Stick a Fork in It...

..this column's done. I had fun experimenting with ice cream sandwiches, but all good things...have a deadline.

My ice cream sandwich column is in Wednesday's Chapel Hill News. You non-townies can read the column online.

Happy sandwiching!

Squishy Science

Well, I finally broke down and bought some Cakesters. It had to be done--in the name of science.

Allow me to explain. I'm trying out some new ice cream sandwich combinations for my upcoming column. In the research, using regular Oreos, dismantled, as the exterior of the sandwich didn't work too well. The ice cream squirted out the side. You know like Newton theorized, every action (biting into the sandwich) has an equal and opposite reaction (the ice cream fleeing out the sides).

We needed softer "bread" for our sandwiches. Hence, Oreo Cakesters, billed as "soft snack cakes," seemed like the answer.

Split in half, they certainly worked better than regular Oreos as an ice cream pseudo-sandwich. In general, though, I'm not wild about the Cakesters' texture. But I never liked Devil Dogs,either.

As for the name, I think they'd sell better as "Fluffy Oreos." Then again, maybe not.

When I told the Spoonstress' visiting friend Jeanne about this "project," she made a day-saving suggestion: 'Have you tried assembling the ice cream sandwiches and then freezing them?'

Of course I hadn't, because that would have made too much sense. Not only does this method help the sandwiches keep their shape, it reduces the "squish out the sides factor." Freezing the ice cream into shape--now there's some science for you.

Sandwich Situation

The Spoonstress, Peter and I had fun playing with our food last night. More specifically, our dessert.

We were testing different ice cream "sandwiches," the definition of which was pretty flexible. Some combinations of filling and "bread" were better than others (I'll spell that out more in the column), but one thing that doesn't work is any kind of ice cream between two Oreo halves.

As you can see, it got messy. The filling--orange sherbet here--squirted out upon first bite. The conclusion: Oreos are too hard for ice cream sandwiches. In the long term, soft is good. In the short term, we went with the open-faced ice cream sandwich (pictured here).

It wasn't a solution for making an ice cream sandwich, but it was a tasty solution to a messy situation. Learning from our mistakes, I was resigned to not using Oreos in ice cream sandwiches. Then I saw them.

Oreo Cakesters.

They're supposedly "the classic taste of Oreo in a soft snack cake." While opinions on this new product vary, I'm sure they'll at least hold the ice cream well (Even if they are a blatant Devil Dogs rip off). Then again, aren't they just regular ice cream sandwich wafers??

Cookie Conundrum

It's been a week and I've been thinking about ice cream sandwiches day and night. Well, mostly day.

The good news: I've come up with a laundry list of versions I'd like to try. The bad news: There hasn't really been much testing. I better get on it, because a week from now (hopefully), you'll be reading my column on the topic.

In all honesty, I've been slowed by ambition. I want to use fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies to try out my Cookies and Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwich. I had imagined trying it with those little Entenmann's cookies I adore, but they're not available here.

So unless I get lazy and use those bake and break versions, I'm off to Toll House land. Then the testing can begin. As for the extras, I'm sure we'll put them to good use...

Sandwiched

Sure, I enjoy an ice cream sandwich. Who doesn't?

But I think the frozen dessert could stand some improvement. For some time, our thinking on this dessert has been too...vanilla. I'm sure you can guess where my next column is heading: straight to Forksperimentation Land.

Excluding light options like Skinny Cow, my humble North Carolina supermarket only has traditional sandwiches and a strawberry cheesecake option that looks terrible (full disclosure: I'm not a cheesecake person).

Elsewhere, though, things seem to be looking up. Apparently, Blue Bunny makes a few other flavors like Neapolitan, Strawberry and Mississippi Mud. Fat Boy has some tempting ideas like mint chocolate chip and some odd choices like egg nog sandwiches. And then there's Edy's ice cream sandwich ice cream. Of course, leave it to Google to take things up a notch.

Picking up where Google and It's It left off, I'll suggest some ice cream sandwich alternatives in the coming weeks. Since I'm heading to San Francisco right after this next newspaper column, I'll have to see if my handiwork matches up to It's It's chocolate coated oatmeal cookie ice cream sandwich.

Hey, It's It's staff: it's on.