Ice cream–it’s not my jam. When I was a child, several times over summer our family hit the DQ for ice cream. My two sisters, two brothers, grandmother and parents all ordered a child-size vanilla soft serve chocolate-dipped cone (you know, the cone with the signature curly swirl on top), but I was allowed to order…a hot dog.

I detested ice cream this much.

Being allowed to substitute was a big deal. I grew up in a family where you ate what was served for dinner and you could not make something else. Allowances were not allowed.

As fate would have it, in the last decade, (because of my ice cream loving boyfriend [Ed. Note: DID SOMEONE SAY ICE CREAM?]) I have developed a taste for it. Still not the number-one choice, but this key lime ice cream is sublime.

This recipe from Jenn Segal is perfect. Didn’t change a thing. It’s actually creamier than normal ice cream, luscious, tart, and tastes like a key lime pie. Perhaps best of all, no need for an ice cream maker (which I do not own). Minus the chill-time, it comes together in about a half-hour.

Adapted from: Once Upon a Chef
Number of Servings: 6
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Ingredients
Crust

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs, from 8 whole crackers
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
• Pinch Salt

For the Ice Cream

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 1 packed tablespoon finely grated key lime zest, from about 3 limes (regular limes are fine)
• 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice, from about 3 limes
• Pinch salt

Directions

1. Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 °F and set a rack in the middle position. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, brown sugar, and salt. Using a spoon first and then your fingers, mix until evenly combined, making sure to break up any lumps of brown sugar. Press the crust into an even ¼-inch layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until golden around the edges, 7-8 minutes. Let cool, then use a spoon to break into chunks.
3. Make the ice cream: In an electric mixer bowl, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until light and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the sweetened condensed milk and beat until completely smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the heavy cream, lime zest, lime juice, salt, and beat until evenly combined, about 30 seconds.
4. Assemble: Arrange half of the crust crumbles evenly over the bottom of an ungreased 8-by-4-inch loaf pan. Pour the ice cream mixture over top, then cover with the remaining crust crumbles. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until completely firm, at least 8 hours or overnight. NOTE: It is also delicious frozen for 4-6 hours, consistency is more like gelato than ice cream.

My boyfriend Don and his mother Kathy have many similar traits: a peculiar sense of humor, love of music, financial acumen, and love of all things citrus, vanilla, caramel, butterscotch, and ice cream.

Today is his mother's birthday–she passed away last December 6. Amazingly, she and my mamala have birthdays a day apart (August 3 and 4), and passed one day apart (December 6 and 7). 

Over the years it has become something of a tradition for me to make Kathy a special birthday dessert, and I don't plan on ending this any time soon. I’m not sure if Kathy knew how much joy it gave me to make something special for her. [Ed. note: Um, Yeah.] Hope she enjoyed it as much as I did. Don grew up on Chipwiches and the San Francisco bay area's beloved It's It en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s-It_Ice_Cream, so this was part of my evil plan to get to his heart through his stomach. [Ed. note: Shut up, just shut up...]

The original recipe calls for pecans, which of course complement the butterscotch caramel flavor wonderfully, but since we like our desserts smooth, we sometimes leave them out. This particular cookie recipe works especially well for ice cream sandwiches because it retains its softness, and the butterscotch caramel flavor really shines through. 

Cookies Adapted from The Tenth Muse, by Judith Jones and Orangette
Number of servings:  30 cookies / 15 ice cream sandwiches

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
•  ½ teaspoon baking soda
•  ½ teaspoon salt
•  14 (1 ¾ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
•  1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar (lightly packed, just enough to smooth the top)
•  1 large egg
•  2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
•  1 tablespoon vanilla extract
•  1 cup finely chopped pecans 

Directions
Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 375 °F. Grease two cookie sheets, or line them with silicone mats.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar. (I used my stand mixer for this.) Add the egg, dry milk, and vanilla extract, and beat to incorporate. Add the dry ingredients, and beat to blend. Fold in the pecans by hand.
4. Drop the batter by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each mound (about 8-10 cookies on each sheet). With damp fingers, press each mound into a circle about 2 ½ to 3 inches in diameter. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Carefully scrape up the cookies with a spatula, and transfer them to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough on cooled baking sheets.
5. Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. NOTE: the flavor of these cookies takes some time to develop. If you can, bake the cookies 1 day prior to serving.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

1. Choose your ice cream (I used butter pecan, peach and espresso gelato).
2. Soften the ice cream a bit and scoop onto one cookie. Gently press down and place second cookie on top.
3. Place on baking sheet and flash freeze. If you are not serving immediately, wrap each cookie in plastic wrap.