Pear & Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches

I hate "artisan" waffle cones. I actually freakin' love those ones you buy in huge cardboard boxes from Coles, the ones that taste like cardboard and childhood and have that funny creamy-orange tinge? Sometimes I eat them plain without any ice cream at all, but I also eat anchovies straight out of the tin so you should take that with a grain of salt, or an anchovy.

Ice cream sandwiches are better than any kind of ice-cream cone. Cookies! Everyone loves cookies! Especially a homemade gingernut. My sister Alice made this ice cream, which nearly makes up for the fact that she's been wearing short shorts and leather jackets while drinking goon at college in Melbourne for the better part of a year and a half. Nearly.

The recipe, like pretty much all great ice cream recipes, is sprung from the mind of David Lebovitz's ice cream Bible: The Perfect Scoop. It's surprisingly fresh, juicy and not too rich, unlike the coconut, dark chocolate and hazelnut kind. It would be actually well-suited to summer, next to the pool, but pears are a winter fruit so we had better keep our bellies fixed on the present season.

The caramel isn't overwhelming, which is lucky when you match it to these golden-syrup spiked ginger biscuits thanks to Steph over at Raspberri Cupcakes (have you seen her blog? It blows my mind with cute). Together they are very well-matched, if the ingredients were a married couple they would never fight, and would have lots of little pear and caramel sandwich-babies and tell each other how pretty and delicious they both are ALL the time. Ahhh ice cream marital bliss.

Pear & Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches

- Ice cream recipe from David Lebovitz's 'The Perfect Scoop'

- Gingernut recipe from Everyday Cooking via Raspberri Cupcakes

Makes about 8-10 ice cream sandwiches depending on size, you could make mini ones if you wanted!

Ice Cream

3 medium-sized ripe, juicy pears, peeled and cored

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (180g) caster sugar

2 cups (500ml thickened cream)

1/8 tsp sea salt

1 squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Chop the pears into 1cm chunks.
Combine the sugar with 2 tbsp water in a large saucepan over medium heat. Watch it carefully until the sugar dissolves and caramelises into a light amber caramel, don't let it get too dark, you don't want the caramel flavour to be too overpowering.

When the sugar has lightly coloured, stir in the pear. Some of the sugar will seize up and harden, but as you cook the pears, use a wooden spoon to melt any of the hard sugar bits back into the caramel. Continue to cook the mixture for a further ten minutes until the pears are cooked through.

Remove from heat and stir in half the cream, then mix in the remaining cream, along with the salt and lemon juice until all combined.

Let cool to room temp, then puree in a blender or food processor. Press the mixture through a mesh sieve to get rid of any tough pear fibers.

Chill completely in the fridge, then churn for approx 20 minutes (or according to manufacturer instructions) in an ice cream machine. Pour into a freezer-proof container and freeze overnight.

Meanwhile, make the biscuits.

Gingernuts

2/3 cup (100gm) self raising flour

1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 allspice
50g brown sugar
50g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
2 tbsp golden syrup
raw sugar for sprinkling

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. Combine the flour, bicarb soda, spices and brown sugar. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the golden syrup, and press to a dough-like consistency. Divide into 16 pieces (they spread a lot with baking), roll each piece into a ball, and press each ball down with a floured fork (or your fingers) on the baking sheet until they are quite flat. Sprinkle raw sugar over biscuit surfaces and press lightly into dough with your fingers.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. They will still be very soft. Cool on a wire rack until they have hardened.

When the biscuits are cool and hard, and the ice cream is ready, sandwich a scoop of ice cream between two ginger nuts and serve immediately as an ice cream sandwich. YUM.