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Sweet Bean Chickpea Cookie Dough Ice Cream is a simple but revolutionary ice cream, creamy, delicious and exciting! Plus, full of fiber, beautiful in color and fun to make.
Sweet Bean Chickpea Cookie Dough Ice Cream is a nutritious sweet treat that’s perfect for variety of diets: nut-free, coconut-free or dairy-free, depending on your needs.
The original recipe is Vegan and dairy-free, but for VAD, Lox Oxalate/Salicylate or Ancestral diets, it may also be made with cream (I choose A2A2, either pastured and raw or from a good company). Depending on a couple of ingredient choices, Sweet Bean Chickpea Cookie Dough Ice Cream is Vegan, Gluten-free, Ancestral, VAD, GAPS, Low Oxalate and Low Salicylate.
Special dietary notes
- Low Oxalate and Low Salicylate ~ Just omit the chocolate chips for a decadent cookie dough ice cream you’ll love! Sweet Bean + vanilla bean for the win.
- VAD changes to the recipe ~ Omit the chocolate chips and the vanilla. Use well-sourced heavy cream. My youngest son prefers the no-vanilla version of this recipe with black-eyed peas, so you might consider that. You get a more tropical fruit flavor from black-eyed peas. You’d never know it was sweet bean ice cream unless someone told you, and black-eyed peas blend nicely into a creamy base. You may also reduce the sweetener to 2/3 cup or even 1/2 if you’d prefer. If you reduce the sweetener, allow more time for it to thaw before scooping. Small portions allow this decadent cream dessert.
- GAPS diet ~ Use GAPS beans that work for your body. Choose honey as your sweetener. Omit chocolate chips unless they’re homemade and you know you’ll do fine with them, or for a special occasion.
How I first made sweet bean ice cream
I started making sweet bean ice creams this year while on a restricted diet. I’d been enjoying Vegan Bean Milk on homemade granola, and used to cook for a sushi restaurant (Japanese cuisine includes sweet red bean ice cream), so it wasn’t a far leap to make my own natural version.
I started with a Low Oxalate and Low Salicylate black-eyed pea milk, and even my boys loved that recipe. But I know that broader audiences love and prefer the ubiquitous chickpea. Plus, it has that lovely yellow hue, perfect for a beautiful ice cream.
Yes, you may make Sweet Bean Ice Cream with any bean you love! But chickpeas are indeed brilliant in the recipe. Their flavor is well-suited to go in the sweet direction, and they’re creamy.
Ingredients in Sweet Bean Chickpea Cookie Dough Ice Cream
- chickpeas, also called garbanzo beans — These must be soft and creamy. If your cooked beans are hard, they won’t purée into a creamy base. Canned beans, or home-cooked soft beans, work well for this recipe.
- water — purée with the beans to create a creamy milk
- coconut cream, or heavy cream for non-vegan — Coconut cream is the thick cream in the top half of the can, in full fat canned coconut milk. Choose a brand like Native Forest. Be sure there is no coconut oil on top of the cream. You’ll need the cream from 2 cans for this recipe, although not all of it.
- pure maple syrup, or agave if preferred for vegan; for GAPS, use honey.
- real vanilla extract — Vanilla extract is an important ingredient in this recipe, because it helps to create the special “cookie dough” flavor. Don’t omit it unless you’re doing the VAD version of the recipe. The alcohol base in vanilla extract also lowers the freezing temperature of ice cream, creating a creamier outcome.
- sea salt — This is a must in ice creams, especially the cookie dough flavor. It accentuates the sweet, as well as all the flavors.
How to make Sweet Bean Chickpea Cookie Dough Ice Cream
This recipe is not cooked, unlike some ice cream recipes. We just blend the ingredients, and freeze in an ice cream maker.
But, choose if you’ll use canned chickpeas or dried. Because, if you choose dried, you’ll need to soak overnight, fully cook and chill them before this recipe can be started. Be sure to use fresh dried beans, so they cook up creamy. (Old dried beans stay hard in the middle.)
