Mini Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Easy to make and filled with the flavors of fall- what could be better?! Oh, and they are also under 100 calories each with only 1 gram of fat!!

My love for ice cream sandwiches in the past has been fairly limited and somewhat specific. I was really much more an ice cream cone kid, and relished in an ice cream sundae here and there too. That was until I discovered the IT’s-IT. Created in San Francisco and understandably remaining a food legend there, this creamy vanilla ice cream in between two chewy oatmeal cookies blanketed in chocolate became a favorite. I ate them on and off as a child and then reunited with them in college when I noticed that my local corner store near my apartment carried them. They made quite the great study break indulgence! As my daily diet seems to get healthier and healthier with each year that passes, I have not really embraced ice cream sandwiches anmore and turn more to fro-yo for a sweet cold treat.

Recently I picked up a box of almond thin cookies at Trader Joes, I was really impressed with their flavor, somewhat wholesome ingredients- plus for under 20 calories a piece I was sold. Cracking them open and crunching on one here and there was nice but they seemed to beckon for some sort of spread or topping to be slathered on their thin little cracker like bodies. One night after dinner I was munching on one in the kitchen when my husband walked past me with his post dinner standard- low fat vanilla ice cream. It was then that a yummy idea hit me- a mini ice cream sandwich! Luckily the cookies worked perfectly for this recipe and refreeze very well. They are a little bit delicate so handle with care when assembling the sandwiches. With all the flavors of low fat ice cream and frozen yogurts available in the grocery isle, the possibilities are endless. I decided to doctor up the vanilla ice cream with some pumpkin and spice in the spirit of approaching Halloween.

Ingredients:

8 almond thin cookies from Trader Joes or Jules Destrooper brand (if you cannot find them use 2 graham cracker sheets-each broken into 4 small squares)
1 cup light vanilla ice cream (Edy’s or Dreyer’s slow churned work well)
1 teaspoon canned pumpkin
¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
aluminum foil, cut into four 4 by 4 inch squares

Directions:

Mix the ice cream, pumpkin and pie spice in a small bowl and put back in the freezer to harden a bit for 10 minutes or so. Place one cookie/graham cracker in the middle of each of the four squares of foil. Add ¼ cup of the ice cream in the center of each and place a second cookie/graham cracker on top to make 4 sandwiches. Wrap up with foil and freeze for at least 20-30 minutes before serving.

Makes four mini sandwiches, 4 servings

Serving size: 1 mini sandwich Calories 85 Protein 2 g Carb 14 g Fiber 0 g Sugars 10 g Fat 1g saturated fat 0 g Sodium 65 mg