Persian Love Cake Ice Cream Sandwiches

A friend suggested making Persian love cake flavored ice cream–essentially a rose water, cardamom, and lemon flavor. I’ve never tried the cake, but I read through a few different recipes and created this combination, as well as some cookies to complement the flavors.

Makes 2 quarts of ice cream (or about a dozen sandwiches + extra ice cream)

Ice Cream Ingredients

• 4 cups milk
• 4 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup honey
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 tsp lemon extract
• 2 1/2 tsp rose water
• 1 tsp cardamom
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup chopped pistachios
• 6 eggs
• 1/4 tsp saffron

Sandwich Cookie Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups flour (+ extra to bring to the right consistency)

Ice Cream Directions

1. Add the milk and saffron into a pot over low heat. Steep until the saffron is absorbed into the milk, about 10 minutes.
2. Strain the milk into a separate bowl to remove the saffron threads and return it to the pot.
3. Add sugar, honey, vanilla, almond extract, lemon extract, rose water, salt, and cardamom into the milk. Increase heat to medium.
4. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Temper the eggs with the milk mixture, then add them to the pot.
5. Cook the custard until thickened, stirring often.
6. Let the custard cool, then mix in the heavy cream.
7. Chill the custard in the refrigerator overnight.
8. Add the custard to a 2 quart ice cream maker and churn for 30 minutes.
9. Once frozen, scoop the ice cream into a separate container (or, for ice cream sandwiches, a baking sheet–see below) and chill in a freezer.

Sandwich Cookie Directions

1. Sift together flour, baking soda, and cinnamon in a separate bowl.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until creamy.
3. Add honey to the mixer bowl and mix on low until combined with the butter. Repeat this step with the vanilla and egg. Scrape down the sides of the mixer bowl as necessary.
4. Add flour mixture and continue mixing until it is all combined. Continue adding flour until the dough is about the consistency of a shortbread dough–solid but slightly sticky.
5. Separate the dough into two balls. Flatten, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator overnight.
6. Roll the dough out until 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick. Cut out cookies and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
7. Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool thoroughly (preferably overnight) before assembling ice cream sandwiches.

Ice Cream Sandwich Assembly

1. While the ice cream is still soft, spoon it onto a cool baking sheet and flatten it out. Fill the baking sheet as close to the top as possible.
2. Chill the baking sheet in a freezer until the ice cream is very solid.
3. Cut out slices of ice cream using the same (or smaller, similarly shaped) cookie cutter you used for the cookies.
4. Place the slice between two cookies and wrap in parchment paper.
5. Freeze the assembled sandwiches until ice cream is solid again.
6. Scoop the remaining ice cream into a container and freeze.