I have baked many root beer float desserts. Brownies, cookies, ice cream, cupcakes. You know the drill. They are all fairly similar because it’s a pretty straightforward flavor combo. I frequently add chocolate though, because… of course. I was going to add “ice cream cake” to that list, but as I was developing that recipe, I thought… Well wait a second. Ice cream sandwiches are great and dare I say underrated in the pantheon of things you can make better at home.
I was going to over-complicate this. Make the ice cream in the middle half root beer too? Add some chocolate ganache of some kind? Dip it in something? But… Sometimes simple is best.
My parents are going to be moving houses in Indiana, and so our family has congregated for the 4th of July week to celebrate Indy and enjoy their house for a week. I am, naturally, on dessert duty. But, while their kitchen here is spectacular, I don’t want to be making a mess or causing a bunch of chaos in their clean and organized kitchen right before a move. We’re also very busy – there’s not tons of time for a lot of baking. But I enjoy making desserts happen under such constraints!
The first night we were here, I pulled together a 6-inch half birthday cake for my niece’s half birthday in just a few hours. The next night, we had family coming over and I knew we should have dessert to offer. So, since I had the basics of this recipe sitting around and didn’t know when I would get to it, I whipped these together and kept it as simple as possible.
Brownie mix, root beer extract, and vanilla ice cream. Comes together in less than an hour and then just sits in the freezer. I didn’t have root beer extract at my parents house, but I found root beer liqueur and substituted that. Not as strong as pure extract, but it brought the flavor well enough!
I really loved the texture of the brownie ice cream sandwich. It was wayyy easier, both to assemble and to eat, than a cookie ice cream sandwich. Not too hard or frozen, and assembly is just plopping the layers together and not having to smush anything together. I will definitely be returning to this formula in the future. And it was a hit with my family! My uncle said it was the kind of dessert that he “did not want to end,” which is a pretty ringing endorsement.
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PinIngredients
- 1 package brownie mix and necessary ingredients
- 1 tablespoon root beer extract
- 1 quart of your favorite vanilla ice cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving enough overhang on the sides to lift the warm brownies out. Set aside. If you have 2 identical 9-inch square baking pans, you can line both and bake the batches of brownie batter at the same time.
- Prepare your brownie mix (or favorite brownie recipe) according to package instructions, and add the root beer extract to the batter.
- Divide the batter in half, and pour half into the prepared 9-inch square pan.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until done. Remove brownies from the oven and cool for 5 minutes in the pan. Carefully, using the overhanging parchment paper on the sides, lift the warm and soft square sheet of brownies out of the pan as a whole. Set aside and allow to cool.
- Line the warm pan with another sheet of parchment paper, leaving enough overhang on the sides to lift the warm brownies out. Spoon and spread the remaining brownie batter in the pan.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove brownies from the oven and allow both sets of brownies to cool entirely.
- Once the brownies are cool, allow your ice cream to thaw slightly on the counter.
- Then, scoop and spread a little over half of your quart of ice cream on top of the first brownie layer that’s still in the pan. Try to make it as even and smooth as possible. Then flip the second brownie layer over and position it on top of the ice cream. Press gently, then place the whole pan into he freezer for 3-4 hours.
- Remove the pan of ice cream brownies from the freezer. Carefully lift them out as a whole using the parchment paper overhang on the sides. Using a very sharp knife and some arm muscle, cut into 9-16 squares or rectangles. Enjoy immediately.
- Wrap each leftover sandwich individually and store in the freezer for up to 1 month. They get a little harder the longer they sit in the freezer—if they’re super solid, let them sit out for a few minutes before enjoying.
Notes
Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction