Christmas Pudding Ice Cream Sandwiches - Bakemas Day 19

I have been excited about this recipe since last Christmas, it’s been sitting on my bakemas ideas list all year and I finally FINALLY got to make them.

I love making ice cream sandwiches like this, there’s just something so satisfying about slicing up a block of ice cream and then cutting it into shapes, it’s almost like being a child again and playing with play-doh. I probably say this every time, It makes a little bit of a mess and if you don’t have a clear work surface you might end up with ice cream on a few things but I love it...eating them isn’t too bad either!

From the few times I’ve made these I’ve come to the conclusion that if you have a massive chopping board you just made your life a whole lot easier. Every time I’ve made these I’ve used Swedish Glace ice cream it’s a 750ml tub and I probably use a standard sized chopping board and it’s a little bit busy on there but I make it work, I can only imagine what it would be like if you were using one of those 2 litre tubs and had the same size chopping board, I think I’d just end up doing it straight on the work top. It can also turn into a high pressured situation pretty fast if you’re invested in the well being of your ice cream, if you have a very warm house and your ice cream starts melting on your chopping board, oh boy! If it’s a couple degrees outside why not just put a coat on and do it in the garden, nah I’m kidding, it’s just all part of the fun...but you could make sure the heating doesn’t come on before you start making these and maybe open a couple windows.

...I probably just put you off making these, I wonder if I can come back from that.

In all seriousness these are fun to make and delicious and they’re probably my favourite flavour so far because the chocolate biscuits with the crunchy bits of dark chocolate with the vanilla ice cream and the white chocolate combined is probably my ideal ice cream combination. You can also eat them straight out the freezer; once they’re fully set the biscuits are crunchy but they don’t freeze really hard so you can eat the ice cream while its firm.

I’ll stop waffling now because we have ice cream sandwiches to make! Don’t let the wordy instructions scare you off it’s really straight forward I promise.

For the shortbread biscuits
115g/4oz/ ½ cup butter/margarine
65g/3oz light musovado sugar
20g/¾oz coconut powder
150g/5¾oz plain flour
2½oz dark chocolate, finely chopped

You will also need
White chocolate, vegan if needed
Green & red fondant icing or green & red coloured glace icing
Ice cream, vegan if needed (I used Swedish Glace )

First make the shortbread.
Preheat the oven 160C/325F/Gas 3
Measure the butter, sugar, cocoa powder and flour
into a bowl and rub together with your fingertips to create a breadcrumb like consistency. Stir in the chopped chocolate then knead gently to bring together and form a dough.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 0.5cm/¼ inch thick and cut out 2-2 ½ inch circles. Re-roll until all the dough is used up. Place the biscuits on a baking tray covered with greaseproof paper and bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes. Leave to cool on a rack.

While your biscuits are cooling roll out your green fondant icing and cut out like holly leaves an roll the red icing into little berries. If you’re using glace icing colour the icing spoon into little piping bags and put in a sealed bag or tin to stop from drying out.

Once your biscuits are cool melt the white chocolate and dip the biscuits ⅓ of the way in and place on a tray lined with grease proof paper. If using fondant icing wait until the chocolate is tacky then stick the holly leaves and berries on and place in the fridge to set. If using glace icing place the biscuits in the fridge until the chocolate has set then pipe on your holly leaves and berries and leave to set.

Once the chocolate and decoration on your biscuits has set get your tub of ice cream and slide a knife all the way round the edge. Turn the ice cream upside down and squidge the sides until the ice cream comes out. Turn the ice cream on its side and slice the ice cream about ½ - ¾ of an inch thick. Cut out your ice cream with your cookie cutter and place on a biscuit then top with the decorated biscuit and give it a gentle squeeze. Repeat this process, pop them back in the freezer to harden or eat them straight away.

You can eat these straight from the freezer and keep them for up to a month in a container but they probably won’t last that long!