Healthy Ice Cream Sandwich

A Truly Simple and Satisfying Treat for a Hot Summer Day

We’ve officially entered the dog days of summer in Houston…nearly a continuous week of 90+ temperatures (most over 95F), no rain, and no relief from the heat in the short-term forecast. I normally don’t like ice cream, but today was a day that I just really needed something to cool myself down after our evening walk (that may be going away soon…too hot…). I had inspiration from the whole wheat sugar cookies I found at the Wheat Council website. Boy am I glad I found that base cookie recipe…so versatile and it will be making many repeat appearances on my blog in various forms…

Hot, Hot, Hot…It’s getting so freaking hot here in Houston and I’m more than excited to go back to PA this weekend for my Father’s 60th/Father’s Day combo (isn’t that luck…his 60th falling on Father’s Day?)! Not only will I have fun with my family, but I’ll have a nice break from this hot cruddy Houston summer for a couple days…

Yesterday, it was so hot, I only ventured out twice…once to get a few ingredients for a nice cold drink, and once for an evening walk (which ended up being a bad idea). Upon returning from that bad idea walk (oh why was I so stupid to wear jeans on a walk in 90+F heat?), we decided to test my newly made sugar cookies as ice cream sandwiches! Delicious and won’t bust your calorie budget (or ratios) for the day…

Ingredients (adapted from: Whole Wheat Council):

• 1 cup Traditional Whole Wheat (King Arthur Flour)
• 1 cup White Whole Wheat (King Arthur Flour)
• 1 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp skim milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Turbindo (raw) sugar (for rolling)
• Your favorite Ice Cream (I used soy French Vanilla)

I followed the recipe given by the Whole Wheat Council. It’s a quite well written recipe with a few notes…

First you’ll want to flatten these babies a lot, like as wide as you want them to be when they are fully cooked.

Also, you’ll want to do a test batch to make sure your oven timing/heating is correct. If I remember correctly, these took about 9 minutes in my oven…but your mileage may vary…it’s going to be rough (but good) when we move this weekend to our first home…rough because I know the quirks of my current oven…good because I’m getting a better oven in the new place

A final note is that I actually got more than 3 dozen cookies, I got more around 40 cookies. So, if you use 2 tsp as your baseline for cookie making, it may give you more than the recipe says…

These cookies turn out surprisingly soft, which makes them great candidates for ice cream sandwiches! Can’t wait to make new variations in the coming months…

You can fill these puppies with whatever strikes your fancy…ice cream is a good choice, as is peanut butter, jelly, dipped in chocolate, yogurt…the World is your oyster!

Nutrition (2 cookies, no ice cream):

• 109 cal
• 3 g fat
• 19 g carb
• 1 g fiber
• 2 g protein

I’m sorry for being away for so long, and I’ll likely be on very sporadically in the next few weeks, but when I come back I’ll have lots to post!

Topics will include:

My Father’s 60th birthday / Father’s day

and

How to make best use of and empty your refrigerator before a big move