I’ve always toyed with the idea of making ice cream sandwiches, so I was excited when I came across the recipe for Banana Split Ice Cream Sandwiches.
My criteria for a recipe for ice cream sandwiches: it had to involve making either the ice cream or the cookie, or adapting one of those. I couldn’t simply follow a recipe that said “spread a half cup of store-bought ice cream on a store-bought cookie and sandwich another cookie on top of it.” This recipe involved making a vanilla wafer and combining mashed banana with vanilla ice cream. It also involved dressing the sandwich with fudge sauce, whipped cream, and maraschino cherries.
I didn’t read the instructions particularly well before I started; I couldn’t actually make them on the night I wanted to because the cookie batter had to rest for 2 hours! When I made them the next day, I actually let the batter refrigerate too long, maybe about 3 hours. Still, I followed the instructions otherwise, marking 3-inch diameters on the parchment so that I could spread out the batter. I baked the cookies until the edges began to brown.
It may have been humid when I was making these, but the vanilla wafer cookies didn’t actually harden. They were still relatively soft after they cooled. This may have also been a result of refrigerating the batter too long.
I made the banana-vanilla ice cream a few days earlier, so I had to thaw it before spreading it on the cookies. I measured out ⅓ cup for each one, but I think I added a little bit more to use it all up. I left out the peanuts because I wanted to give one to my friend Karen since she was packing up her apartment, and I knew she didn’t like nuts in her ice cream. I did, however, spread some chocolate sauce/dip along one side of the cookies, so we could have banana ice cream sandwiches and banana chocolate ice cream sandwiches.
I dressed two of them with chocolate sauce, maraschino cherries, and whipped topping. I didn’t enjoy this very much right after I made it. I wanted a frozen-solid ice cream sandwich. Cutting into it made me take bites that were too big, which was tough on my sensitive teeth. I was also tired which made me not care very much.
I did enjoy it, however, when I had one that I had wrapped up in plastic wrap and froze. I had it on a hot summer afternoon, as a snack at work. It was still messy, but it gave a much better, more authentic ice cream sandwich experience. My only complaint is that the banana-vanilla ice cream got a little icy when it froze, but it was otherwise enjoyable.
I wasn’t a fan of the cookie itself, but like I said, I’m not sure if it’s a problem with the cookie or it’s a problem with letting the batter rest too long. I think that I’d prefer a chocolate wafer or a chocolate chip cookie as an ice cream sandwich base. But, this was a decent recipe and is worth giving it a try, or at least using it as a starting point to make your own ice cream sandwich creation.
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