Sometimes you just need a really indulgent treat, and these no-bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice Cream Sammies are the ultimate treat for those times. Two perfectly peanut-buttery salty cookies wrapped around rich coconut chocolate ice cream, rolled in cacao nibs? Um, yes please!
It just finally hit me that it’s summertime. I realized it’s been hot and warm and I haven’t made any frozen desserts yet, so obviously I needed to get my act together. I was also recently getting together with my girlfriends and we needed a dessert for ladies night. Clearly chocolate needed to be involved, so these cute ice cream sandwiches were born. For anyone out there who likes recipe development and testing here is a tip: Have you best gals try out your food! Your guaranteed to get great feedback to take that recipe to the next level—thanks Court and Jazz for trying the “ugly” version of these and helping me make them amazing.
Now, like I said these are pretty decadent, so I’m not saying that my nutritional advice is to eat them every day (but wouldn’t that be fun?!). Instead, savor these as an occasional, healthier alternative to junk food ice cream option or share them with friends for a celebration. They’re kind of perfect for a post-BBQ dessert, and super kid-friendly. If your little one isn’t into the bitterness of cacao nibs just sub in some mini chocolate chips, they will love them.
Some people in the Paleo community don’t eat peanut butter because peanuts are a legume, which can negatively impact digestion for some people and can also be inflammatory due to higher levels of omega-6 oils than other nuts. I love the taste of peanut butter, so I eat it once in a while and stick to other nut and seed butters most of the time. If you are avoiding peanut butter, you can totally swap it out for other butters, I’d recommend using almond or cashew in this recipe, which I haven’t tried, but since these are no-bake I don’t anticipate any problems with that swap.
I will also point out that I use store bought ice cream here to simplify things. I love the no-sugar added So Delicious Coconut Milk Chocolate Ice Cream, but any ice cream you like would work. You could even just blend up some frozen bananas and use those, but they’ll be softer and melt faster.
So, let’s dive in. Pull out your food processor and toss in the peanut butter, almond flour, sea salt, and coconut nectar. Pulse it all together really well, until you can pick up the crumbly mix and press it together and it sticks. If you end up using a peanut butter that already has some salt in it, taste the dough before adding the sea salt.
Then, using a small ice cream scoop, scoop the dough into your hand, make a ball, and press it down onto a silicon baking mat or piece of parchment paper. Repeat until you’ve gone through all the dough, then take a fork to make indents on top of each cookie. Pop the tray in the freezer and let these amazing sweet and salty peanut butter cookies firm up a good bit, at least for 1 hour. If they bend when you hold the edge, keep them in the freezer a bit longer.
When your cookies are good and hard, you’re ready to layer in the ice cream. Let the ice cream thaw on the counter for about 20 minutes (this is how long I let the coconut milk ice cream sit, others might be different), so that you can easily scoop it out and then use your hands or a spoon to press it down a bit and spread it out over the cookie. I recommend just making two at a time of these Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice Cream Sammies so that they don’t melt while you work on the whole batch.
Pour the cacao nibs in a shallow bowl. Once you’ve scooped and sandwiched, use a knife to add ice cream around the edges so that it’s flush with the cookies, and roll the whole outer edge in the bowl of cacao nibs. Top with some coarse sea salt and immediately pop these in the freezer and finish the batch.
When you serve these, it’s nice to have them slightly softened but not overly melty, so if you’ve kept them in the freezer for a while before serving let them sit out for a few minutes. Make sense?
Now chow down! These Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice Cream Sammies are a serious treat, they are just so freakin’ good! I hope you enjoy them with your loved ones on a beautiful summer evening.
For more summertime recipes, check out my Paleo Vanilla Lime Cheesecake Bars and Blueberry Cherry Crisp <3
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These No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice Cream Sammies are the perfect summer treat! Paleo, Vegan, and kid-friendly, they’re sure to please a crowd and super-easy to make using your favorite dairy-free ice cream.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup crunchy organic peanut butter (no-sugar, oil, or salt added)*
- 3/4 cup fine almond flour
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons coconut nectar
- 1/4 cup cacao nibs
- 1 pint chocolate dairy-free ice cream (I used So Delicious No-Sugar Added Coconut Milk Ice Cream)
- coarse sea salt, for garnish
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine peanut butter, almond flour, sea salt, and coconut nectar. Pulse until well combined and sticky when pressed together.
- Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop balls of dough onto a silicon mat or parchment lined pan. Use your hand to press down the ball until it’s a round cookie shape, about 1/4″ thick. Then use a fork to imprint the top of the cookie going in each direction.
- Place cookies in the freezer for at least 1 hour, to firm up before layering with ice cream. If cookies are still soft and easily bend when removed from freezer, put them back in for another 30 minutes or so. Remove ice cream from freezer 15-20 minutes before using so it can soften.
- Pour cacao nibs into a shallow but wide bowl. Build sandwiches using four cookies at a time, leaving the rest to stay firm in the freezer. Using the same small ice cream scoop, scoop ice cream onto two of the four cookies. Use a spoon or your hands to spread the ice cream down and out. Then press the other two cookies down on top of the ice cream.
- Use a knife to fill in the sides of the sandwich with more ice cream so it’s flush with the cookies. Roll sandwiches in cacao nibs, sprinkle the top with coarse sea salt and immediately place back in freezer. Repeat the process with the rest of the cookies until you have four sandwiches.
- If making these ahead of time, remove them from the freezer several minutes before serving so they can soften a little bit. Enjoy!
Notes
*If you use salted peanut butter, taste dough before adding additional sea salt and use to taste.
*Nutrition info is based on using So Delicious Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream with no added sugar.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Sammie
- Calories: 493
- Sugar: 9g (6g added sugar)
- Fat: 40g
- Carbohydrates: 27g
- Protein: 16g
I’d like to point out that peanuts are not Paleo as they are legumes and prohibited on the paleo diet. Sunflower seed butter is a great substitution for peanut butter as they taste very similar.
Hi Elle! You’re right about peanuts not being part of the Paleo diet and I do point this out within my post. I also provide some other alternatives that would work in this recipe for those trying to avoid them – sunflower seed butter is a great suggestion! I love that stuff. I labeled these as Paleo anyway for a couple of reasons. One was that I have the peanut alternatives listed and all the other ingredients are Paleo, the other is that I’m a big fan of the 90/10 rule, meaning I eat Paleo 90% of the time and may eat GF grains and legumes once in a while, and I think this approach is healthy for a large majority of others as well. Obviously if someone has a reaction to any food I wouldn’t recommend including it at all 😊 thanks so much for commenting and opening up the discussion around this!