Pistachio and Lemon Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwiches
We are officially living in the new (old) house! Not that we have had much time to really enjoy it right now because we are still driving back and forth from the city to grab the last of our things and clean the apartment. Do you have any minimalist living tips to share? We have so much dang stuff. I need to seriously Mare Kondo all our processions because I never want to have to go through this moving ordeal again. Or maybe we have too many hobbies… we somehow were able to fit a mini brewery and photography studio into our 1-bedroom apartment.
The house is starting to feel more like home with each passing day though. Our first night in the house consisted of take-out pizza, an unofficial firework show in our neighborhood, and the power going out (most likely because of said firework show). Thankfully, I packed the only pair of candles we have ever owned (thanks, Reuben’s Mom!) and ended the night with candlelight and making shadow puppets for the first time in 20 years.
We’re saying our final farewell to the apartment tonight and I’ll try my hardest not to cry. You probably already know this, but I’m painfully sentimental. We lived in this apartment for 4 1/2 years and it was the very first home Reuben and I shared together. I remember falling in love with the space immediately. It was a few days before the rush of office holiday parties and leaving to fly home for Christmas. The living room was literally glowing from all the beautiful winter northern light diffused through the thick Inner Richmond fog and passing through the wall of curved windows. It was the first apartment we saw, and we were so lucky it became ours. That light and space inspired so much of what Eat Cho Food has grown to become and has brought so many recipes to life.
I’ll also miss our little neighborhood so freaking much. If you ever move to San Francisco or already live here but looking for another part of city to move to, PLEASE LIVE IN INNER RICHMOND. I swear, it’s the best neighborhood in all of San Francisco. It’s not overly cool and trendy. It has the best restaurants. There are cute old Asian grandparents and cute Asian babies everywhere. It’s sandwiched between Golden Gate Park and the Presidio, so lots of green things. And it’s so Asian. Okay, maybe that is only a selling point for me, but I didn’t even value that until a few years after we moved in. Inner Richmond was the first place I ever lived where the majority of people walking down the street looked like me. Where I hear mostly Cantonese spoken at the markets and dim sum shops. I remember one day I felt so sad and homesick, specifically missing my grandpa, so I walked over to the Sunday Farmer’s Market to cheer myself up, and as I was leaving the cutest little girl ran passed me towards her Grandpa happily yelling “Goong Goong”, the same way I probably used to say it when I was little, and I immediately started tearing up. I realized I had never actually heard anyone outside of my own family speak such familiar words before (figures, when you’re from Ohio). Even though I was awkwardly crying in public, I felt oddly comforted just by hearing the words “Goong Goong” spoken. Inner Richmond was the first place I ever really felt like I fit in other than within the comfort of my family. This feeling is not something I ever realized I needed, but I’m so grateful for that experience.
This home served us so well. I’ll look back fondly on the dinner parties, lazy nights, long project filled days, countless photoshoots, and so many memories with the people we love most. I hope who ever lives here next fills it up with just as much joy and love.
One of the last recipes I developed in the kitchen, before I started to pack everything away for the move, were these Pistachio Lemon Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwiches! I made so many of them (for the sake of research and development), but they were exactly what we needed after long days driving to Home Depot, meeting contractors, and lugging a million pounds of boxes up and down our stairs and into a truck. Ice cream just tastes better after a hot day of climbing stairs after you haven’t move much for 3 months.
The cookie dough is safe to eat because there are no eggs in the dough and the flour is microwaved for a few seconds to kill off any bacteria that might be lingering. Pistachio is one of my favorite flavors for ANYTHING. When we were in Italy last year I had a pistachio gelato every other day (the other day I would order plain milk gelato… so inexplicably good!) and would order any pasta that came with pistachios crumbled on top. I was in heaven. The dark side of pistachio flavored things is that pistachio extract is almost always terrible. It just doesn’t taste right. But when I saw that La Tourangelle had a Pistachio Oil I knew I needed to see what the flavor was like. It’s amazing! Finally, a way to get really true pistachio flavor. I’ve added it to brownies and muffins with amazing results. I added the pistachio oil into this cookie dough to amplify the pistachio flavor and it also helps bind the dough together since there are no eggs. Pistachio and lemon is a winning flavor combo and feels perfectly summery.
If you wanted to just eat the Pistachio Lemon Cookie dough straight up, you can go right on ahead. But making these ice cream sandwiches are super easy and quite fun to make. All you do is line a square baking pan with parchment paper and press in half of the dough to form a single even layer. Remove that layer and place on a baking sheet and then make a second layer the exact same way. Freeze the layers until solid. In the meantime, take out a tub of ice cream and let it thaw out. I used simple vanilla ice cream here, but you can use whatever flavor you think would go well with pistachio and lemon. Once the layers are frozen and sturdy, place 1 layer of dough into the square baking pan with the parchment paper still lining the bottom, scoop and smooth out some soften ice cream over the dough, and then apply the second layer of dough on top of the ice cream. Gently press down on the top cookie dough layer so everything is neatly and tightly stack. Stick the pan back into the freezer so the ice cream can firm back up. A few hours later, take a sharp knife and cut up some bars or squares and enjoy! Let me know if you have an extra one : )
Pistachio Lemon Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwiches
Makes 8 ice cream sandwiches
materials:
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/2 cup chopped pistachios
2 tbsp La Tourangelle Roasted Pistachio Oil
1 tbsp milk
4-5 cups softened vanilla ice cream
steps:
Place the flour in a bowl and microwave for 20 seconds to kill any bacteria.
In the bowl of a standmixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Mix on medium speed until combined, 1 minute. Add the flour, salt, lemon zest, and chopped pistachios to the bowl. Mix until crumbly. Add the pistachio oil and milk and continue to mix until a thick cookie dough forms, 1-2 minutes. If the dough is still dry add another tablespoon of milk.
Line a 8x8-inch cake pan with parchment paper and press in half of the cookie dough to form a single layer of cookie dough. Lift the parchment paper and dough out of the pan and set on a baking pan. Repeat with remaining cookie dough to make a second layer of cookie dough. Freeze the two layers of cookie dough until solid, 1 hour.
Place one layer of frozen cookie dough with the parchment paper still attached into the 8x8-inch cake pan. Add the softened ice cream and smooth the ice cream into an even layer. Place the second layer of cookie dough on top of the ice cream and gently press down. Freeze the soon to be ice cream sandwiches until solid, 4-6 hours.
Lift the cookie dough and ice cream layers out of the pan by the edges of the parchment paper. You can run hot water along the edges of the pan if it’s hard to remove. Cut into 8 ice cream sandwich bars and enjoy immediately. Freeze any remaining ice cream sandwiches in a ziplock bag for later.