PRO TIP: Before making this recipe … First, make sure your ice cream maker has chilled properly, overnight, on the coldest setting and on a level surface.
Then, begin the recipe:
- If you plan to freeze the ice cream for scooping, place storage container in freezer to pre-chill.
- Purée chickpeas, water, sweetener, vanilla and sea salt in blender for about 40 seconds on high speed, until smooth and creamy.
- Add cream (if using coconut cream, make sure it’s room temperature), and blend very briefly, just to mix.
- Turn on ice cream maker, and pour in the “mix”. Freeze until mostly frozen, then add optional chocolate chips, and finish churning.
Sweet Bean Chickpea Cookie Dough Ice Cream (Vegan, GF, Ancestral, VAD, GAPS, Low Oxalate & Low Salicylate)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed, also called garbanzo beans, or 1-⅔ cups home-cooked, room temp or cold (Home-cooked beans must be very soft inside, not mealy or hard.)
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup coconut cream or 1-¼ cups heavy cream for VAD and non-vegan -- Coconut cream is the thick cream in the top half of the can, in full fat canned coconut milk. Choose a brand like Native Forest. Be sure there is no coconut oil on top of the cream. You will need 2 cans to get the full 1 cup; save leftover milk/cream for Thai soup, smoothies or other uses.
- ¾ cup pure maple syrup or agave if preferred for vegan; for GAPS, use honey.
- ⅓ cup mini chocolate chips
- 2 Tablespoons real vanilla extract This large amount of vanilla creates an awesome flavor, plus a creamier outcome due to the alcohol base. Do not omit unless on VAD diet. Really creates the "cookie dough" flavor.
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt not optional, for best flavor
Instructions
- If you plan to freeze the ice cream for scooping, place storage container in the freezer to pre-chill.
- Purée chickpeas, water, sweetener, vanilla and salt in blender on high speed for about 40 seconds, until smooth and creamy.
- Add cream (if using coconut cream, make sure it's room temperature), and blend very briefly, just to mix.
- Turn on ice cream maker, and pour in the "mix". Freeze until mostly frozen, then add optional chocolate chips, and finish churning.
- If not eating immediately, pour into pre-chilled ice cream storage container, cover, and freeze until ready to scoop. When ready to scoop, this ice cream freezes pretty hard (with freezer at coldest setting), so it's important to set it out early to scoop: either in the fridge for 30 minutes, or on the counter for 15 minutes.
Nutrition
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More ice cream recipes to love:
- Cinnamon Ice Cream (Paleo, Keto, AIP, Vegan, GAPS)
- Avocado Ice Cream, with 9 flavors! (Paleo, Keto, AIP, Vegan, GAPS)
- Lemon Ice Cream (Primal, Keto, VAD, GAPS, Ancestral, Low Oxalate, Low Salicylate)
- Coconut Lime Ice Cream (Paleo, Keto, AIP, Vegan, GAPS, Low Oxalate, Low Salicylate)
- Vanilla Ice Cream (Paleo, Keto, AIP, Vegan, GAPS)
- Chocolate Ice Cream (Paleo, Keto, AIP, Vegan, GAPS)
Cari says
Hello Megan, this looks delicious! I don’t have an icecream maker, but sometimes I make icecream using the method where you freeze the mixture in ice cube trays, then whizz them in a Vitamix or similar to a soft-serve texture, when you either eat straight away or freeze the finished ice cream. Would your recipe work like this? Or does it absolutely have to be an ice cream maker? Thanks for all your wonderful recipes 🙂
Megan says
Hi Cari, yes, that method should work fine! 🙂 You’re welcome! 🙂
Helen Blain says
Is there another substitute for the coconut cream/heavy cream? Coconut is off-limits on VAD and heavy cream doesn’t work for someone w/ dairy intolerance.
