Pumpkin, Pecan & White Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches – no churn spiced pumpkin ice cream sandwiched by buttery, oaty cookies.  Jump to Recipe 

I first tried my hand at ice cream sandwiches last summer. Mainly through my own impatience, it was a recipe that never ended up over here. The premise was good – coconut ice cream scooped between my favourite chocolate chip cookies, then half coated in melted dark chocolate. Unfortunately, the ice cream wasn’t quite set enough when I set about trying to photograph. All too quickly there was ice cream melting all over the table and dripping down onto the deck, with dark chocolate splattered over haphazard pieces of baking paper. The chocolate refused to set, and I didn’t have enough time to put them back in the freezer as it was late afternoon and #naturallight was in short supply. Giving up, I tried to take a bite, but the half-melted inner squished right out the other end of the sandwich. Sticky fingers, sticky camera, sticky shirt, sticky table. It still tasted good – no matter how messy ice cream and chocolate chip cookies get, it is difficult to make them taste bad – but it was so not what I had envisaged.

Fast forward 8 months and half way across the world to Williamsburg, NYC. Thalia & I stood on the shore of Brooklyn, mesmerised by the view of Manhattan. We were at Smorgasburg, an outdoor weekend street food market. I’d just eaten my first poke bowl (SO GOOD) and tried a brisket burger with a sadly plasticky, orange-tinged bun because I figured that was pretty american, right? With the sun beating down, queuing up for ice cream sandwiches seemed like the obvious course of action. And these weren’t the melty kind. Espresso ice cream & caramel between brown butter cookies, they were rock-solid and sturdy, with no ice cream threatening to drip anywhere. Perfect for photos, non-sticky fingers and non-ice cream coated clothing.

When I was invited to the annual #virtualpumpkinparty hosted by Sara at Cake Over Steak and Aimee at Twigg Studios, I was torn – over here in Australia, we’re heading straight into summer. Pumpkin pies and warm pumpkin pastas aren’t exactly in season. Looking back through NYC photos it hit me – pumpkin ice cream sandwiches were the way to go: fall flavours, pumpkin parties, smorgasburg memories and a redemption of last summer’s fails all in one.

Cool, creamy pumpkin ice cream, chewy white chocolate cookies and a pecan crunch meld together in the perfect warm-weather autumn sandwich. It starts with a buttery, crisp on the outside yet chewy on the inside cookie, stuffed with oats, pecans and sweet white chocolate chunks. The ice cream is of my favourite no-churn variety (how else to make it in a rental holiday house kitchen with virtually no cooking supplies!) and flavoured with homemade pumpkin puree, cinnamon and ginger. I froze the ice cream in a baking tin to form a layer the perfect thickness for an ice cream sandwich, then cut out rounds using a cookie cutter for minimal messiness. I learnt from my mistakes!  Lastly, sugar and butter quickly caramelize to form a candied pecan crunch, which is either swirled through the ice cream before freezing or used as a final coating on the edges of the sandwiches. The cookies are also absolutely delicious on their own – almost like a modern nutty, chocolatey ANZAC biscuit.

These are a few of the pumpkin party contributions that I can’t wait to make, and head over to Sara’s Pumpkin & Kale Risotto to see a full list of all of the other incredible contributions from bloggers all over the world!

• This Pumpkin & Maple Caramel Baked French Toast from Two Red Bowels
• Roasted Pumpkin with Yogurt and Hazelnut Dukkah from Molly Yeh
• Pumpkin Scones with Maple Butter from Lynette at InHappenstance
• Super Soft Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls from The Sugar Hit

Baker’s notes:

