Those of us who live in Maine have the opportunity to experience the Harbor Bar, a frozen delight first introduced to me by Kelly, one of the partners at Sephone, during a particularly rough period at work. For those of you who are unenlightened, a Harbor Bar is a chocolate chip cookie vanilla ice cream sandwich encased in a chocolate shell. I usually pick them up at either the Jordan Pond Gift Shop or at the Hull’s Cove General Store in Bar Harbor (get it? Bar Harbor? Harbor Bar?).
Recently I decided to make one for myself. I’d made a batch of chocolate chip cookies, and, as is often the case, my freezer was stocked with various kinds of ice cream. I chose to up the ante a bit: I replaced the normal vanilla ice cream with some Edy’s Cookies ‘n Cream yogurt. (Note that I used frozen yogurt. That makes this treat healthy, of course.) I melted some chocolate chips and butter together, dipped the sandwiches in, and voila: the JARbor Bar.
Rest assured, I’ll be trying this again. They’re a bit messy at first; it pays to let them sit in the freezer for a while, though it’s tough to resist a taste as you make them. The next time around I’ll probably try freezing the sandwiches first, dipping them in chocolate after the ice cream has frozen up a bit, and then freezing the sandwiches again to minimize meltage. But really, a little bit of a mess is well worth the reward.