Make healthier It's-It-like ice cream treat
| • | All the goodness of 'ohana |
By Elaine Magee
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Q. I was vacationing in San Francisco and very much enjoyed an It's-It ice cream sandwich. I can't find them where I live. I'm hoping you can concoct a light homemade rendition that we can enjoy for months to come.
A. This is my favorite childhood ice cream memory, no kidding!
Over the years I don't know if I got bigger or the sandwiches have gotten smaller, but they seem to have shrunk in size. I used to cut them in half and share them with my sister.
If you haven't yet experienced the amazing It's-It, it's an ice cream sandwich made with creamy vanilla ice cream in between two oatmeal cookies, and the sandwich is completely coated in chocolate.
Our lighter homemade rendition begins with light, higher-fiber oatmeal cookies made with whole-wheat flour, less sugar and fat. Then some great-tasting light vanilla ice cream with 3.5 grams of fat per half-cup is used for the filling. Instead of dipping the whole ice cream sandwich into melted chocolate, we are going to dip a token "end" of the sandwich-just enough to say we did dip. This leaves us with half the fat and saturated fat and four times the fiber, since the original It's-It ice cream sandwich contains 18 grams fat, 10 grams saturated fat and only 1 gram of fiber.
LIGHT OATMEAL VANILLA ICE CREAM SANDWICHES
Cookies:
Filling:
Dip:
To make cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two nonstick cookie sheets with canola cooking spray or line sheets with parchment. In a large mixing bowl, cream margarine, maple syrup, brown sugar, egg, egg substitute and vanilla until smooth. In medium mixing bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Pour flour mixture into the margarine mixture and beat on low until just combined. Pour in the oats and beat on low until blended in. Using a cookie scoop (1/8 cup) drop mounds of dough onto baking sheets, spacing as far apart as possible. Press down gently on the cookie dough to make the cookies as round as possible. You should have around two-dozen cookies total. Bake until golden, about 8 minutes (do not overbake). Remove cookies to rack to cool completely.
To make dip: In small, microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate chips or chunks in microwave on low setting (watch carefully).
To assemble: Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Scoop 1/3 cup of ice cream onto flat side of each of a cookie. Top it with another cookie, and press gently to form a sandwich. Dip one end of the sandwich (about one-fourth of the sandwich) into the melted chocolate and place sandwich on the wax paper lined baking sheet and keep it in the freezer. Repeat with the remaining cookies and ice cream and chocolate, placing them into the freezer as you finish each sandwich. Once the chocolate is hardened, individually wrap the sandwiches if desired and freeze sandwiches until ready to enjoy (within one to two weeks is ideal).
Makes 12 servings.
