[We could just hide under the bed covers - Brownies-like cookies and banana ice cream sandwiches]

Quite unexpectedly, summer showed up; with its glorious harvest, hot breezes and refreshing drinks.

Quite unexpectedly, I hadn’t noticed how time flew by. These past months; this past year.

It seems that since I came back from New Zealand, things haven’t stopped. Not even for a brisk moment. New Zealand. Bang. Nice. Bang. Pierre Hermé. Bang. Nice. Bang. Paris. Bang. Toulouse. Bang. Nutrition & Santé. Bang.

Nutrition & Santé. That’s what keeps me busy at the moment. And actually, that’s what has kept me busy for the past few months as well.

It might sound cliché, but although four months have passed by, the day I arrived feels like it was yesterday. Now the project I’ve been working on is drawing to an end, and just the thought of it gives me that strange sensation: I know where all those hours of hard work go – into a terrific biscuit, period; however, I can’t help but wonder why the hours faded away this fast.

Time is such a delicate concept. Something you can’t grasp unless you’re missing it. Yes, time is one of those things you aren’t aware of until the day you realise you don’t have it anymore.

And I think this day has come for me.

Sure, I’ve always complained about how I don’t have enough time to make random things. But today is an entirely different matter. I just realised I haven’t lived for a year. I just kept doing what people wanted – expected – me to. And, well, yes, the whole I-hate-not-having-spare-time situation is part of it, but it was only a very teeny part.

I’m happy though.

Everything I do makes sense. Giving people happiness. Sharing. Working. Having fun. But somehow it feels different.

Maybe I’ve just become an adult. A lovingly crazy adult, that is; but adult nonetheless.

By the way, are adults allowed to eat ice cream sandwiches now and then?

Gosh, thank you. Can’t believe I once saw adults as austere beings. If only I knew back then, that one can have the life one dreams about.

Brownies-like cookies en ice cream sandwich au chocolat et à la banane

Okay, so let’s get this off right away. I did not make this luscious banana and chocolate chunk ice cream. I wish I had, but I’m the sad owner of a non-turbine-à-glace. Read: please somebody buy me an ice cream machine.

The inexpensive ones don’t fit in my tiny freezer and the huge ones… well, I just seem not to be able to keep six hundred euros long enough for me to rush to Darty and get myself the most prized and loved Magimix.

Anyway, this is mostly a recipe for cookies. Killer cookies that taste and feel like brownies. I love them. Day and night. But I have to admit, I love them even more with ice cream sandwiched in between two of them.

To me, the perfect ice cream conveyor. Cookies that make me wish ice cream sandwiches were more popular in France than they currently are. Maybe one day.

Brownies-like cookies en ice cream sandwich au chocolat et à la banane

makes 20 ice cream sandwiches

180g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
200g dark chocolate, chopped
30g butter

150g brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract

500g ice cream

Preheat the oven to 170°C and line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
Place the chocolate and butter into a glass bowl set over simmering water, and stir until melted. Set aside.

Beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy, then fold in the melted chocolate and vanilla extract. Working quicly, tip in the flour mixture and using a wooden spoon incorporate it as quickly as possible.

Form walnut-sized balls of dough with your hands and drop them onto the prepared sheet – make sure you give them plenty of room as those tend to expand when baking.

Bake for 10 minutes; they should still feel very soft, but will harden as they cool.
As soon as the cookies are cold enough, transfer them to the freezer while you get the ice cream ready. Either form scoops and gently squish them down, or cut out 5cm wide disks of ice cream. The choice is yours, and either ways, I’m pretty sure it’ll be delicious.

Sandwich the ice cream disks between two cookies. Place back in the freezer until ready to serve.

Posted by fanny who loves bananas, biscuits and cookies, dark chocolate, favourites, ice creams and other iced delights, recipe inside, summer