As we wrap up the summer here in the US, a cool afternoon dessert is often a welcome treat after outdoor activities with family and friends. With this in mind, I put together a fruity ice cream sandwich instructable and hope that more people can enjoy this sweet treat (even if they don't have an ice cream maker)!

Supplies

For 4 servings:

Ice cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup almond milk (or whole milk if you prefer)
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4-6 grapes (another fruit such as strawberries or cherries are also good options)

Cookies(if you choose to use the Betty Crocker mix that I did)

1 bag of Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie mix
1 egg
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon water

Step 1: Gather the Ingredients

Make sure that you have all of the ingredients ready before you start. While I'm making the ice cream from scratch, I'm using the Betty Crocker cookie mix to make the "sandwich bread". If you want to make your own cookies from scratch, then that can work great as well!

Step 2: Mix the Ingredients for the Ice Cream

To make the ice cream, start by pouring the heavy cream into a saucepan and add sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Stir to mix and warm over medium heat until sugar and salt dissolve. Pour the mixture into a bowl, add almond/whole milk, and stir to mix.

Step 3: Making Ice Cream the Old Fashioned Way

If you have an ice cream maker, then cool the mix in the fridge and pour into the ice cream maker to churn when ready.

If you're like me and don't have an ice cream maker, fear not! You can still make ice cream the old fashioned way by hand-churning. Put the bowl with the mixture into the freezer for about 40 min, then take it out and hand-churn for about 6-8 minutes. Make sure that you scrape the side of the bowl. Then, put the bowl back into the freezer and repeat until you reach the desired consistency. Chop several grapes (or other kinds of fruits) and mix into the ice cream when the ice cream is in a relatively soft state.

Step 4: Making the "sandwich Bread"

While the ice cream is in the freezer, start making the cookies to use as "sandwich bread".

As I used a cookie mix, I followed the instructions on the back of the mix to prepare the cookies for baking. This included:

Pre-heating the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
Mixing egg, vegetable oil, water, and the cookie mix in a bowl
Forming 2 inch balls of the resulting cookie dough
Dropping them onto an aluminum foil-covered baking tray
Using a fork to stamp the checkered patterns on each cookie dough
Baking for 10 min
Taking out the baking tray and let the cookies cool before removal

Step 5: Putting It All Together

Once the cookies have cooled and the ice cream is a good consistency, then it's time to put it all together!

To shape the ice cream into a cylinder for the sandwich, I used a ramekin. You can also use something else, such as a cookie cutter. Put the shaped ice cream onto one cookie and top it with another cookie, and you have a fruity ice cream sandwich! I decided to add a bit of raspberry jam on top as a finishing touch; depending on your other ingredients (such as the type of fruit you pick or the flavor of cookie you make), you may decide to do something different to give your fruity ice cream sandwich a flavorful personality :)

Step 6: Enjoy!

Enjoy your creation! And if you have ice cream left over, you may serve it up in another form. Here, I served up some of the ice cream in a ramekin with a cookie (instead of the usual waffle) and some raspberry jam.

Cheers!