Turtle Ice cream Sandwiches

I made these for my friend for her birthday a couple of weeks ago. She absolutely loves ice cream, and that's an understatement! I knew I wanted to make some sort of ice cream related dessert for her birthday, but I wasn't sure what to make. I found a recipe for a Turtle Ice cream pie from Bon Appetite. It got really good reviews, but I thought pies weren't very special for a birthday. So I decided to combine this recipe for brownie ice cream sandwiches with the filling from the turtle ice cream pie, and voila...turtle ice cream sandwiches.

The results...I love the sauce!!! I think I was a little stingy with the sauce. I was afraid it would be too sweet, but next time I will add more sauce between the ice cream layers. The brownies held up pretty well after freezing, and they even did well with cutting! Here are the recipes.

Turtle Ice cream Sandwiches
adapted from Bon Appetit and Martha Stewart

Sauce
3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons dark corn syrup
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Bring first 3 ingredients to boil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat, whisking until sugar dissolves. Boil caramel for 5 minutes, whisking occasionally. Turn off heat; whisk in butter, vanilla, and salt. Cool completely.

Brownie
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt
5.5 ounces (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
3.5 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat one 13- by-18-inch rimmed baking sheets with cooking spray, line with parchment, and spray parchment.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Melt butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat, add sugar, and stir until dissolved. Stir in eggs, one at a time, and then stir in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until just incorporated. (Do not overmix.)

3. Use an offset spatula to spread batter into thin, even layers. Bake, rotating pans once, until batter just begins to set, 8 to 10 minutes. (The surfaces will look dry, and testers inserted in the centers will come out wet.) Let cool completely in pans on wire racks.

Assembly
2 pints of vanilla ice cream, softened
one recipe of brownie
one recipe of turtle sauce

1. Line an 8x8 square pan with parchment or foil, allow foil or parchment to hang over the edge of the pan.

2. Cut two 8"x8" pieces of brownie. Place one piece of brownie in the pan. Spread one cup of softened ice cream on top of the brownie. Spread 1/3 of the caramel sauce over the ice cream. Put the ice cream back in the freezer for one hour. Repeat with the other 3 cups of ice cream.

3. Cover with the other piece of brownie. Allow to freeze overnight before cutting.