When I think of summer, I think of hot nights and cool delicacies such as ice cream sandwiches. That's why we've decided to go all out this summer and post a recipe for a different one each week. That's right, it's officially the summer of ice cream sandwiches! We'll do fully homemade versions with homemade ice cream (like today's), as well as ones you can whip up in a snap (think semi-homemade). To get things started, I've taken yet another page out of David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. This time it's fresh mint ice cream paired with crisp ice cream cone cookies. To try it out for yourself, get the recipe - read more

Note: Since the cookies are quite crisp, you may want to decrease the amount of ice cream placed between layers.

For the cookies:
I used the basic ice cream cone recipe, only I made them smaller (about 3 inches across) and instead of rolling them, I cooled them flat on a wire rack.

Fresh Mint Ice Cream
Reprinted with permission from The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz. Copyright 2007. Published by Ten Speed Press.

1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
3/4 cup (150 g) sugar
2 cups (500 ml) heavy cream
pinch of salt
2 cups (80 g) lightly packed fresh mint leaves
5 large egg yolks

  1. Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup (250 ml) of the cream, and salt in a small saucepan. Add the mint leaves and stir until they're immersed in the liquid. Cover, remove from the heat and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
  2. Strain the mint-infused mixture through a mesh strainer into a medium saucepan. Press on the mint leaves to extract as much of the flavor as possible, then discard the mint leaves. Pour the remaining 1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream into a large bowl and set the strainer on top.
  3. Rewarm the mint-infused mixture. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mint liquid into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
  4. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.
  5. Chill the mixture throughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Note: I actually ended up using 4 eggs instead of 5 and it came out a little cream heavy, but was delicious nonetheless.

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