Too Many Ice Cream Sandwiches

Null Hypothesis 3 (Ice Cream Sandwiches): Store Bought Ice Cream Sandwiches are Indistinguishable Once Freeze-Dried

Conclusion: We were not able to reject this hypothesis.

Null Hypothesis 4 (Ice Cream Sandwiches): Chocolate and Vanilla Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches are Indistinguishable Once Freeze-Dried

Conclusion: We were not able to reject this hypothesis.

Abstract: We bought ice cream sandwiches and made homemade ice cream sandwiches. We used three types of ice cream (we overcomplicated this by appealing to both the vanilla enthusiasts and the chocolate enthusiasts in our house) plus eight types of cookies. We raced to keep everything frozen, with some success. Then, we freeze-dried all of the sandwiches. Our three test subjects tried a lot of freeze-dried sandwiches. We tested the three brands of store bought ice cream sandwiches against each other. Then we tested six homemade ice cream sandwiches against each other.

Starting Materials:

• 3 - Great Value (Walmart) Neapolitan Ice Cream Sandwiches

• 3 - Nestle Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwiches

• 3 - 365 (Whole Foods) Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwiches

• 12 - Oreo Cookies

• 12 - 365 (Whole Foods) Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

• 12 - Chips Ahoy Cookies

• 12 - Thin Chips Ahoy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 12 - 365 (Whole Foods) Brownie Thins Cookies

• 6 - Tate's Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 6 - Enjoy Life Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 Container Neapolitan Breyers Ice Cream

• 1 Container 365 (Whole Foods) Ice Cream

• 1 Container Vanilla Haagen Dazs Ice Cream

• 1 Container Chocolate Haagen Dazs Ice Cream

• 1 Very complicated chart of the layout of all the trays

Method:

Part 1 - Store Bought Ice Cream Sandwiches

1. Pre-Froze trays to help keep ice cream cold.

2. Cut each sandwich into approximately 8 slices, each about 1/2 inch wide.

3. Arranged store bought ice cream sandwiches with cookies oriented vertically.

4. Put all trays in the freezer overnight.

5. Started freeze drier to the non-liquid, pre-freeze setting (waited 30 mins.)

6. Once the pre-freeze cycle completed, placed the frozen trays in freeze dryer.

7. Started the freeze-drying cycle.

8. Removed trays from freeze-dryer

9. Taste-tested the cookie sections (blind-folded, my kids loved this).

Part 1 Results:

The temperature scanner showed an approximate average temperature of 1___° F across the tray of store bought sandwiches (we use an infrared food thermometer to scan finished trays of food to try and determine if there are ice crystals that measure as cold spots).

The photo below shows the freeze-dried store bought ice cream sandwiches.

Each of our subjects (my wife and two kids) was blind folded. They were not allowed to touch the food so they couldn't easily tell which one was which. We tested the store-bought ice cream sandwiches (vanilla). One tester slightly preferred the Walmart brand sandwich, one tester slightly preferred the 365 Brand sandwich, and one tester couldn't tell a difference. Two of the three testers indicated that they perceived differences in the tastes between the sandwiches.

We noted that several times the testers could not tell whether the ice cream was vanilla or chocolate in the store bought ice cream sandwiches. We suspect this is because the flavor of the cookies actually overpowers the flavor of the ice cream and because the testers cannot smell freeze-dried ice cream. Interestingly, but not relevant, none of the testers showed a preference for the only brand name (Nestle) ice cream sandwiches we tested. So while our testers reported differences between the ice cream sandwiches, they were not accurate in perceiving whether the ice cream was chocolate or vanilla.

Part 2 - Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

1. We worked one tray at a time to keep things frozen.

2. Filled 6 of each of the larger cookie sandwiches with ice cream. One sandwich with each of the flavors of ice cream from each brand of ice cream (each sandwich was different).

3. Filled 12 of the smaller cookie sandwiches with ice cream. Two cookies with each of the flavors of ice cream from each brand of ice cream (two cookies had the same combination)

4. Put all trays in the freezer overnight.

5. Cut the cookies into approximately the same size sections.

6. Started freeze drier to the non-liquid, pre-freeze setting (waited 30 mins.)

7. Once the pre-freeze cycle completed, placed the trays in freeze dryer.

8. Started the freeze-drying cycle.

9. Removed trays from freeze-dryer

10. We taste tested the cookie sections (blind-folded, my kids loved this).

Part 2 Results

The temperature scanner showed an approximate average temperature of 1___° F across the trays of homemade sandwiches (we use an infrared food thermometer to scan finished trays of food to try and determine if there are ice crystals that measure as cold spots).

The photo below shows the two trays of the freeze-dried store homemade cream sandwiches.

We made a lot more cookies than we ended up testing. We narrowed our test to various chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches (with chocolate ice cream) against 365 Whole Foods Brownie Thins ice cream sandwiches with (Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream). Each of our subjects (my wife and two kids) was blind folded. They were not allowed to touch the food so they couldn't easily tell which one was which. We randomly gave them an ice cream sandwich and asked them to identify whether it was a chocolate chip cookie vs. brownie thin and whether it was vanilla or chocolate ice cream. Each of our testers struggled to correctly identify either the cookie type or the ice cream flavor, each having about a 50% accuracy. We randomly repeated cookies as a control.

We were surprised to observe that our testers could not accurately distinguish even between ice cream sandwiches having chocolate chip cookies vs. brownie cookies because the textures are so different and because the base flavor of chocolate chip cookies is not chocolate. We were equally surprised that our testers could not reliably distinguish vanilla ice cream vs. chocolate ice cream in the sandwiches.

General Observations

The freeze-drier completed its ordinary cycle at 20 hours. We added another eight hours so dad wouldn't have to get up at four in the morning. By the end of the entire cycle everything appeared to be dried.

Our actual total starting weight of frozen ice creams sandwiches on the four trays was 6 lb. 1 oz. (not including the trays themselves). We determined the number of sandwiches by the area of the trays and how many sandwiches could be spread out in a single layer on each tray rather than by weight. Our total finished dried weight of sandwiches was about 4 lbs.

This test was way too complicated. I think our excitement over ice cream sandwiches overwhelmed our sense of prudence for what was manageable. If we redid this test we'd separate the two hypotheses and not make so many homemade ice cream (except that this was the fun part, so kind of conflicted there).

If you'd like to get a sense for how overcomplicated this got, take a look at this diagram we used to keep track of what cookies/ice cream were in which locations on the trays.