Ice cream sandwiches with sugar cookies

Overhead view of ice cream sandwiches in a tray
Ice cream sandwiches go back to childhood for some of us.  If you don't know them, you must try some with your favorite cookie recipe.  Usually chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream is a classic.  
Since peaches are in season, I wanted to try them with homemade caramelized peaches ice cream, as well as a coffee ice cream with chocolate bits and turron we brought back from vacation. The fun thing about making home-made ice cream is you can make any combination of flavors and toppings.

Stuff the cookies with your favorite ice cream or make your own flavors
Of course store-bought ice cream is great as well and a convenient solution. I usually make ice cream in the summer and fill the freezer with a few flavors I use for ice cream cookies, crumbles and cobblers and parfaits.

Here is the sugar cookie recipe I found ideal, giving soft yet sturdy cookies for filling with ice cream.

150 g of butter
180 g of sugar + 1/4 for rolling
250 g of flour + 100 g of cake flour
1 egg + 1 yolk
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 teaspoon of almond extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

Preheat oven 350° F / 180° C.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Cream butter and sugar in a  bowl.  Add eggs and extracts.  Then fold in dry ingredients.  Dough should be stiff enough to roll into balls, if not adjust with more flour or a tablespoon more of butter.  Roll the 2" balls of dough in sugar.  Place on the baking sheet and flatten leaving a 1/2 thickness, remember to place at least 2 inches apart as they will grow.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  I made 2 sizes, 2" disks (which grow to about 3" in width), and a smaller version of about 1-1/2" disks that grow to 2" in width.  Allow cookies to cool before filling with ice cream.
I made the coffee ice cream about 3/4" in thickness so I was able to cut out disks with 2" cutters and place these readily in the cookies.  For the larger cookies, I spooned ice cream into molds and filled the larger cookies with these.

If you want to make your own no-churn ice cream, see my recipe under "Ice cream with 2 ingredients", or as follows : 
   2 cups heavy whipping cream, cold
   1 can or 396 g sweetened condensed milk
    a pinch of sea salt
    2 teaspoons of vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste
    + fruits (sliced peaches, cherries, strawberries or blueberries simmered slightly over medium heat with1/4 cup of sugar) or with sprinkles, candy bars, nuts, oreos... 
Homemade ice cream with caramelized peachesAdded some sprinkles to indicated different fillings
Just whip the cream until stiff, then fold in the condensed milk.  Freeze for at least 4-5 hours or overnight.  Add the fruit once the ice cream has set.  I like to just leave it on top, but you can fold it into the ice cream as well. For the coffee ice cream, I added 2 teaspooons of coffee extract to the vanilla base.
Enjoy, everyone !
I had to work fast on these pictures or the ice cream would melt!The cookie part was soft and meringue-like

 Serving tray gift ideas : 

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