Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches
Dorcas Annette Walker

Summertime madness, as any parent brave enough to confess will tell you, is not the local grocery or department store sales, but their offspring out of school during the summer. For some reason the summer heat that drains and exhausts an adult doesn’t seem to have any effect on children. If anything it rejuvenates their systems. I shake my head over the many escapades my sister, brother, and I got into during the summer as kids. We dug underground houses that turned into forts or tepees when we hit solid rock a couple of feet down. When it rained and the holes in the ground became flooded we climbed trees swinging dangerously from the treetops or explored the surrounding countryside daring each other to jump off of dizzying heights. The fact that not one of us ever suffered a broken bone during our growing up years was not due to our prowess, but the guardian angels watching over us. I can often remember the look of shock on my mother’s face (when after a long day’s work at the local hospital) we proudly showed off our handiwork or bragged about what all we had done that day as she shook her head speechless in despair over our dirt encrusted bodies and torn clothing. Living out of state we didn’t have any close relatives to keep an eye on us and we were too poor to have a babysitter while my dad was laid up with internal bleeds. As long as we showed up in one piece for mealtime, my dad figured we were doing okay.

When I became a mother I determined that my children were not going to be left unattended to run wild during the summertime. Somehow even with close supervision my daughter, who inherited my sister’s tomboy personality, managed to wreck her bike every time I turned my back until her elbows and knees remained covered in splotches of red mercurochrome as bandages were quickly torn off in “playing”. As soon as one spot healed up Dawn had another accident. Four-year-old Dwight one summer somehow managed under his father’s nose (while working outside and “keeping an eye on his son”) to firmly nail down a decrepit looking board on top of our new wooden front porch that stuck out at a jagged angle- the first thing anyone noticed when approaching our home. Dwight had put so many nails into that one board crossing the porch in a way that my husband would have had to rip up almost half of the porch. Instead Dwight’s “diving board” became a conservation piece. Another hot summer Sunday afternoon while we were taking a nap, Dwight dug three large holes in our front yard to plant “trees”- brush that my husband was clearing on our land.

I try to look sympathetic and wait to chuckle later when my daughter complains of all the wild antics that my grandchildren get into during the summertime- even when she is keeping an eye on them. So far this summer my granddaughter has broken her arm falling off the trampoline while my grandson cut his finger playing with a pocket knife requiring stitches, blacked his eye, and stepped barefooted on a pitchfork. My daughter has been kept busy running my grandchildren back and forth between the ER and the local doctor’s office. What my daughter doesn’t realize is that with the inherited genes her children carry and summertime madness, she doesn’t stand a chance.

Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

1 brownie mix (your choice)
1 qt vanilla ice cream

Prepare the brownie mix according to the directions- you can add more water if needed- and spread the batter into a greased rectangular cookie sheet. Bake at 350º for fifteen minutes and let cool. Cut in half and transfer upside down into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Soften ice cream and layer over the top half of the brownie. Top with the remaining brownie. Cover and freeze until firm. Cut into eight pieces and serve!

Weekly tip: You can substitute any cake mix or use a different flavor of ice cream to make you own individualized Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches. For easier transfer line the cookie sheet with wax paper or tinfoil before baking!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com