The Twin Cities are practically dripping with terrific artisan ice-cream shops, and one of my most beloved summer pastimes involves combining my favorite flavors to create new, even more scoop-a-licious mash-ups. Do you like Izzy’s Norwegian Chai? Me, too. How about their Salted Caramel? Even better. But when you combine the two, the resulting flavor—Salted Nor-Chai-Mel, if you will—achieves an even higher plane of ice-cream bliss, as the wintry spices and salt-kissed caramel play off one another.
The mash-up game inspired this locavore ice-cream sandwich made with Rustica’s Bittersweet Chocolate cookies, Sonny’s Crema ice cream, and B.T. McElrath’s Salty Dog chocolate. The Sweet Lucy, as it were, was conceived as a dessert version of our iconic Juicy Lucy burger, except that when you bite through the midnight-dark cookies and toffee-studded chocolate, coffee ice cream oozes out instead of molten cheese. They’re guaranteed to melt your heart before they drip all over your hands.
Make a Sweet Lucy
1. Fill two Rustica Bittersweet Chocolate cookies with Sonny’s Crema ice cream (if it’s a hot day, freeze the cookies first). Shape sandwiches so the ice cream aligns with the cookies’ edges and then freeze for an hour or more.
2. Melt 1 oz. B.T. McElrath Salty Dog chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Spread chocolate around the edge of the sandwich to seal in the ice cream.
3. Eat immediately or freeze to enjoy later.
