White Chocolate Lavender Ice Cream Sandwich

As you may have noticed, I have a predilection for lavender lately.  Honestly I have enjoyed lavender as a culinary flavor for some time, experimenting through ice cream flavors such as Lavender Honey,  Lavender Vanilla & Wildberry Lavender ice creams.  Lavender appears to be a favorite flavor of the internets as well, since these ice cream flavors are some of my top viewed posts.  A few weeks ago I intended to make white chocolate lavender ice cream, but I made a mistake and I ended up with Orange Lavender Ice Cream.  It turned out to be a happy accident.

Obviously I still made White Chocolate Lavender Ice Cream, but I did not want to post two lavender scoops in the same month (variety is the spice of life, people!).  Instead I used the ice cream to make an ice cream sandwich.  White Chocolate Lavender paired with tangy lemon cookies...mmmm.  Lemon and lavender are also great compliments (Have you ever tried lavender lemonade?  You should!).  I like these ice cream sandwiches so much that I may just make some more!  Enjoy!

White Chocolate Lavender Ice Cream Sandwiches
Makes 4 large ice cream sandwiches

I really like this flavor.  The white chocolate gives the scoop a smooth texture and adds elements of floral vanilla which lend well to the fragrant lavender buds.  The lemon cookies add some acidity to balance the sweetness.

Step #1:  Prepare cookies.  I followed a recipe from lemon cookies as instructed on this website, but I made a few modifications to the preparations.  When scooping the cookies on to a cookie sheet, roll 2 Tablespoons of dough into balls for larger cookies (8 dough balls).  Bake for 30 minutes at the recommended temperature.  Remove from oven and immediately press a 3 1/2 inch biscuit cutter (or similar) into the cookies; twist gently to release.  Allow cookies to cool to room temperature on the pan.  Once cool, gently remove outer edges for a perfectly round cookie. Place cookies in the freezer.

Step #2:  Make ice cream.  Follow instructions below.

White Chocolate Lavender Ice Cream
Makes 1 quart

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon corn starch
5 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
1 Tablespoon dried lavender buds
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside.  In a small bowl, mix 2 Tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch.  Place white chocolate in a medium bowl, set a fine mesh sieve on top and set aside.

Combine the remaining milk, cream, evaporated milk, sugar, corn syrup and lavender in a large saucepan.  Bring milk mixture to a boil.  Cook over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves, about 4 minutes. 

Remove from heat and off the heat, gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture.  Return to a boil and cook over moderately high heat until the mixture is slightly thickened (draw a line on a spoon), about 1 minute.  Gradually pour the hot milk mixture through sieve into the bowl with white chocolate and whisk until smooth.  Whisk in vanilla and salt.  Set the bowl in the ice water bath, and let stand, stirring occasionally, until cold, about 20 minutes.

Once chilled, pour ice cream base into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Pack the ice cream into a plastic container.  Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.

Step #3:  Remove cookies and ice cream from freezer.  Turn over cookies so flat sides face up.  Place one large scoop of ice cream on top of half of the cookies, pressing ice cream with the back of scooper to flatten evenly.  Place remaining cookies on top of ice cream.  Enjoy immediately or wrap in parchment and return to the freezer for future enjoyment.