Oatmeal Ice Cream Sandwiches

Hungry photographer + delicious ice cream sandwiches = 25 photos of half eaten sandwiches.
Just like this one.

I'm back! Hope everyone had a nice new years and holiday season. Mine was extended by Mother Humble's fashionably late arrival for a post-new years Christmas but now everyone is back in their respective homes/countries and things are settling back into the normal Humble routine.

Routine being my destroying plenty of perfectly good ingredients during mommy-brained addled cooking attempts.

Just last week we had an epic cheesecake failure, which I will not go into detail about. Those of you who follow my occasional ramblings on Facebook know what I'm talking about and no, as I learned the next morning it did not taste good.

Not everything is turning out badly, thankfully. I made these ice cream sandwiches today and oh my goodness they are wonderful. Just sinfully good. Of course, this may be the pregnancy talking, since my feelings towards certain foods lately can be irrationally exuberant.

Crunchy and chewy, these spiced oatmeal cookies are sandwiched with vanilla ice cream swirled with dulce de leche. Exuberance? Hardly, these are good.

Like my feelings for anything with vinegar in or on it, or our new local Din Tai Fung, which has earned somewhat mixed reviews in Northwest foodie circles. However, I've been there twice in two weeks and scarfing down hand made steamed dumplings with such abandon that people shift away in their chairs and shield their young children's eyes.

I don't think you need to be irrational to love these.

They're hand-made xiao long bao! In the Seattle area! Critics be damned, I've waited up to two hours in line for those dumplings and I--and everyone else in line, apparently--won't be gainsaid by those who have had better in Taiwan or China (of course they're better there). I love those things.

Wait... how did I get on the topic of dumplings in a post about cookies? Oh yes, my exuberance for food lately (so glad the morning sickness has passed). Okay so these oatmeal sandwiches!

I've been craving ice cream sandwiches lately but wanted something a little more grown up. Something with more texture and character than the run of the mill chocolate/vanilla style. So I decided to play around with oatmeal and create a lovely thin cookie that sandwiches well. It is lightly spiced and provides a nice crunchy-chewy texture. Fresh from the oven, they're delightfully soft, but given some time to fully cool, they will crisp up a bit and be sturdy enough to sandwich.

Today I had a very happy pregnant woman moment with a generous slab of dulce de leche ice cream sandwiched between these thin oatmeal cookies. Calcium and whole grains, right?! That's good for me!

Yea... I'm not fooling myself. Between these, the rapidly growing baby and those dumplings, I've hidden my bathroom scale.

Thin Oatmeal Sandwich cookies

yields roughly three dozen large cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature*
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 2/3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

generous pinch ground cloves
generous pinch fresh grated nutmeg
1-1/2 cups rolled oats

1/3 cup turbanado sugar, optional

*The butter should be soft but still have a chill. You don't want the butter to melt or the batter to get too warm, so be mindful when working in a warm kitchen. Transfer the dough to the refrigerator to chill before rolling into balls if necessary.

Preheat your oven to 350 and line your pans with parchment or silicone baking mats.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and spices. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugars together until light and
fluffy. Add the egg and mix until combined, then mix in the vanilla. Mix in the flour on low speed until moistened and combined. Stir in the rolled oats with a wooden spoon.

Roll the cookies into 1" balls (roughly 23 grams each) and flatten slightly. Give plenty of room to spread on the baking sheet. Top with turbanado sugar if desired.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. The longer the cookies are baked, the crispier they will be.

Cool on a wire rack.

Non-pregnant Ms. Humble probably would have made ice cream from scratch to sandwich these cookies, but let's face it non-pregnant Ms. Humble is nuts. Pregnant Ms. Humble went to the store and bought herself some ice cream. Caramel, vanilla, cinnamon and the blog's brown sugar ice cream will all pair wonderfully with these cookies.

Look for inexpensive ice cream. Those brands tend to beat more air into the ice cream and will be softer and easier to work with when making these sandwiches. Allow the ice cream to soften a little and then assemble huge scoops and squish them between your cookies. Trim any excess ice cream off with a knife or offset spatula and then quickly place finished sandwiches in the freezer. Wrap the sandwiches once firm, they'll keep frozen for 1-2 weeks.

I should note these cookies can and should be sandwiched with any number of other delicious fillings. Go nuts, you have my permission.

(P.S. We found out we're having a boy!)

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