Gluten-Free Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Forget the medicine cabinet – I really love a good snoop around someone’s refrigerator.  You can really learn a lot about a person in knowing how many different kinds of mustards they have tucked away on the condiment shelf.  I have between four and seven different types at any given moment along with at least one cake and three containers of something or other that are well past their prime.  

More intimate though is… the freezer – where good intentions go to freeze indefinitely.  Don’t even talk to me about all the leftover pasta sauce I’ve suspended in my freezer.  It’s packed with things I can’t even bare to admit. 

Until now.  Until these mega brownie ice cream sandwiches.  I’ve made just enough room in the freezer for this tray of ice cream treats and they’re sure not to be forgotten – they’re just too good.  They may even help me work through the pasta sauce and the plethora of other forgotten item collecting there.  We’ll see.  These will be gone by week’s end.  

Let’s. Shall we? 

Here’s what you’ll need for these whopper brownie treats:  

•  Dry ingredients include an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend, unsweetened cocoa, along with a black cocoa.  I love the color and depth of flavor that black cocoa adds to my chocolate goods.  You can find it here!  You’ll also find baking powder and a good punch of salt in the dry ingredients.  I used vanilla bean salt because I’m fancy.  

•  Granulated sugar for sweetness (obviously) and dark chocolate chunks for secret pockets of chocolate (again, obviously).  

•  Coconut oil will be our fat though you’re welcome to substitute melted butter or olive oil.  

•  Eggs, the best brownie binder there is.  

We’ll start by adding all of the eggs to a medium bowl.  

Give them a good whisk to break up the eggs and the whites.  

Whisk the melted coconut oil into the eggs.  

The two should emulsify to a solid golden yellow.  

Add the sugar.  This is no joke.  

Whisk until smooth, and more glossy than grainy.  

This is me, putting my back into it.  

Also – add vanilla extract.  

With the wet ingredients combined , we’ll get after these dry ingredients.  

All they need is a good whisk together. 

We’ll add the dry ingredients, all at once, to the wet ingredients.  

Start incorporating the two with a whisk.  Really get at the bottom of the bowl, working the dry ingredients into the wet.  

Eventually we’ll switch to a spatula to mix in any hidden dry pockets and get the batter to smooth and glossy.  

Definitely add chocolate chips.  

Pour half of the batter into a greased, parchment papered, and greased again pan.  

The parchment is super helpful in lifting these brownies from the pan.  It’s an extra step but I’m not here to waste your time so trust me – paper.  

If you have two 8-inch square pans I applaud you.  Well done making your baking life easier.  

Bake the brownies side by side if you have two pans.  If not:  bake the first brownie, cool until it comes out of the pan easily, re-grease and re-paper the pan and bake the next brownie.  

Cool both brownies to chilly – about 30 minutes in the freezer will do! 

Scoop your very favorite ice cream atop the bottom brownie layer (still in the pan, paper still attached).  

My favorite:  Nada Moo Mint Chocolate Chip.  

Run an offset spatula under the warm water of the sink and use the warmed knife to spread the ice cream into an even layer. 

Top with another brownie level.  

Now’s the hard part:  we wait. 

Freeze the double decker brownies overnight.  

I like to slice these generously (into 16 hunka pieces) and then slice each hunka into a smaller piece as needed.  The big boys are really lovely sliced in half and shared with a buddy.  I tell you, when you can offer a friend an ice cream sandwich you win basically… all the friend points, especially early summer in New Orleans.  

Gluten-Free Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

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Ingredients

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• For the Brownies:
• 4 large eggs
• 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup grapeseed oil
• 1 tablespoon gluten-free vanilla extract
• 1 cup Dutch-process cocoa
• 2 tablespoons black cocoa (or the above cocoa if you don’t have black cocoa on hand)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour blend
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips, optional
• For the Sandwiches:
• 2 pints of your favorite ice cream – I used a non-dairy ice cream with great success!

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Instructions

1. Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Grease an 8″ square pan (2 pans if you have them), line it with parchment paper that drapes over two sides and lightly grease the parchment. Set aside.
3. Whisk eggs in a medium bowl. Add the oil, sugar, and vanilla and whisk until thoroughly incorporated, thick and glossy. Set aside.
4. In another medium bowl whisk together the cocoas, flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. Add the dry ingredients all at once to the wet ingredients. Stir to combine. Add the chocolate chips if you’re using them. Stir until no hidden dry patches remain and the whole mixture is thick and glossy.
6. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan (or split between two pans if you have them), spreading the batter to the edges.
7. Bake the brownies for 25-30 minutes, until the top is set; and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Remove from the oven and allow to cool nearly completely. Bake the second brownie after removing the first brownie from the pan (this is where those parchment flaps come in handy) and again preparing the pan by greasing and parchmenting it.
8. Allow the brownies to cool completely.
9. Leave one of the brownie layers in the pan it was baked in. Place the brownie and pan in the freezer for 30 minutes or so.
10. Bring your ice cream out of the freezer to soften slightly for 15 minutes or so (depending on the heat of your kitchen).
11. Remove the pan and brownie from the freezer and scoop the softened ice cream across the chilled brownie to cover. Use and offset spatula rinsed in warm water to smooth the scoops and place the second brownie layer atop the ice cream. Gently press to meld the layers.
12. Return the stacked brownies to the freezer and allow to set overnight.
13. When ready to serve, slice the brownies into 16 big pieces, then slice each of those in half.
14. These treats last really well individually wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the freezer and are also equally excellent served to a crowd on a hot day.

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