Disneyland Treats at Home - Mickey Bars and Mickey Ice Cream Sandwiches

We've got a very special set of Disney Treats today. This has been a fun series. So far we've made Mickey Beignets and Mint Juleps, and also Caramel Apples and Chocolate Wands. These special treats appear to come in twos, don't they. I asked different friends what their favorite Disney Treats were and it was Ruston that said his favorite were the chocolate covered Mickey Bars. It's going to be a little ambitious, but I think we can make something like that at home. And what can go with it? How about a Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich? Let's jump right into it!

So for some of these make a home meals we might take a shortcut or two. Not for this one. Everything is going to be from scratch, and I mean everything. As such, forgive me because this is going to be a little long.
The first thing we're going to make is the ice cream. For National Ice Cream Day, the kids and I made a traditional ice cream base with eggs which is considered more of a custard. When I think of a Mickey Bar or especially an Ice Cream Sandwich, I'm thinking a lighter and fluffier ice cream. Not something dense and eggy. So today we're making a Philadelphia style ice cream. It's known for being a light texture.
I'm using a recipe from the NYTimes.com for a Philadelphia-Style Ice Cream Base. For this we'll need cream, milk, sugar, corn syrup, and sea salt, plus whatever flavoring we decide to add.

I have the kids help out in the kitchen as much as I can, and they're always willing. Alli and Ian took turns adding the different ingredients to the pot on the burner.

And then gave it a good stir.

We're using vanilla as our flavor today, so I held the measuring spoon while Ian poured out 2 tsp of vanilla extract. I was impressed with how carefully Ian measured out the vanilla. It didn't spill out of the measuring spoon!

After adding the cooked ice cream base to the bowl with the vanilla and giving it a good mix, it's time to put it in the fridge to cool down. But the kids always ask for a taste whenever they can. Go ahead Ian.

It's delicious! Ian thinks so. I had a taste and I very much agree. It tasted like melted ice cream. Super rich, creamy, and sweet.

Of course Alli wants a taste too.

Oh yes, it's very good.

After giving the ice cream base a chance to cool down, it's time to whip it up. I don't have an ice cream maker, so we're going to use the two bowls method. It starts with a large bowl, ice, and a bunch of rock salt.

In a smaller metal bowl, you constantly stir the ice cream base, scraping the sides of any frozen cream that happens to form. Doing this will get you small ice crystals and that light and creamy flavor.

Once the base has absorbed as much cold as it can from the ice, it goes into the freezer for an hour. Thanks Alli.

Once it comes out of the freezer, you do the two bowls method again. Whipping it up a second time made it really light. It totally looks like soft-serve ice cream now.

Normally this would going into a bowl, but since I'm looking to make something a little different, I'm using a large glass baking dish that I lined with parchment.

Now that the ice cream is all settled, it's time to freeze it for 24 hours.

It's not just the ice cream that we're making from scratch. If you're making ice cream sandwiches, you need that chocolate cookie that goes on the outside. It's not terribly difficult apparently, so sure, let's give it a shot. I got my recipe for the cookie from kingarthurflour.com for the Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches.

The kids helped measure out the ingredients. They both asked to try the unsweetened cocoa powder. Yep, it's a little bitter. Definitely unsweetened.

After mixing all that together, it's time to spread this out on a sheet pan and cook it.

After lining it with parchment, I did the best I could to make it a nice smooth even layer. It was sticky and wanted to bunch up in places, but eventually it worked itself out.

After only 10 minutes this giant cookie slab is done. After spending 30 minutes on a cooling rack, I took the whole thing straight to the freezer to become hard frozen.

It's the next day and my helpers are ready to make all these treats up. I asked them to put on Disney clothes. Ian did us one better and make us Disney Mickey Mouse nametags.

Smile kitchen helpers!

And we're still not done making things for this recipe. Yes I could have bought Magic Shell, that liquid chocolate that turns into a solid when it comes in contact with ice cream and becomes cold. I could have bought it, but where's the fun in that. Let's make it! The recipe was basically the same no matter which site I looked at. The NYTimes.com comes through once again with a recipe for Chocolate-Shell Ice Cream topping.

It's just two ingredients. Chocolate chips and coconut oil. Simple.

