Ya’ll. Do not adjust your screens. I have made a post for this blog. It had been quite a while since I baked anything as the school year is winding down but the side hustle is winding up now that I’ve got this sweet t-shirt thing happening so I hadn’t had too much extra time to get creative with the baking. But, alas, the new season of Nailed It FINALLY came out and it got my baking bug ticking (is that a thing? We’ll say it’s a thing). Also, it’s almost Shavuot and I super love Shavuot! What’s Shavuot, you ask?

Well, Shavuot is the celebration of when the Jewish people received the Torah at Mt. Sinai. The word, Shavuot, translates to ‘weeks’ in English. And, as with all of our festival days, Shavuot is also a celebration of a harvest — the summer harvest, to be exact. Super fun times, no? Common modalities of celebration for Shavuot range from all night long learning fests, the telling of the story of Ruth, and/or the eating of dairy foods (and now you get why this is one of my most favorite holidays). In classic Jewish tradition, no one REALLY knows why dairy is eaten on Shavuot. The first true attempt at an explanation came from Rabbi Moses Isserles (a.k.a. “The Rema”). In his commentary on the Shulchan Aruch – Orach Chaim (1564), Isserles explains that the consumption of dairy commemorates the “Shtei HaLechem” (“Two Bread”) sacrifice given at the Temple on Shavuot.

His explanation is a bit a little wonky, but it goes something like this: You eat a dairy meal, then mid-way through the Shavuot feast, the table is cleared to make way for a meat meal (under the laws of kashrut, dairy can be eaten before meat, but not meat before dairy). The meal switch requires a new loaf of bread to be put on the table. But, because we’re Jews, we are never satisfied with just one explanation so this thought has been disputed several times over so truly, I honestly do not know why dairy is eaten.

But eaten it is and since I’m NEVER one to shy away from a dairy anything, the girls and I decided to make ya’ll these homemade, no churn cheesecake ice cream sandwiches. However, we wanted to take it up a notch (or 5) and so we decided to sandwich this cheesecake ice cream BETWEEN TWO SUGAR COOKIES. Look ya’ll, we’re celebrating here. It’s the Feast of Weeks! Let’s enjoy! Here’s why it works — the ice cream doesn’t have any added sugar. It gets its yumminess from the cream cheese and the vanilla bean paste. As such, the sugar cookies don’t overpower and become one big sugary mess.

Anyway, I’m really excited about where things are going with Jewhungry and in terms of my work in dismantling diet culture. I’ve got some workshops and travel in the work — doing some teaching with parents and teens on mental health and wellness and it feels really good to be engaged in this meaningful. I’m really grateful for your support and all the messages you’re sending me on Instagram regarding the diet culture work. Happy May! Keep fighting the good fight!

Funfetti No-Churn Cheesecake Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ingredients for No-Churn Cheesecake Ice Cream

1. 8 oz cream cheese, light or regular, at room temperature
2. 14.5 oz sweetened condensed milk, regular or fat free
3. 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste or 1 tbsp vanilla extract
4. 1 pint heavy cream, well chilled
5. 1/2 tsp natural food coloring (if you want)
6. Sprinkles

Directions for Ice Cream

1. Place a large glass or metal bowl in the refrigerator or freezer for whipping the cream.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla bean paste or extract until smooth. Set aside.
3. In the chilled bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the heavy cream to soft peaks. Add the food coloring about 3 minutes into whipping.
4. Gently fold the cream cheese mixture and sprinkles into the whipped cream.
5. Pour the mixture into a 9 x 13 baking pan that you can freeze and has an airtight lid, cover (you can also use tin foil), and place in the freezer until frozen.

Ingredients for Sugar Cookie Bars

1. 2 1/2 cups baking flour
2. 1/2 teaspoon salt
3. 1 teaspoon baking powder
4. 1/2 cup salted butter (softened)
5. 3/4 cup sugar
6. 1/4 cup powdered sugar
7. 1 tsp vanilla
8. 1 egg
9. 1 egg white
10. 1/4 cup sour cream

Directions for Sugar Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
2. With a mixer, combine butter, sugar and powdered sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Pour in vanilla, eggs and sour cream and mix until combined. Then pour dry ingredients into this bowl and mix until combined.
3. Place mixture in a buttered 9×13 aluminum baking pan. Press down on the dough with hands (or a piece of parchment paper or a big spatula sprayed with cooking oil) to smooth out the surface to avoid lumpiness.
4. Bake for 18 minutes or until lightly browned. Do not overcook.
5. Once completely cooled, use a biscuit cutter to cut out the cookies and set aside.

Assembly

1. Once the ice cream has completely frozen, remove from freezer and be prepared to work quickly as the no-churn ice cream melts quickly.
2. If you find that your cookies are too thick, cut them in half with a sharp knife (this is what I did) and lay out the cookies. If you plan on rolling your sandwiches in sprinkles, have your sprinkles out and in a small dish that you can easily and quickly access.
3. Using the same biscuit cutter you used for the cookies, cut out rounds of ice cream and place between two cookies for the sandwich. Roll into the sprinkles and gently remove any excess sprinkles from the cookies as it should only be on the ice cream.
4. Working quickly, assemble your sandwiches and place on a cookie sheet. Cover with saran wrap and freeze for at least another 30 minutes. Serve frozen and enjoy!