Ice Cream Cake

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday! Happy Birthday Honey! So I slaved over a cold stove and made him an ice cream cake. Mmmm. Who doesn't love an ice cream cake, but the ice cream shops charge and arm and leg for them. So when I saw this recipe in a magazine last month I knew I had to give it a shot. As you can see my chocolate drizzle was more of a chocolate glop, but hey, chocolate is chocolate right? I doubt anyone will complain. :)

Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Filling:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 cups bitter sweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream or 1 1/2 (1.75 quarts) cartons

24 soft chocolate chip cookies, cut into 1/2 inch pieces, divided.

Heat oven to 325. Combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and cinnamon in medium bowl until crumbs are moistened; stir in mini chocolate chips. Press into bottom of 13x9 inch baking pan. Bake 6 minutes until set. Cool completely on wire rack.

Meanwhile, heat cream in medium saucepan over medium heat until hot and steamy. Remove from heat; add bittersweet chocolate chips. let stand 1 minute; stir until melted smooth. Stir in vanilla. Cool to room temp, about 20 mins.

Place ice cream in fridge for 20 minutes or until slightly soft. Spread half of the ice cream over crust; quickly spread with spatula to level. (Ashley here: I had lots of trouble with this part. I got impatient with the ice cream and didn't wait for it to be soft enough. It has to be pretty soft before you can spread it with a spatula. If this gives you trouble just keep in mind that ice cream and cookies taste good, even if they aren't in perfect layers.) Sprinkles half of the cookies over ice cream. Quickly spoon 1 1/4 cups of the chocolate sauce over cookies and ice cream; spread with spatula to cover. Freeze 15 minutes to firm sauce.

Quickly spread remaining ice cream over sauce. Sprinkle with remaining cookies; drizzle with remaining sauce. (If necessary warm sauce in microwave to loosen)

Freeze 2 hours to firm sauce. Wrap tightly; freeze over night or up to 1 week. Place in fridge for 20-30 minutes before serving to soften slightly. Cut with warm knife. Store in freezer.