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Nothing says summer like an ice cream sandwich: creamy ice cream, little bits of moist chocolate cookie getting stuck to your fingertips, eating the whole thing before it melted into a goopy mess. You probably don’t need a reason to seek out one of these yummy summer treats, but now you’ve got one: it’s National Ice Cream Sandwich Day!

Even better, today we show you how to make your own… with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream!

Here’s the recipe, from The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook by Lindsay Landis.

Old-Fashioned Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwiches

These tasty summertime treats take the classic ice cream sandwich to a whole new level with—what else?—cookie dough! The soft chocolate cookies make the perfect foundation for blocks of frozen cookie dough goodness: firm on the outside, chewy on the inside, with a hint of saltiness that intensifies the richness of the chocolate.

Makes: 9 sandwiches                     

Active Time: 35 minutes                                                   

Total Time: 12 to 24 hours

For Filling:

·       1 quart cookie dough ice cream, homemade or store-bought

For Cookies:

·       ½ cup vegetable shortening

·       1 ¼ cups light brown sugar, packed

·       ½ teaspoon baking powder

·       ¾ teaspoon salt

·       ½ cup dark or Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted

·       ½ teaspoon instant espresso powder

·       ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

·       2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

Directions:

1. Line a 9-by-9 inch baking pan with foil or parchment paper.

2. If using homemade ice cream, prepare as described on page 89. Immediately after churning, stir in cookie dough bits and then spread ice cream into the prepared pan. If using store-bought ice cream, soften it slightly and then spread it into the prepared pan. Freeze overnight or until firm.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F

4. In a large mixing bowl, beat together shortening and sugar with an electric mixer for 2 to 3 minutes. Add baking powder, salt, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Mix in 1 cup of the flour, followed by 2 tablespoons of water, and then add the remaining 1 cup flour and another 2 tablespoons of water, mixing well until no dry ingredients remain. Dough should be soft and pliable but not sticky; if necessary, add more water until dough comes together.

5. On a lightly floured surface, turn out half the dough and roll it to an even ¼-inch thickness. Using a ruler and a rotary cutter or paring knife, cut dough into 3-inch squares. Alternatively, use a similarly sized cookie cutter to make fluted or circular cookies.

6. Transfer cookies to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Using a chopstick or skewer, poke an even pattern of holes on each cookie’s surface. (Note: This step is purely decorative and can be skipped if you prefer your cookies sans holes.) Roll out, cut, and poke remaining dough, rerolling scraps as you work. You should have just enough for 18 cookies. Place sheets of cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking.

7. Bake 7 to 8 minutes, or until tops are matte and cookies are just set. Do not overbake.

8. Remove from oven and let cookies cool 2 to 3 minutes on baking sheet. Transfer to cooling racks to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate or freeze cookies until ready to use.

9. To assemble sandwiches, use the edges of the parchment to carefully lift the block of firm ice cream from baking pan and place it on a cutting board. Using a large knife, cut ice cream into 9 equal squares. (If you used a shaped cutter for your cookies, use the same cutter for the ice cream.) Place 1 piece of ice cream between 2 chilled cookies and press cookies lightly to adhere. Freeze sandwiches until ready to serve.

Quick Tip: A standard-sized Post-It note happens to be exactly 3 inches. Use it as a template to make cutting perfect squares a breeze. 

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Photo by Fevi Yu

As the mercury rises, something about the heat seems to make tempers flare just a little bit quicker.

Summer is mostly about fun and games, though in the case of golf, it can be a fine line that divides a nice afternoon from a frustrating one. Whether you’re on vacation to relax or playing a game with business in mind, you’ll have to keep your cool in more ways than one.

The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Golf by Joshua Piven, David Borgenicht, and James Grace has the protocol for keeping things calm, cool, and collected – and maybe even a better score.

We sat down with Thomas J. Craughwell, the author of Stealing Lincoln’s Body, Saints Behaving Badly, and Quirk's This Saint Will Change Your Life.

In the quick Q&A, he talks about his latest book with us, Thomas Jefferson's Creme Brulee. Read on! 

Q.  What first gave you the idea to tell this story?

A.  As the titles of a couple of my other books suggest—Stealing Lincoln’s Body, Saints Behaving Badly—I’m drawn to off-beat stories. Typically I come upon these stories by chance. That was the case with this book. I knew Jefferson had been in France for five years, and I knew that he was food-and-wine hound. In spring 2011 I was reading a book about Jefferson when I came upon a reference to Jefferson having one of his slaves trained in the art of French cuisine.  I did a little hunting around in libraries and found there was enough material for a book.

