I’m ready for it to be Fall. It’s September for crying out loud. And yet, temperatures are still climbing into the mid-eighties in and around San Luis Obispo. C’mon weather. My fall sweaters are getting antsy. Compromise? Okay.
I made pumpkin pie ice cream! Fall flavors meet a cool summer treat. It’s melt-in-your-mouth good. Oh, and guess what? It’s vegan, paleo, and gluten-free. Win-win? Mmmhmm.
Sidenote: if you’re going to enjoy this ice cream, you really should whip up a batch of these almond butter cookies with sea salt (which just so happen to also be paleo friendly). They are deliciously chewy, sweet, and perfectly salty. Eating them straight from the oven is highly recommended.
Vegan Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
Ingredients:
1 can coconut cream (or full fat coconut milk)
1 cup pumpkin puree (make sure it’s plain pumpkin and NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground allspice
Chopped pecans for topping
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients into a bowl and whisk until smooth. Chill in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer instructions. Freeze for about an hour and enjoy! *Note: If you freeze this all the way solid, It gets very hard and unscoopable. Make sure to take it out about 30 minutes before you want to eat it or pop it in the microwave in 10 second increments until thawed to the desired consistency.
Almond Butter Cookies with Sea Salt
adapted from NPR
Makes about 18 cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup almond butter
1 cup coconut sugar (you can sub regular sugar here if you want. I’d do 1/2 cup light brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar)
1 large egg
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp coconut flour (all purpose flour is fine here, too)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 Tbsp chopped almonds
1 Tbsp sea salt for sprinkling
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Combine almond butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla in a bowl and stir to combine. Add in flour and shopped almonds. Using a spoon, scoop out walnut-sized amounts of batter and roll in your palms to form a ball. Place in the baking sheet about an inch apart. Sprinkle the tops of the dough balls with sea salt.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned. If you wanted to put a chunk of chocolate on top of these at minute 10 and pop them back into the oven for the last 2 minutes of baking, I’d consider you a genius. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. These cookies are best the day they are baked, but will store at room temperature for up to 5 days.
