I live in St. Louis, a renowned baseball town. Summer time and Cardinals red go hand in hand. It was a given then, that my June Military Care Package #3 would have a baseball theme. Because Paratrooper Derik is also from St. Louis, I included some Cardinals treats. That was easier to do than I expected. Our two local supermarkets both carry a variety of foods and novelty items with the Cardinals logo. Whether the care package is team specific or generic, a baseball care package should bring a smile to the sports enthusiast and a reminder of home to our military heroes.
It is summer in Afghanistan. Summer’s extreme heat prompted the creation of “desert safe guidelines” for care packages. Imagine a heat so intense, Jolly Ranchers arrive melted. The purpose of following the guidelines is to send items that are least likely to melt, mold, or spoil. Some of the guidelines are obvious. A chocolate bar isn’t going to make it. There are also guidelines that are perhaps less obvious. Vegetable shortening (Crisco) is the fat least likely to go rancid. White sugar is the sweetener least likely to promote mold. Last summer, I published 20 Monday Box recipes that attempted to carefully follow desert safe guidelines. Finding or creating recipes using just vegetable shortening and granulated sugar wasn’t easy. I wasn’t even sure it was necessary. So, I asked a group of Soldiers’ Angels bakers, who collectively had mailed hundreds of care packages, how carefully they follow the desert safe rules. Most of the bakers told me they bake with butter and brown sugar/honey/molasses year round and their soldiers haven’t reported any problems. I remain confused on this topic but choose to err on the side of caution. Most of the items I send will follow the desert safe guidelines. If I learn that any item I send arrives melted, moldy, or spoiled, I will let you know.
Part 1 Care Package Contents: To set the mood, the flaps of the box are decorated with color photos of Cardinals players cut from the sports section of the newspaper. The items in this box were chosen to invoke the tastes of traditional baseball stadium snacks. Peanuts (in a Cardinals logo bag) and Cracker Jacks are essential. When I found Cardinals Pez and Cardinals cookies, those had to be included too. Slim Jim jerky is my hot dog substitute. Numerous web sites report that beef jerky is one of the items most frequently requested by deployed military. I have no idea why. I also included popcorn balls in baseball wrapping, sunflower seeds, Big League Chew gum and Big League Chew blow pops. This care package didn’t have room (no matter how I arranged and rearranged) for a previously published Monday Box recipe.
Part 2 Circle Sugar Cookies: Finally I am delivering on my promise to keep the decorating simple! Icing the sugar cookies to look like baseballs was the obvious choice for this care package. A search on Pinterest offered numerous options. Beki Cook’s Cake Blog provides great directions with photos.
I used the vanilla and chocolate sugar cookie recipes from Lilaloa (one batch each) and faux royal icing from Bakingdom (one batch for each design). (The same sugar cookies I used for my Birthday Cake Cookies and Snowmen.) The cookies are outlined, then flooded in white. The remaining icing is colored red and is used to pipe the stitching on the baseballs. Allow the white icing to dry completely, preferably overnight, before piping on details. I used a great decorating tip from Beki to help figure out where to place the stitching. After the white icing has dried completely, use a round cookie/biscuit cutter to gently imprint the curved lines. Trying to imprint the lines before the white icing is dry will cause cracks.
Part 3 New Recipe: I wanted the new recipe to include flavors from a baseball stadium treat. Beer, the number one concession beverage (the Cardinals play at Busch stadium, after all) came to mind, but alcohol is also number one on the “Don’t Even Think About It” military care package rules. I went with ice cream instead; Melted Ice Cream Cookies.
Melted Ice Cream Cookies are dense but tender balls of slightly sweet cookie, mildly flavored by the ice cream and chips of your choice. With a red M&M “cherry” on top, they even sort of look like slightly melted, sprinkle encased scoops of ice cream. Powdered sugar gives the dough a melt-in-your-mouth feel while the sprinkles provide crunch. Flavor combinations are up to you. I baked chocolate ice cream cookies with semi-sweet chocolate chips and vanilla ice cream cookies with butterscotch chips. Now I can say I sent ice cream to Afghanistan!
Wishing everyone a happy Memorial Day! I offer my heartfelt gratitude to the military men and women we honor today, who sacrifice so much to serve our country! Care Package #3, filled with baseball thoughts and flavors, is also filled with my thanks and good wishes for Paratrooper Derik and those he serves with.
You can read more about desert safe ingredients and find an index of all of the desert safe recipes on The Monday Box by clicking here.
Melted Ice Cream Cookies and Military Care Package #3
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup confectioners sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter cold or vegetable shortening***
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup melted ice cream
- 1 cup chocolate chips or other flavored chips
- 1 cup sprinkles or nonpareils
- 24 red m&m’s
- ***Desert safe adaptations: Use vegetable shortening Crisco.
Directions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and confectioners sugar.
