Recipe: Cowboy Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich

This one is epic... beware! We had a few ice cream sandwiches in the states, but we felt like we could make it bigger... one to share! The shell is inspired by a cowboy cookie from Hood River and the ice cream triggered from our visit to San Francisco.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 200 ml apple juice
- 240 g softened butter
- 120 g caster sugar
- 100 g soft brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 100 g chopped pecans
- 250 g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 120 g porridge oats
- 100 g dark chocolate chips
- 50 g desiccated coconut
Ice Cream
- 600 ml double cream
- 397 g tin of condensed milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 75 g dark chocolate
- 50 g chocolate coated pretzels
- 50 g chocolate coated blueberries

Step 1
Make An Apple Syrup
Pour the apple juice into a small saucepan and heat to a boil. Reduce to 50ml so you’re left with a sticky syrup, then leave to cool. Preheat an oven to 175ºC (350F).

Step 2
Mix The Cookie Dough
Beat the butter and sugars together until light, pale and fluffy. Crack in the eggs one at a time as you beat, along with the apple syrup and beat again. Stir in the flour, salt, vanilla extract, pecans, porridge oats, chocolate chunks and coconut until fully combined.

Step 3
Shape And Bake
Allow the mixture to chill to make it easier to handle or continue with a slightly damp hand. Flatten the dough into the base of a 20cm cake tin, lined with greaseproof paper, to about 1cm thick. Bake for 16 minutes, until slightly golden around the edges, then leave to cool on the tray for 10 minutes before trying to transfer them to cooling rack. Makes 6 huge cookies or 12 normal!

Step 4
Ice Cream Base
Whip the cream lightly until it forms soft peaks. Stir or very gently whisk through the condensed milk and vanilla extract.

Step 5
Divide And Flavour
Take the chocolate and melt in a microwave or over a bain-marie. Pour half of the ice cream mixture into a cling-film lined 20cm cake tin then scatter with the chocolate coated blueberries. Fold the melted chocolate into the remaining ice cream mix and then pour ontop of the blueberries before finally scattering over the chopped chocolate pretzels.

Step 6
Flatten And Freeze
Flatten the top of the ice cream down and cover with clingfilm. Stick the container into the freezer for several hours.

Step 7
Construct
Sandwich the frozen slab of ice cream between two cooled cookies! Slice up into wedges and enjoy!