Become a BFF at Friendly's for Free Ice Cream!

Friendly's has changed their Birthday Club to the Best Friends of Friendly's Club. Join now and get a free three scoop sundae. What could be better than that? I think the coupon is good for a month once you join.

Taste testing: Mrs. Fields Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

When I was in middle school and I actually liked to shop, my mom used to drop friends and I at Westfarms Mall. Among the new found freedoms of being away from my parents, I found this sweet treat in Mrs. Field's Cookie Cups that I could buy with my own money. What an addiction, those frosting filled chocolate chip cookies! I loved the frosting filled cookies. In fact, I even bought Mrs. Field's Cookie Book in hopes of making the same recipe. To my dismay, the recipe wasn't in the book...but there were some other pretty good recipes in it that made it worth keeping!

Fast forward almost twenty years. I haven't had a Cookie Cup in ages. I'm dangerously wandering down the ice cream aisle at Hannaford's and a red box shouts out at me "Pick me! Pick me!" What's this? Mrs. Fields cookies and Breyer's Ice Cream? What a treat. My arm, still sore from my yoga class (oh the irony) reaches into the freezer...

Later that night, Husband ask for dessert. I send him down to the chest freezer for the sandwiches, silently hoping he won't look too far and find his birthday present. If he did, he says nothing. He emerges from the basement, cookie in hand, and complains to me that he should have known how small they would be, the box being so light.

Later on, I bring up my own cookie sandwich. He's right. It is small. But it's actually refreshing -- in a world of supersizing, it's nice to see that Breyer's and Mrs. Fields know that this works well as a "good things come in small packages" kind of treat. If it were bigger, I'm sure I would have finished it. But truth be told, I was really truly satisfied with the three-ounce sandwich one serving had to offer.

The only thing that struck me as strange was the number of servings per container: five. Yeah, that's right. Five. I have never gotten anything in an odd number. I have gotten four, or six, or eight, but never five. Five doesn't fit neatly in a box. Why five? It does make me think of growing up in a family of five -- six ice cream treats? Who got the last one? Four cupcakes? How do you divide that? But then again, five causes those same problems for the family of four or the family of six.

Overall, I was happy with my purchase. Husband, if you have complaints, don't eat 'em! I'll gladly eat your remaining one and a half sandwiches!

1 can gets ya 1 scoop for 1 buck @ Ben & Jerrys...Tues, 3/24

Sort of last minute but if you have a Ben & Jerry's nearby swing on in Tuesday, March 24th and donate one (or more is accepted of course) non-perishable food item and receive a scoop for $1! What's better than that, getting a scoop for a buck and doing good for others.

All donations will be supplied to your community's local food bank.

Shamrock Ice Cream Sandwiches

Happy St Patrick's Day!

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
3 to 4 drops of green food coloring
1 pint ice-cream or frozen yogurt any flavor
3 1/2 to 5 inch shamrock cookie cutter

Combine butter, sugar, brown sugar and egg yolk in a medium bowl. Add flour, baking powder, salt and green food coloring. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate about 4 hours or until firm.

Roll dough on floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out cookies with shamrock cookie cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are lightly brown around the edges. Remove cookies and place on wire racks to cool. Cool completely.

Remove ice-cream from freezer and let stand at room temperature to soften slightly, about 10 minutes. Spread 4 to 5 tablespoons ice-cream onto flat side of half of the cookies. Place the remaining cookies, flat side down on ice-cream. Press cookies together lightly. Wrap each sandwich in foil. Freeze until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.

recipe from ehow.com


Seasonal variations....change up the cookie cutters and food coloring and make ice cream sandwiches for every special holiday!

SpiceDish Saturday {March}: Brown Sugar Banana Bread Ice Cream

Happy SpiceDish Saturday!

Here’s another banana based ice cream for you. I just love a good banana flavored anything and I wanted something to complement my Panettone Bread Pudding. This one is crazy easy. No cooking, just mix and freeze!

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Brown Sugar Banana Bread Ice Cream

3 frozen and thawed bananas
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup ½ & ½
½ cup heavy cream
1 tsp brandy
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp each of cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, & ginger
Dash of salt
4 squares of cinnamon graham crackers, crushed

With a banana masher, mix the bananas, brown sugar, brandy, vanilla and spices. Whisk in the cream and ½ & ½. Chill for 30 minutes. Stir to mix completely and pour into your ice cream maker. While it is churning, crush the crackers. Pour the crackers into the maker 5 minutes before the mixture is finished churning.