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour mixture with the butter/vegetable shortening until crumbly.
- Add the vanilla, egg, and melted ice cream. Process until a smooth dough forms.
- Add the chocolate chips and pulse a few times to distribute the chips and chop them slightly.
- Scoop the dough (it will be soft and sticky)into a disc shape on a piece of plastic wrap and freeze for one hour or until firm. Dough can also be refrigerated overnight to firm.
- When ready to bake: Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the sprinkles in a shallow bowl.
- Scoop a 2 tablespoon portion of dough. Using your hands roll the dough into a ball. Roll the ball in the sprinkles to coat.
- Place the sprinkle coated dough balls on the prepared baking sheet 2” apart. Gently press a red m&m onto the top of each cookie.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes until just firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before placing the cookies on a wire rack to cool completely.
- When completely cool, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Packing Tips
Double wrap pairs of cookies in plastic wrap with bottoms together. Place wrapped cookies in a column inside an airtight container or ziplock bag (with as much air squeezed out as possible).
chrisscheuer says
Melted ice cream, what a novel and fun idea. Your post is full of wonderful tips as it is hard to know how to prepare a box to send overseas to countries where the weather is so totally different than here, thank you!
themondaybox says
Thanks, Chris! I found recipes for melted ice cream in cake and was curious to try adding ice cream flavors to cookies. I was happy with the experiment! Figuring out what to send in military care packages and how to send it is part common sense and part trial and error, I think. 🙂 I hope my posts can help others avoid my errors!
Ashley says
I would have never thought to try making cookies with melted ice cream! That’s so cool! And I love those baseball cookies too – they look awesome! Hope you’re having a great long weekend!
themondaybox says
Thanks, Ashley! The recipe calls for just a little melted ice cream, making these a great way to use up just that little bit at the bottom of the carton that might melt because it kind of got forgotten on the counter. 🙂 Melted ice cream works in cookies and cakes. I thought it was cool too! 🙂
Tricia @ Saving room for dessert says
You are so sweet and creative. Thanks for all you do! I made baseball cookies a long time ago – how fun and pretty!
themondaybox says
Thanks, Tricia! The care packages are fun to pull together over the course of the month. I am always looking for a surprise or two that will cause a smile. A small activity to express a big thank you! The decorated cookies are an excuse for me to play with icing. 🙂
Mary Ellen says
Love how you decorated the baseball cookies. Genius! The cookies are soooo cute. I will have to pin them and make them for my son’s baseball team.
themondaybox says
Thanks, Mary Ellen! There are so many options on Pintrest but my purpose here is to show that there are designs that even a complete beginner like me can do. I keep promising extra simple and getting a wee bit carried away. This time I found a design that met both criteria; cute and easy! 🙂 I think baseball cookies would be a huge hit with your son’s baseball team!
Jess @ On Sugar Mountain says
I had no idea you could use melted ice cream in cookies!! NEATT! These are so cute too, Wendy! I hope you had a lovely Memorial Day Weekend!
themondaybox says
Thanks, Jess! I hope your long weekend was fun. We were in NJ for a wedding and the weather was gorgeous! Newark airport, on the other hand, is to be avoided. Experimenting with secret ingredients is always fun and gives a twist to the flavor profile. 🙂
Heather @ Sugar Dish Me says
Saw these cookies yesterday on Pinterest! Love them! Thanks for all the shipping tips! I mail lots of baked goodies and it’s always good to know what works – especially shipping overseas!
themondaybox says
Thanks, Heather! These cookies traveled well within the US (to my college son) and now I hope to hear from my Paratrooper friend that they travel just as well internationally! I would love to know which of your recipes you recommend for mailing (even within the US). I am always looking for goodies that travel well!
Heather @ Sugar Dish Me says
Hey Wendy! I wanted to let you know that I write a monthly post (usually on the 1st Thursday of each month) called The Leftovers Club, where a bunch of food bloggers swap and mail baked goodies. You can totally join and sign up if that’s your thing. But if not there are always a bunch of new shippable recipes to browse!
themondaybox says
Thank you so much Heather! I will be following your blog and watching for the Leftovers Club monthly posts! Your “How to Ship Baked Goods” post is great! I plan to post a link to i,t so that my readers can gain from your shipping expertise too! I am so excited to find other bloggers who are mailing their baked goodies. Soooo many recipes are amazing the day they are baked, but not so much by the next day. Once I catch up with life around here and get my son’s care packages and my military care packages under control, I will look into joining The Leftovers Club. It sounds like a lot of fun! Thanks for letting me know about it!
Cassie @ 3Dinosaurs.com says
Those look so yummy! I know my girls would love the baseball ones.
themondaybox says
Thanks, Cassie! The baseball cookies are so easy to decorate and the sugar cookie recipe is a winner!
scatteredsquirrel says
Love the idea of using melted ice-cream. What a great way to send a little love overseas!
themondaybox says
Thanks, Alli! This recipe is very versatile. You can use any flavor of ice cream to create these melt-in-your-mouth treats! At home or in a care package, they are yummy!
