Ice Cream Sandwiches - butter

Method

• Prepare 3 sheet pans with Silpats or parchment.
• In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream together the butter and the sugars until fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat to combine. Add the egg whites one at a time and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
• In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture. When you have created a uniform dough, turn the dough out onto a sheet of wax paper. It will be sticky!
• Wrap the dough in the wax paper and put it into the refrigerator. Let the dough chill for about an hour or up to overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Use the powdered sugar (instead of flour) to roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut the dough out with a 4" round cookie cutter and place the dough on the sheet pan. Use a fork to poke a few holes in the dough so that the cookies don't puff up.
• Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, rotating the pans at the 10-minute mark. At 20 minutes, remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on a rack.
• When the cookies go on the cooling rack, put the ice cream in the refrigerator to soften.
• When the cookies are completely cool, spread them out, bottom facing up, on a sheet pan covered in wax paper.
• Spread a large spoonful of ice cream on the top of each cookie. Immediately put the sheet pan in the freezer. Wait 20 minutes and then sandwich together the two cookies (so that there is a double layer of ice cream in the middle). Use an offset spatula to smooth the ice cream around the sides of the ice cream sandwich.
• Put the ice cream sandwiches back in the freezer and keep them there until they are ready to be served.
• Enjoy!