Diced! Dessert Challenge Round 3 – Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Ice Cream Sandwiches

Diced! Dessert Challenge – Round 3

The Diced! Dessert Challenge continues…

Each participant in round 3 won their first two rounds and is in the final four. For this round, I am allowing the participant to choose a dessert category from the others in their quadrant (theirs, their first round competition, their second round competition and the first round competition of their second round competitor).

I will post a pairing each week on Wednesday and Thursday and open the polls for voting. The polls will be open from Thursday until the following Wednesday (before the next pair posts). The winner of each matchup with the most votes will move on to the next round and the chef will produce another recipe for their new matchup. The overall winner will receive any prizes I can acquire. To date the winner will receive:

• Dodo Book for Cooks
• A beautiful Bamboo Cutting Board with a Butterfly Motif, graciously donated by competitor Lindy (The Kozy Nook)

This week’s pairing is:

Luis vs Stephanie. Today we have Stephanie from The Haute Meal with her delicious summer dessert…

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Ice Cream Sandwiches

Hey there, guys and gals! I’m so ecstatic to have made it this far to share another recipe with you. I must admit, I’m not sure I was altogether pleased when I heard the news that we were allowed to make recipes from previous categories. Not because I didn’t like the categories from which I could choose, but because I liked them too much. I had a crazy hard time choosing!

My initial category, non-fruit pies, was tasty enough for sure. But now I had to decide whether to stick with that, or choose from ice cream, cheesecake, or pudding. Weirdly enough, I don’t put too much thought into what my very worthy competition is going to do for each round or try to strategize with that in mind, so that’s not much of a factor for me. I figure you can never really know what someone else is going to do so I just have to do my own thing, and hope it’s the best dish overall. I figure if I focus on making mouths happy, the rest will take care of itself.

Since ice cream is my favorite dessert, my first instinct was to do something with that. However, my boyfriend LOVES cheesecake so of course he was jockeying for that kind of recipe. Anyway, I think you can already see where this is going, so I’m just going to skip to the end: Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Is that a mouthful or what? Yes, dear heavens, yes it is. Just imagine rich, creamy, caramel cheesecake ice cream sandwiched between soft, buttery, graham cracker shortbread. I went a little crazy with my bottle of cajeta (Mexican caramel), and squeezed ribbons of it right into the ice cream, so when you bite into the sandwich you occasionally hit little ribbons of liquid caramel and arghghs…. Sorry, I have to clean my keyboard now because I started drooling all over it.

But I knew I couldn’t stop there. It needed just a little push into greatness, and that push felt like it needed to be chocolate. And by chocolate I mean homemade Magic Shell. Trust me, it’s totally easy and you’re going to love it. And if you make this for your kids, they’ll worship you forever. In fact, the soft sound of ice cream being dipping into chocolate will likely have every small child within a 2-mile radius lining up at your door (I swear, they must use some sort of echolocation).

The results? Amazing. Magical. Ama-gical. There was nothing to be heard but slurping sounds and small groans of pleasure while we “tasted” (i.e. gorged on) a few of these.

And that’s it! All I have to say is if this ice cream sandwich had big hair and a microphone, it would sing, “I’m Comin’ Out.” I hope you sing along!

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Ice Cream Sandwiches

Chocolate dip recipe courtesy of Chow.com

Ice Cream

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 13.4 oz can dulce de leche, plus more for assembly, if desired

1 cup sour cream

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

Generous pinch of salt

Graham Cracker Shortbread (double)

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

½ cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 sleeves graham crackers

½ cup flour

Chocolate Shell

8oz dark chocolate, chips or finely chopped

1 cup (200g) refined coconut oil

6 tbsp (125 g) light corn syrup

1. Shortbread: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 10×10 inch pan (at least 2” deep) with parchment paper. Make sure the paper comes up the sides and overhangs the top of the pan slightly. This will help with removing the layers from the pan.
2. In a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, pulse the graham crackers into very fine crumbs. It should have a texture similar to coarse cornmeal. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat in the vanilla and eggs, then beat in the graham cracker crumbs. Stir in the flour until fully incorporated. Divide the dough in half and spread the first half evenly into the prepared pan. Bake until lightly golden brown and set, about 12 to 15 minutes. Lift the shortbread carefully from the pan and move to a wire rack to cool.
4. Repeat the baking process with the other half of the shortbread. When both halves have cooled, wrap in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until well chilled.
5. Ice cream: Beat together the cream cheese and dulce de leche, scraping down the sides often, until well combined. Add the sour cream, vanilla, and salt and continue to mix until fully incorporated. Pour in the heavy cream and beat until just combined and smooth. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 to 4 hours. When the mixture has chilled, whisk briefly just to smooth it out, then freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions on your ice cream maker.
6. While the ice cream is churning, line the 10×10 pan with plastic wrap or parchment paper – make sure it’s long enough wrap up and over the sides. Place the first half of the shortbread in the bottom of the pan (it should fit perfectly since you’re using the same pan).
7. When the ice cream has finished churning and is ready to be packed, scoop it directly from your ice cream maker onto the shortbread and spread it evenly to cover. If desired, use a spoon to swirl 4 or 5 small tunnels into the ice cream and squeeze more dulce de leche into each tunnel (I used a squeeze bottle of Mexican cajeta for this step).
8. Top the ice cream with the other half of the shortbread and press lightly but firmly to bond it to the ice cream. Fold the plastic wrap over the top and seal lightly. Freeze until very firm, at least 4 hours.
9. Remove from the freezer and use a sharp knife dipped in warm water to slice the ice cream layers. Make sure you dry the knife before slicing, and wipe the knife down between slices. Cut the entire square in half, and then slice each half into 5 equal bars. Then slice each bar in half. You should be left with 20 ice cream sandwiches. That may seem small, but they’re thick (and rich!).
10. Wrap each bar in plastic wrap and enjoy at your leisure OR keep going for chocolate dippin’ pleasure!
11. Chocolate Dip: In a double boiler or large bowl set over a pot of lightly simmering water, melt together the chocolate, coconut oil, and corn syrup until smooth and well combined. Allow to cool; the mixture should remain liquid even at room temperature.
12. Dip each ice cream sandwich into the chocolate and allow any excess to run off. Wait until the chocolate is mostly set, about 15 seconds or so (it will have a matte appearance), then set on parchment paper and continue dipping the rest as desired. I suggest working in small batches of about 5 at a time so the other ice cream sandwiches can remain in the freezer while you work.
13. Double-dipping is allowed.