Blackberry Swirl Ice Cream Sandwich

Behold: the Blackberry Swirl Ice Cream Sandwich. These are simultaneously the BEST dessert I've ever made AND the most frustrating thing to photograph. I had to take the photos in several rounds because 1) the stinkin' ice cream melted faster than the makeup melts off my face in the Nashville summer heat and 2) I just couldn't seem to get the right lighting/ angle/ composition/ whatever makes ice cream sandwiches look magical.

All of that aside, THESEICECREAMSANDWICHESAREAMAZING! Is that too much excitement for a Wednesday? Over an ice cream sandwich?

As I mentioned last week, a good friend of mine gave me nearly an entire gallon of blackberries. What does one do with a gallon of blackberries?? Everyone said "bake a pie!" but I've been baking a lot of pie like desserts lately and kind of wanted to do something else.

I knew that I wanted to re-make the blackberry ice cream that I made earlier in the summer. Duh. But once I did that, I had only used up about 1/6 of the blackberries. Then I thought 'what if I make a blackberry swirl pavlova and top it with blackberry ice cream instead of whipped cream!'. Skipping ahead a few days, that whole idea morphed into these blackberry swirl ice cream sandwiches that we have today. And I couldn't be happier about it!

You're going to need to start out by making this ice cream. Alternatively, you can use ice cream from the store. I've found that the easiest way to make ice cream sandwiches is to let the ice cream melt a bit to the consistency of soft serve (your ice cream will already be like this if you're making it homemade). Line a baking tray with parchment paper that comes up over the sides (so that you can use the parchment paper to get the ice cream out of the tray later). Then pour the soft ice cream into the tray and put it in the freezer. Later on, we'll use cookie cutters (or a knife if you're me) to cut out the ice cream for the sandwiches.

NOW, for the meringue, this part is really easy but requires some patience. Remember the Pavlova that we made earlier this month? This is very similar to that.

First we'll make the blackberry sauce. Place your blackberries in a medium saucepan, mix in the honey, and let them cook for about 20 minutes. At the beginning, throw in a few extra berries to make up for the ones you'll uncontrollably eat during the process. (It's okay, we have a whole gallon of them!).

While the berries are cooking, let's prepare the meringue. This part is also easy. Start by beating your egg whites until they're frothy and eventually stiff. Gradually pouring, begin to beat in the sugar until it's thoroughly incorporated. Keep beating until the consistency is smooth and shiny.

On a parchment (or silicon) lined baking sheet, spoon a heaping tablespoon of the meringue and pat it down with your fingers until it is smooth and thin, like a cookie (very similar to a macaroon).

While that sits, place your berries in a food processor and process for just a minute.

Spoon half a teaspoon of the blackberry puree in the middle of each meringue cookie. Moving your finger in circular motions, swirl the blackberry into the meringue cookie gently.

Bake the blackberry meringues for 25 minutes. Turn the panggangan off but leave the meringues in the panggangan until it cools off. It took my panggangan about 4-5 hours to do so.

In the end, you'll have meringue cookies that look like so:

All that's left now is to cut out the ice cream and assemble the sandwiches!

I used a large shot glass as a guide and then cut the ice cream out with a sharp knife since I didn't have a cookie cutter the right size.

Once the ice cream has been cut, I remove the parchment paper from the dish (ice cream and all) and take out the ice cream circles.

Place the ice cream between 2 meringue cookies and you've got the best darn ice cream sandwich you've ever made! I put mine back in the freezer for a bit because the ice cream had already begun to melt while I was cutting it. But, by all means, eat one of these immediately!! You deserve it.

Blackberry Swirl Ice Cream Sandwich
Ingredients:
Homemade Blackberry Ice Cream (recipe here), or ice cream of choice,
2 cups of fresh blackberries
1 tablespoon of honey
4 egg whites
1 cup of sugar

Directions:
Pre-heat panggangan to 275 degrees F.
1) Place blackberries and honey in a medium saucepan, stir, and cook on stove for 20 minutes. Let cool.
2) Start by beating your egg whites until they're frothy and eventually stiff. Gradually pouring, begin to beat in the sugar until it's thoroughly incorporated. Keep beating until the consistency is smooth and shiny ( a couple minutes).
3) On a parchment (or silicon) lined baking sheet, spoon a heaping tablespoon of the meringue and pat it down with your fingers until it is smooth and then, like a cookie (very similar to a macaroon).
4) While that sits, place your berries in a food processor and process for just a minute.
5) Spoon half a teaspoon of the blackberry puree in the middle of each meringue cookie. Moving your finger in circular motions, swirl the blackberry into the meringue cookie gently.
6) Bake the blackberry meringues for 25 minutes. Turn the panggangan off but leave the meringues in the panggangan until it cools off. It took my panggangan about 4-5 hours to do so.
7) (see above for ice cream freezing method that works best with ice cream sandwiches) Using a sharp knife, cut out ice cream circles and place them on a meringue cookie or spoon out ice cream and place on cookie.
8) Place another cookie on top of the sandwich and they're ready!! You may want to re-freeze the sandwiches for a bit to make the sandwich stick together nicely.