Butterscotch Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

My boyfriend Don (who helps me with this blog and has been there since before the beginning) and his mother Kathy have many similar traits: a peculiar sense of humor, love of music, financial acumen, and love of all things citrus, vanilla, caramel, butterscotch, and ice cream.

Today is his mother's birthday–she passed away last December 6. Amazingly, she and my mamala have birthdays a day apart (August 3 and 4), and passed one day apart (December 6 and 7). 

Over the years it has become something of a tradition for me to make Kathy a special birthday dessert, and I don't plan on ending this any time soon. I’m not sure if Kathy knew how much joy it gave me to make something special for her. [Ed. note: Um, Yeah.] Hope she enjoyed it as much as I did. Don grew up on Chipwiches and the San Francisco bay area's beloved It's It en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s-It_Ice_Cream, so this was part of my evil plan to get to his heart through his stomach. [Ed. note: Shut up, just shut up...]

The original recipe calls for pecans, which of course complement the butterscotch carmel flavor wonderfully, but since we like our desserts smooth, we sometimes leave them out. This particular cookie recipe works especially well for ice cream sandwiches because it retains its softness, and the butterscotch caramel flavor really shines through. 

Cookies Adapted from The Tenth Muse, by Judith Jones and Orangette
Number of servings:  30 cookies / 15 ice cream sandwiches

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
•  ½ teaspoon baking soda
•  ½ teaspoon salt
•  14 (1 ¾ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
•  1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar (lightly packed, just enough to smooth the top)
•  1 large egg
•  2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
•  1 tablespoon vanilla extract
•  1 cup finely chopped pecans 

Directions
Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 375 °F. Grease two cookie sheets, or line them with silicone mats.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar. (I used my stand mixer for this.) Add the egg, dry milk, and vanilla extract, and beat to incorporate. Add the dry ingredients, and beat to blend. Fold in the pecans by hand.
4. Drop the batter by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each mound (about 8-10 cookies on each sheet). With damp fingers, press each mound into a circle about 2 ½ to 3 inches in diameter. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Carefully scrape up the cookies with a spatula, and transfer them to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough on cooled baking sheets.
5. Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. NOTE: the flavor of these cookies takes some time to develop. If you can, bake the cookies 1 day prior to serving.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

1. Choose your ice cream (I used butter pecan, peach and espresso gelato).
2. Soften the ice cream a bit and scoop onto one cookie. Gently press down and place second cookie on top.
3. Place on baking sheet and flash freeze. If you are not serving immediately, wrap each cookie in plastic wrap.