Raw Vegan Blueberry Ice Cream Sandwiches
I love ice cream sandwiches. And these raw vegan ice cream sandwiches taste way better than the fake stuff you could buy at the store. These are creamy, chewy, salty, and sweet, my all time favorite thing to eat after a yoga class, for a mid afternoon snack, or even for breakfast sometimes (Mom, hope you are not reading this!) They are full of nutrients and whole foods: coconut, bananas, cashew, avocado, dates, and oats.
This ice cream sandwich cookie was born a few days ago, when I started to miss gluten on the Elimination Diet (if you missed my note on that, head over to this post: http://www.leefromamerica.com/recipes/2016/2/29/raw-vegan-chunky-monkey-fudge)
So, I'm on day 6 of the diet. I have been missing my gluten in the form of bread. And I have also been missing my peanuts in the form of peanut butter. Eliminating gluten, soy, and peanuts is a full time job. You have to check the labels for everything, and if you dare eat out, you must call a place ahead and ask them 20 questions, like, "Is there soy in the chocolate?" It's pretty cumbersome. Also, I don't really trust a restaurant staff to successfully let me know all the ingredients of their food. So, I prefer not to eat out very much during this elimination diet unless I am 100% sure. Therefore, when it comes to sweets, I'm making them myself!
The delicious snickerdoodle cookie that makes up my blueberry ice cream sandwiches.
I think the cookie layer is my favorite part of this entire recipe. It's so salty and perfectly spiced, and melts in your mouth. It's divine. Make some extra dough and eat it plain! Enjoy these delectable, raw, vegan, and totally delicious treats. Until next time!
Cookie Layer:
1 cup Bob's Red Mill Coconut Flakes
1 cup Bob's Red Mill Certified Gluten Free Rolled Oats
1 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tbsp freshly ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp freshly grated and peeled ginger
Ice Cream Layer:
1 cup soaked raw unsalted cashews
4 frozen bananas
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 frozen avocado
1 cup frozen blueberries
2 tbsp Navitas Natural lacuma powder
1/2 scoop of Aloha Vanilla Protein Powder
Instructions:
Start by making your cookie layer. Using a Vitamix or another high voltage mixing machine (like a food processor), add your pitted dates, salt, coconut flakes, and oats. Mix/blend until a dough like consistency is reached. If it's too wet, add more oats. If it's too dry, add a few more dates. It should look dark, like cookie dough.
Add your spices and blend for 5 more seconds.
Remove the dough from the blender and lay it flat on a piece of plastic wrap on top of a countertop or large cutting board. Now this part is tricky, so pay close attention to this step. Get your dough to lay flat and thin, maybe 1/4" thick. Use a rolling pin if you have one! I don't, so I put another piece of plastic wrap on top and then just pushed it down as evenly as possible with my hands.
Using a cup or circular cookie cutter, push down and cut out circular cookie shapes. Make sure you have an even number as there will be two cookies per sandwich. Lay flat on a plate and stick in freezer. Any excess dough can be rolled up into balls and saved for later. Or snack on them now, you decide.
Now, make the ice cream layer.
Place the soaked raw cashews, almond milk, avocado and frozen banana in a blender. Blend until smooth. Add the blueberries and the rest of the ingredients. Pour into a metal square baking tin, and flatten the top of your ice cream with a spatula. You want this ice cream layer to be about 1.5" thick. 2" max! This is the innards of your ice cream sammie.
Place in the freezer, flat, for 3 hours.
Remove the ice cream from the freezer, and let thaw for an hour if it's too frozen.
Lay your cookies out on a cutting board.
Using the same cookie cutter or cup that you used to make the cookies, cut ice cream circles in the ice cream.
Place one ice cream circle on top of a cookie, and then immediately place another cookie on top. Voila! These are your ice cream sandwiches. Keep in a freezer-safe container in the freezer for up to 3 weeks. Best enjoyed within a week though so they don't get freezer burnt. Feel free to roll them in coconut flakes or vegan chocolate chips, even pistachios!
Enjoy!
