The weather here has been very typical for winter in the Front Range: Warm then cold, warm then cold 🙂 Sunny almost every day with blue skies, and often windy. The girls and I like to take walks, and the only thing that sometimes stops us is when it’s really really windy. But regardless of the weather, we like to eat ice cream, don’t you?
I made these chocolate chocolate ice cream sandwiches using my chocolate biscotti recipe. I didn’t change it at all, although I left out the mint extract, and baked them differently. You could keep the mint extract, and that would be yummy too.
The Gluten-free cookies
Add to a small bowl:
1/2 cup applesauce with no added sugar
1/4 – 1/2 tsp vanilla liquid stevia (depending on how sweet you want them)
2 tbsp white Chia Seed meal (I grind my seeds in a coffee grinder or Magic Bullet)
-you may be able to substitute an egg for the applesauce and chia, but I haven’t tested it myself
Optional: 1/2 tsp mint extract
Mix with electric mixer.
In a separate bowl combine:
3 cups almond meal (I use Bob’s)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup arrowroot flour
1/4 cup coconut sugar, which is low glycemic index
1 tsp baking soda
Combine the dry and wet ingredients with an electric mixer until the batter gets all sticky.
Scoop your dough onto unbleached parchment paper. Flour the top if necessary and roll out the dough. Cut 12 squares to make 6 cookies. Cookie cutters would work too (and the kids can pick their own shape).
Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.
The Ice Cream
Cool the cookies then freeze them before adding the ice cream (this just makes them easier to assemble). I used my own homemade dairy-free chocolate ice cream from my book, but you could use store-bought too (like Tempt or Coconut Bliss).
Let the ice cream soften on the counter before assembling the sandwiches. Eat right away or freeze for later.
A few notes on homemade frozen custard and ice cream:
If you’ve ever left your homemade ice cream in the freezer for more than a few hours, you know that it freezes really hard. It comes out looking like a block of ice. Don’t worry 🙂 Leave it on the counter for 30 minutes or so, depending on the kind of ice cream and how deep the dish is. Custard takes less time to soften.
Store bought ice cream is softer straight from the freezer because commercial machines are capable of adding much more air to store bought ice cream. Also, many companies add lots of ingredients to prevent the ice cream from freezing.
♥, Kelly
Danielle says
Wow Amazing looking!!!
Lexie says
Yummy, yum, yum!!
Anonymous says
Oooh, these look amazing! I haven’t had a good ice cream sandwich since I went grain free, so these are for sure a must try on my list! Quick question though, are these cookies made to be frozen? Can I put the sandwiches together and then freeze them for later consumption or do I have to eat them straightaways? Oh, and can honey sub for coconut sugar atm? My local Whole Foods stopped selling coconut sugar and no place else sells it, so i’m stuck with honey until the sugar I ordered online arrives, boo. 🙁
Wow, that was more than one quick question. 😉
maggie says
I’m coming over for one of these babies! Oh my. Thanks for the note about homemade ice cream, it’s so true but it’s so worth it. Who knows what they put in it to stay fluffy and easy to scoop. Ice cream is worth the wait! Love your pic! Totally pinteresting – hehe.
The Gluten-free 'Dish' says
Oh, wow! Looks wonderful! We miss ice cream sandwiches. xo
Debbie says
When I make coconut milk ice cream, I add just a teaspoon of vodka (per can of coconut milk)to the custard and it helps with the rock-hard problem, as well as mitigates against ice crystals.
Kelly says
Thanks guys!
Anonymous, Freezing the cookies first makes the ice cream sandwiches easier to put together is all. We don’t eat them right away. And I think honey will work.
Debbie, Great tip!
Julie R says
These look SO good! Thanks for posting!
smplocher says
Good note to remember about the hardness of homemade ice cream. I was a bit puzzled as to why mine was so hard and a bit disheartened frankly. THANKS for the reminder! :-)AND…the ice cream sandwiches look yummy. Can’t wait to give ’em a whirl.
Noelle says
These look pretty amazing! YUM! DO you grind your own almonds for the flour? Where do you buy in bulk?
Beth @ Tasty Yummies says
These look so incredible! YUM!
I am currently 2 weeks in on removing dairy from my diet. I am not sure if this is permanent yet or not, but I can say that going through all of your recipes (this one included) it isn’t nearly as scary a thought to be gluten-free and dairy-free!
Ellen Allard says
Hi Kelly – my sister went cold turkey (pardon the pun) vegan about a month ago. She’s been looking for an oil-free cookie and I think this does the trick. I’ve already emailed her a link to this post. Thank you!!!! And also, you’ve used my favorite sweetener combo – coconut sugar and stevia! Yum!
M-A-D Momma says
These look delish!! My son is just recently beginning to tolerate various food textures, so I hope I can get him to eat the cookie part when I try these out! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Dr. Tonia Winchester says
Num nums! Also delicious rolling out the dough and cutting with a knife circles large enough to drape over the bottom of muffin tins to make cookie bowls! Husband approved! Thanks again.
Pam Strong says
Wow! We love your Dairy-Free Ice Cream Book, and have eaten Vanilla, Blueberry, Mint Chocolate Chip, Strawberry, Chocolate! MMM! Except for the Chocolate: question about the dates. The chocolate ice cream did not scoop out like the others, but crumbled and tasted crumbly. I used regular dates: do you always use Medjool dates? Perhaps I could just use 1/2 cup honey instead. Thoughts?
Thanks for the NUMMY Scrumpdeliumptious ice cream!!!!
Nancy Olson says
Yummy treat for this New year. I love it.
Thanks for sharing.
~N