A July 4th Treat: Marshmallow Ice Cream Sandwiches!

Posted by hisweetsweet on July 2, 2013 in Food, Recipes | 6 Comments

Happy July 4th, everyone!

My Sandwich Surprise for this holiday week is something that anyone can whip up for their BBQ parties: The Marshmallow Ice Cream Sammy!

I was never an Oreo girl. The love of my cookie life has always been Nabisco’s Marshmallow Sandwich.

That love has been unrequited since the ‘80s, when Nabisco made its biggest mistake ever and discontinued them. Sadness, lifelong version.

I hope to one day perfect a recipe resurrecting my cookie friends. (I’m not the only one obsessed: Click here for folks pining for the Marshmallow Sandwich’s return.) Until then, I just took inspiration from them for this ice cream concoction: marshmallow ice cream packed between two soft vanilla graham cookie wafers, then lightly dusted with cinnamon.

To make a simple, super fast version, all you need is vanilla ice cream (I recommend Häagen-Dazs), mini marshmallows, soft/chewy graham crackers or raisin-less oatmeal cookies and cinnamon. Click here for instructions.

But I wanted to make my own marshmallow ice cream and vanilla graham cookie wafers, which took a couple of tries each. I may post that recipe later. I also made those foil wrappers using this tip from BraveTart’s Serious Eats post.

A couple unofficial Sandwich Surprisees got to try one fresh from my freezer, which is the best way to enjoy them. One called it “the perfect summer bite.”

And a friend managed to get a bite to the owner of a Michelin-starred restaurant in NYC, and said that he loved it too. (Yay!)

Unfortunately, thanks to a trek in the 90˚ heat, this week’s official surprisees, Giselle, Barbara and Alex, got a meltier version of the sammies, which made the cookie too soft and the sugar level too prominent. Sadness, one-day version.

“Yum!” said my friend Barbara (on the right). “The marshmallows are nice and fluffy. I usually don’t like them in ice cream, but it works here. The cookie part got sticky. But it’s delicious.”

“Did you use condensed milk?” asked Giselle, co-owner of East 12th Osteria, where Alain Ducasse likes to eat. “It was a little sweet for me, but it’s lovely treat. And you made everything, which is great. That’s what we do here too.” (Her husband Robert is the chef, formerly of Armani Ristorante; the heirloom tomato gazpacho and pistachio gelato were ridiculously good.)

“Was that an oatmeal cookie?” asked East 12th staffer Alex, a model who loves to bake.

“No, but I’m guessing the graham flour and the cinnamon makes it seem like it is,” I said.

“Oh! It was good, though,” Alex said. “The saccharine taste of the marshmallow went well with the cookie. But the cookie needed crisp or a little more chew — with the marshmallow ice cream it was too soft.”

Next time I make it, I won’t use graham flour so it doesn’t seem like oatmeal, and I’ll cut the sugar. If you make the fast version, please let me know how it turns out!

Sandwich Surprise is always up for expanding its circle of food adventurers. Subscribe to my blog, or click here to follow my Twitter account, or here to like my Facebook page.

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MARSHMALLOW ICE CREAM SAMMIES, THE EASY VERSION

To make the marshmallow ice cream, buy vanilla Häagen-Dazs. When just soft enough to scoop, but not too soft, spoon a layer of ice cream into a bowl, then put a layer of mini marshmallows.

Repeat until you reach the bottom of the container, then using a large spoon, return a few layers at a time to the container, pressing down so as much of it can fit in the container as possible.

Lay cookies on individual sheets of foil (or homemade foil wrapping; see above link), then spoon an ice cream layer about 1/2″ to 3/4″ thick. Top with another cookie, then wrap as you would a birthday present — you won’t need to tape anything shut, as the foil will stay in place.

Return wrapped sammies to the freezer. Bring them out only when ready to serve. Enjoy!

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