easy brownie ice cream sandwiches

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to review these silicone baking cups by New York Baking Company, and I immediately knew what I wanted to make with them - ice cream sandwiches! That way I could use them both as a baking cup in the oven, as well as a mold for the ice cream in the freezer! I just love dual-purpose things!

I decided I wanted my ice cream to be sandwiched by chocolatey brownies, so I started by using this brownie recipe from Victoria Beckham I had been eyeing. The recipe sounded so easy and it was simple to divide the recipe in half, as I only wanted to make one dozen. (Although on a side note, these turned out not as chocolatey as I wanted. I think paired with the ice cream it was good, but on it's own I like the brownie recipe in my new book better - much more chocolatey and moist! Sorry, Victoria!)

Anyway,  I whipped a half batch up, lined my cupcake tin with the silicone baking cups (although they seem sturdy enough to be able to be used without a baking tin and just directly on a sheet pan), and divided the batter into my cups (I ended up filling them a litle less than 3/4 full). Then I baked them at 350F for about 20-22 minutes. Once cooled, I was able to pop the brownies right out of the silicone baking cups!

Then I cut each brownie in half horizontally, and popped the bottom layer back into the silicone baking cup.

Next I placed a scoop of softened homemade mint oreo ice cream in each cup (you could of course use store-bought ice cream as a shortcut, but I prefer to use homemade ice cream, mainly because I love making it!), and then used a small offset spatula to smooth out the ice cream.

Finally I placed the top of the brownie on top of the ice cream layer, and put it back in the freezer to set! So easy!

I would recommend serving these the day they are assembled, so that the brownie doesn't get too hard. But if you do leave it for longer than overnight, then before serving just leave them at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes to let the brownie layer soften a bit. Then just pop them out of the silicone cups (I found the easiest way was to turn the cups inside out!)



These turned out delicious and were super easy to make! Now if only New York Baking Company would make these in cute patterns or metallic colors! Fun!