Chocolate Hazelnut Shortbread Ice Cream Sandwich

Preheat oven to 300 F. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, ground hazelnuts, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, cream the sugars, butter and espresso powder with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.Gradually add the flour mixture into the creamed mixture and beat until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Cover and refrigerate the dough for an hour.

On a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut the dough with floured 3-inch round cookie cutters. Put the cookies onto the prepared pans leaving an inch or so between each.

Bake the cookies for 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking time. Remove pans from oven, set them on a rack and let the cookies cool a few minutes on the baking sheets before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

To assemble the sandwiches, let the ice cream sit at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften. Place 2 scoops of ice cream into the centre of the bottom of one cookie. Place another cookie on top of the ice cream. Lightly press to evenly push the ice cream to the outside of the cookie. Use a small spatula to smear the side of the cookie to avoid ice cream to overflow. Set the sandwich aside while you finish assembling the rest. Put the sprinkles on a plate and roll the sides of the sandwiches in sprinkles.

Note: If you want a smooth ice cream disc between the cookies, you need to plan ahead and prepare the ice cream the day before. Let the ice cream soften at room temperature for 10 minutes. Line a large shallow pan with plastic wrap leaving a large amount hanging over each side. Scoop and level the softened ice cream into the pan. Fold excess plastic wrap over the ice cream to cover it. Place the pan in the freezer overnight.

Take the pan out of the freezer, uncover the ice cream, use the same cookie cutter as you used for the cookies to cut out rounds of ice cream and sandwich the ice cream between two cookies. Continue until all the cookies are sandwiched. Put the sprinkles on a plate and roll the sides of the sandwiches in sprinkles.

Serve immediately. Or wrap each sandwich with plastic wrap and place them in the freezer.