Frosted Strawberry Poptart Ice Cream Sandwiches

Welcoming summer early with these ice cream sandwiches 🍓

My friend texted me last week with the idea of recreating these after he saw a meme. I’ve made Poptarts many, many times and I love making ice cream! You can definitely cut corners, but as always, I think there’s value in taking time to make both elements.

Ingredients

Frosted Strawberry Poptart

Dough - I used the dough recipe from Serious Eats because I wanted the poptart crust to be exactly like the ones you buy at the store! I love this recipe and prefer it to the ones I’ve made in the past since this doesn’t resemble a pie dough.

Strawberry Filling

• 2 2/3 cups (340g) fresh or frozen strawberries

• 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Frosting

• 2 cups (227g) powdered sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• Pinch of salt

• 3 tablespoons milk

• Sprinkles

If the frosting is runny, add more powdered sugar. If the frosting is stiff, add more milk.

Strawberry Ice Cream

I used an ice cream maker for this, but there are plenty no churn recipes that don’t require any special tools!

• 1 pound (450g) fresh strawberries

• 3/4 cup (150g) granulate sugar

• 1 tablespoon lemon zest

• 2 cups (480mL) heavy cream

• 1 cup (240mL) whole milk

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• Pinch of salt

Method

This process took me two days, but you can definitely do it in one. I’m going to explain everything under the basis of me having an ice cream maker and the steps I took to get these sandwiches created.

Make the ice cream

1. Add the strawberries and sugar to a bowl. Stir together and let sit for about 30 minutes to release the juices. Use a fork to mash the strawberries, but leave varying sized pieces.

2. Pour in remaining ice cream ingredients and stir to combine. Place in freezer for about 30 minutes to get cold.

3. Using your ice cream maker, pour your ice cream in the bowl and churn until ice cream has firmed up.

4. While ice cream is firming, use an 8x8 or 9x9 pan and line with plastic wrap. When ice cream is ready, add to the plastic-lined pan. Cover and place in the freezer overnight.

Make the poptart filling

1. The next day, add strawberries and sugar to a pot on medium heat. Let the mixture begin to boil together.

2. Once it starts to boil, increase heat to high and stir occasionally for about 15-20 minutes until the mixture has thickened.

3. Take off heat and add the lemon zest, salt, and vanilla extract. Stir to combine.

4. Use an emersion blender and blend ingredients together.

5. Place in container and let cool fully then place in fridge.

Make the poptart dough

1. Follow the instructions from the Serious Eats recipe. Place dough in fridge to chill for about 2 hours.

2. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll out on a floured surface.

3. Using a rectangle cookie cutter, cut out poptarts. Add to a parchment-lined pan. Once you have scraps, re-roll and go through process again.

4. Taking half of rectangles, dollop about one tablespoon of filling on top.

5. Next, with a brush, add water around the edge of the poptart.

6. With the other half of the rectangles, place on top of each poptart. Poke a few holes to ensure steam comes through.

7. Pinch edges of poptarts closed with your fingers and place in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

8. Preheat oven to 300 F. Once ready, place poptarts in the oven for about 28 to 30 minutes.

9. Remove from oven and let cooly fully.

Make the frosting

1. Add frosting ingredients to a bowl and mix together.

2. Add frosting to a piping bag and pipe frosting on top of your poptarts.

3. Shake on your sprinkles and let frosting set fully.

Prepare the sandwiches

1. Remove the ice cream from the pan and using the same rectangle cut out that was used for poptarts, cut out pieces for your ice cream.

2. Take one half your poptart and place the cut out ice cream. Top with the other poptart piece. Repeat until you have no more ice cream left.

3. Wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and place in freezer for 2 hours.

4. Enjoy!

As always, thank you for supporting! I have a paid-only recipe coming next week that I’m excited about!