks; cool completely. Cool baking sheets and repeat with remaining dough, making 24 cookies total. Freeze cookies 30 minutes.
Place 1 cookie, flat side up, on work surface. Spoon ⅓ cup ice cream onto cookie. Top with another cookie, flat side down; press gently. Wrap sandwich in plastic wrap; freeze until firm. Repeat with remaining cookies and ice cream.
DO AHEAD: Can be made 4 days ahead. Keep frozen.
Let sandwiches stand at room temperature 5 minutes before serving.
When marshmallow s’mores meet ice-cream sandwiches, the results are delectable. Purchased rocky road ice cream and marshmallow crème are sandwiched between graham crackers and frozen until quite firm. Then the sandwiches get a coating of melted bittersweet chocolate before going back into the freezer. Makes 8
1 pint rocky road ice cream
½ cup (about) marshmallow creme
8 whole graham cracker rectangles, broken in half into squares
12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
Line small rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Soften ice cream just until spreadable but still firm. Spread 1 tablespoon (about) marshmallow crème over each of 8 graham cracker squares. Working quickly, spread ice cream atop remaining 8 graham cracker squares. Place marshmallow-coated crackers atop ice cream, marshmallow side down, forming sandwiches; press gently to adhere and smooth sides. Set sandwiches on prepared baking sheet and freeze until firm, at least 8 hours.
DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and keep frozen.
Stir chocolate in small metal bowl set over small saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth and just warm (not hot) to touch. Remove bowl from over water. Working quickly, dip 1 sandwich halfway into melted chocolate. Return sandwich to same parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining sandwiches. Immediately return to freezer and freeze until chocolate is completely set, about 30 minutes. Rewarm remaining chocolate in bowl over saucepan of simmering water, if chocolate has set. Remove sandwiches from freezer and dip second side of sandwiches in melted chocolate to coat. Return to same baking sheet and freeze until firm, at least 1 hour.
DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover with plastic; keep frozen.
These ice-cream sandwiches are dipped halfway into melted milk chocolate. Use cookies that are about 2½ inches in diameter. If you’d like to use homemade cookies, the Classic Peanut Butter Cookies (page 538) would be the perfect choice. Makes 6
12 peanut butter cookies (purchased or homemade)
1 pint chocolate-peanut butter swirl ice cream or chocolate ice cream, slightly softened
6 tablespoons creamy (smooth) natural peanut butter (made only with peanuts and salt)
6 ounces high-quality milk chocolate (such as Lindt or Perugina), finely chopped
Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with waxed paper. Place 6 cookies, flat side up, on work surface. Spoon enough ice cream atop each cookie to form ½- to ¾-inch-thick layer. Spoon 1 tablespoon peanut butter atop ice cream on each cookie. Top with another cookie, flat side down, and press gently to adhere. Transfer sandwiches to 1 prepared baking sheet. Cover and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.
Stir chocolate in small bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Dip 1 sandwich halfway into melted chocolate, allowing excess chocolate to drip back into bowl. Place sandwich on second prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining sandwiches. Immediately place in freezer; freeze until chocolate is firm, about 10 minutes.
DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 weeks ahead. Wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and keep frozen.
D.I.Y. Ice-Cream SandwichesGreat homemade ice cream plus delicious cookies or brownies equals the ultimate ice-cream sandwiches. To make them yourself:CHOOSE A COOKIE RECIPE. The cookies shouldn’t be too thick and hard, or too thin and fragile.FREEZE THE COOKIES. They’ll be less likely to break or to absorb any of the ice cream, which can make them soggy.MAKE THE SANDWICH. Spread some ice cream on the flat side of one cookie and top the ice cream with another cookie. Freeze until firm.EVEN BETTER: Dip the ice-cream sandwiches halfway into melted dark, milk, or white chocolate, then roll the dipped side in granola, toffee bits, flaked coconut, or chopped nuts.In this book, you’ll find plenty of ice-cream and cookie recipes to mix and match, but may we suggest …CRANBERRY-ORANGE DROP COOKIES (page 537) with Orange Ice Cream (page 451)CHEWY GINGER COOKIES (page 541) with Lemon Verbena Ice Cream (page 451)DARK AND WHITE CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES WITH GINGER (page 533) with Vanilla Ice Cream (page 446)CHOCOLATE-MINT COOKIES (page 547) with French QuarterChocolate Ice Cream (page 447)CHERRY-CHOCOLATE CHIP OATMEAL COOKIES (page 534) with Buttermilk Sorbet (page 459)OLD-FASHIONED BROWNIES (page 584) with Hazelnut Gelato (page 457)CINNAMON-ALMOND COOKIES (page 546) with Chocolate-Cinnamon Gelato with Toffee Bits (page 456)