Cooking Lesson #647: Good Humor Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich

…from the Perspectives’ Kitchen

How you doin’? Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding… every kid in the neighborhood used to perk up when they heard the Good Humor Man’s bells as he drove up and down Crescent Drive. Mom, can I have a dime for a Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich? That was my favorite. The Good Humor Man had a truck full of classics… Drumsticks,  Sidewalk Sundaes and their version of a Sandwich—an Ice Cream Sandwich.
 
Their history started in 1920 in Youngstown, Ohio, when confectioner Harry Burt created a chocolate coating compatible with ice cream. His daughter was the first to try it. Her verdict? It tasted great but was too messy to eat.
 
Burt’s son suggested freezing the sticks used for their Jolly Boy Suckers (Burt’s earlier invention) into the ice cream to make a handle and things took off from there.
 
The Good Humor name came from the belief that a person’s "humor", or temperament, was related to the humor of the palate.
 
Soon after the Good Humor Bar was created, Burt outfitted a fleet of twelve street vending trucks with freezers and bells from which to sell his creation. The first set of bells came from his son’s bobsled. Good Humor bars have since been sold from everything from tricycles to push carts to trucks.
 
After waiting three years for a patent, Burt took a trip to Washington, D.C., in 1923 with a five-gallon pail of Good Humor bars for the patent officials to sample. It worked – his patent was granted.
 
This very simple ice cream sandwich (recipe) is exactly like the ones you’ll remember from childhood. It tastes just like the ones purchased from the Good Humor Man’s ice cream truck with a soft, sticky, chewy cookie around soft, plain vanilla ice cream.
 
Prep time:  30 minutes
Bake time:  10 minutes
Additional time:  30 minutes
Freeze time:  15 minutes + 3 hours
Yield:  6 ice cream sandwiches
 
Ingredients 
Non-stick vegetable cooking spray
1/2 cup, plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup sifted Dutch-process cocoa powder
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole milk, at room temperature
6 scoops vanilla ice cream

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350⁰.
2. Make room in your freezer for a sheet pan (later in the process).
3. Line a sheet pan with a Silpat silicone liner.
4. Spray the liner with cooking spray and rub it in to be sure it's completely covered.
5. Dry whisk the flour, salt, baking soda and cocoa together in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Sift mixture if the cocoa seems clumpy or chunky.
6. Mix butter, both sugars and vanilla in another bowl with a spatula until you have a smooth paste.
7. Add flour mixture along with milk and stir until batter is smooth and stiff. Clean off the spatula with a cookie scoop and drop 12 scoops batter onto the prepared baking sheet.
8. Roll out and score with a spatula so you have 12 even rectangles.
9. Dock the cookies with a fork to prevent them from bubbling when baking.
10. Bake in the center of the preheated oven until the tops of the cookies no longer look wet and shiny, 9 to 10 minutes.
11. Remove from the oven and tap and shake the pan on the counter 5 times to settle and compress the cookies.
12. Transfer baking sheet into the freezer until cookies are firm, about 15 minutes.
13. Remove from the freezer and remove cookies from the pan by lifting the silicone liner carefully under each one.
14. Poke 10 or 12 holes in the surface of each cookie with the sharp edge of a chopstick. Return to the freezer until ready to assemble.
15. When ready to assemble, remove the cookies from the freezer. Turn one cookie upside down, place 1 scoop ice cream on top and add another cookie on top to create the sandwich.
16. Serve immediately or wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for 3 hours before serving. Repeat to make the remaining ice cream sandwiches.
17. You can eat these right away or freeze them for a few hours. The cookies will absorb moisture from the ice cream and get even softer.

ChefSecret: You don’t need to use an expensive ice cream, just use a basic, cheap, grocery-store vanilla ice cream which has a lot of air whipped into it. This will make it easier to handle.

Quip of the Day:  Q. Why does the ice cream man go so slow? A. Because he’s a sundae driver.
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross.
 
#Snacks #Treats #IceCreamSandwich #GoodHumorBar #SummertimeTreat #2023Recipes #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup  
                                                                             ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023

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