The other day when my brother asked me to make him Pumpkin Ice Cream he also asked for S’mores Ice Cream.  I had never had s’mores ice cream – but with an educated guess I figured it was some type of combination of vanilla ice cream with chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows.  I accepted the challenge, and went to gather ingredients.

I figured I could us the same ‘base’ that I’ve used for most of the other ice creams, and then add the s’mores toppings as mix-ins.  The mix-ins, though, were the tricky part.  Chocolate I had taken care of – I chose ‘Enjoy Life’ chocolate chunk bars, but any chocolate bars would have done – just make sure they meet your dietary choices.  The graham crackers I figured I could make – but then found some ‘Enjoy LIfe’ sugar cookies, that tasted pretty close, and decided to use a box of them.  (although their vanilla honey grahams are also great – but do contain honey) But again, you could substitute any graham cracker you like.  The marshmallows were another story.  Since traditional marshmallows have animal products in them, I wanted a vegan version – which proved a but hard to find here in town, but I did finally find some Dandies brand, and they were excellent.

I decided I wanted the marshmallows toasted, so I broiled them in the oven.  The Dandies didn’t melt as much as a traditional marshmallow – but they did get toasty.  They didn’t really stick to the cookie like I thought they would, but not having to scrape marshmallow off the pan was nice.

The key to making the s’mores is to make them ahead of time – because they need to be room temperature when added to the ice cream.

Let’s make some Ice cream!

S’Mores Ice Cream [Vegan/Gluten Free]

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First, we’ll make the s’mores:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a bag of ‘Enjoy Life’ Chocolate Chunks
• 1 box of ‘Enjoy Life’ Sugar Crisp Cookies
• 1 bag Dandies marshmallows

Make Them:

1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees, or ‘broil’
2. Arrange cookies on a baking sheet
3. Top with marshmallows
4. Broil for 3 – 4 minutes watching very closely, as marshmallows will burn quickly. You want them to be toasty brown, but not burnt
5. As soon as you remove them from the oven, press chocolate pieces into the mashmallows

      6.  Once cooled completely, crumble the s’mores in a bowl, tearing the marshmallows as you go. Add in any left over mashmallows, tearing up them up first.  Also add one large handful of chocolate chunks.  Set aside.

Then, we’ll make the ice cream

Ingredients:

• 1 can (13.5 oz) full fat coconut milk
• 3/4 a cup of non dairy milk of your choice
• 1/2 cup of dates (mine were really dry, so I soaked them for about 30 minutes then drained them)
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup
• 1/2 + 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Mixins at the end:

• S’mores (recipe above)

Make It:

1. Combine all of the ingredients (except for the mixins) in the blender.  Blend until the dates are completely ground and only little bits remain
2. Pour into ice cream maker, and make according to the directions for your ice cream maker
3. When it is finished (mine took about 30 minutes), turn the machine off and stir in the s’mores
4. Serve immediately, or freeze for a harder consistency.
5. Store in the freezer for up to one week.  Serves best if left to sit for about 10 minutes out of freezer before scooping

Makes about 2 pints

What’s your dream ice cream flavor?! I’d love to create it for you!

-Chelsea