Homemade White Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches with Lemon Sugar Cookies

Info

• Cook time: 35 minutes
• Total time: 2 hours 35 minutes
• Yield: 6

Ingredients

For the White Chocolate Ice Cream

• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 vanilla bean (split, seeds scraped)
• 12 ounces white chocolate
• 6 eggs
• A pinch of salt

For the Lemon Sugar Cookies

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups pistachios, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons lemon zest
• Nonpareils, for topping
• 1 cup freeze-dried blueberries, finely chopped

Instructions

Making the Ice Cream

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the cream, 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar, and the vanilla seeds. Heat just until the mixture begins to simmer, stirring now and then. Take the pan off the heat, add the white chocolate, and whisk until the mixture is smooth and fully combined.
2. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs with the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar until smooth.
3. Pour the cream mixture through a fine-mesh sieve. Whisk about one-third of the strained cream into the egg mixture, then immediately whisk the egg mixture back into the rest of the cream. Chill the base over an ice bath and freeze for 30 minutes.
4. Churn the chilled base in an ice cream maker following the manufacturer's directions. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for 1 hour.

Making the Cookies

5. Heat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.
6. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the vanilla and eggs. Add the dry ingredients gradually and mix until the batter is smooth. Stop the mixer and fold in half of the pistachios and the lemon zest with the spatula.
7. Drop about 1/4 cup of dough per cookie onto the prepared sheets, spacing them apart (you should get about 12 cookies). Press the tops down lightly and sprinkle with nonpareils. Bake until light brown—about 12 minutes for chewy cookies or 15 minutes for crispy ones.
8. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Assembling the Sandwiches

9. In a shallow dish, combine the remaining pistachios with the blueberries. Scoop some ice cream onto one cookie and top with another cookie to make a sandwich. Repeat with the remaining cookies and ice cream. Roll the edges of each sandwich in the pistachio-blueberry mixture, then freeze for 10 minutes before serving.