Gluten Free Ice Cream Sandwich

What would summer be without ice cream! From cones and sundaes to novelties like ice cream sandwiches, a frozen treat makes a hot summer day special.

If you are living gluten free, however, sometimes you can miss out. But not with these gluten free ice cream sandwiches!

While I am not gluten free myself, I love that I can share special treats with friends on restricted diets and appreciate the great nutrition in chickpea flour! Happy summer!

Sandwich Cookie Dough

• 6 Tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling

• 2 pints of your favorite ice cream (for homemade, consider this dark chocolate ice cream)

Tools

• A slipat for rolling
• parchment paper
• rolling pin
• 8-inch square baking dish
• ice cream scoop (optional)

1. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Blend flour, cocoa powder and salt until well combined. Mix into butter mixture.
2. Divide dough into two balls, wrap and chill in freezer until firm but pliable, about 15 minutes. This is important because the chickpea flour makes a sticky dough.
3. Cut two pieces of 8 x 12 parchment. You will bake on the parchment inside a pan using the extra 2 inches of parchment as a handle to pull the final ice cream sandwiches out of the pan.
4. Remove one pice of dough from the freezer. Leave the other dough piece in the freezer to stay cold.
5. Using the silpat markings as a size guide, roll out an 8 x 8 inch piece of dough between two pieces of floured parchment. If it is sticking, re-chill. Double check that it fits in the pan (my 8 x 8 was slightly smaller)
6. When rolled to size, set the dough topped parchment paper into the baking pan with the parchment ends extending out.

1. Roll out the second piece of dough on to parchment also to an 8 x 8 size. Place back into the freezer for a few minutes to chill again.
2. Remove from freezer, then score into six “sandwich-sized” pieces. Using blunt round object, poke with evenly spaced holes (I used a meat thermometer).
3. Place on a second baking sheet to bake.
4. Bake both layers at 325 degrees for about 10 minutes until done but still soft. Cool slightly, then freeze both layers for at least an hour.

1. Soften the ice cream in the refrigerator until moldable but still frozen.
2. Remove top and bottom sandwich cookie layers from freezer. Leave the the bottom (un-scored) cookie layer in the pan. Top with softened ice cream and smooth it out.
3. Remove the top (scored) layer from its parchment and set on top of the ice cream. Don’t worry if the top breaks along the score lines since you’ll be cutting it apart later. Cover and place back in the freezer until firm.

1. When ice cream is very hard, run knife along the sides of pan without the parchment to loosen. Remove sandwiches from the pan by pulling up on the parchment.
2. Cut sandwiches apart and wrap each one separately (unless you'll be eating them immediately of course!)

Enjoy!!

Note: If you don't need to go gluten free, I have tested these with all purpose flour as well as chickpea flour. Both worked successfully, so take your pick!