You guysssssss. You know I like almond, and you know I love macarons. But did you know that macarons are perhaps the best cookies for ice cream sandwiches? Like, ever. Soft and chewy, even when frozen solid. Pillowy softness that yields perfectly with each and every bite, and no rogue ice cream squishing out the edges (a common annoyance when you mix ice cream and crunchy cookies).
Lighter-than-air cookies, creamy almond-scented ice cream, and crunchy almonds – if heaven had a taste and texture, this would be it.
The base recipe comes from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. I adapted the recipe slightly to make more, smaller sandwiches (even these are big enough for two). The cookies themselves are fairly foolproof, since the typical measure of macaron-perfection isn’t required. They are quite fragile, however, and so I recommend using the cookie-cutter method described below to assemble them. If you haven’t made one of Jeni’s ice creams before, they are different than your typical custard-base ice creams. Rather than rely on egg for creaminess, the recipe uses a bit of cornstarch, corn syrup, and cream cheese to create the ideal ice cream texture without the extra richness. The vanilla is crisp and clean, the hint of almond shines. And if you shudder at the thought of tempering eggs, well, with this recipe you don’t have to. No tempering required. And I like her ice water bath method, but I’d still advise refrigerating the base for at least a few hours to really cool it down.
While I chose to do a basic almond flavored macaron filled with vanilla bean and almond ice cream (I told you I love almond), the flavor possibilities here are really endless. Both for the cookies (remember the macaron challenge? ANY of those cookie flavors would be divine super-sized and filled with ice cream!) but also the ice cream itself. I can’t even.
