Mooncake Ice Cream Sandwiches
Welcome to mooncake week! Mid-autumn festival is next Friday, which gives us a little less than 2 weeks to start salting egg yolks, dusting off our mooncake molds, and working on our mooncakes. It’s plenty of time honestly. I’m sharing a new mooncake recipe each day this week so you can pick and choose which one sounds most exciting to try out by next weekend!
I could not wait any longer to share this very nontraditional mooncake. Behold the Mooncake Ice Cream Sandwich! It’s perfect for the end of summer (it’s still quite warm in my corner of the world) and channels all the memorable moments of mooncake.
☑️ Salted Egg Yolks
☑️ Seedy and Rich Filling
☑️ Beautifully Stamped and Golden Crust
I’ve been having one of these little ice cream sandwiches as a late afternoon treat for a the last week and it has been the highlight of my day! They are the perfect personal mooncake size, coming in a 2x2-inches with a thick slab of sesame ice cream in the middle. The cookies are salted egg shortbread cookies, which if you’re not in the mood to make ice cream sandwiches you should at least make these cookies because they are incredible on their own! The flecks of salted egg yolk in the cookie dough are like gems of salty richness.
Something to keep in mind when you’re making these ice cream sandwiches, or just whenever you’re working with ice cream and especially no-churn ice cream: Don’t rush and keep things cold! If you have the time, allow your ice cream to freeze overnight so it is as firm as possible when you go to cut and assemble the sandwiches. When I assemble these, I have a container ready in the freezer to place the sandwiches directly into to prevent any more additionally melting. Of course you can eat the ice cream sandwiches as soon as you sandwich it, but I like to let them set up in the freezer for another hour or so. It just makes eating them a lot cleaner (don’t you hate it when the ice cream spills out of an ice cream sandwich?).
Opening my freezer and seeing a bunch of these little guys in the freezer is honestly such a delight! Highly recommend that you stock up your freezer with them too!
Mooncake Ice Cream Sandwiches
Makes 16 small ice cream sandwiches
For the ice cream:
1 cup (245g) heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup (100g) sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 tbsp (25g) sesame paste
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
For the shortbread cookies:
2 1/4 cups (300g) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
4 salted egg yolks
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks/227g) softened unsalted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Make the no-churn ice cream: Whip the cream until medium stiff peaks, either by hand, with a hand mixer, or stand mixer with the whisk attachment. In a large bowl, whisk to combine sweetened condensed milk, sesame paste, and salt. Fold in the whipped cream until smooth. Line a 8x8-inch (or 9x9-inch if you want very clean edges) baking pan with plastic wrap. Spread the cream mixture into the pan in an even layer. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and freezer until solid, at least 8 hours (the longer the better).
Make the shortbread: In a medium bowl, whisk to combine flour and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add egg yolks and sugar. Mix on medium low speed until the yolks are sandy with a few larger chunks, 1 minute. Add butter and vanilla and continue mixing on medium low until light and airy with flecks of egg yolk, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the flour and mix on low until a chunky dough forms, 30 to 60 seconds. Place a large piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap on the counter and transfer the dough onto it. Use the edges of the paper or wrap to bring the dough together and form into a 1” thick square or disc. Wrap the dough and chill in the fridge until the dough is firm but pliable, about 2 hours. If you chill the dough in the fridge for longer, allow it to slightly warm up on the counter for about 15 to 30 minutes.
Roll out the shortbread: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until 1/4-inch thick. Check to make sure your dough isn’t sticking to the counter as you roll out the dough, if it is, add a little more flour under the dough. Stamp out the cookies with a 2-inch square mooncake mold and then cut out with a 2-inch square cookie cutter (you can also cut the cookies out with a knife and steady hand). With the help of an offset spatula, transfer the cookie to the lined baking sheet. Space the cookies at least 1/2” apart. Knead and roll out the dough scrapes again (and probably one more time) to cut out more cookies until you have 32 cookies.
Bake the shortbread: Bake the cookies until just barely golden brown around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Set the baking sheets on a wire rack and allow the cookies to fully cool on the sheets. To help with the ice cream sandwich assembly, you can place all the cookies on a plate or smaller baking sheet (stacking them is fine) and chill them in the fridge or freezer for an hour or so.
Assemble the ice cream sandwiches: Work quickly here to prevent the ice cream from melting too much. Lift the sheet of ice cream out of the baking dish and cut out the ice cream with the 2-inch square cookie cutter (or cut with a knife and steady hand). Sandwich the ice cream between two salted egg yolk shortbread cookies. Place the ice cream sandwiches in a container or small baking sheet and set them in the freezer for another hour to allow them to fully set up.
Enjoy!