This is Adam, making my first blog post in a while. Lisa has been doing the lion's share of the blogging lately because she can add the posts without worrying about a boss getting mad. Anyway, there have been a couple of requests for the recipe I used to make the World's Biggest Ice Cream Sandwich that I made for Lisa for Mother's Day. Ask and ye shall receive.

The cookie parts were made using the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever found: The one from the recipe book that came with out KitchenAid mixer. I don't know if this violates some sort of copyright, but oh, well. Here it is, with my alterations to turn it into a giant ice cream sandwich. I will also add some comments that represent my lessons learned from trying to do this for the first time on Mother's Day.

1 Cup granulated sugar
1 Cup brown sugar
1 Cup butter (2 sticks -- I use unsalted), softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (I usually use more than that, though)
1 pint of ice cream (whatever flavor you like, but I would advise using a basic flavor that will not clash with the cookies, or mimic them too much either. So no sherbet and no cookie dough)

Place sugars, butter, eggs, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Mix at low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl. Mix at medium-high speed for 30 seconds. Mix at low speed while gradually adding baking soda, salt, and flour (one cup at a time). Mix about two minutes. Scrape the bowl. Fold in the chocolate chips and mix for about 15 seconds, or until the chips are evenly distributed.

Divide the dough in half and roll into two balls. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Take one of the dough balls and slightly flatten it, making the center thinner than the rim. (This will promote even cooking, since if you just dropped the ball unflattened on the cookie sheet, the outside would burn long before the middle had a chance to flatten out and cook all the way through) The giant cookie will look kind of like a donut that doesn't have a hole punched in the middle. Or, like this inner tube, which has a big, rounded rim, but also has a little flat part in the middle.


Bake the first half of the dough at 375 degrees for about 12-15 minutes while you prepare the second half the same way and place on a sheet of parchment paper on the other cookie sheet. When the first half is done (slightly golden brown around the edges), remove it from the oven and leave it on the cookie sheet to cool. Bake the other giant cookie the same way.

When both cookies have cooled on the cookie sheets for about 20 minutes or so, move them to cooling racks and allow them to cool completely. (I made the mistake of rushing this step, and paid the price. You could even go so far as to refrigerate the giant cookies for an hour or two to make sure they are completely cold)

Let the ice cream sit on the counter for a while to soften enough to be pliable. Place one giant cookie upside down in a pie tin. Dish out the ice cream and get an even layer. Place the other giant cookie on top. Cover the whole thing with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer for a while to reharden the ice cream a little bit. (If you try to rush this by not cooling the cookies completely, all the ice cream will melt and run out the sides. If you don't let the ice cream reharden in the freezer, then it will all squish out the side when you try to cut a piece to devour)

Also, if you leave the sandwich in the freezer long enough for the cookies themselves to freeze, it gets really hard to cut pieces off to eat. So, try to strike a balance between the ice cream being hard enough to not squish out the sides, and the cookies being too hard to cut without a chainsaw.

Warning: This is not a low-fat, low-calorie, or low-anything dessert. It is, however, really cool looking and delicious.