Homemade Deep-Fried Ice Cream Sandwich Recipe

It might sound like a contradiction in terms, but fried ice cream is very much a thing, and it is probably more common than you might think.

Far from being a dish that can track its roots back to the country fair circuit — the same one that gave rise to indulgent comfort foods including the deep-fried Twinkie (via CNN), deep-fried cheesecake bites, and  golden funnel cake – fried ice cream could have actually appeared more than a century ago at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. Others say it began much later, in the 1960s, as Japanese restaurants began blanketing ice cream balls with tempura batter and freezing them before blast-frying them. Fried ice cream has even made an appearance in Mexican restaurants. 

Recipe developer Jennine Bryant's version of fried ice cream isn't just ice cream — it's actually a delectable ice cream sandwich, which sees vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two thin slivers of indulgent chocolate brownie. We think the recipe is fairly foolproof — and if the thought of moving fast enough to fry the ice cream without melting it sounds intimidating, this recipe allows you to make and then serve the ice cream sandwiches without the batter around it. It's ok. We won't tell.

To make the brownie layer, first preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, then line a 15x12-inch baking tray or a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set it aside and make the batter by combining the melted, cooled butter with brown sugar in a mixing bowl or stand mixer, then adding 3 large eggs and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Add 3/4 cup of the flour with the cocoa powder to the mixture and gently mix until just combined. Add the chocolate chips, but be gentle and try not to overmix. Spread the batter in your prepared baking pan — you're looking for a thin layer of batter at the bottom. Bake for between 13 to 15 minutes until cooked through.

To get your vanilla ice cream filling ready, scoop the ice cream into a clean, chilled stand mixer and beat on low with chilled beaters for 15 to 20 seconds until it is softened and spreadable. Working fast so that it doesn't melt, spread the ice cream over half of the brownie sandwich, and then place the other half of the sandwich on top. The ice cream sandwich slab now needs to go into the freezer for at least 2 hours. After that, divide the slab into 14 servings and return to the freezer.

To coat your ice cream sandwiches, work quickly by taking one or two ice cream sandwiches from the freezer at a time, dipping each ice cream sandwich into the batter. Make sure it is nicely covered, and then gently lower it into the deep-fat fryer and fry until it is golden brown; this should take no more than a minute.  

Adding the ice cream sandwiches to the hot oil will make it cool down a little bit, so you don't want to over fill the deep-fat fryer else the oil will not be hot enough to properly fry the batter.