Efrat's Notebook

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches (Cassata) Draft

My homemade cassata, soft honey and brown sugar biscuits with chocolate ganache and a block of ice cream in the middle, put together just before eating.

  • Prep1 hr
  • Cook15 min
  • Rest2 hr 30 min
  • Total3 hr 45 min
  • Makes10 ice cream sandwiches (20 biscuits)
  • KashrutDairy

What you need

Amount:10

Biscuits

Filling

How I make it

Ice cream

  1. Spread the ice cream in an 8-inch (20 cm) square pan and freeze, preferably overnight.

Biscuits

  1. Sift the flour and baking soda into a stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle. Add the salt and sugar and mix well.

  2. Add the butter cubes and mix until crumbly.

  3. In a small bowl, stir together the honey, milk and vanilla.

  4. Add the honey mixture to the mixer bowl and mix just until a dough comes together.

  5. Turn the dough out, shape it into a rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for about 2 hours.

  6. On a well-floured surface, with a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a thin square about ¼ inch (½ cm) thick. Trim the edges with a knife.

  7. With a fluted pastry wheel (or a pizza cutter or knife), cut 20 rectangles, each 4 by 2 inches (10 by 5 cm).

  8. Arrange the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spaced apart.

  9. With the blunt end of a wooden skewer, prick each biscuit in two even rows of about 6 holes each.

  10. Freeze the biscuits for 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  11. Bake the biscuits straight from the freezer for 13-15 minutes, until lightly golden. Let cool completely.

Ganache

  1. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.

  2. Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan, take it off the heat and pour it over the chocolate right away.

  3. Wait 1 minute, then stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Let cool to room temperature.

Assembly

  1. Match the biscuits into identical pairs. Spread a generous layer of ganache on half of them.

  2. Let the ganache set. The freezer or fridge speeds this up.

  3. Cut the ice cream into 4-by-2-inch (10 by 5 cm) rectangles and set one on each ganache-covered biscuit.

  4. Top with the remaining biscuits and eat right away.

What I've learned

  • The dough is very sticky, so I flour the counter and the rolling pin well.
  • If the dough is too thick, I roll it thinner and get more biscuits.
  • For a crunchier, less soft biscuit, I bake them a few minutes longer.
  • With store-bought ice cream I don't keep the finished sandwiches in the freezer. The biscuit thaws more slowly than the ice cream, so it stays hard while the ice cream goes soft. I assemble them and we eat them right away.

Source: ChefEf (chefef.com)