Mini Chocolate-Raspberry Ice Cream Sandwiches

Yesterday I attempted aquafaba macarons again. Now, I have experimented with these multiple times, but there’s always something wrong: they melt in the oven, they are hollow, they taste weird, the meringue does not get stiff… But, I keep on trying! Well, the batch I made yesterday is the best so far. Chewy and tender, they don’t have feet, but at least, they did not melt! I’ll consider this one a success!

As it is supposed to reach 40C today, I really didn’t feel like making a creamy filling. So I went with raspberry quick ice cream. Basically just frozen raspberry, this filling was a great addition to my chocolate cookies. It is tart and fresh and goes really well with the chewy and sweet chocolate!

Oh, you might be wondering what aquafaba is. Well, it’s the liquid that’s left after you have cooked beans, or the liquid you usually drain out when using canned beans. You might have noticed that this liquid is sticky and egg-like. Well, it can replace eggs in many recipe, including when making meringue! Extraordinary! What I usually do is keep this liquid in my freezer and just take it out when I feel like using it.

Here is what you need:

• 200 mL aquafaba (about the amount you can find in one can of beans; I used the liquid from kidney beans.)
• 2/3 cup icing sugar.
• 2/3 cup ground almonds
• splash of vinegar or lemon juice
• 2 tbs cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 1 tbs maple syrup

Here is what you do:

1. In a small sauce pan, bring the aquafaba to a simmer and let reduce until you have about 100mL (a little less than 1/2 cup). Remove from the heat and let chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
2. Pour the aquafaba in a large mixing bowl and use your electric mixer to whisk up until you have stiff peaks. This will take anywhere between 5 to 10 minutes, so hang in there!
3. Once the meringue is thick, add a splash of lemon juice or vinegar to help it stay stiff. Add the vanilla extract. Whisk a little bit more, until the liquid is all mixed in.
4. Put the sugar, ground almonds and cocoa powder in a sieve and add that little by little to the meringue. Fold in the meringue using a spatula. Be gentle with the meringue: you don’t want all the air to leave, but you want all the dry ingredients to be well mixed in.
5. Using a piping bag, pipe a dime size amount of batter on a line cookie sheet. Keep the bag perpendicular with the cookie sheet to have round cookies. Or go crazy!
6. Preheat your oven to 250F and place the cookie sheet on the top rack. Bake for 30 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN! After 30 minutes, turn off the oven and let sit the cookie sheet in the oven for 30 more minutes without peeking.
7. Take out the cookies and let cool completely before removing them from the cookie sheet. Set aside.
8. For the ice cream, place the frozen raspberry and maple syrup in your food processor or blender, and blend until smooth.
9. Scoop some raspberry ice cream on one cookie bottom and top off with another cookie to make super cute miniature ice cream sandwiches! Place in the freezer to set and enjoy!

I have to say that the no-peeking-in-the-oven is really hard for me because our oven does not have a window: it’s always a complete surprise! I was really happy to see that these little cookies were nice and not puddle-like!

I love that they are bite size because they make for the perfect no-mess ice cream sandwiches. And, they are adorable! Let me know if you try them out!