I heated everything up over a double boiler and then let it come back to room temperature. This did not go into the freezer because it would have gotten too cold and re-solidified.

My ice cream sandwich cookie slab is hard frozen now! It's time to cut out some shapes! Now if I'm going to recreate Mickey Ice Cream Sandwiches, they better be in the proper shape.

These Mickey Sandwich cutters from Amazon.com have been useful on multiple occasions.

I had a bowl with oil in it to help me make smooth cuts through the cookie, plus to help the cookies release after I cut them.

Viola! I was about to get quite a few Mickey shaped cookies out of this slab. Everyone sampled pieces of the extra cookie. It's exactly the right texture for an ice cream sandwich cookie. Not hard and crunchy, but doesn't immediately fall apart either. The flavor is still a rich dark chocolate. It's not especially sweet. Once it's paired with the sweet ice cream it will be perfect.

I was able to get a dozen cookies out of the slab above. I have no such hopes for the slab of vanilla ice cream we made. Because it's ice cream, I've got to work to keep everything as cold as possible while we work. I pre-froze a sheet pan to put my ice cream slab on while cutting, and I re-used the already freezing glass baking disk to put the ice cream pucks back in when I was done.

Moment of truth. This is what is going to bring everything together. My fingers were crossed that at least two of these would turn out good enough for a photo.

And success! They're cutting out just fine! This time instead of a bowl of oil, I had a bowl of warm water to put the Mickey cutters in, to give me a nice crisp edge and to help release the ice cream when I was done.

The pucks are looking great! I think I was able to get something like 7 or 8 pucks out of this. And all the extra ice cream went into a container and into the freezer. 

It's a naked Mickey Ice Cream bar.
Because they've been out for a few minutes, everything went back into the freezer for an hour.

It's time to assemble! First we'll make a few Mickey Ice Cream Sandwiches. Those cookie cutouts were perfect for keeping everything the same size.

Alli scooped it up with a spatula.

And carefully adds the top cookie.

Ian, you're up next.

Time for the Mickey Bars! Popsicle sticks inserted, there's just one step to go!
To quote Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Walter Donovan - "As you can see Dr. Jones... we're just one step away"
Indiana Jones - "That's usually when the ground falls out from underneath your feet."

These Mickey pucks are frozen, but they're not super hard frozen. If I would have bought some dry ice, I could have made these rock hard for dipping. But that didn't happen and the combination of room temperature chocolate and ice cream that wasn't super cold meant things were about to get messy. Theresa held the sticks while I poured. The chocolate wanted to take the ice cream with it down into my catch-bowl, instead of sticking and freezing solid onto the ice cream. We got through the first couple, and then one Mickey Bar decided to slip off its stick and plop down into the chocolate catch-bowl. After dipping, it was a race to get it all back into the freezer so things could harden up again.

And a couple more hours in the freezer, and after we had had dinner, it was time to enjoy our Disney Treats we made from scratch at home! I was actually pretty impressed with how well things all turned out. Both treats have the classic Mickey shape we've come to expect from our park treats.

And I love how the cookie and ice cream look, both with the same shape.

Smile kids! You guys did a great job helping out!

And yes, we could eat them in front of the garage, but we can pretend instead that we're at Disneyland!

 Back inside, I brought out a few more of the treats to share with everyone. The chocolate shell is nice and thick on the Mickey Bar.

And the Mickey Ice Cream sandwiches are giant and delicious. The dark chocolatey cookie goes great with this Philadelphia style ice cream. It's exactly the texture I expect with an ice cream sandwich.

Theresa's parents of course joined us for the tasting. They both enjoy frozen treats.

The kids each got a sampling of each type. Ian's favorite was the Mickey Ice Cream Bar.

While Alli's is the Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich.

Those sandwiches are holding up really well. The Mickey Bars could have probably used a little more time in the freezer to become hard frozen. They were quite melty still, from the chocolate shell I'd imagine.

And a few days later, we've still got a couple of the uglier (but just as tasty) ones in the freezer. Now they're a bit more frozen and easier to eat. The kids decorated different areas of the house to make Disneyland At Home and so they wanted to have these treats to go along with it.

Delicious! Well, like I said at the beginning, it was quite an involved process getting everything together and made from scratch for this. I think our next Disneyland Treat at Home should be something a little bit easier. What do you think?