• There are two options with the candied pecans. You can either use these to stir through the ice cream, or on the edges of the ice cream sandwiches. I originally did them on the edge, as per the photos, but I think stirring them through the ice cream would make it easier to eat, and the pecan crunch would be more evenly spread through. I have given options for both in the instructions.
• I froze the ice cream in a 20x30cm baking tin then used a cookie cutter to cut out even rounds. Another option would be to freeze the ice cream in a regular container, then scoop balls of ice cream to flatten between the cookies for a more rustic look.
• You can either serve immediately after assembling the sandwiches or return to the freezer for up to 3 days before serving. Serving immediately will give you chewy, room temperature cookies with the cold ice cream, while freezing with give crunchy, hard cookies. Both are good – it’s really personal preference and what you have time for.
• In Australian and New Zealand, there is no canned pumpkin puree. Instead, I made my own. Recipe follows:
  • Cut about 1/4 of a pumpkin  (about 400-500g, raw) into slices, including the skin.
  • Dry roast on a sheet of baking paper (no olive oil, butter or other spices) for 30-45 minutes (depending on the size of your pumpkin) until fork tender.
  • Remove from the oven and cool until cool enough to handle.
  • Peel the skin away from the pumpkin. Place the roasted pumpkin in a food processor or blender and blitz until completely smooth. You should no longer have any fibres or bits in your puree.

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Warmly spiced apple & walnut crumble tarts with miso butterscotch ice cream, topped with warm, salty-sweet miso butterscotch sauce. Jump to Recipe 

Before we start, I want you to keep in mind that this is one of those recipes. Those rare dishes where it would be impossible to stop at one taste, one bite – where trying to share would devolve into an all out war of who could eat the fastest. Each mouthful is a riot of contrasts – cool and creamy meets crisp and warm, salty and savoury meets rich and sweet. You could eat it over and over. Maybe I was overtired from a big baking weekend (did you see that 6 layer 21st cake?!), but the moment of realisation, of achievement, of thinking ‘this is it’, was as exhilarating as winning a race – efforts rewarded.

You know what I mean.

Right now I’m enjoying my first proper moment of stillness since this time last week. The aforementioned baking frenzy (which also included this passionfruit coconut meringue bars and this pear, beetroot and walnut salad with a homemade loaf of ciabatta) and late nights out left me feeling almost jet-lagged with exhaustion. The eight hours at the hospital yesterday were serious struggle-town (though I did manage to scrub in and assist with a mastectomy, if you can call holding retractors assisting).

This new peacefulness has arrived in the form of an extra-hot takeaway flat white from the local cafe, a piece of that passionfruit slice, and a seat on the slouchy soft couch in the sun, computer propped up in my lap. A few hours of blogging time before afternoon lectures!

I think part of the problem is that I have a tendency to overestimate my time. I plan my day as if I somehow expect an extra hour or two to squeeze in there around 2pm, or as if I can do everything at 1.5x speed. It’s either unrealistic optimism or plain stupidity. I must get it from my Dad – Mum always mentally adds an hour to whenever he says he’ll be back from a bike ride for a much more accurate ETA. The girls I live with have learnt the same – that often (not always, but often) my dinner making runs late – 630pm will be 7pm, 7 will be 730. My bedtime does the same. Everything takes a little bit longer than my frontal cortex, that centre for executive functioning, predicts. Research suggests that the brain doesn’t full mature until about age 25, however, and until this time the prefrontal cortex isn’t fully wired up, or myelinated, so doesn’t work as efficiently – though I could say that’s why, I probably just need to set more realistic goals!

But back to these Apple & Walnut Crumble Tarts with Miso Butterscotch Ice Cream. It’s like your childhood apple crumble on steroids. Revamped and rejuvenated, the sort of dessert you could be served at a restaurant and walk away already planning your next trip back. The night after I made it, the winning dessert on Masterchef included a miso caramel component which was labelled “genius” by the judges – a spark of pride and a hint of satisfaction hit, though I wished I could impress them with my version.

It is a crisp, buttery short pastry, topped with thinly sliced layers of tender, cinnamon spiced apple. A golden brown, nutty walnut crumble adorns it, taking the place of a pie crust and allowing the apple to cook thoroughly underneath. The ice cream is melt-in-your-mouth smooth, rippled with streams of unami-salty-sweet miso butterscotch, and gently flows in small rivulets amongst the crumble. Finished off with a final stream of warm miso caramel sauce, swirling in with the ice cream and dripping in small pools on the plate – it is the ultimate apple dessert.

You can see in the photos that I couldn’t help but start sampling one as I went – it was tough to hold back from finishing off the whole thing immediately! And with a little forward planning, it actually doesn’t take too long. Did I mention that it is a no churn ice cream recipe? 15 minutes and straight in the freezer. A few notes on timing are below.

