Strawberry Coconut Ice Cream Sandwiches(with Vegan Whole Wheat Chocolate Cookies)

Makes approximately 2 dozen 2″x3″ sandwiches

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

• 1 1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 C oil
• 1/3 C honey or maple syrup
• 1/4 C brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp milk(dairy or non-dairy is fine)
• flour, for rolling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper baking mats.

In a small bowl combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  In a medium sized bowl combine the oil, honey or maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla and milk.  Stir to combine.  Add in the dry ingredients and stir well.  once completely combined, place in the freezer for 10 minutes before rolling or the fridge for 30 minutes.  Remove the dough, divide in half and roll to 1/4″ thick, using plenty of flour to prevent sticking.  Cut out cookies and place on prepared baking sheets, re rolling the dough to cut out more cookies.  Repeat with the other half of dough.  Until all cut into cookies.  Bake cookies for 10-13 minutes until barely darker around the edges and dry looking on top, switching baking sheets half way through the baking time.  Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes:

I use melted coconut oil for the oil but any flavorless, light oil will work

Strawberry Vanilla Bean Coconut Ice Cream

• 2 cans full fat coconut milk
• 1 vanilla bean
• pinch sea salt
• 1/2 C honey
• 2 C strawberries, frozen and chopped

Gently warm up the coconut milk on the stove.  Slice the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the pot and put the empty bean in the pot too.  Simmer for 5-6 minutes before removing from the heat and stirring in the salt and honey.  Stir until completely dissolved.  Pour into a container(or large measuring cup with a spout for easy pouring. and place in the fridge overnight or just until completely chilled.  When ready to make the ice cream, remove the mixture from the fridge,m remove the vanilla bean and stir in the coconut fat that has separated.  Freeze according to the directions on your ice cream maker.  When done, stir in the chopped, already frozen strawberries and pour onto a rimmed baking sheet and spread out to the thickness desired for sandwiches.

Alternatively, place mixture in a loaf pan in the freezer.  Every 30 minutes stir well, removing the hardened pieces from the edge and stirring in.  When almost frozen too much to stir, stir in the strawberries and pour on a rimmed baking sheet and spread to the thickness desired and freeze completely.

Notes:

I don’t really enjoy this ice cream without the strawberries because the honey can be overwhelming.  I’m sure it would be delicious using 1/3 C honey or possibly even a combination of honey and your favorite sugar.

To assemble the ice cream sandwiches:

Cut the ice cream(if you used a cookie cutter for the cookies, use the same cookie cutter – if not a sharp knife will do).  Place between two cookies and place on a baking sheet or in a container back in the freezer until ready to serve.

Alternatively, you can freeze this ice cream in a loaf pan or your favorite container for ice cream and leave on the counter for 10-15 minutes before scooping ice cream to fill the sandwiches.