Last Saturday, something magical happened — the one and only Molly Yeh graced my little Brooklyn abode with her sunshiny self, and we baked and ate and shot a joint post together. Really! It was the most fun I’ve ever had shooting a post; I might even go out on a limb and say it’s my favorite post so far. There was highly hygienic ice cream churning involved, the consumption of lard bread and gummy pigs to keep our strength up, the tomato-tomahto of Canon and Nikon, what lens are you using and what ISO are you at. Molly is every bit as lovely and ebullient as she seems on her blog, even when someone, not naming any names, splatters a good quantity of butter on her and potentially ruins her clothing. (I am the worst.)
As my clumsiness might suggest, I’ve never collaborated with anyone before, so sharing the creative process with someone else for the first time was really something special. Molly’s eye for detail, aesthetic sense, and all-around joyful spirit were a breath of fresh air for this blog. From the surreal feeling of watching a quintessential Yeh shot emerge from my own dining nook (like wait, that was there all along?) to the novelty of photographing someone else (and action shots without tripods!) to the seamless back-and-forth of what if we sub this for that or how would it look if we added this, this truly captured the essence of what I imagined a collaboration to be.
I have about a million photos for you — and for me, otherwise I might not believe that Molly Yeh really cooked bacon in my kitchen and artfully placed probably-dying succulents on my dining table — so I’ll end this here. For Molly’s half of our joint shindig, hop on over to my name is yeh. Thank you lady for the tremendous honor of working with you, and for such a fun afternoon. Your box of Sahadi’s sprinkles are like a little wave from North Dakota every time I open my spice cabinet. 😉 (P.S. I owe you a new jean skirt!)
Oh, I lied! I’m back. I just have to add a few love words for these bacon sugar cookies. Guys, bacon sugar cookies. Molly had the brilliant idea of rolling the cookies in this ground-up toffee-like caramelized sugar-bacon ambrosia called “bacon brickle,” which was, in scientific terms, somewhere between crack and fairy dust. And then we felt like maybe it was a little too healthy, so we swapped out some of the fats in the cookie for bacon fat. Of course. I maybe wouldn’t eat a million at once, but I would definitely eat one each day for the rest of my life. Insanely good.
Enjoy!
PrintBacon & Sweet Corn Ice Cream Sandwiches
Ice cream recipe barely adapted from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams via Saveur Magazine. Sandwiches inspired wholly by Molly Yeh.
- Yield: 16-18 ice cream sandwiches. 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk
- 4 tsp cornstarch
- 1 ear of sweet corn (or 2, for a stronger corn flavor)
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp light corn syrup
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 3 tbsp (1 1/2 oz) cream cheese, softened
- 1 batch of these amazing bacon sugar cookies
Instructions
- For the ice cream: In a bowl, stir together the cornstarch and 1/4 cup of the milk, and set aside. Cut the kernels off the corn cob and cut the cob into large chunks. In a medium pot, whisk together the remaining milk, cream, sugar, syrup, and salt. Add the corn kernels and cob, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 4 minutes, stirring continuously. If the mixture becomes too frothy and threatens to boil over, partially or totally remove from heat for a few seconds until it calms. I found that scooting the pot halfway off the burner and continuing to cook worked well.
- After 4 minutes, add the slurry. Return to a boil and cook for about 2 minutes more, stirring continuously again, until thickened. Remove the cob, then pour the hot mixture into a large bowl. (Alternatively, strain out all corn solids by pouring the mixture through a fine mesh sieve.)
- Place cream cheese in a bowl and pour in a small amount of the hot milk mixture. Whisk until smooth, or use an immersion blender to get out the lumps. Whisk in the remaining milk mixture, then pour mixture into a plastic bag, seal, and submerge in a bowl of ice water until chilled.
- Once cold, pour mixture into an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s instructions. After churning, freeze in a storage container while you make the cookies — at least 2-3 hours.
