When I was in sixth grade, I had to do a demonstration for school. Even then I was a bit of a foodie. Well, not exactly a high-brow foodie, but I loved to cook. So, I decided to demonstrate making Toll House Cookies – something I’d been doing for years already. I knew it would be a hit, because I was going to feed my classmates cookies. How could they not appreciate that kind of demonstration, right?
So, I diligently prepared. I had my notes. I had my ingredients. I had my hand mixer. I was ready.
I stood up in front of my classmates, and in my best 4-H speaking voice, I demonstrated all the steps to make Toll House chocolate chip cookies. And, like any good demonstrator, I ended by asking, “Any questions?”
Hands shot up all over the room. Hands attached to smirking faces. Giggling mouths. Snarky looks. Oh oh.
Nervously I called on someone in the front row. He asked, “How can you call those chocolate chip cookies when there aren’t any chocolate chips in them?”
I looked down at my bowl and discovered that I had failed to add the final ingredient. The shame! The horror!
Apparently, I’m destined to relive sixth grade. These raw ice cream sandwiches are supposed to have cacao nibs in them. Look closely. Go ahead.
Raw Vegan Coconut Cacao Nib Ice Cream Sandwiches
Yah, you guessed it. I forgot to add them to the cookies.
But, unlike when I was in sixth grade, there’s no shame or horror this time. This time, I improvised – and pressed the cacao nibs into the edges of the cookies instead. Voila!
The kiddo says these are better than my Triple B Bites, and I have to agree. Even without the cacao nibs.
Coconut Cacao Nib Ice Cream Sandwiches
1/2 cup (80 g) raw almonds
5 (22 g) raw Brazil nuts
1/2 cup (68 g) packed pitted dates
1/2 cup (32 g) unsweetened dried shredded coconut
1 t. vanilla
1/8 t. salt
1 T. raw cashew or almond milk (approximately)
2 T. cacao nibs
In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the nuts, dates, coconut, vanilla and salt until crumbly. Add the cashew milk and process until dough clumps together. (You may need to add a little more or less cashew milk, depending on how moist your dates are.) Stir in the cacao nibs. (No really. Do it. It’s better that way.)
Divide the dough into 8 parts. Press each part into the bottom of a silicone muffin pan. Place in freezer while making ice cream.
Banana Coconut Ice Cream
Meat from 1 young Thai Coconut (75 g)
2 small frozen bananas (130 g)
1 t. vanilla
Pulse all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor until creamy.
To assemble pop 4 of the cookies out of the muffin pans. Leave four in. Place a scoop of ice cream on top of each of the four cookies in the muffin pan and top with another cookie. Freeze for 20 minutes. Remove from freezer and smooth edges with a knife. Wrap each sandwich individually and return to freezer until fully frozen.
Want to find more raw ice cream sandwich recipes? Check out the Raw Ice Cream Sandwich Challenge put on by Lisa of Vegan Culinary Crusade and Nicole of Dash of Compassion.
The Mommy Bowl 
What a great story. I would imagine these ice cream sandwiches are incredibly delicious even without the cacao nibs mixed in. Thank you for being so enthusiastic about our raw challenges — we’ve really enjoyed seeing what you’ve come up with! 🙂
Thanks Nicole. Yep, they were delicious even without the cacao nibs in the cookies. (I had made just the cookie part as a trial run and I remembered the cacao nibs that time. So, I know how they should taste. They’re better with nibs. But still delicious without.)
These look amazing! I am heading out for a week’s vacation but bookmarking to make when I return. Thanks.
Thanks, Tammy. Enjoy your vacation!
Woah these look awesome! I also had a mortifying story from the 5th grade with making rice crispy treats for my class. Some boy, who was my nemesis, started telling the other kids there was hairs in them (really it was the stringy marshmallows but other kids started to believe him)! I bet these are great with or without the chips 🙂
Too funny, Eryn. I could completely see someone calling those strings of marshmallow hairs – and the reactions of the other kids. I think we all have these youthful mortifying stories, no?
Awesome entry Deanna! Definitely no humiliation involved in creating a fantastic new recipe that your family enjoys.
Thanks Lisa. I can’t wait to see all the entries. I’m loving playing with these raw ice cream treats. Mmmmm…..
Oh, Deanna, you are too funny and too brilliant. These look amazing!
Shirley
Thank you Shirley. I figure if I can’t laugh at myself after all these years, then I need to get a life, right? 🙂
Mm, the inclusion of coconut sounds delicious. And hardly a cocoa-less disaster, I love your idea of pressing them into the outside, looks very “gourmet.” And are there any memories more longer-lasting than grade school embarrassment? If only I could remember important information that well…
Thanks, I thought it was a good way to improvise. The kiddo also pointed out that I could have put them in the ice cream – and should do that next time.
Those embarrassing things do tend to stick with us, now don’t they?
You should never have told us–we’d never know!! And this looks positively evil. Deliciously evil, that is. 😉
Have a great July 4th weekend!
Well, being honest on this go-round makes up for trying to tell my classmates I “meant to do it because I like them better that way” back in 6th grade. Oh man, was I a dork. 🙂
Thanks and hope you’re having a great Canada Day!
hahaha!! Something must be in the air, because it was my intention to add nibs to my ice cream – and who forgot, ME! That’s why (in my pictures) the nibs are on the outside and not the inside 🙂 Whooops!
Obviously, great minds
thinkforget alike! 🙂Ohmygoodness, if only my humilations ended like this! YUM!
LOL – It took a lot of years for the humiliation to end like this. Give it time… give it time…. 🙂
Pingback: Weekly Gluten-Free Roundup -July 3, 2011 « Celiac Kitchen Witch
Haha! You are very funny! I wish that boy could see you now! I love the picture with the nibs causally added at the end….just the way you did it. These look positively (drool) delicious!
Thanks Debbie – I did like the way they turned out, even with my mistake. 🙂
Pingback: A GAPS legal 4th of July | The Well Fed Homestead
Pingback: The Ultimate Gluten-Free Ice Cream Sandwich Recipe Roundup! | All Gluten-Free Desserts...All the Time
Pingback: Homemade Gluten-Free Ice Cream Sandwich Recipes – E-DeshSeba