Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies

Happy 4th July weekend conscious foodies! My roommate's family have invited us to a sort of 'potluck' cookout (complete with fireworks...of course!) to celebrate, and as gluten free, vegan options are often quite limited, I'm making these little bites of yumminess to take with us for dessert. If you're looking for yummy gluten free, vegan recipe ideas for 4th July, these Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies are most definitely for you.

Ingredients
For the cookies:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chia seed meal
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups teff flour (this is actually gluten free, I discovered it a few months ago at the market, I used brown as I thought it gave the cookies a nicer color)
• 2/3 cup gluten free brown rice syrup
• 1 teaspoon gluten free vanilla extract
• 1 cup almond butter (I think the smooth kind works best in this recipe)

For the ice-cream:

• 3 large bananas (peeled, sliced & frozen)
• 3 tablespoons soy milk (unsweetened vanilla would taste really good, but normal works)
• 2 teaspoons gluten free vanilla extract

To make the ice cream filling chocolate flavor, add 2 tablespoons cocoa powder. Or, if you have an ice cream maker, you could make my coconut milk ice-cream.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line a really large (or 2 small) cookie sheet with baking parchment paper.
2. Stir the chia seed meal into the applesauce & set aside.
3. Sift together the cocoa powder, four, & baking powder.
4. In a small sauce-pan over a very low heat, gently warm the almond butter, as it softens add the syrup & vanilla extract. Take the pan off the heat & stir through.
5. Add the almond butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix together until fully combined.
6. Roll out your cookie dough to the desired thickness, (I like mine quite thin.. a bit less than 1cm thick. You may have to adjust the cooking time) and cut into rectangles.
7. Arrange the dough on the cookie sheets, leaving a couple of inches between each one.
8. Bake in the oven for 7-10mins. Do not overbake, they should still be quite soft.
9. Let them cool, and harden slightly. If you're not assembling the sandwiches straight away you can freeze them in an air tight container or ziplock baggie, until you're ready.
10. Take the bananas out of the freezer and place in a blender or vitamix. Pulse a few times adding in the soy milk and vanilla extract as you do.
11. You can then either, if you like you're ice cream a more 'soft-servey' texture, make the sandwich cookies straight away, or you could re-freeze the ice-cream for a little while to let it firm up, like I did. I did however, sneak one 'soft-serve' style, because they looked too darn delicious!
12. I then, used a cookie cutter to get the ice cream in the same rectangle shape as the cookies, assembled it between two of them, and then used a spoon, to the neaten up the sides. Repeat with all the cookies.
13. Serve, and enjoy! YUM-my! :)

Coconut Ice-Cream

If like me you have a huge sweet tooth (& a bit of a thing for desserts) this ice-cream recipe is for you. It is so simple to make. It's also a way for you to indulge healthily, so you don't need to feel guilty either! I use agave nectar too, as I try to avoid sugar. One downside to this recipe is that you do need an ice-cream maker, but you can pick them up really inexpensively now. Plus, you will love this recipe so much, you will definitely want to make it again and again. It's perfect for a treat snuggled up on the sofa watching a film. It's a bowl of love and yumminess!

Ingredients

• 1 can coconut milk (it's best to avoid lite varieties as this makes the consistency too solid)
• 1/2 cup dessicated coconut
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 'goodness' sprinkles of your choice, examples i've used- vegan chocolate chips, fresh bluberries, or cacao nibs

Directions

1. Soak the coconut in the coconut milk for a few minutes in a bowl.
2. Add the agave nectar to it.
3. Take the freezer bowl out of the freezer & assemble and turn on the ice cream maker.
4. Pour in the coconut milk mixture.
5. Now you just have to sit back and let the ice cream maker do it's thing! It's that simple!!!

You can either eat it as soon as it's ready, when it resembles a softer 'frozen yoghurt' style texture, or you can transfer it to a different container and let it harden in the freezer for a while. Make sure you let it thaw for a few minutes before you eat it though.

Then all you need to do is sprinkle on your 'goodies' and serve! And there you have it yummy (&healthy) homemade gluten-free vegan ice cream, and cheaper than a tub from the market too.

I've also made this recipe with fresh mango. Which was a super delicious and refreshing alternative. If you want to give it a try as well, all you need to do is take one mango, puree half of it, & add it to the ice cream maker straight after the coconut mix. Then while it's freezing, cube the other half of the mango and add it in about 2 minutes before it's ready, and it's done. Simple!