Ice Cream Brownies

Cookies aren’t the only dessert you can make with cookie cutters—here’s a really simple and fun idea for a hot-weather dessert. This dessert is almost effortless if you use a mix for the brownies (or buy them ready-made), but tastes a lot better with homemade bars, like the fudge brownie recipe below.

First, bake a pan of your favorite brownies. Fudge brownies work fine, but they shouldn’t be the super-gooey chocolate kind—they need to be firm enough to hold their shape without breaking. Line your baking pan with parchment or wax paper to make it easier to get the brownies out. Cool the brownies completely in the pan, and set them in the refrigerator so they firm up nicely. Lightly spray a cookie cutter with vegetable oil spray, then cut four shapes out of the sheet of brownies. To avoid calorie overload, use a cutter that’s on the smallish side, or one that’s narrow. I used a penguin cookie cutter but other good shapes include the dove cookie cutter, martini glass cookie cutter, cowboy boot cookie cutter, and snowman cookie cutter.

Lay each brownie shape on a plate.

Remove a half-gallon of ice cream (any flavor you fancy) from its carton, then cut slices of ice cream about 3/4 inch thick. You may have to cut the carton off the ice cream, but you can always pack the leftover ice cream in a plastic container. Lay the ice cream slices down on a sheet of parchment or a clean baking sheet. Working quickly and using the same cookie cutter, cut four shapes from the ice cream. Stack the ice cream shapes on top of the brownie shapes and press lightly. Store in the freezer until needed. Just before you serve the desserts, drizzle them with chocolate sauce if desired.

This dessert also tastes wonderful if you use blondies, ice cream, and raspberry sauce (just puree some thawed frozen raspberries and add confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice to taste).

Ann
Ann Clark, Ltd.

Fudge Brownies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 by 13-inch pan then line with parchment or wax paper, using enough to hang over the sides slightly.

Melt in a large saucepan over low heat
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter

When melted, stir in, then remove from heat
- 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped fine
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine

When chocolate has melted and mixture has cooled slightly, stir in
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

Beat in a small bowl, then add and incorporate thoroughly
- 4 large eggs

Stir in until completely blended
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 30 to 35 minutes, until knife inserted in center of brownies comes out just clean. Cool completely in pan (refrigerate if desired), then turn out of pan, peel parchment from brownies, and cut into bars or use your favorite Ann Clark cookie cutter.


Chocolate Sauce (Ganache)

Pour 1 cup heavy cream into a small saucepan and scald over medium heat. Pour 1 cup finely chopped semisweet chocolate and 1 tablespoon light corn syrup into cream, remove from heat, and let sit 5 minutes. Stir to blend. Cool until just slightly warm and pour over ice cream.