- For the cookies: Bake according to this recipe.
- To assemble: Once cookies have cooled, remove ice cream from freezer and let soften slightly. Place a scoop of ice cream between two similar-sized cookies and squeeze gently to press them together. Repeat with remaining cookies and ice cream.
- Place assembled ice cream sandwiches on a baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap, then replace in the freezer for 1-2 hours, or until hardened. After that, enjoy or wrap individually in plastic wrap for later.
Notes
Cookies are best in the sandwich when on the underbaked and softer side — if they’re too soft to stand up to the ice cream at room temperature, pop in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before assembling sandwiches.
molly yeh
best. day. ever.
Sini | my blue&white kitchen
Seeing your two inspiring minds work together is like…BOOM! Love, love, love this. No, actually I love both posts (spotted Molly’s first). So much indeed. Gorgeous photography, AWESOME ice cream sandwiches (I mean BACON SUGAR!), and action shoots without a tripod.
Sending so much love your way,
Sini
Tieghan
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! This post is the best. Two of my favorites in one place and with bacon ice cream sandwiches too! You two are both incredible and I swear, Molly’s smile could cheer any day up! As could these ice cream sammie!
Millie | Add A Little
Best collab EVER!! Love both of you and this post is so awesome Cynthia. I have to try out bacon brickle – it sounds beyond amazing!
The combination of bacon and sweetcorn is also the bomb.com
Have a great day!
http://youtube.com/addalittlefood
Medha @ Whisk & Shout
This is so cool! I love both of your blogs and I love the collaboration 🙂 These are also so creative and look AMAZING. Thanks for sharing!!
Nicole
THIS is adorable. I totally want an ice cream sandwich and to hang out with you two. Such pretty pics!
Belinda Lo (Moonblush Baker)
Awww! These are so cute! I am in love with both your blog so this combination post is rocking my day. You guys took Stella pictures and I hope you enjoyed eating the sandwiches.
erika
Um yall are amazing and this is one of my favorite posts ever. I thought seeing the Saveur awards through your blogs was exciting but you two in your kitchen?! In real life?! Making ICE CREAM SANDWICHES!!! Too much love and amazement for words <33
(Except that I LOVE LOVE LOVE both your styles–so cool to see both her "quintessential Yeh shot" (great phrase) emerge from your apartment right next to your own quintessential Cynthia shots!! That last photo is a STUNNER. The light! <3)
Maria | pinkpatisserie
What a fantastic experience for you both and clearly a genius collaboration. That bacon brittle dust has got to be the next best invention on the planet. You girls rocked it!
Anne
Lovely!!! Those look delicious and loved the post!!! That must be so exciting! Btw… I can’t grow succulents either.. :/
You churn ice cream in your bathroom? Well, at least you churn it… I kinda just drink it! 🙂
Michelle @ Hummingbird High
The photos + the recipe look absolutely wonderful. You guys are such a power couple!!!!
dinnersforwinners
Love love, love!! You two are an unstoppable force of blogging. To the max. Photos are amazing! Recipe is amazing! xoxo
sherriewfal
You two are the cuuuuttttesttttt!!!
stephanie
okay, you and molly win the internet! i love this (and you guys) so hard!
bacon and corn go hand-in-hand (hmm, like you guys?!) and so do ice cream and cookies. SO GOOD.
oh an i especially LOVE seeing the different shots you guys got!! so fun!
emily
I am super tickled by this post, you guys! I have absolutely nothing original to say because basically Steph just said it all, but yeah, you’re amazing. And seeing how you both shot the same post while maintaining your quintessentially you styles just makes my insides awash with butterflies. So much talent in that one little Brooklyn apartment! Hugstothemax – Em
cakeoversteak
This is so cool!! I love seeing how two different artists can get their own “thing” from the same situation. You guys are the best, I’m so glad I got to meet you, and I’m so jealous you guys baked/cooked together!! When are we collaborating? 😉 hehehe
mandylee@ladyandpups
I am so jealous……..
