These gluten-free ice cream sandwiches taste just like the classic stick-to-your-fingers version from your childhood. What's more, they're super easy to make! With your favorite ice cream sandwiched between two soft chewy gluten-free chocolate wafers, summer never tasted so good.
School's out for summer! Time for a constant rotation of swimming, sunscreen, and homemade ice cream sandwiches. I'm aiming to turn my backyard into the most popular summer hang-out in the neighborhood.
Gluten-Free Ice Cream Sandwich Recipe
These homemade ice cream sandwiches are so easy to make and require less than 15 minutes of bake time. They taste every bit as nostalgic as the classic stick-to-your-fingers ice cream sandwiches from your childhood. Only now with a flavor boost from gluten-free chocolate wafers that taste like thin chewy brownies.
Making the soft chocolate wafers
The most important part of these chocolate ice cream sandwiches is the bread. And by bread, I mean the soft chewy stick-to-your-fingers chocolate brownie wafer. Adapted from my ultimate gluten-free brownies, these wafers stay soft and chewy even when sandwiched around ice cream and frozen.
Super-fine Blanched Almond Flour
With a subtle nuttiness, super-fine blanched almond flour shockingly has a neutral flavor that tends to mimic the flavor in classic cookies and brownies.
Sweet Rice Flour
For the chewiest gluten-free brownie wafers, the key is to use sweet rice flour. Made from sticky rice, sweet rice flour is distinctively different than white rice or brown rice flour, and despite its name, it's not sweet. Sweet rice flour is the same flour used to make mochi, and as such, its stickiness helps to make an ultra-chewy chocolate wafer for your ice cream sandwiches.
- Sub in tapioca flour by weight. Alternatively, substitute both the sweet rice flour and oat/buckwheat/teff flour measurements for Bob's Red Mill's 1-to-1 gluten-free flour.
How to make Ice Cream Sandwiches Quickly
Rather than making 30 wafers, this recipe calls for baking one giant wafer in a sheet pan, cutting it in half, filling it with ice cream, then slicing the whole thing into individual sandwiches once frozen.
When made this way, it's shocking how quickly you can make a batch of homemade ice cream sandwiches. Here's how you do it:
- Sift together dry ingredients.
- Whisk melted butter, eggs, and vanilla into the sugars.
- Mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
- Spread batter into a parchment-lined half-sheet jelly roll pan and bake for 12-14 minutes.
- Cool and cut the brownie wafer in half.
- Spread vanilla ice cream over one piece of the cooled brownie wafer then press the second piece of the wafer on top.
- Wrap in plastic, chill overnight, then cut into sandwiches.
How to store gluten-free ice cream sandwiches
Once cut, store leftover gluten-free ice cream sandwiches in an airtight container or plastic bag in the freezer for up to 3 months (ha, like they'll last that long).
Recipe
Soft Gluten-Free Ice Cream Sandwiches
Ingredients
- ½ cup (54 g) unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder, or natural unsweetened cocoa powder, see note
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (42 g) Bob's Red Mill super-fine blanched almond flour , OR 3 tablespoons (25g) gluten-free oat flour, buckwheat flour, or teff flour
- ¼ cup + ½ tablespoon (45 g) Bob's Red Mill sweet rice flour , different from "white rice flour" or "brown rice flour"
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, for dairy-free, use refined coconut oil or dairy-free plant butter
- ½ cup (104 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) dark brown sugar
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1½ quarts vanilla ice cream, dairy or dairy-free
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and line a half-sheet jelly roll baking sheet (13x18) with two sheets of parchment paper to cover fully.
- Sift together the cocoa powder, superfine blanched almond flour (or buckwheat or oat flour for a nut-free version), sweet rice flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Measure the granulated and dark brown sugar into a large mixing bowl. Melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave or in a saucepan over medium heat. Pour the hot melted over the sugars in the mixing bowl. Add the vanilla and whisk together. Let sit for 5 minutes to cool slightly, if needed.
- Whisk in the eggs and mix well. Whisk in the dry ingredients until fully incorporated and smooth. The batter will be thick.
- Dump the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it into a thin even layer. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the brownie wafer is fully cooked and bounces back when lightly touched. Let cool completely in the pan.
- Once cool, slice the wafer in half widthwise (so you have two 13x9 rectangles).
- Pull the ice cream out of the freezer to soften for a couple of minutes. If using homemade ice cream, skip the freezer and spread the thick soft-serve-like ice cream onto the chocolate wafer straight from the ice cream maker.
- Line a quarter sheet jelly roll baking sheet (13x9) with a large piece of plastic wrap. You can also use the same half-sheet baking pan if you don't have a quarter sheet - I just find the quarter sheet helps hold in the ice cream. Place one half of the chocolate wafer, face down, on the plastic wrap.
- Scoop the ice cream over the top of the wafer and use an offset spatula or knife to spread it into a smooth even layer all the way to the edges of the wafer. Place the second half of the wafer, face-up, over top of the ice cream, pressing lightly to seal it with the ice cream.
- Pull the edges of the plastic wrap up over the sides, adding more plastic wrap as needed to wrap the entire sandwich in plastic wrap.
- Freeze on the baking sheet until solid before slicing into 15 sandwiches (At least 4 hours, but preferably overnight). Store any remaining ice cream sandwiches in an airtight bag or container in the freezer.
Video
Notes
Type of Cocoa Powder
I recommend Dutch-processed cocoa powder, but both Dutch-processed and natural unsweetened cocoa powder will work! If you use natural cocoa powder, your chocolate wafers won't be quite as dark.Flour Substitutions
Sweet Rice Flour: Sub in tapioca flour by weight. Alternatively, substitute both the sweet rice flour and oat/buckwheat/teff measurements for Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten-free flour. Almond Flour: Sub in hazelnut flour or chestnut flour by weight to add slightly more unique notes to the base! For a nut-free version, use the buckwheat or oat flour option, subbing the 42g almond flour for 25g gluten-free oat flour, buckwheat flour, or teff flour (note: the oat/buckwheat/teff flour options use less flour because they have less fat than almond flour).Dairy-Free
For dairy-free chocolate wafers, sub out the butter for melted refined coconut oil or non-dairy butter. Use your favorite plant-based ice cream for the filling.
Debbie Feely -
Hi Sarah, what about egg subs? I know some things just don’t work without eggs.
Sarah Menanix -
Unfortunately, I've not tried this recipe without eggs. But, since it's getting frozen anyway, I would suspect using a flax egg would work just as well!