Method

Ice Cream

Before you begin, select a rectangular casserole dish or baking tray for setting the ice cream. Bear these points in mind – you are softening the ice cream so that you can reset it in order to cut disks of ice cream out of it. You are going to use the same cookie cutter that you cut the cookie dough with to cut the ice cream centres, so measure the depth of the ice cream in the dish so that it is roughly the same depth as your cutter, in order to make the cutting process easier. Line the dish with plastic wrap, this way you can lift the set ice cream out of the dish easily when you are ready to cut it.

Tip the ice cream into a large bowl, then add the strawberries. Use a spatula to mix the strawberries through the ice cream, then tip the ice cream into the lined dish. Smooth out the ice cream so that it is flat and even in thickness, then cover with another sheet of plastic wrap and place it into the freezer to set.

Tip: Because of their water content, frozen strawberries can be tricky to cut through with a cookie cutter. An alternative option is to use a strawberry ice cream or blitz the strawberries with a hand blender and mix through the ice cream as a swirl.

Cookies

Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl then set aside.

Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer; cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Add the flour in batches while mixing on low speed. Mix the dough until there is no visible flour.

Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and briefly knead to bring it together into a ball. Divide the ball in half and place it in the centre of one of the pieces of baking paper. Cover with the other piece of baking paper and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to the thickness of a R5 coin. Pick up the dough sheet using the paper and place it onto the baking tray.

Repeat the process with the remaining dough ball, then place that sheet (also still in its paper) on top of the first piece of dough. Place the baking tray, with both sheets of dough, into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. Note: Chilling is an important step as it will prevent the dough from spreading in the oven. You want the cookies to retain their shape as much as possible so that the size matches the ice cream centres that you will be cutting.

Preheat the oven to 180 ºC and line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Remove one of the sheets of dough from the fridge and place it onto a work surface. Remove the top layer of baking paper and cut as many cookies out of the sheet of dough as you can. Roll the leftover dough into a ball and set aside. Carefully place the cookies onto a baking paper-lined tray and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the edges just start to turn golden. Let the cookies cool on the tray for 5 minutes, then move them to a rack to cool completely. Re-roll the leftover dough out and place it in the fridge. Repeat this process until you’ve cut, rolled, chilled and baked all of the cookie dough that you have.

Ice Cream cont.

Remove the ice cream from the freezer; using the plastic wrap underneath, lift the whole sheet of ice cream out and place onto a worksurface or clean cutting board. Use the same cookie cutter to cut out 8-10 rounds of ice cream; use an offset spatula or a knife to lift and place the ice cream rounds onto a tray that will fit in your freezer. Pop in the freezer and allow to firm up if they have softened.

Take 8-10 cookies (depending on how many ice cream rounds you are able to cut out) and turn them over on your work surface so that the bottom of the cookie is facing up. Check that your ice cream rounds have firmed up, then remove from the freezer and use an offset spatula to lift each one and place onto an upturned cookie. Top with another cookie and squish together gently so that the cookies stick to the ice cream centre. Neaten any edges using a spatula and then return to the tray. Pop back into the freezer if they need to firm a little more and then serve when you are ready.

Tip: you can opt to dust with a little icing sugar just before serving.