Ice Cream Social - Lavender Cookie Bars

Repost-------When I think of old fashioned ice cream socials, I think of a small town in my area that steps back in time each summer. The Millers Mills ice harvest each February is a community event where young and old pitch in to saw ice by hand into blocks to be drawn by horses to the ice house. The ice is then used to chill ice cream for the summer ice cream social. In 1983 Charles Kuralt came to Millers Mills to the Ice Cream Social for his show “On The Road”. That clip can still be seen today from time to time on the Travel Channel.

The inspiration behind the Lavender Cookie Bars that I served at my ice cream social came from the Garden and Herb Fest that I attend every June in my area.  At the fest, they had many different food items made with herbs, including the lavender cookie bars. I didn't have a recipe, and was surprised I couldn't find anything similar on the internet, so played around with a few recipes and had success.



So, off I went to my lavender patch, and came up with this recipe.

Debbie's Lavender Cookie Bars
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups soft butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup white chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons chopped lavender

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, with electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture. Stir in chips. Spread evenly in an ungreased 15 x 10-inch shallow-rimmed pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool in pan. Cut into bars.

I topped my bars with black cherry ice cream which is my absolute favorite flavor (strawberry and chocolate are not too far behind). I opened the box of ice cream, and quickly cut it into slices. I placed the ice cream slices on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and put in the freezer until solid. Then I wrapped the slices individually with wax paper, and put in zip loc bags.