Q.  What made Thomas Jefferson’s eating habits so different from his colonial contemporaries?

A.  In the 18^th century, Americans and their cousins back in England were heavy meat-eaters. Jefferson preferred vegetables, with a little meat as a side dish or a condiment—that made him unusual. Furthermore, he was an adventurous diner—Jefferson was growing and eating tomatoes when most Americans still believed the fruit to be poisonous. And while most Americans considered simple food prepared in an uncomplicated manner a sign of republican virtue, Jefferson had a deep interest in sophisticated cooking techniques and in dinners that brought a succession of interesting flavors to the table. Patrick Henry, one of Jefferson’s severest critics, denounced him as a man who had “abjured his native victuals!”

Q.  The book presents accounts of Jefferson’s scientific approach to gardening, but also his adventurous approach to eating.  What do you think made Jefferson so focused on food? Would you say he thought of it as a science or an art?

A.  Fundamentally, Jefferson was a farmer. That’s how he made his living. Granted, Monticello was not a typical farmhouse, and Jefferson not a typical farmer. Nonetheless…. He had a scientific mind, so he was always on the look-out for more efficient ways to raise crops, to increase harvests. He experimented with hundreds of varieties of fruit and vegetables to find the ones that were pest resistant, that flourished in the Virginia climate, and also tasted great. But in addition to having a scientist’s mind, Jefferson’s had a gourmet’s palate. The food he grew was brought to his table, so he wanted the best.

Q.  The book shows a Thomas Jefferson enamored with French culture and quite disappointed to leave his home there.  Was cuisine a way for Jefferson to bring a bit of France home with him to the U.S.?

A.  Absolutely. But he wasn’t selfish about it—what he learned and acquired in France he wanted to share with his fellow Americans. He hoped to see Arborio rice and olive groves flourishing in South Carolina, and he thought he could produce America’s first grand cru wines at Monticello. Alas, in Jefferson’s lifetime, none of those grand ideas panned out.

Q.  There is little written record of James Hemings’ life.  How did you begin to piece together his story with such limited source material?

A.  I wish we knew much more about James Hemings. That said, we know more about him than we do about most slaves in the 18^th-century America. James and his brothers and sisters had been fathered by Jefferson’s father-in-law.  So the members of this slave family were Thomas Jefferson’s sister- and brothers-in-law. They were the most privileged slave family at Monticello, and they appear often in Jefferson’s household records as well as his personal correspondence. Monticello’s encyclopedic website has a lot of information about James Hemings and his family. But the absolutely indispensable resource is Annette Gordon-Reed’s book, The Hemingses of Monticello.

Q.  What lasting impact do you think Thomas Jefferson and James Hemings had on the American culinary landscape?

A.  I’ll bet that right now there is a bottle of olive oil in your cupboard and some grated or perhaps a wedge of Parmesan cheese in your fridge. I’ll bet you sip champagne at major celebrations, and order crème brulee for dessert when you dine out. And I’ll bet that your kids love mac and cheese, and that you and everyone you know loves French fries. Jefferson and Hemings introduced all this good stuff to America.

Q.  How are Jefferson’s ideas about food similar to the foodie revolution happening today?

A.  Jefferson ate what was fresh and in season. He liked a succession of courses at his dinners—even when he dined alone—but he did not gorge himself. You could say that Jefferson was an early advocate of portion control. And he ate more vegetables and fruits than meat or carbohydrates.

Q.  If Thomas Jefferson were a celebrity chef, which one would he be?

A.  No doubt in my mind, Jefferson would be Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Like Morimoto, Jefferson was a perfectionist. The food had to fresh and in season; it had to taste delicious; and the plating (to use a contemporary foodie term) had to be visually appealing, even stunning if possible. James Hemings mastered all those components, which explains why Jefferson found it so hard to let James go. 

Oh cheesecake. So rich, so creamy, so totally deserving of a holiday of its own. The delectable dessert has roots running all the way back to ancient Greece, and is now enjoyed in various forms around the world. In honor of National Cheesecake Day (it’s a thing, it was yesterday), Quirk is serving up a unique recipe from the book Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone by Krystina Castella.

Perfect for summer, these Blueberry Cheesecake Pops have all of the essential cheesecake elements: graham cracker crust, creamy cheesy filling, and delicious fruit topping. You may think you know cheesecake, but you’ve never had it quite like this.

It’s not easy being dead. Well, nearly dead. Zombies are licking the windows and once they figure out that whole doorknob thing, we’re just a bucket of elbows ready to be slurped down by the undead. But, until then, the Zombie Tarot can help with your more pressing questions of love, money and career so why not kill time before the genius missing half a braincase figures out the dog door.

The tarot is a snapshot of future: what cards you draw today will give you a good picture of what’s staggering down the road. Remember that you have the ability to mix it up a little, your fate is not set it stone, so if there are clouds on the horizon and zombies making you a bit stabby, gird your loins and either get ready to rumble or prepare to be a delicious snack.

Another year, another con. San Diego Comic Con 2012 was another resounding success.

The booth looked great. We sold a ton of books. We had a successful book signing. We spotted some celebrities. And, saw some pretty great costumes. See the gallery below for a bunch of our photos.