Gluten & Dairy Free Ice Cream Sandwiches
These homemade ice cream sandwiches taste like the classic, but are gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free. Delicious vanilla ice cream is sandwiched between stick to your fingers chocolate cookie, just like when you were a kid!
Servings 8 sandwiches
Equipment
Ingredients
Cookie Base
- ½ cup 1:1 gluten free flour
- 2 tablespoon tapioca starch
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (vegan) melted butter or coconut oil
- ¾ cup coconut sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tablespoon milk of choice
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Ice Cream
- homemade vanilla ice cream OR
- 2 pints (dairy free) vanilla ice cream
Instructions
Ice Cream
- If you are making your own ice cream, be sure to make this ahead of time so it is ready to go. You will want to take the ice cream out about 10-30 minutes before ready to use (depending on how hot your kitchen is) so it is nice and soft.
Cookie Base
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Whisk the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
- Beat the melted butter and sugar together until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, milk, and vanilla and beat to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat on low until just combined.
- Line a 10x15inch baking pan with parchment paper (You could get away with using a bigger pan and not spreading the batter all the way out or use a 9x13 inch baking dish. Your cookies will just be slightly thicker and sandwiches slightly smaller).
- Spread the batter out evenly over the baking pan, trying to get even edges and a nice thin layer.
- Bake the cookie base for 10 minutes.
- Let the base completely cool for at least an hour before assembling the sandwiches.
Assembly
- Pull your ice cream out of the freezer 10-30 minutes before ready to assemble. You don't want it to be melted, but it should be very soft and spreadable.
- Place a medium cutting board or flat plate that is freezer safe (and fits into your freezer- check this before starting!) on the counter. Next, place two long pieces of plastic wrap in a cross over the cutting board.
- Trim the edges of your ice cream sandwich cookie base if desired then cut in half. GENTLY slide one half into the middle of your cutting board/plastic wrap.
- Spread your homemade ice cream or about 1.5-2 pints of vanilla ice cream of choice over one half of the cookie base. Work gently and use as much or as little ice cream as you want. I like about an inch thick of ice cream.
- Adding the top part of the cookie is hard since it is fragile, but do your best to flip the other half of the cookie base onto the top of your ice cream. Line everything up then tightly wrap up the sandwiches in the plastic wrap. Wrapping tightly holds everything together while the ice cream is soft. The plate/cutting board provides a sturdy support as the sandwiches freeze.
- Place the sandwiches in the freezer for at least 4-6 hours, preferably overnight to allow the ice cream to fully set.
- When ready, slice into 8 sandwiches.
- I like to wrap each sandwich individually in plastic wrap or parchment paper then store in a freezer safe bag or container until ready to eat. Pull one out on a hot summer afternoon and enjoy!