My husband bought me an ice cream maker for my birthday a few years ago, and now every year when my birthday rolls around he likes to mention how I’ve only made ice cream in it twice. So, he is probably going to kill me for the fact that the first ice cream recipe I post on the blog does not include an ice cream maker, but c’est la vie!
These peanut butter and banana ice cream sandwiches are so freakin’ good that I wanted everyone to be able to enjoy them! Ice cream maker or no ice cream maker. A while ago I saw this awesome looking banana ice cream recipe on Pinch of Yum and I thought that the idea of making ice cream out of bananas was genius! We have a special place that we go out for ice cream to every few months and I always get the banana ice cream with peanuts on top. It is so creamy and delicious, but I only allow myself to eat it every so often. I figured that if I could make banana ice cream without a bunch of milk, cream, and sugar then there would be no reason for me not to eat it all the time!
I wasn’t quite sure what the texture was going to be like, but it is literally so creamy and so delicious that you almost forget that it is dairy free. This ice cream is also so easy to make that you will be making it all summer long! I added some cashew cream to mine to make sure it stayed really creamy when I froze it for the ice cream sandwiches, but if you are planning on eating them fairly soon after you make them, you could probably skip that step. You start out by cutting the bananas into bite size pieces and then you freeze them. Once they are frozen, you add them, along with a few other things, to a powerful blender and then you get ice cream! (FYI: the little pieces of frozen bananas make awesome summer snacks!)
I’ve been planning an ice cream sandwich recipe for sometime now, and when I finally decided on banana ice cream I just knew that the sandwich part had to be peanut butter flavored! Peanut butter and bananas are like Kim and Kanye, meant to be! Kinda just kidding with that last one, but I do have to admit that I’ve been binge watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians ever since I found out that I could buy the new episodes off of Amazon. Please don’t judge me!
I adapted this peanut butter cookie recipe from Blissful Basil. I just loved that it was both vegan and gluten free, so all my vegan friends out there can enjoy this too! I smashed the cookie dough down to cover the bottom of the pan and slightly under-baked it so it stays pretty soft even after you freeze it. I also added some fork marks on top to look like peanut butter cookies, but that step is completely optional!
Please allow me to complain for one second, photographing ice cream sandwiches outside is no easy task when it is 100 + degrees outside! The first batch of photos that I took literally looked like a hot mess. Surprisingly my perfectionist side won out over my lazy side and I did the shoot again the next day when it wasn’t quite as hot out. These ice cream sandwiches are definitely delicious to eat when it is 100+ degress outside, so it was all worth it! Enjoy!
Peanut Butter & Banana Ice Cream Sandwiches {gluten free + vegan}
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Cookies:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter, no stir
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- 2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips, dairy free if necessary
Banana Ice Cream:
- 4 ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked in water overnight and rinsed and drained
- 3/4 cup almond milk, divided
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
Instructions
Peanut Butter Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, cream together the peanut butter and brown sugar for about 1 minute. Then add in the vanilla extract and maple syrup and mix again until combined.
- In a medium sized bowl add the oat flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until combined.
- Slowly add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture in two batches and mix until everything is combined. Add the almond milk and mix again. Add the mini chocolate chips and gently mix into the cookie dough with a spoon or you can use your hand.
- Divide the cookie dough in half. Line a 9×13 inch baking dish with parchment paper and press in half of the dough mixture. You want the cookie dough to cover the entire pan in a thin layer.
- Place the pan into the oven and bake for 12 minutes. The cookie dough may seem underdone, but it will firm up a little as it cools and then it will firm up even more when you freeze it. Lift the cookie dough out of the pan by the parchment paper and set on a cooling rack.
- Repeat the same process for the 2nd half of the cookie dough. Let ice cream sandwich cookies cool.
Banana Ice Cream:
- Cut the bananas into small pieces and freeze for at least 2 hours.
- Add the soaked cashews to a blender with 1/4 cup of almond milk. Blend for about 30 seconds – 1 minutes, until it has a creamy texture.
- Next, add the frozen bananas, maple syrup, and 1 /2 cup almond milk and blend until you get a creamy mixture, about 2 – 3 minutes. You may have to adjust the bananas as you go and mix it up to make sure the blades can get to all the bananas.
Ice Cream Sandwiches:
- Line the 9×13 inch pan with parchment paper. Carefully flip the peanut butter sandwich cookie upside down (this step isn’t necessary, but it will make the top look better). Slowly slide the cookie onto the parchment paper. Top with the banana ice cream and spread around evenly. Carefully slide the second piece of peanut butter cookie on top of the ice cream.
- Place ice cream sandwiches into the freezer and freeze for at least 2 hours. When ready to eat, slice into desired ice cream bar sizes.
Notes
If the bars have been in the freezer overnight, you may want to let them sit out for just a few minutes before enjoying them.
- Category: Dessert, Gluten Free, Vegan
Throwback Thursday picture of baby Cheeto!
Pictures look great! Congratulations for having this wonderful sensual recipe on Buzzfeed!
These look amazing — I’ve just made mine today and am leaving them in the freezer over night, so tomorrow morning I will find check how they turned out!
I did have a couple of difficulties though, my cookie dough ended up being so sticky it was hard to stop it from sticking to my fingers or utensils as I was putting it in the pan to go into the oven, also my ice cream was slightly runny (but I think I may have put in a little too much almond milk so that ones on me). Any chance you’ve made these and had the problem with the dough being sticky? Not sure where I went wrong for it to turn out like that!
