Saltine Cracker-Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

I just bought a car with seat heaters.

I don’t know.  It’s the middle of summer and I found myself up again the ‘you need to buy a car now’ wall and so I’m working it out, flexing my adult muscles, and troubling every car salesman deeply concerned that I’m approaching car buying without a husband by my side.  It’s ok… I bought a car with seat heaters.  No one talked me into it… but my future self who loves a toasty ass reminded me to get the damn seat heaters.

This is the opposite of seat-heater season.  These are the days we’re sweating behind the knees and searching for the nearest pool.  It’s ice cream season and this week we’re making sweet treats to fill our freezer.  First: salty, sweet, brownie-rich ice cream sandwiches thanks to Food52 and their fine food minds. 

Thanks for letting me get that car thing off my chest.  Let’s get to important, seasonally appropriate things like ice cream. 

One of life’s great joys (besides seat heaters)… and stay with me because this is rather specific, is a frozen + under-done brownie.  They’re fudgey, just slightly chewy, cold, densely chocolatey and on the low… as good as a brownie gets (just after warm from the oven).

That brownie, chilled and perfect, is sandwiched between two salty crackers along with a no-churn ice cream made from sweetened condensed milk and whipped cream.   We’re coming strong with our summer dessert game thanks to the Food52’s Ice Cream & Friends.  

And!  No ice cream maker required.  Though I am making Food52’s Olive Oil Gelato this week so if you have an ice cream maker… go ahead and pop that bowl in the freezer because, well… we didn’t come here to get our hair did. 

We’ll start by making brownies!  Here’s all we’ll need.  

•  sugar, eggs, flour, chocolate, and butter for the brownies
• cream and condensed milk, rum and vanilla for the ice cream
• salted crackers for sandwiching

Start by melting chocolate chips and butter in a bowl.  The microwave is an easier melting place than a double-boiler… but do what feels easy for you.  

To the melted chocolate mixture add sugars, eggs, and espresso powder.  Whisk until glossy.  

Flour and cocoa powder next, creating a simple and straight-up brownie batter.  

Here’s where things get interesting because we’re about to put crackers in the oven with brownies. 

Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment… greased well, you know the drill.

Add the brownie batter and, while the batter is still batter and not yet brownies… top with whole saltine crackers (cutting a few to fit the edges if necessary.  

Throw (gently) the same amount of crackers onto a baking sheet and bake both the cracker-topped brownies and the plain crackers in the oven until the brownies are just cooked through and the crackers are toasted golden. 

This is where things get a little flip-floppy.

Once the brownie-cracker brownies come out of the oven, they’ll cool slightly and then freeze until they firm enough to fuss with… about 30 minutes or so.  Use the edges of the parchment paper to lift the brownie-cracker from the pan and flip it so the cracker side of the brownie is on the bottom of the pan.  Brownie facing up, and back to the freezer we go! 

Let’s talk about how easy the ice cream is! Sweetened condensed milk is whisked with vanilla extract and rum then folded into whipped cream.  What an easy thing to talk ourselves into, right!?

The fluffy ice cream mixture is poured over the pan of brownies and topped with the remaining toasted crackers.  

Would you look at that!  All it needs now is a night in the freezer! 

Salty, sweet, chocolate, vanilla ice cream squares.  Wrap them individually to keep the crackers crisp in the freezer or call your friends because you’ve got freezer treats! 

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Photos by the incomparable Jon Melendez.