GLUTEN-FREE TIRAMISU ICE CREAM SANDWICHES

When I was attending Miss. Hall's School for high school, one popular lunch dessert was ice cream sandwiches.  These sandwiches were neopolitan ice cream sandwiched between two chocolate cookie-like crusts.  I never really liked the sticky, cookie-like outer coat that never failed to leave a chocolate cookie residue on the fingers and teeth! Perhaps, that was the reason why the parchment paper was essential to the packaging of the sandwiches!   A few months ago, my daughter Jocelyn came home from a visit to a friend who showed her how to make RAW ice cream sandwiches made with various nuts and cocoa powder rather than a traditional cookie.  I was immediately sold.  I decided to combine an ice cream flavor that I've always wanted to make and decided to do it for these gluten-free "tiramisu" ice cream sandwiches.  The result was delicious although it took a number of attempts to perfect a technique that rendered crusts that would not break when creating the sandwich. 

I've made various iterations of the sandwich but the original tiramisu ice cream sandwich with mascapone ice cream is the best!  I've experimented with adding coffee powder to the nutty outer shell.  I liked the subtle taste of coffee, but the caffeine was too much for me.  Either way, the nutty crust and the mascapone ice cream is AMAZING and it's GLUTEN-FREE!

What is tiramisu?

Tiramisu is an Italian dessert made with lady fingers, espresso and a rich creamy, mascapone cheese, egg yolk filling.  I love the taste of mascapone cheese which is really not a cheese.  It has the consistency of cream cheese but it's more like a dense whipping cream. I call these "tiramisu" ice cream sandwiches because of the addition of the mascapone cheese to the ice cream base and the option to add instant coffee to the crust.  

Tips for making gluten-free tiramisu ice cream sandwiches

Pans.

Use two 8 x 8" (20  x 20 cm) baking pans.  Line each pan with parchment paper, making sure that the paper extends beyond the edge of the pans to make it easy to transport and flip the crust.  It also helps contain the ice cream when applying the ice cream to the crust.

Choconut crust.

The choconut crust is made with dates, almond flour, walnuts, pecans and unsweetened cocoa.  Working with soft, pitted large medjool dates is easier than dates that are very dry.

Types of dates

There are many date varieties out there.  The medjool dates are the larger dates with a higher moisture content.  I tend to use these as they make the crust easier to work with. However, if you use drier dates and the crust doesn't seem to hold together well, add a tablespoon or two of almond butter as a binder. 

Coconut oil and almond butter (optional) are used as binders in addition to the pasty date spread. Since almond flour is prevalent, I prefer to use this instead of grinding the almonds.  However, if you don't have almond flour, you can grind your own almonds.  It is important to first create a chocolate date paste and then add the grounded nut mixture.  I tried to attempt throwing everything into the food processor and grinding everything at once.  It took just as long as separating the two tasks and the end result was a crust that was too fine and therefore lacked body and my food processor was definitely complaining!

Mascapone ice cream.

I LOVE the flavor of mascapone cheese.  Mascapone cheese is basically a condensed, thickened cream that is so creamy and delicious.  The flavor is subtle yet distinct.  The ice cream version I make is a cheater version, made from a good vanilla ice cream as a base and incorporating the mascapone cheese and additional heavy whipping cream. This is perfect for the ice cream sandwiches as the crust is made with sweet dates and the less sweet ice cream is the perfect balance.  When blending the mascapone cheese, heavy whipping cream and ice cream together, work quickly to limit the melting of the ice cream.

Assembling the sandwich.

When assembling the gluten-free tiramisu ice cream sandwich, keep one crust in the freezer while using the other crust as the base.  When the crust is not frozen, it tends to crack easily. Quickly spread the ice cream mixture onto the base.  Take the other crust out of the freezer, remove it from the pan by flipping it onto a flexible cutting board to keep it flat.  Align one edge of the crust with the edge of the cutting board, making sure the parchment paper is not in the way. Position the crust on the cutting board with the corners and edge of the ice cream base and slide the crust onto the ice cream, creating a sandwich.  See video.

If the crust cracks, reassemble the crust as best you can, replace the parchment paper and place a larger baking tray on top of the cracked crust and flip the entire sandwich so that the cracked crust is now face down on the baking tray.  This will help freeze the reassembled crust in place.  Freeze overnight until the ice cream completely hardens.

Cutting the gluten-free tiramisu ice cream sandwiches.

Cut the ice cream sandwiches as needed and store the rest of the sandwich with the parchment paper in a large freezer bag.  Leave the ice cream sandwich out at room temperature for a few minutes to soften slightly.  This makes cutting through the frozen sandwich much easier.  Cut the sandwich with a large knife or cleaver!  Enjoy and let me know what you think in the comment section.