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!
What can I use instead of cashews?
Hi Marco! You can leave the cashews out and add an extra banana. It might freeze a little bit differently, but it will still be good!
I made these last night using coconut sugar (about 1 1/2 cups) and they are delicious! The only problem I encountered was that I was unable to spread the cookie dough to cover the entire 9×13 pan and the cookies broke apart when I tried to put the whole thing together. Maybe it is because of the coconut sugar-it doesn’t stick together the way brown sugar does? Anyway, they taste delicious…thanks for the recipe!
Yah! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! I’ve thought about using coconut sugar instead of the brown sugar but haven’t experimented with it yet, so that is good to know! Hmm, yeah you might be right about that. Brown sugar packs together so nicely that maybe it does help held the baked goods together too! I’m so glad they still tasted good though š
Hi! I’d love to make these–they look simply delicious! However, I’m really trying to reduce my processed sugar intake, and the recipe calls for one cup of brown sugar. Do you think I could substitute honey for the sugar? Would I have to reduce the amount of the other liquids in the recipe (the milk, namely) since honey is more liquid-y than brown sugar? Thanks so much!
Christen
Hi Christen! Have you thought about using coconut sugar? That is the only thing I can think of that is close enough to brown sugar that you would be able to substitute without anything going terribly wrong. You could try reducing the amount of milk and adding in some honey, but I’m unsure of how it would turn out since I haven’t tried that myself. If you do eat coconut sugar I would try that first! Let me know how they turn out if you make them!
Thanks for your reply, Izzy! Actually I don’t live in the US, and I’m not sure if they sell coconut sugar where I live… In any case I haven’t seen it. But no matter–I ended up using 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of honey, and the batter turned out really sticky, but I managed fine and it is simply DELICIOUS! Great recipe, thank you so much!
I was so happy to find this until I read that there are cashews š I am terribly allergic to cashews. Is there an alternative to the cashews? I would love to try this recipe. It looks absolutely delish!
Hi Dionna! You can absolutely omit the cashew cream in the recipe. The banana ice cream might freeze up to be a little bit harder, but it should still taste delicious!
Thanks for responding and thanks for sharing I am going to try this tonight!
Can you use regular flour instead of oat?
I’ve never tried it but I think it would work fine! Let me know!
Oh. My. Gosh. I found this recipe by accident and am trying it all out today since I have all of the ingredients ready! Mouth. Is. Watering.
Hi Brenda! I hope you love them! They are one of my favorites š