Chocolate Christmas Pudding Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich

Well this is my last post for the ‘A Very Cookie Christmas’ series. My final cookie is a fantastic alternative to Christmas Pudding for the big day, though the ice cream does still contain crumbled up pieces of Christmas Pudding. I have never been especially keen on the traditional offering on Christmas Day and would much prefer this chewy chocolate cookie with a beautifully spiced chocolate and Christmas Pudding ice cream. The spices really lift the rich chocolate ice cream to something special while the brandy infused Christmas Pudding adds texture and another layer of flavour. You can decorate however to look like a Christmas Pudding or just leaving them unadorned, either way they taste fantastic.

At the start this year I placed a self-imposed ban on buying new cookery books in an attempt to contol my ever-growing collection. I have mostly managed to stick to this but one that I couldn’t resist was ‘The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook’ by Lindsay Landis of Love and Olive Oil. It just spoke to me and there are so many recipes I want to try – Cookie Dough Waffles, Cookie Dough Creme Brulee, Cookie Dough Filled Crepes – I’ll stop there as I could list every recipe in the book. The cookie I used for this sandwich was adapted from Linday’s ‘Old-Fashioned Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwiches’. The ice cream was a combination of Jamie Oliver’s Chocolate Ice Cream and this Christmas Pudding Ice Cream, with some brandy infused Christmas Pudding thrown in for good measure.

I hope you’ve enjoyed all of the cookies Abby and I have shared with you throughout the month. I’d love to hear from you if you try out any of the recipes. I’ll be taking a break for a week now to spend some time with my family. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, I’ll see you in 2013!

Chocolate Christmas Pudding Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich {Click for printable recipe}

Chocolate, Ginger and Cinnamon Cookies (adapted from cookie recipe from ‘Old Fashioned Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwiches’ in ‘The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook’ by Lindsay Landis’)

Ingredients

113g vegetable shortening (Trex)
250g light brown sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
60g dark cocoa powder, sifted
½ teaspoon instant espresso powder
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
220g plain flour, sifted

Makes around 18 cookies for 9 sandwiches

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 170°C. Prepare two or three baking sheets with baking paper.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat together the shortening and sugar with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes.

3. Add the baking powder, salt, cocoa powder, espresso powder, ground ginger, ground cinnamon and vanilla extract. Mix again until combined.

4. Mix in half the flour and 2 tablespoons of water.

5. Mix the rest of the flour and 2 or 3 tablespoons of water. The dough should be well combined and soft but not sticky.

6. Roll the dough out between two pieces of baking paper until the dough is about 5mm thick. Use a circular cookie cutter (mine was 78mm diameter) to cut out cookies. Transfer the cookies to a baking sheet. Re-roll any scraps until you have used it all up.

7. Place the baking sheets in the freezer for 10 minutes or the fridge for at least one hour. The longer you leave them the less they will spread.
8. Bake for around 7 or 8 minutes until the cookies have just set. Don’t overbake them.

9. Remove from the oven. While the cookies were still warm I used my cookie cutter to cut them out again as they had spread a little. Allow to cool.

10. Keep in the fridge or freeze until you are ready to use them.

Chocolate Christmas Pudding Ice Cream

Ingredients

2 cinnamon sticks, snapped in half
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon caraway seeds
4 cloves
300ml full-fat milk
100g dark chocolate
3 large egg yolks
100g caster sugar
300ml double cream
250g Christmas Pudding
2 tablespoons brandy

Method

1. Prepare a large baking pan by lining with foil or baking paper.

2. Crumble the Christmas Pudding and place in a bowl. Pour the brandy over and leave covered.

3. Place the cinnamon sticks, ground ginger, nutmeg, caraway seeds, cloves, milk and chocolate in a saucepan. Bring to the boil slowly and stir to mix in the chocolate. Take off the heat once it starts to boil.

4. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Slowly pour the hot milk mix over the top, whisking all the time. Pour it all back into the saucepan.

5. Place on a low heat and cook gently, stirring all the time. The custard is ready when it is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.

6. Allow to cool completely, ideally over night in the fridge to allow the flavours to infuse fully.

7. Whisk the double cream until it forms soft peaks. Pour the custard through a sieve and fold the cream into it.

8. Churn in an ice cream maker until it is frozen.

9. Stir in the brandy infused Christmas Pudding and pour into the prepared baking pan.

10. Freeze until firm.

11. To assemble, remove the ice cream from the freezer and lift out of the pan using the foil.

12. Use the same cookie cutter as for the cookies to cut out the ice cream. Place between two cookies and freeze the sandwiches.

13. Decorate if you wish and serve.

Enjoy!