❤ Valentine's Day Special- Choc Chip Nice Cream Sandwich ❤

These choc chip nice cream sandwiches would make a great Valentine's Day dessert - you can even do some of the prep ahead of time. If you have a heart shaped cutter, that's even better! 

Have you ever wondered why chocolate (made healthy here using the sheer wonderment that is raw cacao) is so much a part of Valentine's Day?  Cacao contains phenethylamine, which releases endorphins from the brain stem.  These 'feel good' hormones are also released when you fall in love!

The choc chip cookie is filled with choc nice cream - with no added sugar, gluten and dairy free yet delicious, it's almost magic! Let it put a spell on you this Valentine's Day ❤

🍫 Choc Chip Nice Cream Sandwiches  (Serves 3) 🍪

For the Biscuits (Makes 6) 

125 g dairy free spread plus extra for greasing
10g stevia
1 egg equivalent (1 tbsp rice flour, 1/2 tsp coconut oil, 1 tbsp almond milk)
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla
225g rice flour plus extra for rolling
70g cacao nibs 
6tbsp almond milk

To make the biscuits cream the dairy free spread and stevia.  Add the egg equivalent, salt, vanilla, and rice flour and mix thoroughly adding up to 6 tbsp of almond milk to form a dough. Add the cacao nibs to the bowl and knead the cacao nibs into the dough. Roll the dough out on a floured board to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and cut out the shape. Place on a greased baking tray and bake at 180 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack until ready to assemble. 

For the Nice Cream 

6 ripe bananas
1 cup dairy-free milk of your choice
1 1/2 tbsp of cacao powder
Cacao nibs to decorate

The night before, chop the bananas into chunks and pop them into the fridge to freeze for about eight hours. In the morning, put the bananas, cacao powder and dairy-free milk in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. 

Empty the nice cream into a large shallow-sided food container (ideally with a lid).  It's best if you spread out the nice cream so it ends up roughly the same depth as the depth of your cookie cutter. Pop the lid on your container (this just protects your nice cream in case anything falls onto it in the freezer), and freeze for at least another four or five hours. 

After this time, take out the nice cream and use the cookie cutter to cut out heart shapes- it should be plenty solid enough for you to do this without much trouble. If the nice cream has ended up little too solid and you're having difficulties getting your cookie cutter through, then (taking very good care not to burn your fingers!) dip a metal cookie cutter in some hot water and use it to cut your nice cream- it should then cut through easily. 

💕 Now it's time for two hearts to become one 😂

Put the cookie that's going to form the bottom half of your sandwich on a plate. Then place the nice cream heart on top (you might need to use a spatula). Then pop a second cookie on top of the nice cream to give a 'sandwich' effect. 

If you like, you can then gently press cacao nibs into the nice cream that is visible round the side of the sandwich- this gives a nice effect. 

Now grab a spoon and dig in- after all, it's heart-meltingly good!