Gluten Free: Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ice cream, we can't get enough of it here at Domestic Sluttery! As if we needed to prove our love for it, we've got a brilliant round-up of our favourite recipes AND we've even shared our deepest thoughts about ice cream with you.

When I was a kid, the ice cream van used to come around during the summer and, if we could persuade our parents before it drove off again, we'd be treated to a pokey hat (that's an ice cream cone to the uninitiated). The adults eschewed the classic 99 for something called an oyster, which (as far as I could tell) was a ball of ice cream, sandwiched between two shell-shaped wafers. There might have been chocolate, nougat or coconut involved, but I was usually too busy eating my own ice cream before it melted to worry about what my mum and dad were eating.

This ice cream sandwich is a nod to those oysters from summers-of-old, with a bit of a twist. You can make them in whatever flavour you like; substitute 30g of gf flour mix for 30g cocoa powder to make chocolate cookies to go with mint-choc-chip ice cream; use freeze dried mango instead of raspberries and use mango sorbet (or swirl the sorbet with vanilla ice cream), or use butterscotch chips and toffee ice cream. The only limit is your imagination (and what ice cream your local Tesco stocks).

Ice Cream Sandwiches (makes about 6 sandwiches)
You'll need

• 250g gluten free plain flour mix
• 150g icing sugar
• 150g butter, slightly softened
• 2 tbsp freeze dried raspberries
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 balls of ice cream, vanilla or raspberry ripple work well here
• more freeze dried raspberries and grated white chocolate, to decorate

Make it!

1. Preheat your oven to 165°C/325°F/gas mark 3.
2. Put the gluten free flour mix, icing sugar and butter in a bowl and rub the butter in with your fingertips (just like making crumble topping). 
3. When it resembles breadcrumbs, sprinkle over the freeze dried raspberries and gently stir them in.
4. Add the egg and vanilla extract and combine until you have a soft dough.
5. Wrap in cling film and pop in the fridge for about 30 minutes to chill.
6. When the dough has chilled, roll it out on a well floured surface, or between two sheets of baking paper, to about 3mm thick. Cut out cookies with a pastry cutter (or slice into even-sized squares) and place on a baking sheet. If the dough is staring to soften, pop the cut cookies in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up before baking.
7. Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly golden and firm to the touch.
8. Leave the cookies to cool for about 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack, they'll be too soft to start with.
9. When the cookies have completely cooled, add a ball of ice cream on top of a cookie and press another one on top. Repeat for all the remaining cookies.
10. Roll the sandwiches in freeze dried raspberries and grated chocolate to decorate.
11. Keep the sandwiches in the freezer until you're ready to serve them.