PS. Has anyone seasoned a new wok before? I had a go with mine this morning, but wasn’t sure how much smoke was supposed to be produced, or how brown-black it should go. I used ginger and spring onion to try to get rid of that metallic taint, but any other advice would be welcome!

PPS. A big thank you to Mozi for the white textured plates! 

Baker’s Notes: 

• The recipe makes 6-8 individual tarts. You could also make one larger tart – keep in mind that it might take a bit longer to cook, however.
•  Timetable:
  • The day before: make the miso butterscotch (15min) and the no churn ice cream (15min).
  • Either the day before, or on the day: make the pastry and refrigerate (15min), make the apple filling (15min), and make the walnut crumble (15 min).
  • On the day: line the tart tins, put the tarts together, bake (1 hour).
  • Serve with the ice cream and leftover butterscotch sauce.

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No-churn passionfruit raspberry pavlova ice cream – creamy vanilla ice cream layered with tangy raspberry coulis, passionfruit swirls & meringue shards.  Jump to Recipe 

Life changing.

I cannot believe I have never tried no-churn ice cream before. I had been a little ‘above’ it, assuming churned gelato was obviously superior, that pasteurising and aging and specific temperatures were all aspects worth consideration – and consequently never made it. The prohibitive time and effort meant a trip to Gelato Messina was far easier!

I think it was the sweetened condensed milk involved that put me off for a while longer – like, how could something with sweetened condensed milk be a real ice cream?

My new answer is IT CAN. IT SO SO SO CAN.

Because this passionfruit raspberry pavlova ice cream is one of the best I have ever tasted. Creamy, sweet vanilla ice cream base is layered with tangy raspberry coulis, passionfruit swirls and crispy edged-fluffy inner crushed meringue shards. It takes all of 10 minutes to make once the meringue and raspberry coulis are done, and then 6 hours freezing time later, you have a batch of ice cream that rivals anything storebought. The meringue and coulis recipe actually make enough for 2-3 batches of ice cream, so you will have leftovers to use in something else (meringue, berries and cream jars?) or just to make more ice cream with.

The possible flavour combinations that could be used with this ice cream base are endless- I’m thinking espresso chocolate with brownie chunks, roasted pear and rhubarb, apple crumble, lemon curd and blueberry swirls, caramel with sticky date pudding chunks…

AND Christmas is only ONE week away now. If your city/town/area is anything like Auckland right now, everyone (and everything) is going insane. The traffic is awful, the shops are packed, the stress is practically palpable, the radio is crammed with Christmas advertising, work is crazy busy (like, why does everyone suddenly want doughnuts the week before Christmas?) and most of the joy and family focus of Christmas seems swamped with a tide of commercialism.

For my part, I am incredibly unprepared thanks to those 9-12 hour doughnut shifts – Christmas dessert for 25 people is on me (!) and planning and Christmas shopping have yet to happen. If this is you as well, this ice cream is perfect. Make it a couple of days ahead (a couple of batches if you are feeding lots of people), and scoop it in the sun after Christmas dinner. Pavlova is an iconic dessert here in the Australia and NZ, but can be challenging in humid weather when you are trying to use the oven for 1000x other things in the days before Christmas. This way you can incorporate an easier meringue (made ahead, or even store-bought), into an easy but impressive ice cream to relieve dessert pressure on the day.

It could also be a worthwhile addition if your main dessert is something like Christmas pudding or trifle, which can be a little divisive (especially among the under-20s!) – have it on hand for those who aren’t fans of the traditional brandy-soaked puds. Even if you aren’t as disorganised as I am, you could still serve it at a relaxed dinner on Boxing Day, or around New Years celebrations – summer is all about beaches and barbecues, right?

If you are one of those Northern hemisphere people enjoying a white Christmas, feel free to experiment with more wintery flavours – chocolate, caramel, roast apples & pears, sticky date….

This recipe is part of a virtual Christmas lunch party with other Australian (and NZ) food bloggers, all serving up amazing recipes that you could use on the day. A big thank you to Bec at Dancing Through Sunday for organising it! Check out the other dishes here:

• Dancing Through Sunday – Vegetarian Stuffing Balls
• Champagne and Chips – Ice Cream Terrine
• The Alimental Sage – Festive Summer Salad 
• 84th and 3rd – Nectarine Almond Streusel French Toast 
• Whats for Eats – Sugar Crunch Cookies

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