Anyways, looking forward to letting my friends taste them tomorrow night regardless! š
Hi Heather! Hmm, it has been a while since I made them last and I don’t remember by dough being super sticky. The only think I can think of is maybe it needed a bit more flour or some flour on your hands to keep it from sticking so much. I’m sorry about that! I would love to know how they turn out tomorrow!
Oh my, these are a) gorgeous b) healthy c) delicious-sounding! I want to convert this recipe for my Thermomix but can’t help wondering how you managed to cut them so well. I’m afraid the edges will crack as I try to cut them into bars. How did you manage to cut the cookie dough so neatly? Any tips for avoiding a smushy crooked edges would be greatly appreciated š Thanks in advance!
Thank you so much, Helene! I made sure that they were very frozen and then I cut the edges off using a big sharp knife and then cut them into wedges. The cookie is actually pretty soft because I wanted it to be more like an ice cream sandwich cookie than a crispy cookie, so I think that is what allows it to cut without cracking. I hope it turns out well for you! Let me know if you have any other questions š
First of all, I’m going to make these. Second, omggg baby Cheeto!!! I had a Nacho who was orange and looked just like that! When he got scared his tail would puff up and my friend called him “puffy Cheeto”! Can’t wait to try these ice cream bars.
this recipe is brilliant. and its gf! THANK YOU! I have yet to attempt making gf ice cream sandwiches (to exhausted by the idea of baking cookie/cake bars and following that up with the ice cream process). buuuuut since the icecream is so easy i might just end up making these! saving this recipe to my “need to make soon” list.
Thank you so much, Renee! I had been thinking of them for a while and it did take a lot of energy to actually follow through with them (I also had to test the recipe 2 times before I got it how I liked it) but it was well worth it! When all was said and done, it really didn’t seem like too much work! And you are right, the ice cream is so easy! I hope you love them š
These are gorgeous and the flavors sound amazing! They look so rich and creamy. You did your perfectionist side proud – the photos are perfect! I wish I had one for breakfast right now. š
Ps. Baby Cheeto is too cute for words!
Thank you so much, Alanna! I was just looking back over the hot mess photos today and I’m so glad I took the time to re-shoot them! The banana ice cream really is so creamy, I was so pleasantly surprised by it!
And, I will have one for breakfast with you š Ps. I miss baby sized Cheeto! When we got him from the shelter his name was Paul Bunyon and I think it is because they thought he was going to get huge, which he did!
I was really excited to find this recipe. I love peanut butter and bananas together! When I was reading the recipe; however, it lists almond milk in the ingredients for the cookie dough but never asks you to use it in the directions. I just wanted to let you know. š I just took the peanut butter cookies out of the oven…yum! Thank you again!
Hi Alissa! Thanks so much for bringing that to my attention! I just added the almond milk into the directions part. I added the almond milk in after I had mixed the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. I hope you really enjoy these ice cream sandwiches! I can’t stop eating them and just made another batch! Thanks so much for commenting! š
Oh my goodness, these ice cream sandwiches look incredible, Izzy! I am a sucker for all ice cream and love love love that you paired peanut butter cookies with banana ice cream – the pictures are gorgeous and baby Cheeto is so adorable!
Thank you Kelly! I am also a sucker for all ice cream and I have definitely been getting my fair share of it this summer! Peanut butter and bananas is really the perfect combo! Thanks so much for the sweet compliment and everytime I look at baby Cheeto pics I wish he was still that small š
amazing healthy recipe!
Thank you, Dina!
These pictures are beautiful! Definitely worth waiting for a little cooler day to shoot. I can’t imagine trying to shoot ice cream in Arizona in the summer. I’m pretty sure that I’d melt before the ice cream. Haha
I love the peanut butter and banana combination.
Thank you Cindy! It was hard not to eat them all at once and save some for a cooler day, but it was totally worth it! Shooting ice cream in the summer here is defiantly not easy, haha! I have some indoor studio lights and I really need to learn how to use! These days I always end my photo shoots covered in sweat and cursing the Arizona heat!
These look sooooo good!! I made gf ice cream sandwiches a few weeks ago but my photos looked terrible so I need to try again. Yours look amazing! I am so impressed you got so many great shots before they melted!! š
Thanks Annie!! My first batch of photos were so terrible! They were melty and so bad, I thought about posting one, but I was too embarrassed, haha! I think this photoshoot lasted about 5 minutes, so I could get a shot before they melted. I need to make a bunch of ice cream recipes this winter and then save them to post in the summertime, because ice cream photos and the sun don’t mix! I can’t wait to see your ice cream sandwiches š
Geez, these look good and I’m not even crazy about peanut butter. ;-)The cookies themselves look amazing, and I loved learning that the cashew cream helps the ice cream stay creamy. I seriously need to make these this summer!
Thanks Katie! If you like almond butter, you could use that instead of the peanut butter and it would be just as delicious! Or, I bet chocolate chip cookies would be really good too! I love cashew cream and I think it went perfectly with the banana ice cream! I agree, you do need to make these asap š
Those look incredible! I can’t believe you made the ice cream out of bananas. I love, love, love bananas so I’m absolutely making this!
Thank you Leah! You so have to try banana ice cream! I still can’t believe how creamy and delicious it is! I would never guess that it is pretty much only made out of bananas. You will so love this banana ice cream, Leah!