Nancy @ gottagetbaked
Ermagawd, I need bacon brickle in my life and in my mouth like, yesterday! Girl, what an incredible experience. I adore and worship the both of you so MY dream afternoon would be a fly on the wall watching you guys at work. I wrote last week about how I’m so tired and uninspired when it comes to blogging. Getting to learn from and experience a new blogging/photography/baking perspective with someone I admire would totally give me a lift. I love this post, love all the photos, and I need a few dozen of these beautiful bacon sweet corn ice cream sandwiches.
Rochelle @ Oh So Sweet Baker
Bacon cookies with corn ice cream. Delicious! !
Cate @ Chez CateyLou
What a fun post! It looks like you two had an amazing time together! And I love what you created – I first had corn gelato at Cones on Bleecker street and I fell in love! I can only imagine how amazing it tastes with a bacon cookie!!
Pang
I can totally feel the happiness of you two from SF. OMG!!! This is such a fun fun fun post.
This collaboration is just so lovely & wonderful… I mean, bacon sugar cookies!!!! I want to just submerge my hand in my laptop and grab these ice cream sandwiches RIGHT NOW.
Wonderful!!!! bravo both of you. I hope it would be an “encore” soon 🙂
Sarah @ SnixyKitchen
I wish I could have been there to eat these! Swoooooon.
Todd
this post makes me so happy 🙂 although, admittedly, i’d be happier if I got to eat a few of those ice cream sandwiches!! well done you two.
Alanna Taylor-Tobin
So much awesome!!!
Thalia @ butter and brioche
what an awesome flavour combination. definitely a recipe i will be trying. thanks for the great post!
Nik@ A Brown Table
Umm, totally jealous. Now you two need to come west coast and we can all have a food fest!
alanafixfeastflair
Cuter than cute. You girls make my heart swoon. And ice cream churning in a bathroom shower–amazing. Mega-awesome combo all around.
Kathryn
Clearly, I love you + Molly + these sandwiches but what I love most about this post is your thoughts about working and collaborating with someone else. It so interesting to see how you worked together and what you learnt from each other.
Janice
These ice cream sandwiches look divine! It’s lunchtime and I’m salivating at these photos.
Also, out of curiosity, which one of you uses a Canon and which one uses a Nikon?
tworedbowls
🙂 I use a Nikon. Thank you so much for your sweet words!!
Katie @ Butterlust
I’m a teensy tiny bit jealous but mostly 1000x in love with this post — how fun!!! I made sweet corn & hatch chile ice cream last summer, but I have to say, the inclusion of cream cheese in yours completely trumps mine. Love it!
Jessica (Coco & Mingo)
Holy moly, lady! I love all these process shots! You guys are the cutest and it looks like it was a super fun-filled day! Ahhh and so much ice cream sandwiches! They look so delicious, I don’t even care that it has bacon in it. LOL!! 🙂
wallflourgirl
Okay, you two are craaaaaaaazy adorable. I really did squeal out loud when I read this post–it might be one of my favorites to date! (Unsurprising, since you two are also two of my favorite bloggers. Yay!) I’d have to opt out on the bacon, BUT ice cream sandwiches will forever be burned into my consciousness as that thing-I-need-to-do-when-my-big-day-comes-and-an-awesome-food-blogger-comes-to-bake-and-shoot-in-my-humble-kitchen. I think I’d just about die. You both rock majorly 🙂
Athena @ Maple & Brick
You and Molly Yeh = a match made in food/photography heaven.
Laura (Blogging Over Thyme)
SO jealous of your get-together!! Sounds like so much fun. You guys have such great style–a collaboration was meant to be!
Kate Ramos (@holajalapeno)
Those ice cream sandwiches sound like a heart attack of joy waiting to happen. Your collaboration is what food blogging is supposed to be about. xo