This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy.
These healthy vegan ice cream sandwiches are out of control! Chocolate chip “nice cream” sandwiched between two raw chocolate cookies, dipped in chocolate? These healthy vegan ice cream sandwiches are basically about to be your breakfast, lunch, and dinner… If you’re looking for healthy paleo ice cream sandwiches, you’ve come to the right place, my friend!
Remember the paper-wrapped ice cream sandwiches of your childhood? They accompanied every field day or ice cream party at school, letting them melt a bit before ripping off the wrapper in strategic strips. You wanted the ice cream to be just melty enough, the cookie to be just soft enough, all held together with the zigzag-edge paper.
I equate ice cream sandwiches with the best part of summer: the leisure, the indulgences, the sticky weather forcing you to reach for the ice cream over and over and over. But since I’ve outgrown those elastic waist gym shorts of my youth, I decided it was time I outgrew the ice cream sandwiches that went along with them!
These healthy vegan ice cream sandwiches are the byproduct of a mad scientist moment, piecing together inspiration from recipe after recipe, pushing how delicious it could possibly sound to me. It went something like this…
Healthy vegan ice cream sandwiches? Yas. On it. Doing it rn.
Wait, healthy vegan ice cream sandwiches…. with chocolate chip ice cream? Ohhhh girl, you stop, you stop right now. No, don’t stop, make that shit right away.
SHOULD I DIP IT IN CHOCOLATE WAIT WHY AM I ASKING OF COURSE I SHOULD DIP IT IN CHOCOLATE MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
…or so an internal text message conversation would have gone. With myself, of course. With myself.
But the insanity? Worth it. These treats come together quickly using a food processor, relying on almost entirely healthy ingredients: dates, cacao or cocoa powder, bananas, almond flour, coconut oil, and a few others. What’s that you say? Health food?
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Truly, though, I’ve been noshing on these little chocolate-dipped cubes of deliciousness for over a week now, and I can’t get over how the chocolate chip banana nice cream melts perfectly, just like the kitschy snack we craved as kids. The chocolate cookie is chewy but tender, and the chocolate shell is crunchy but so rich.
In short? They’re kind of perfect for warm weather, especially if you’re trying to rev up your summer bliss: indulging in things that make you feel good, not just things that taste good. They’re versatile, too: fill them with pretty much any nice cream recipe you’ve got, and you’re set! You could also dip the entire damn thing in chocolate, with little-to-no judgment from me. Or dip none of it in chocolate, with a lot of judgment from me.
Hey… if someone sanctions chocolate-dipping, you always dip. You heard me?! OK, now run along and make these.
To make these healthy vegan ice cream sandwiches, I used…
Healthy Vegan Ice Cream Sandwiches
Ingredients
Cookie:
- 1 cup dates , pitted. Preferably Medjool
- ¾ cup coconut flour
- ½ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup dairy-free chocolate chips , like Enjoy Life, melted
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 Pinch salt
- 1 1/2+ tablespoons water , depending on how wet or dry your dates are
Chocolate Chip Nice Cream:
- 3 medium bananas , sliced and frozen
- ½ cup coconut cream , from a can
- 1-2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips , like Enjoy Life
- ¼ cup refined coconut oil
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Chocolate Cookies
- In the bowl of a food processor, add dates. Process until dates are smooth - they will form a ball. Add almond and coconut flours and process until mixture is uniform. Then add melted chocolate chips, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and pinch of salt and process until well incorporated and uniform. Add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of water to moisten the mixture, if necessary; mixture should be moist and crumbly, resembling potting soil. You might need to add a bit less water or a bit more, all depending on how moist your dates are to start with.
- When mixture is moist but still crumbly, turn out from bowl of food processor and divide into two even portions: about 250g (or about 1 cup) per portion. Press one half into bottom of parchment-lined loaf pan and freeze for 15 minutes. Keep other half of cookie mixture at room temperature.
Chocolate Chip Nice Cream
- Place frozen banana slices, coconut cream, and maple syrup in clean bowl of food processor and process until very, very smooth (a high-speed blender also works). Scrape out of bowl or blender and stir in chocolate chips. Spoon on top of chilled cookie layer (in loaf pan) and return to freezer.
- Freeze for 2 hours, stirring every half hour or so, to prevent ice forming.
- Ice Cream Sandwiches
- Once nice cream is totally frozen, press the remaining half of cookie mixture on top of frozen nice cream layer. Return to freezer and freeze until solid, about 30 minutes to an hour.
Chocolate Shell for Dipping
- In a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips, coconut oil, and vanilla extract. Microwave one minute, then stir very well. Continue microwaving in 30-second bursts, stirring very well in between bursts, until totally melted and smooth. Alternately, melt the chocolate shell ingredients over a simmering double boiler.
- Pour melted chocolate mixture into a medium bowl that's not too wide, allowing the mixture to come up at least halfway.
- Once ice cream sandwiches are frozen, lift out using the parchment overhanging the sides of your loaf pan. Cut into about 8 equal cubes. Holding on corner, dip ice cream sandwich cubes into melted chocolate mixture, letting excess drip off. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining cubes. Once all cubes are dipped, return baking sheet to freezer to harden for about 10 minutes.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
Did You Make This Recipe?
Tag @40aprons on Instagram and be sure to leave a review on the blog post!
Never Miss A Meal!
New Recipes Straight To Your Inbox
A curated selection of our most recent recipes, delivered straight to your inbox once a week.
Leave A Review
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Can I just use coconut flour instead of coconut and almond? Thank you!
We’ve only tested it with the almond flour as this type of ratio replicates the properties of all purpose flour the most.
Is there anything you can sub for the bananas?
The bananas make up the base for the ice cream here so it’d be hard to substitute anything in their place. However, you could use really any “nice cream” recipe you like! Try the base for this recipe, just leave out the cookie dough part (OR don’t – sounds amazing to have cookie dough ice cream sandwiches!): https://40aprons.com/paleo-cookie-dough-ice-cream-vegan/
Looks so delicious! I am going to try this on the weekend!
Just one question, in the recipe I see that I’m to add chocolate chips to the ice cream mixture. But I don’t see the the chocolate chips listed in the ingredients for the ice cream. (I see some in the cookie and in the Shell dipping sauce.)
Can I use all coconut flour and zero almond meal/flour? I don’t have any in my pantry!! Haha
Ummm, I’m not sure, since coconut flour is quite drying. What you might be able to do, actually, is sub out walnuts! Do you have any of those? Or whole almonds and just blitz the bejeezus out of them. Check out my (seriously ridiculous unbelievably delicious) chocolate cherry raw brownies – they do something similar. I think that would work!
https://40aprons.com/raw-iced-chocolate-cherry-brownies/
Someone in my family is allergic to nuts so my pantry is nut-free, haha!!
That’s why 🙁
Oh! OK. So… the only thing I can think of that could really replace nuts entirely would be oats. Do you eat those?
Yes! I sure do!! Loveee oats!!
That would probably work then! You might need to alter the liquid but I think it’d be a great starting place 🙂