Nearly a decade ago, Sophie Mendelson and Martha Bass were living 2,000 miles apart. Partners in life and business, they found out that they were both making ice cream sandwiches that they were sharing with friends and co-workers. A few years later, that shared passion became the delightful ice cream sandwich brand, Sugarwitch, which boasts a location in the Carondelet neighborhood and a presence at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market. Mendelson encourages anyone with an interest to try their hand at the frozen treat. “Once you get down the base, you can just play,” Mendelson says.
What drew you to ice cream in the first place? Has it been a lifelong passion? Ice cream has always been joyful for me. I’ve adored ice cream since I was a very little kid; in fact, there is a video of me as a toddler being asked to guess the flavor of an ice cream I was having, and I said “raspberry.” It’s always been an imaginative space for me. Aside from the sheer visceral satisfaction of cold, sweet, and creamy, what I love about getting to make my own ice cream is that it is a blank canvas for me to let my imagination run wild. Once you know how to make a custard or non-custard base, you can modify it from there. If you are somebody who enjoys playing with flavors, ice cream is such a fun place to play because you just need one foundation, and you can see where it takes you.
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Ice cream sandwiches are Sugarwitch’s specialty. What was it about ice cream in that form that appealed to you? Ice cream sandwiches came about as a way to share ice cream. I know it seems counterintuitive because they are individually portioned and wrapped, but having something handheld that you can pass out is much easier to give to somebody than having them grab a spoon and gather ‘round a batch of ice cream. That sharability was the impulse. Also, they are such a poolside summertime treat that you can take to your favorite places to hang out, and you don’t need cutlery to enjoy them. In that sense, they are like a cookie or a brownie. I also think it is really fun and rare for people to eat an ice cream sandwich that is a craft item. I love those spongy ice cream sandwiches you get in grocery stores; those are what most of us are used to, and they absolutely have their place. We are taking an approach to them that is more like an artisanal scoop shop and bakery, so to get to eat one that has all of that nostalgia and childhood memory but that is treated with the care of quality ingredients, recipe development, and flavor pairings found at an artisanal space is novel and compelling.
What advice do you have for those who want to attempt making ice cream sandwiches at home? One of the things that I didn’t think about so much until doing this at scale—and it very much applies to the home kitchen—is that ice cream takes time. You just have to wait. If you are using a home ice cream maker that has one of those cores that you keep in the freezer, that has to be frozen ahead of time or you are not going to get anywhere because it simply won’t freeze. Then, once it is out of the churn, it needs to freeze overnight to become hard ice cream. I am all for eating it straight out of the churn, but that is a choice; for ice cream sandwiches, you need time to firm it up. Making ice cream is all about “hurry up and wait,” so you do have to wait. Despite how whimsical and joyful ice cream is, it’s not really a spontaneous treat when you think about it. The logistics of anything frozen takes planning. It’s a funny juxtaposition.
Do you have any tips for the type of ice cream and cookies or brownies that make for a good ice cream sandwich? I think that when it comes to flavor, the sky is the limit. However, with both ice cream-making and baking, you are getting back to chemistry, so you have to be concerned about things like butterfat content and sugar content. These things will make a big difference when it comes to freezing. In terms of the ice cream itself, it needs structure, so you can manipulate it. We churn a denser, less sweet ice cream than many scoop shops because we have to make it so that it keeps its form and holds up. More sugar and more air makes ice cream softer, so for ice cream sandwiches you will want to dial back on both of those. When it comes to the cookies or brownies, if they have a high enough sugar content, they will start to leech into the ice cream. You want things to be well balanced and think about how it is going to freeze; then you want to consider what the texture will be like when you bite into it once it is frozen. A classic chocolate chip cookie is amazing and delicious to eat fresh, but if you pop it in the freezer, it can be as hard as a rock. You want to err toward underbaking and making it thinner than you think because remember: You are putting two cookies on a sand so you are getting double that amount of one cookie, plus the ice cream, when you put it all together. But in terms of flavor, you can go wild. Shortbreads are nice for ice cream sandwiches and are easy to modify; brownies, too, are good to experiment with mixes and flavor combinations.
This may sound like cheating, but can you make ice cream sandwiches with already-made ice cream? Yes! Just be careful to soften up the ice cream slowly, because that will damage it the least. Move the ice cream into the refrigerator about a half-hour to an hour before you want to assemble your sandwiches, and then let them refreeze for eight hours. One thing that is important to remember is the more times you melt and refreeze ice cream, you run the risk of developing ice crystals and degradation of texture. But you can flirt with that edge, as long as you don’t make soup.
Are there any flavor combinations that especially excite you? What advice do you have for putting it all together? Our Elphaba ice cream sandwich is one of my all-time favorites because I am a mint-chocolate chip person. I know that camps can be divided on this, but I also love fruit and chocolate together. To me, there is nothing better than peak-of-the-season strawberries or raspberries with brownies. We like to play a lot with salt, so we do a salted brownie-miso brown sugar ice cream sandwich. My favorite flavor combinations always have a lot of contrast—things like bright fruit and rich chocolate or a salt element. We are making one this month that has key lime ice cream with a chocolate-covered graham cracker and toffee. The ice cream is super tart, and then you get this richness and crunch from the graham cracker and toffee. At the end of the day, it is about preference. People like different styles of ice cream, so lean hard into what you like. My philosophy is that it is better to make something that is amazing to a subset of people than something that is OK to a lot of people. Follow what lights you up, and tweak it from there.
Recipe: Sugarwitch’s Strawberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
Mendelson loves using contrasting flavors and peak-of-the-season ingredients in her ice cream. This recipe for strawberry-rhubarb ice cream checks both boxes, thanks to its perfect melange of sweet and tart and its use of juicy strawberries and fresh rhubarb, which are both popping up at area farmers’ markets. Her biggest advice when making ice cream at home: Be sure to freeze your ice cream maker’s core, at least overnight. It’s a process you can’t rush, Mendelson insists—though if impatience gets the better of you, don’t be shy about eating the soft-serve version straight out of the churn.
Yield: About 1 Quart
Ingredients:
- 12 oz. fresh strawberries, rinsed and halved
- 6 oz. rhubarb, sliced
- 1 1⁄4 cup sugar, divided
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1⁄2 cup sour cream
- 1⁄2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
- A pinch of salt
Directions:
- Toss strawberries with 3⁄4 cup sugar and lemon juice; allow to sit until sugar is dissolved and strawberries are juicy, about one hour.
- In the meantime, bring sliced rhubarb and remaining 1⁄2 cup sugar to a simmer in a small sauce pan. Cook until soft and jammy; remove from heat, and cool.
- Purée strawberry mixture, rhubarb mixture, heavy cream, sour cream, and salt until smooth. Refrigerate for one hour.
- Freeze in your ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Enjoy it fresh out of the churn, or freeze overnight for a scoopable consistency.
