Raspberry cheesecake ice cream sandwich (with gluten free coconut and almond biscuits)

Hmmm I'm starting to notice a trend with my blog. Ice cream, ice cream, and ice cream!!!  Do you think I like it much?!

Well hopefully you do too. I know these pics would be enough to get me craving ice cream, even on the coldest of days!

Last night I realised I had no cream but in the fridge was a block of cream cheese and some organic yogurt so immediately cheesecake flavoured ice cream came to mind, of course!

So I used my original ice cream recipe but substituted the cream for the cream cheese and yogurt, and when it was almost finished churning, I threw in a couple of handfuls of frozen organic raspberries. Whilst it didn't churn as thick as with the cream, it hasn't frozen icy at all and is actually a lighter, slightly more acidic flavour.  Quite refreshing really.

But what puts it into a league of its own is teaming it up with these little biscuits that quite seriously take seconds to whiz together, thanks, of course to the Thermomix! The recipe is based on the 40 second biscuit recipe found in the EDC Thermomix cookbook but I have made a few changes. Of course any of your favourite bikkies would work just as well - ginger, choc chip, even filling a brandy snap with the ice cream would make an impressive dessert for even the most discerning guest!

So if you actually need reasons why you should be half way into the kitchen right now to start baking, these sandwiches would be a fun alternative to commercially made ice cream cones, and obviously more natural.  You could even have an ice cream sandwich bar at your child's party where the kids get to sandwich their bikkies together with a selection of a few ice cream flavours.

Being Coeliac we often miss out on the yummy waffle cones but with these yummy bikkies we will be the envy of everyone else!

If you don't have an ice cream churner (which is such a great investment to be able to make all natural frozen treats the whole family can eat and not feel guilty about), you could freeze the mix and whiz back in the Thermomix or other high powered food processor once frozen.

I would love to hear if you create your own flavour combinations. Post the pics on Mellymaks Facebook page - we would all love to see them!

Raspberry cheesecake ice cream sandwiches 

Biscuit ingredients

100g almonds (or almond meal if not using a Thermomix)

100g rapadura sugar (sometimes I use a little less - especially for this where the sweetness will come from the ice cream)

1 handful shredded organic coconut (probably around 50g)

150g gluten free plain flour (I used Orgran)

100g butter, chilled

1 tsp vanilla extract

Raspberry cheesecake ice cream ingredients

250g block cream cheese

100-150g organic yogurt

2 eggs

3/4 tin condensed milk 

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 handfuls frozen organic raspberries

Method - Thermomix

Biscuit

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Line two baking trays with baking paper.
2. Place almonds, coconut and sugar in TM bowl and grind for 20 sec on speed 8.
3. Add remaining ingredients and combine on speed 6-7 until nearly comes together into a ball.
4. Mould tablespoons of the mixture into balls and press down lightly to make a disc.  Place on tray.  Repeat with remaining mixture, leaving a small amount of room for spreading.
5. Place in oven and bake for approx 15 mins or until lightly brown.  Leave on tray for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.  Makes approx 30 biscuits.

Raspberry cheesecake ice cream

1.  Place cream cheese, yogurt and eggs in TM bowl and whip on speed 5-6 for 10 seconds or until smooth.  Scrape down and place butterfly into bowl. 
2. Add remaining ingredients except for raspberries.  Whiz on speed 4 for 2 1/2 minutes, scraping down once.
3. If you have an ice cream churner, pour mix into churner and follow churner instructions.  Add raspberries in the last couple of minutes of churning.  Place in a freezer proof container and store immediately in the freezer.
4. If you do not have an ice cream churner, pour mix into a freezer proof container and place in freezer until firm but not frozen.  Once nearly frozen, break up roughly and place in TM bowl.  Blend on speed 9 for 20 seconds, add raspberries and continue to blend on speed 4  for 10 seconds.  Return to the freezer until set (approx 5-6 hours).

Method - Conventional

Biscuit

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Line two baking trays with baking paper.
2. Place all ingredients into food processor and process until mixture nearly comes together in a ball.
3. Mould tablespoons of the mixture into balls and press down lightly to make a disc.  Place on tray.  Repeat with remaining mixture, leaving a small amount of room for spreading.
4. Place in oven and bake for approx 15 mins or until lightly brown.  Leave on tray for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.  Makes approx 30 biscuits.

Raspberry cheesecake ice cream

1.  Place all ingredients except for raspberries into food processor or electric mixer.  Blend for 3 minutes, scraping down as needed until smooth.
2. If you have an ice cream churner, pour mix into churner and follow churner instructions.  Add raspberries in the last couple of minutes of churning.  Place in a freezer proof container and store immediately in the freezer.
3. If you do not have an ice cream churner, pour mix into a freezer proof container and place in freezer until firm but not frozen.  Once nearly frozen, break up roughly and place in TM bowl.  Blend on speed 9 for 20 seconds, add raspberries and continue to blend on speed 4  for 10 seconds.  Return to the freezer until set (approx 5-6 hours).

To assemble the ice cream sandwich:

1. Spoon slightly softened ice cream onto the flat side of one biscuit, approx 2cm high.  Smooth evenly and place flat side of second biscuit on top, pressing lightly to adhere to the ice cream.  Repeat with remaining biscuits and ice cream (you will have ice cream left over).  Return to freezer and serve as required.