I have been wanting to try my hand at a cookie sandwich recently, and they just seem like the perfect summer dessert! But not just a normal cookie sandwich, since they are normally full of chocolate in the cookies or milk-filled ice cream. Nope, mine was going to be gingerbread cookies and sweetened banana ice cream. And, oh yum,  these cookies turned out light and fluffy and the ice cream spicy and sweet. Here is my vegan and gluten-free Gingerbread Cookie Sandwiches.

The cookies turned out light and fluffy – not my intention, I wanted them to be flat and crisp – but they worked out perfectly. The cookies are gingerbread molasses cookies and the dough turned out right, in that it was a tougher, not as gooey dough like normal cookies. Just mix your dry ingredients then make a well in the middle. Before starting your dry ingredients though, mix up your “egg” mixture in a cup so it can thicken; I still have plenty of The Vegg on hand so I am continuing to use it. I added my wet ingredients to my measuring cup starting with the maple syrup, then adding everything else since all the rest was by the spoonful. Pour The Vegg into the measuring cup and mix it all together then pour into the well in the dry ingredients. Mix it all up. Now I had tried to do the roll thing by putting the dough onto plastic wrap then squeezing it out into a log and letting it set for a few hours in the freezer…but no luck. I think I squeezed it to thin to make these cookies; the dough was more of a long twig than a thick log. So then I just used my hands and took small balls and flattened them into little disks and baked. So you can totally forgo the cooling-log period.

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For the ice cream just add all your ingredients into a high-power blender or food processor and let it whirl until combined. You will most likely need to scrape the sides down to get everything combined. When I get a ton of bananas that are going black I peel them all and put them in a large ziplock bag and into the freezer just to get them out of the way until I want to do something with them. Which means they are one big frozen blob. This usually means I have to stab them with a knife to get them apart to drop into the fp or blender or defrost like normal things, so if you are like me and let the bananas defrost too much and all you had was a creamy (read runny) ice cream, put it in a container and then in the freezer to harden back up. Then scoop out the ice cream onto one cookie then put the other on top…and enjoy your spicy and sweet cookie sandwich! If you have leftover ice cream just put in a container with a lid to enjoy later. Yum!

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Gingerbread Cookie Sandwiches,

Cookies:
1 1/4 C Bobs Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour
1 C Bobs Red Mill Oat Flour
1 Tsp Baking Soda
2 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Nutmeg
1 Tsp Ginger
1 The Vegg Egg w/ Almond Milk as the liquid
1/3 C Maple Grove Farms 100% Pure Maple Syrup
2 Tbsp Molasses
2 Tsp Vanilla
1/4 C Applesauce

Banana Ice Cream:
8 Frozen Bananas
1 Tbsp Molasses
1/4 C Maple Grove Farms 100% Pure Maple Syrup
1 Tsp Ginger
2 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Nutmeg

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking sheet with non-stick spray. Freeze bananas.
2. Mix one “egg”.
3. Mix all dry cookie ingredients in large mixing bowl. Make well in center.
4. Mix all wet cookie ingredients in small dish or large measuring cup. Pour into well and mix thoroughly.
5. Once combined take mediumish pieces of dough and roll between hands then flatten into disks. Set on baking sheets.
6. Bake about 8-10 minutes.
7. Let cool completely before making sandwiches.
8. After bananas have defrosted enough to blend, add them and the rest of the ice cream ingredients to mixer. Process until well combined.
9. Make sandwiches. Any left over ice cream just freeze for enjoyment later.