Take the food truck concept, add icy sweets – and you get Eskimo Jack’s Artisan Cookies + Ice Cream, an Oakland County treat.
“There’s something about ice cream sandwiches that takes you back to your childhood,” says founder and Farmington Hills dad Josh Charlip. “It brings that twinkle to your eye.”After visiting a famous ice cream sandwich store in California, he thought, “Why not offer a similar service in Michigan?” It started taking shape four years ago.
It helped that Charlip wasn’t a novice when it came to the food business – or baking. He already had two bustling bagel shops in Birmingham and Southfield. “I always really liked ice cream, and I have an entrepreneur spirit,” Charlip explains. “I’ve built The Original Bagel Factory from the ground up.”
Charlip now offers made-to-order concoctions in his bagel shops – and, since last year, his Eskimo Jack’s food truck. He’s found the most popular picks are mint chocolate-chip ice cream between double-chocolate cookies and Superman ice cream with M&M’s cookies.
For home cooks, Charlip says, “I think there’s value in not taking any shortcuts. We hand-crack all our eggs and use real vanilla and real butter.” His daughter, Emeri, 3, agrees. Her current ice cream fave? Mint chocolate chip.
Here, Charlip shares a recipe for peppermint-candy double-chocolate chip cookies and – if you have an ice cream maker – easy vanilla ice cream.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. peppermint extract
- 2 large eggs
- 4 candy canes or 16 red-and-white-striped hard peppermint candies, coarsely crushed
Ice cream
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 vanilla bean, scraped
Directions
Cookies (makes 50)
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Line two large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Stir two cups chocolate chips in medium metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Measure 2/3 cup melted chocolate; transfer to small metal bowl and reserve for drizzling.
- Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until creamy. Add sugar and both extracts; beat until smooth. Add eggs; beat to blend. Beat in melted chocolate from medium bowl. Add dry ingredients; beat just to blend. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Measure 1 level tablespoon dough; roll dough between palms to form ball. Place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing cookies 1 1/2 inches apart.
- Bake cookies until cracked all over and tester inserted into center comes out with large moist crumbs attached, 8-9 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes. Transfer cookies on parchment paper to racks to cool completely.
Ice cream (makes 1 quart)
- Combine cream, milk, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan and heat until sugar is completely dissolved.
- Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and stir into the cream mixture just before removing from the heat.
- Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator or in an ice bath until completely cool.
- Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
The Original Bagel Factory (home to Eskimo Jack’s)
- Southfield: 24551 W. 12 Mile Road; 248-352-5695
- Birmingham: 1120 E. Lincoln St., 248-433-1133
- Hours: 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 6:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
