Chocolate-Coated Ice Cream Brownie Sandwiches

I think I’m developing an obsession with ‘Come Dine With Me’. This probably won’t mean anything to my readers from the US, so I’ll explain. It’s a British TV show in which 4 or 5 people take it in turns to host a dinner party for the other guests. At the end of the night, the guests secretly score their host on their hosting skills, food, entertainment, etc and the winner gets £1,000.

Someone at Channel 4 evidently has the job of selecting the people who are least likely to get on and mash them together in the same episode.

Example:

Person 1 “I hate fussy eaters”

Person 2 “I don’t like meat, fish, vegetables, pasta, bread….”

I just can’t stop watching it. I used to turn it on every now and then so I’d have some background noise when I was baking or cleaning. Now I’m bringing my laptop into the bathroom in the morning so I can watch an episode whilst doing my hair and makeup. A step too far, agreed?

The film crew film the host the whole morning and afternoon prior to the dinner party and you get to see them shopping for the ingredients and prepping all the meals. When cooking, I often find myself imagining what I would say if I had a film crew on me. And I have no idea! I don’t think I could chat to people sticking a camera in my face going over everything I was doing. I think I’d just end up getting distracted and showing them cupcake liners or talking about how the world would be a better place if sprinkles were currency.

Sprinkles make everything better – including these Chocolate-Coated Ice Cream Brownie Sandwiches. My Official Treat Taster doesn’t like sprinkles (I know, I should get rid of him now, right?) so I had to make a few sprinkle-free. This brownie recipe is a variation of my favorite, but feel free to use any brownie recipe you like. Just make sure you over-bake them so they’re not all gooey in the centre because they won’t turn out right. They're never going to win any beauty awards, but you know what? They're so good that I don't even care.

Chocolate-Coated Ice Cream Brownie Sandwiches

Inspired by Good Life Eats

Ingredients

1/3 cup chocolate chips

1/3 cup sugar

¾ cup flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

Pinch salt

1 cup Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 cup vanilla ice cream

2 cups chocolate chips

4 tablespoons butter

Sprinkles

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and melt 1/3 cup chocolate chips. When melted, leave to one side to cool slightly.

2. Separate the yolks from the whites and beat the whites until they hold stiff peaks.

3. Beat together the Greek yogurt, melted chocolate, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla essence.

4. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Fold this and the egg whites into the chocolate mix.

5. Pour the mixture into a greased 9”x9” baking tray and bake for around 18 minutes until fully cooked. (You don’t want them gooey in the middle or the texture of the ice cream sandwich won’t be right.) Leave to cool slightly before chilling in the fridge.

6. Remove the ice cream from the freezer to soften up and cut the chilled brownie horizontally. Spread 1 cup of ice cream over half of the brownie and sandwich the other half of the brownie on top. Place in the freezer to firm up. 

7. Meanwhile melt 2 cups chocolate chips and 4 tablespoons together in a large, shallow dish. Pour a load of sprinkles (or your decoration of choice) into a similar size dish. Remove the brownies from the freezer and cut up into sandwiches of whatever size you want.

8. This is where it gets a bit messy – you might want to have a sheet of parchment paper hand. Dip each ice cream sandwich into the chocolate and roll it around until completely covered then dip into the sprinkles.

9. Lay each ice cream sandwich onto some greaseproof paper on a baking tray and return to the freezer for at least 10 minutes for the chocolate to set.

Don’t forget: if any brownie pieces come loose when you’re dipping them into the chocolate they’re fair play and you must eat them. Don’t even attempt to stick them back onto the ice cream sandwiches!

Here are the link parties I take part in.

Come and join the fun!