Frozen delight: Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream Sandwiches
Blitzed frozen bananas, peanut butter cookies, a generous drizzle of melted chocolate, and what do you have?
Peanut butter banana ice cream sandwiches!
It’s literally homemade banana ice cream made of chopped-up, frozen banana slices blitzed until it has a smooth, creamy texture. This ice cream is then sandwiched between two homemade peanut butter cookies.
Drizzle this with some melted chocolate over the top. And voila, your peanut butter banana ice cream sandwiches are ready to go.
Interesting variations for your cookie and ice cream sandwiches
Remember, the beauty of cooking is the ability to experiment and customize recipes to your liking. So don’t be afraid to get creative and make these peanut butter and banana ice cream sandwiches your own. Try any of these playful variations:
- Instead of using banana coconut ice cream, you can try different flavors of ice cream like vanilla, chocolate, or even strawberry.
- If you don’t have the ingredients for the peanut butter cookies, you can use store-bought cookies or try other homemade cookie varieties.
- Make it a sundae! Top off the peanut butter banana ice cream sandwiches with whipped cream, a cherry, and a dusting of cocoa powder.
- Instead of using melted chocolate topping, you may opt for caramel sauce and top it with crushed nuts.
- Fancy an Elvis Presley take on these ice cream sandwiches? The iconic singer is known to have loved his PB&B sandwiches with a few slices of crispy bacon. You heard that right. Bacon. So how about some crunchy bacon slices or a layer of bacon jam between your peanut butter ice cream sandwiches?
Watch your health and diet restrictions
These PB&B ice cream sandwiches are already mostly vegan-friendly, except for the use of shortening in the peanut butter cookie recipe. You can always replace this with coconut oil shortening.
You can also make vegan variations. Try vegan vanilla ice cream sandwiches (vanilla extract and almond milk) or chocolate peanut butter cookie sandwiches (dairy-free chocolate ice cream).
Health freaks can try a healthy peanut butter cookie made with oatmeal instead of the all-purpose flour used in the peanut butter mixture for the cookies used here. This will make it ideal for gluten-free diets as well.
If you are allergic to peanuts, use peanut butter alternatives (sunflower butter or pea butter) or simply switch to chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies, or even shortbread cookies.
PEANUT BUTTER & BANANA ICE CREAM SANDWICHES
Equipment
- Food processor or ice cream maker
- Microwave
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups banana coconut ice cream recipe follows
- 40 nos. peanut butter cookies small in size (recipe follows)
- 1 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips
- 1/4 teaspoon espresso powder
- 7 nos. bananas
- 1/3 cup toasted sweetened coconut
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup shortening I use butter-flavored vegetable shortening
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 nos. egg
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Peanut Butter & Banana Ice Cream Sandwiches
- Place half the peanut butter cookies (recipe below) face down on a baking sheet.
- Top each with a large spoonful of the banana ice cream (recipe below) and another cookie.
- Put the pan into the freezer for about 30 minutes to set the ice cream.
- Put the chocolate chips in a bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring after each, until melted.
- Stir in the espresso powder.
- Transfer the chocolate to a plastic bag and snip its corner.
- Drizzle the sandwiches with melted chocolate and sprinkle with fleur de sal or flaky sea salt.
- Put the sandwiches in the freezer for 30 minutes or so for the ice cream to set fully.
- To store for longer, wrap each sandwich individually in plastic wrap, then put them in a large plastic bag in the freezer.
Banana Coconut Ice Cream
- Peel the bananas and cut them into chunks.
- Place on a plate and freeze for 1-2 hours. (If freezing longer, let them sit out for 15 minutes before processing.)
- Blend the bananas in a food processor, scraping down the sides often until a smooth, creamy mixture forms.
- Add the coconut and pulse until combined.
Butter Cookies
- Mix sugars, shortening, peanut butter, vanilla, and egg.
- Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
- Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Shape dough into balls a little bigger than 1 inch. Flatten in a crisscross pattern with a fork dipped in flour.
- Place a couple of inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Notes
- Add a pinch of cinnamon to the banana ice cream for flavor.
- Prepare the ice cream and the cookies in advance and store them separately in airtight containers in the freezer.
- If the banana ice cream is too hard to scoop, let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften slightly for easy assembling.
- Assemble the sandwiches right after making the banana ice cream. When it comes out of the food processor, it’s the perfect consistency for sandwich making.
