In the irony that is our universe, I happen to have committed to a lifelong partnership with the one person in the entire world who does not consider his birthday to be the most exciting day of the year. As someone whose childhood family nickname was “birthday-on-the-brain,” I just can’t quite wrap my head around this.
The way I see it, birthdays are the only day of the entire year where you have a built-in excuse to spend time with your favorite people in the world while they compliment you and celebrate your existence, all without you doing a single thing! If that isn’t a definition of “perfect storm,” I’m not sure what is.
Clearly, I have a task ahead of me…convincing MM of the glory that is a birthday. This year, we started small. A weekend away to play tourist in a city we grew up with and love dearly—Baltimore, MD.
While many of the weekends’ plans were stymied by the nagging rain that conveniently refused to let up until our departure on Sunday, it was still a great weekend. If you ever have a chance to eat at the Black Olive in Fells Point, I highly recommend it. You feel like you’re in your Greek grandmother’s house as they grill an entire fish and filet it in front of you right at your tableside!
Other weekend celebrants include Guida for her birthday, Kristin for her (upcoming) birthday, and Lindsey for her bridal shower…that’s a lot of celebrating!
Since we were away for the weekend, I had to reserve birthday baking for Sunday. Just as I was feeling without inspiration, Lakshmi put this gem up on facebook, and I was sold. Since we are only two people, I halved the original recipe. My version still made six very hearty sandwiches!
Double Chocolate Cookie and Mint Ice Cream Sandwiches
Adapted from Epicurious
Ingredients:
1 1/8 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coffee grinds
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Mint chocolate chip ice cream, slightly softened
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Sift first 4 ingredients into bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in both sugars, then eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in extracts, 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.
2. Bake cookies 5 minutes. Reverse sheets. Bake until cookies are puffed and dry-looking but soft to touch, about 5 minutes. Cool completely. Freeze on sheets 15 minutes.
3. Spoon 1/3 cup gelato 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.
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