Pooja Bavishi knows a thing or two about ice cream. She’s the founder and CEO of Malai ice cream, and she’s penned the book Malai: Frozen Desserts Inspired by South Asian Flavors. That said, we can admit that making ice cream treats at home sounds borderline impossible (and by that we mean really, really tedious). Why craft a bespoke ice cream sandwich when you can go pick up a pack at the store, after all?

Bavishi believes that you can revolutionize that approach a couple of super simple ingredients that will guarantee success: All you’ll need is white bread and ghee.

White bread?, you might think. Really? Trust us — this pantry staple can be used for a lot more than a plain PB&J.

“The day I learned that basic white sandwich bread could be used as a crust for desserts, my life changed,” Bavishi writes. “Suddenly, I did not have to plan ahead to make a pie or a tart. Rolled out and baked, white sandwich bread can be the perfect liner for stewed berries, custard, and, yes, ice cream.”

“Here,” she continues, “instead of using the bread as a pie crust, I fry up slices to make ice cream sandwiches — a true dessert sandwich.” The lightly nutty notes in the ghee will elevate whatever ice cream you use, while the lightly toasted bread will add textural variation that you can’t get from the grocery store. Plus, coating the fried bread in a sweet-salty cardamom spice mixture will clinch your new passion for homemade ice cream sandwiches. You can break out the recipe to cool down in the summer months, but we suspect this dessert will be outstanding any time of year.

Easiest Ice Cream Sandwiches

Makes 3 sandwiches

Ingredients

6 slices white sandwich bread, such as Wonder Bread
3 teaspoons ghee
1 tablespoon granulated cane sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 pint ice cream, any flavor

Instructions

Cut the crusts off all the bread slices. Using a rolling pin, roll out each slice until it’s flattened and as thin as possible.
Using a 2–3-inch round cookie cutter or an overturned water glass, trace and cut out a circle from each bread slice.
In a small nonstick frying pan, heat 1½ teaspoons of the ghee over medium-high heat. While the ghee is heating, in a shallow bowl, stir together the sugar, salt, and cardamom.
When the ghee is hot, place 3 bread circles in the pan and fry until golden brown on the underside, 1–1½ minutes. Flip the bread circles and fry on the second side until golden brown, 1–1½ minutes.
Using a spatula, immediately transfer the bread circles to the sweet-salty cardamom mixture, coating the circles on both sides, and transfer to a large plate. Add the remaining 1½ teaspoons ghee to the pan and fry and then coat the remaining bread circles the same way.
Top 3 fried bread circles with a scoop of ice cream. Place another fried bread circle on top of each scoop and enjoy right away.