Month-of-Desserts: Mini Oatmeal Cranberry-Pecan Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

Back in the day, when we were both working outside the home (because of course there is always work inside the home!), DH packed his own lunch. THE.SAME.LUNCH.EVERY.DAY.

That is beyond boring to me, but he said he liked it because he didn’t have to think about it. Lunch prep had become automatic after decades of doing it. Okay, I get that, but I love the range of tastes and textures too much to enjoy the same lunch every day. He bought healthful cookies, even, that were a small size so he could eat three of them. EVERY.DAY.THE.SAME.COOKIE.

When I transitioned from my paying job to the job of occasionally-paying full-time writer, I offered to make him a new cookie, a better-for-him cookie than the ones he purchased which were full of unpronounceables.

This cookie is the result. I’ve been making it for him a long time now. He can’t even stand cookies from the store anymore. Wahoo!

I use a 1” cookie scoop so that I can give him the little cookies he likes so much. This recipe as written makes just about 7 dozen cookies. I just drop the balls on the cookie sheet so little cookie mounds form, not flat cookies. There are always some ready in the freezer when his cookie jar gets empty.

So what the heck does that have to do with today’s recipe? Wellllll…we like ice cream sandwiches for the occasional dessert and his cookies make perfect little ice cream sandwiches.

I flattened this small cookie sheet of twelve 1” balls of cookie dough so I could make six mini-ice cream sandwiches. They look bigger than they are because you don’t have perspective. Trust me. Two bites and they’re gone.

I filled each cookie half with 4 teaspoons of my homemade ice cream, wrapped most of them tightly (well, he had to test one), and popped them into the freezer for a future dessert.

So having given the directions for making your mini ice cream sandwiches, here are the two recipes for the components.  

David’s Oatmeal Cranberry-Pecan Cookies (about 7 dozen)   

1½ cups butter, softened                          

¾ c packed brown sugar                                   

½ c granulated sugar                                   

2 large eggs                                                     

3 teaspoons vanilla extract                                            

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1¾ cups flour

2½ cups Old-Fashion oats

6 ounce package dried cranberries

1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Heat oven to 375°.

Beat butter and sugars in a bowl with mixer on med speed until fluffy.

Beat in eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and salt until blended.

With mixer on low speed, beat in flour and oats a small amount at a time to blend.

When well-blended, stir in cranberries and nuts.

Drop 1” balls of dough about 2” apart on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Cool 1 min on cookie sheet, then put on cookie rack to finish cooling.

Easiest-Ever Vanilla Ice Cream (makes a little more than one quart)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups heavy whipping cream

3 teaspoons best quality vanilla (I use vanilla paste)

Whisk together the three ingredients until thoroughly blended.

Pour into your ice cream maker and process for 20-30 minutes. The ice cream will easily come off the sides when done and probably will be slightly above the freezer bowl.

Store in an airtight container in the freezer. This is a very creamy ice cream.

NOTE: I have a whole passle of variations for this ice cream basic. Chocolate. Dulce de Leche with Pecans. Chocolate Chip and Walnuts. Candy Bar Ice Cream. Play with it!

DH’s RATING: 10 Tongues Up

Honestly, this man cannot follow rules. He says it’s because he gets to rate each component, the cookie and the ice cream. And he loves each of them. Sigh!

The Quick Cook Makes Cookies

Alli and Gina have to be quick cooks to make their personal chef business a success. A huge secret of this Quick Cook is making it look harder than it is. And that comes down to preparation. Alli and Gina know that. And anyone who knows me well, knows that I make lists of the lists I need to make! My sons call me OCD, but I think that’s a bit harsh!

Being planful means that when we throw a big soiree I can enjoy the party and not be stuck in the kitchen. Being planful means it looks as if it took more time to do than it did. Being planful means I don’t run out of my hubby’s favorite cookies. EVER!

One of the ways I am planful is to prep mixes in advance so assembling the dish when needed is much faster. It takes almost no extra time to pre-measure 2 zipper bags of David’s favorite cookie dry ingredients while I am making the recipe in a bowl. Then, when the cookie jar is emptying, I can cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla and dump in the dry stuff faster than if I got out all the dry ingredients for measuring each time.

QC Tip #4

Keep basic mixes in the cupboard for quick cooking.

Here’s how it works. His cookie recipe makes about 7 dozen small cookies (he hates big ones). I measure out dry ingredients in my bowl. As I measure the bowl ingredients, I measure two extra zipper bags of dry ingredients (sans sugars, cranberries, and nuts) and put them in the pantry.

I mix, then bake the first batch. Freeze them. I make dough balls for the second batch to bake later. Freeze them. Then I bake the remainder to put into the cookie jar.

When the cookie jar is almost empty, I thaw the baked cookies. When those are almost gone, I bake the dough balls. When those are gone, that’s my signal to get a cookie mix bag from the pantry and begin to mix, bake, and store the cookies in different forms again.

Measure once, bake many times. It is so fast, and that’s why the boxed cookie mixes are so popular. But read the ingredients list! That is not natural stuff. Make your own cookie mixes.

I published David’s Cran-Pecan Oatmeal Cookies recipe here before, but it was a long time ago. This recipe is one that is often requested after people eat a cookie, so I am printing it again.

David’s Cran-Pecan Oatmeal Cookies (about 7 dozen small cookies)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, softened                          

¾ cup packed brown sugar                                   

½ cup granulated sugar                                   

2 large eggs                                                     

3 teaspoon vanilla extract                                            

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 ¾ cups flour

2 ½ cups oats

¾ cup dried cranberries

1 cup pecans, chopped

Heat oven to 375°.

Beat butter and sugars in a bowl with mixer on med speed until fluffy.

Beat in eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and salt until blended.

With mixer on low speed, beat in flour to blend. Stir in oats.

When well-blended, add in cranberries and nuts.

Drop heaping tablespoons (or use small cookie dough scooper) 1” apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet, then put on cookie rack.

NOTE: When using the mix as above, I cream butter and sugar and add eggs and vanilla. Then I add the cookie mix dry ingredients in quarters. After blended well, I add cranberries and pecans.

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