Amanda's Ice Cream Sandwiches

As a belated birthday present to Ryan, we gathered with the Kabearys for a homemade pizza dinner. Amanda and Ryan graciously offered to bring dessert and wine, so I was immediately excited for some of Amanda's famous homemade cupcakes. She's such an amazing baker and always comes up with the most creative recipes so I couldn't wait to see what she had whipped up for all of us. I was even more excited to learn that Amanda had baked homemade molasses cookies to stuff with vanilla ice cream to make.... homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches! The cookies were soft and delicious but not overly sweet- a perfect taste of fall!

Here's the wonderful cookie recipe from Amanda:

soft molasses spice cookies

1/3 c sugar + more for dipping2
1/4c. all purpose flour- i use Pillsbury
1t baking soda1
1/2t cinnamon
1/2t cloves
1 1/2t ginger
1/4 t allspice
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter- softened but still cool
1/3 c dark brown sugar
1 egg yolk1 t vanilla extract- it's worth it to buy a high quality vanilla.
1/2 c. molasses

preheat oven to 375.
whisk flour, baking soda, spices, and salt until combined in bowl (use paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) cream butter, white sugar, brown sugar on medium high until light and fluffy. about 3 min. reduce speed to med. low.
add yolk and vanilla. beat until well incorporated. add molasses and beat until mixed. scrape sides of bowl.
w/ mixer on lowest setting add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined- do not over mix!stir dough w/ rubber spatula to make sure no flour remains unmixed.place 1/2 c sugar in a bowl
form dough into 1 T size balls and roll in sugar before placing on baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
bake 1 sheet at a time about 11 min until cookies are brown and puffy. (cookies will look undercooked between the cracks)cool 5 minutes and enjoy immediately or...wait until cooled completely and scoop 1/4 vanilla ice cream, (or peach or ginger or whatever you feel like) on flat side of 1 cookie- top w/ another cookie and enjoy your ice cream sandwich!

Thank you Kabearys for a wonderful evening and the yummy treats!