Strawberry Coconut Ice Cream with Ginger Oat Cookies

Strawberry coconut ice cream with ginger oat cookies. Vegan and gluten free. Sweetened with honey. The perfect summer treat.

I noticed the dessert section of this blog was looking a little bland the other day. To be honest, I am not a big dessert person, a couple squares of dark chocolate or some fresh summer fruit usually does the trick. But after eating dinner outside on the deck a few nights ago, Matt and I both looked at each other and asked, ‘where’s the ice cream?’ Which then led to about a week of dreaming about magnum bars and frozen treats the like, why they sell those fancy ice cream bars in packs of 3 will forever remain a mystery to me. Alas, I set out to make some frozen treats of my own.

I have a attempted a few times to make homemade ice cream, but have never been very sucessful, I had sworn it off for good and committed to lifetime of haagen daz and ben & jerry’s, that is until I saw this post and was completely re-motivated to give it another go. Hello simplicity, hello happy hearted version, hello delicious! When I saw a thick, creamy ice cream base forming in my ice cream maker, I had only one thought ‘we’re gonna need some cookies.’ And here we are today, with the best kind of sammies. Enjoy!


STRAWBERRY COCONUT ICE CREAM WITH GINGER OAT COOKIES

The texture of this ice cream is more like that of a sorbet or granita, but that could be due to my sub par ice cream maker or the fact that is the uncontrollable ice age in my freezer. I find it ultra refreshing and light! I added a lot of fresh, juicy strawberries, the better your strawberries taste to more delicious this ice cream will be. Vegan & Gluten Free. Makes a little more than 1 pint. Serves 6 or more. Ice cream recipe adapted from the kitchn.

STRAWBERRY SWIRL COCONUT MILK ICE CREAM

Ingredients

2 cans full fat coconut milk
1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder*
1/2 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
2 cups strawberries, hulled and quartered

Instructions

The night before, place the bowl of your ice cream maker in the freezer. (I am now keeping mine in the freezer so I can make ice cream whenever I want, not having to wait another 24 hours!)

Shake to coconut milk cans so that they are well combined, and set aside 1/2 cup of milk.

Add the remaining milk, maple syrup, salt in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat to combine and warm  all the ingredients, about 2 minutes. Mix the 1/2 cup coconut milk and 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder in small bowl and whisk to combine, then add to the saucepan along with the vanilla. Cook everything over medium heat until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 6-8 minutes, being very, very careful not letting the mixture come to a boil.

Remove from heat, and transfer to a clean bowl, let cool, then cover with and set in the fridge to cool completely, 4-5 hours. You really need the base to be cold before pooring into the ice cream maker, so don’t skip this step.

While the base is cooling, make the strawberry sauce, place strawberries in a saucepan over low heat and simmer until juicy, about 5 minutes. (My strawberries were really ripe and sweet, so they got really juicy, if you want you can add a touch or maple syrup, honey or nautral cane sugar here). Remove from heat and let cool for about half an hour, then mash with a fork or blend slighlty with a submmersion blender to make a thick sauce.

Churn the coconut base in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions, once thickened to a soft serve consistency, poor in the strawberry sauce and churn for another few minutes.

Spread the ice cream into a loaf pan and freeze for an hour or over night until it has firmed up.

Remove from freezer 15 minutes before serving.

*Arrowroot is a natural starch and can be found in most health foor stores. It is an inexpensive, handy pantry item to have as is helps to thicken sauces or can be used in baked goods.


SOFT BAKED GINGER OAT COOKIES

These cookies and soft and only slightly crumbly, perfect for sandwiching some ice cream in between! I place mine in the freezer for a few minutes before making the sandwich, so that they hold up well with a big scoop! Makes 6-8 cookies. Adpated from over here.

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoon ground flax
1 1/2 rolled oats, certified gluten free if intolerant
Pinch flaky sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons almond milk (or milk of choice)
1/2 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
4 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil, room temperature
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F / 175 C

Place oats and flaxmeal in the bowl of a food processor and blend until you have a coarse flour.

Add salt, ginger, and baking powder and pulse to combine

Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until the dough comes together, it should be pretty wet but that’s ok.

Place in the fridge to set for at least 10 minutes, it should harden to make it easier to work with, yielding a softer cookie!

Scoop into balls about the size of two tablespoons, or whatever size you choose, and place on a baking sheet, flatten and spread the dough out with the tips of your fingers

Bake in the oven until slightly brown around the edges, about 15 minutes. Let cool before transfering to a cool rack and cool completely.

Enjoy on there own or with a big scoop of strawberry swirl ice cream in between as the perfect summer afternoon treat!


Let me in on your kitchen creations – tag your photos #happyheartedkitchen and share the love!

2 Comments

  • Reply
    Melissa @ Nourish By Melissa
    July 4, 2014 at 2:58 pm

    I’m more excited about trying those ginger oat cookies….I don’t know why but they just sound amazing :)

  • Reply
    A Week Of Locality | Lil Miss Fitness Freak
    May 12, 2015 at 6:59 pm

    […] Ginger Oat Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches. It’s getting warmer here and there and how cute would these ice cream sammiches be as a way of cooling off? Simply swap the strawberry ice cream with this rhubarb one to get some seasonal produce into this gluten free treat. […]

  • Leave a Reply to Melissa @ Nourish By Melissa Cancel Reply