A Game Day Treat Using the King Arthur Cookie of the Year

I got an interesting email the other day from King Arthur Flour – I am signed up for their newsletter as it’s the only flour I’ll use. (No one is paying me to write this. I’ve been using King Arthur for more years than I can count.) The newsletter alerts me to sales, specials and my favorite – free shipping. It also sends me recipes. This particular email really caught my eye because it had King Arthur’s Recipe of the Year inside. Whoa – I figured that had to be something good so I figured I’d check it out. It turned out to be a variation on a chocolate chip cookie recipe.

The cookie of the year is the Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie. I figured I’d give it a try and see how them came out; any excuse to bake a cookie, right? Turns out it’s a pretty tasty cookie. I whipped up a batch and then got inspired. But first the cookies.

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King Arthur Cookie of the Year Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

You can PRINT THE RECIPE from the King Arthur website

1 cup (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt or 3/4 teaspoon regular table salt
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1) Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper, or lightly grease with non-stick vegetable oil spray.

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2) Beat together the butter and sugars until smooth.

3) Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla one at a time, beating well after each.

4) Whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and add to the butter mixture in the bowl.

5) Mix until everything is thoroughly incorporated. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and mix briefly.

6) Stir in the chocolate chips.

7) Decide what size cookies you want to make. A muffin scoop (1/4 cup) will make 20 large, palm-sized cookies. A tablespoon cookie scoop (4 teaspoons) will make 50 medium (2 3/4″ to 3″) cookies; and a teaspoon cookie scoop (2 teaspoons) will make 100 small (2 1/2″) cookies.

8) Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2″ to 2″ between cookies.

9) Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes, until they’re a light golden brown, with slightly darker edges. Their middles may still look a tiny bit shiny; that’s OK, they’ll continue to bake as they cool on the pan.

10) Remove the cookies from the oven, and as soon as they’re set enough to handle, transfer them to racks to cool.

Yield: 20 to 100 cookies, depending on size.

I ended up using a medium scoop so I had good sized cookies. When I saw them the first thing that popped into my head was – Ice Cream Sandwiches! I know – I’m weird but I wanted to take these cookies to a party! They are a very tasty cookie by the way – I forced myself to do a taste test. Anything for the blog.

I didn’t want just a plain vanilla ice cream so I made my spiced ice cream. I do love it and turns out it was perfect with these sweet and nutty cookies. I think these would be perfect for your Game Day parties. They are easy to make ahead and they can just stay in the freezer until you need them.

Spiced Ice Cream Sandwiches

Makes at least 12

For the Ice Cream:

1 quart plus 2 cups milk
1 cup brown sugar, divided
4 egg yolks
1 TBS vanilla
spice bag with cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, allspice, coriander seeds. star anise
pinch of salt

24 Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Make a spice bag; add the spices to a small piece of cheesecloth and tie closed.
Add the quart of milk, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, spice bag, vanilla and salt to a heavy bottomed sauce pan.
Heat the milk until bubbles just start to form on the side.
While the milk is heating whisk together the egg yolks and remaining brown sugar.
When the milk is ready remove it from the heat.
Add a ladle full of milk to the egg yolk mixture whisking constantly to temper the eggs. Do this two more times.
Return the milk to the heat.
Add the egg mixture to the milk and whisk it in to combine.
Heat the custard until it coats the back of a spoon.
Strain the custard into a bowl and cool completely. Before you add the base to your ice cream maker stir in the remaining two cups of milk.

After you run the ice cream through your ice cream maker let it harden in the freezer – but not too hard! Making the ice cream sandwiches is simple.

Just lay out the cookies, add a scoop of ice cream, and top with another cookie. Press down and smooth with a knife if necessary. I wrapped mine in waxed paper and popped them in the freezer to enjoy at a later time. You want to make sure that the ice cream is hard enough that if you bite down on the cookie it doesn’t all just squish right out.

I have to admit that these are mighty tasty ice cream sandwiches. The spiced ice cream is a perfect complement to the cookie. They are just the right size too – I was perfectly happy after finishing one. The cookie is sweet and the ice cream is rich and has that bit of edge from the different spices. A lovely treat. I’m sure all of your party guests will really enjoy these. Of course you can put any flavor of ice cream in between the cookies – why not make an assortment with choices for everyone!