Morale Boosting Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches~

The week before the Pig Roast.
Hot. Busy. Tiring. Inspiring. Hot.
So, every year, I try to make morale boosting foods.
Like macaroni and cheese.
Or Mexican tortilla mix.
Sweet tea.
Watermelon.
And this years new addition,
Homemade Ice Cream Sandwich.

First, you make the chocolate cookies.
Then, when cool, you put a scoop of ice cream in the center of one
and top it off with another cookie.

I tear off a lot of pieces of wax paper (about 12 inches long)
and build the sandwich right on top of the sheets of paper.

As soon as it is made, 
I wrap it up and pop it into the freezer.

You can fill them with any kind of ice cream.
Mint chocolate chip.
Butter pecan.
Moose tracks.
We like plain old Breyer's vanilla.

If you made a vanilla sugar cookie,
you could fill it with orange sherbet,
or rainbow sherbet,
or chocolate ice cream.

After the cookie sandwich freezes overnight,
the cookie softens a little.
And it's perfect.
For breakfast.
Before lunch.
After supper.
Any time anyone needs a quick pick-me-up.

Here's the recipe I used. It's from "The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals"
cookbook compiled by Phyllis Pellman Good and Louise Stoltzfus.
I worked for Phyllis and her husband Merle, the summer I was 16.
I acted and sang and gave lectures on Amish and Mennonites.
It was great fun and they were great employers.

This recipe is called "Chewy Chocolate Cookies" and it was given
by Sharon Hartman.

I doubled the recipe and used butter instead of margarine
and used miniature chocolate chips instead of regular chocolate chips
which are easier to bite through when frozen
but here's the recipe according to the book.

1 1/4 cup margarine
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
3/4 cups cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups (12 oz. pkg.) chocolate chips

1. In a large mixing bowl cream margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.

2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Gradually blend into creamed mixture. Fold in chocolate chips.

3. Drop by tsp. onto ungreased cookie sheet. (I always spray on a little oil.)

4. Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes. (Do not overbake; cookies will puff while baking and flatten while cooling.) Cool slightly before removing from cookie sheets. Cool fully on wire rack.)

Match cookies in size as closely as possible.
 Get a dozen or more sets ready before you get the ice cream out.

You will put smiles on the faces of your family
and they might even brag about you on face book
and others may even ask if they can be adopted into your family.