The DIY version.
If you've lived in California and like ice cream, chances are you've had It's It ice cream sandwiches. I have not, and came across them rather randomly, thanks to the wonders (sometimes pitfalls) of social media and a friend who posted about them in a moment of nostalgia.
As things tend to go when you're on the internet, 10 minutes later I found myself deep down a rabbit hole of researching this elusive ice cream sandwich, its history and reputation, and how I might be able to get my hands on one. It turns out they are not sold in the state of Virginia (or, as of summer 2020, on the east coast at all), and shipping for a pack of 24 cost twice as much as the sandwiches themselves.
A normal person probably would have either bit the bullet and paid the shipping or dropped the whole thing altogether. Or not gone down that rabbit hole to begin with. But I decided I wanted to make them from scratch myself and began recipe hunting.
Now, note that I still haven't had the real deal, but without that baseline reference, this recipe from Pixels + Crumbs produces some serious goodness. Oh, and I should probably mention what precisely an It's It ice cream sandwich entails--the company is known for an ice cream sandwich that uses cinnamon oatmeal cookies and is dipped in chocolate. Click below to go to the recipe:
A few tips/notes from my experience of making them:
I skipped the homemade ice cream part and bought some from the store. I did vanilla and matcha, you could get flavor inspiration from the It's It website or just do whatever you want! I think coffee ice cream from Trader Joe's would be excellent.
Note that the cookie recipe makes 30 cookies and she uses just 16 to make 8 ice cream sandwiches. I did save a few cookies for snacking on, but I went ahead and turned most of them into sandwiches. May as well make a bunch if you're committing to the process, especially since these can keep in the freezer for a good while!
It definitely helps to only take 1-2 frozen sandwiches out of the freezer at a time for the chocolate dipping, so that they don't get too melty.
She mentions using a skewer to dip, but I just used my hands. Dip 3/4ths of a sandwich in the chocolate, rotate, and dip the remaining part and lay on the parchment lined baking sheet. You can use a spoon to smooth over/patch up the part where your fingers were touching it.
If you don't have parchment paper, wax paper works too. Or silicone liners, if you want to be extra eco-friendly!
Here are more photos if they'll convince you this is worth the time and energy. :)
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