Grow It Girl (@GrowItGirl) says
The ice cream and baseball cookies are adorable. I’m sure the package will make someone very happy 🙂
themondaybox says
Thanks, Tiki! I try to put a taste of home in each care package I send. It makes me happy to bake the cookies and create the care packages so I hope I am packing some happiness too! 🙂
enchantedhomeschoolingmom says
This is a fun recipe! I will be adding these to my try list soon 🙂
themondaybox says
Thanks, Jill! These are especially great if you suddenly find that the ice cream got left on the counter and has turned into a foamy liquid! This has happened at my house more than once!
Maureen says
Speechless! I was drawn in by the post title (and the recipe sure doesn’t disappointment), but was overwhelmed with the care packages you are sending to the military. I am in Canada and don’t know of any such program, but you can bet I will be looking into to ASAP!
themondaybox says
Thank you so much, Maureen for your very kind comments! When I started The Monday Box, I had college care packages in mind. Then I was contacted by some military moms and others who volunteer to make sure military men and women know they are appreciated and not forgotten. It was eye opening, to say the least. The Paratrooper I send packages to is the nephew of a woman my husband works with…a stranger to me but a stranger I got permission to send packages to. There are (understandably) a lot of regulations about packages from unknown sources. I did a bit of searching and it seems that most Canadian troops have been or will soon be withdrawn from Afghanistan! Check this link to begin your search. It gives email addresses that you can contact to inquire about further projects to support the troops.
http://www.trevlac.biz/chosen_soldier.html I would love to know what you find out! Thank you again and I hope you will stop by The Monday Box often! 🙂
shannon says
these cookies are absolutely adorable! i always admire a profound use of sprinkles, and any cookie with a cinnamon candy on top is totally great by me. I’ve seen melted ice cream cookie recipes before, but i’ve never tried them; i was skeptical, i’ll admit. but yours look so pretty, Wendy – outside and in! – that now i feel like i have to. 🙂
and those baseball cookies? CUUUUUUTE! i love the whole “using the cookie cutter for a guide for the stitches” technique.
themondaybox says
Thanks, Shannon! Sprinkles do dress up a cookie for any occasion. Plus, profound use of sprinkles=profound happiness. That is a universal truth I try to promote whenever possible. I should have asked you for suggestions when I came up with the idea of making melted ice cream cookies. I had only seen melted ice cream used in cake and had a hard time finding a melted ice cream cookie recipe. Finding a melted ice cream cookie recipe I liked was even harder. In the end, I was quite happy with the flavor and texture of these, though the melted ice cream is only a novelty as far as I can tell. The decorated cookies continue to be my military care package challenge. I love doing it, but I need all of the guides and cheat sheets I can get!
Reeni says
I’m intrigued by the use of ice cream – what a creative cookie!The baseball ones are cute too! You must have a steady hand because I could never make the stitches so straight and perfect. That is a great box full of goodies too and very thoughtful. I bet he loved it – I know I would.
themondaybox says
Thanks, Reeni! The ice cream flavor was very subtle in the cookies but I think it may have contributed to the tender texture. I too was intrigued by the idea of using ice cream in cookies and it fit the theme of the care package! The cheating hint of having lines to follow helped A LOT with the baseballs. I have such admiration for the decorators who make it look so easy. 🙂 Derik sent me a message saying he is a big Cardinals fan and loved the baseball theme. Mission accomplished!
Becca Niederkrom says
These cookies kinda blow my mind, genius!!
themondaybox says
Thanks, Becca! For you I would recommend an ultra chocolaty icecream (like double fudge chip or something like that) with chocolate sprinkles!
Karly says
These cookies are too fun! Your care packages are amazing! Thanks for linkin’ up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
The Monday Box says
Thanks so much, Karly! I do my best to pack as many smiles as possible into the military care packages. 🙂 Thanks for hosting What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
Lisa at Dreams and Caffeine says
These sound delicious! Plus, my kiddos will love the sprinkles! Thank you for sharing!
Cheers,
Lisa at Dreams and Caffeine
The Monday Box says
Thank you, Lisa! These sprinkly cookies are especially fun for kids. The melted ice cream is a unique special ingredient! 🙂
Lisa Pomerantz says
You are a new kind of cooking genius – melt the ice cream into the cookies! WOW! #AwesomeLifeFridays
The Monday Box says
Thanks for the enthusiastic endorsement, Lisa! 🙂 Melted ice cream is a fun special ingredient. I couldn’t send ice cream in my military care packages to the desert, so melted ice cream cookies were my solution! 😉
Melissa says
Wow! These all look amazing! Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty !