Double Chocolate Raspberry Ice cream Sandwiches

I have been making several versions of ice cream sandwiches over the last few months in search of the perfect cookie-ice cream combo. Well I have found at least part of the equation: This is the perfect cookie recipe for an ice cream sandwich. It bakes up flat and is still soft after it is frozen. Oh, and it has an insanely chocolatey taste. The raspberry ice cream was a great choice for a summer BBQ but other rad choices might be peanut butter (Duh!), caramel or strawberry. Make these. NOW.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon amaretto

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Softened Raspberry ice cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line  baking sheets with Silpat or parchment. Sift first 4 ingredients into bowl. Using Kitchen Aid, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in both sugars, then eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in vanilla extract and amaretto, then flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing mounds 2 to 3 inches apart. Using moist fingertips, flatten mounds to 3/4-inch thickness (this step is important to get the right flatness for an ideal ice cream sadwich cookie).

Bake cookies 5 minutes. Reverse sheets. Bake until cookies are puffed and dry-looking but soft to touch, about 5 minutes. Cool completely. Cool on sheets.

Spoon your chosen flavor of ice cream (I did half with raspberry and half with vanilla but peanut butter sounds great too) onto flat side of 1 cookie. Top with second cookie, flat side down; press together. Wrap and freeze. Repeat with remaining gelato and cookies. DO AHEAD: Keep frozen up to 2 days.

Upside Down Pineapple Cake with Rum

I don't think I would ever make an upside down pineapple cake if it wasn't for my beautiful and talented friend Kiran. But here we are in July and it's Kiran's birthday again and that can only mean one thing: Upside down pineapple cake. She loves this cake! I have a previous post for this cake but this year I tried a new recipe that incorporated rum and, really, what isn't better with a little bit of booze? I adapted it from a recipe on epicurious.

Ingredients:

For topping:

• 5 rings of tinned pineapple (the kind not packed in sugar)

• 3/4 stick unsalted butter

• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

For batter:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 tablespoon dark rum

• 1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice

• 2 tablespoons dark rum for sprinkling over cake ( I may have used slightly more :)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Make topping:
Melt butter and pour into 10 inch cast iron skillet or cake pan. Add brown sugar and mix in the bottom until even. Arrange pineapple on top of sugar mixture in concentric circles, overlapping pieces slightly or make up your own design like me :)

Make batter:
Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in granulated sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and rum. Add half of flour mixture and beat on low speed just until blended. Beat in pineapple juice, then add remaining flour mixture, beating just until blended. (Batter may appear slightly curdled.)

Spoon batter over pineapple topping and spread evenly. Bake cake in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes (I baked mine for 40). 

Let cake stand in skillet/pan 5 minutes. Invert a plate over skillet and invert cake onto plate (keeping plate and skillet firmly pressed together). Replace any pineapple stuck to bottom of skillet. Sprinkle rum over cake and cool on plate on a rack.

Serve cake just warm or at room temperature. Or with vanilla ice cream (Good call Sid!!)