Megan says
Hi Helen, you could create a creamy milk from an allowed VAD nut or seed butter, mixed 1:1 with water. So for example, 1/2 cup macadamia nut butter with 1/2 cup water. I haven’t done this to be sure, so it might need to be tweaked, but basically an extra creamy nut or seed milk. Let us know if you try it!
A says
Oh, this looks LUSCIOUS!
Megan, I’m noticing that more of your recent posts use dairy cream/coconut cream. On VAD, dairy and coconut are discouraged – how are you doing with more dairy in your diet? Does it seem to be working after such a long detox? Also, are you following VAD strictly with low oxalate/low salicylate?
My biggest fear is that once I re-introduce dairy, there won’t be enough heavy cream left to make the ice cream! 🙂
Thanks!
Megan says
Hi A, thank you! I give somewhat lengthy notes in the top portion of the post about VAD, saying cream is the option for VAD, not the coconut cream option. I hope that was clear. 🙂 For how much on the diet, we just enjoy small portions of ice cream, so our total amount of dairy for the day is still 2 tablespoons. Then, I use duck fat for cooking that day. Or, we go a bit over for the day, but not for that meal. We’ve been doing the diet for almost 3 years, so for us, a little over seems to be okay. For most, I think it’s best to just have a small portion, or use as a topping for waffles made with duck fat. Still, overall fat shouldn’t be too high, so it’s just finding the balance that still allows for treats. Yes, we are following VAD strictly with low ox/low sal, no compromises other than what I described above, maybe going up to 3 tablespoons cream/butter. Actually, my favorite way to eat this ice cream is on top of warm hulled barley, with a little oat milk. This is similar to the rice sundaes we’ve been eating for years and used to serve at our cafe, similar to Thai desserts. It’s a little like a bowl of warm oatmeal with ice cream on top, and still some milk underneath, so the ice cream goes further. I hope all that helps! 😉
Megan says
One more thing I thought of that might be helpful, you can make a VAD version of this recipe with less cream, and replace that cream with water. I did this in my trials of the recipe, and the boys loved that version. My oldest son especially loves less creamy lighter ice cream. So that’s another way to reduce the dairy fat for you. If you do this, the batch is best fresh, OR set out to defrost for longer before scooping.
Dorothy says
This sure is an outside the icebox recipe. ?. I never would have thought of ice cream made with beans. Thanks for another good frozen sweet treat recipe. Do you think the amount of sweetener could be decreased without changing the consistency?
Megan says
Hi Dorothy, I like your pun. 😉 Yes, you can decrease the sweetener to 2/3 or even 1/2 cup. The main things that will happen are: 1) less sweet ice cream LOL, obviously, 2) delicious fresh, but… 3) doesn’t store or scoop as well. The ice cream will freeze harder and take longer to defrost before you can scoop it. As long as you don’t mind this, totally fine to reduce the sweetener.
Dorothy says
Thanks Megan!
Shelby says
Kiddos loved this and never would have guessed there was chickpea anything in it!
Megan says
Awesome, Shelby! Thanks for sharing, sooo glad! 🙂
Janessa says
I can not wait to give this recipe a try! Such a great idea to use chickpeas to make it creamy. I might even be able to rationalize eating this for breakfast! Ha ha
Megan says
Ha, yes, Janessa, I agree. 😉 Thank you!
Donny says
I’m always looking for an excuse to use my ice cream maker and this recipe is so easy! This will be perfect for summer.
Megan says
Oh good, enjoy, Donny! Thank you.
Sally Avery says
Hi Megan,
How might I make this recipe without an ice cream maker?
Thanks,
Sally
Megan says
Hi Sally, there are a couple of ways: one is to pour the “mix” into your freezing container (loaf pan or shallow storage dish), and then rake a fork through it every 20 minutes while it’s freezing until it’s ice cream consistency. This is a tried and true method, but won’t turn out as creamy of a product or as small of ice crystals. The second is to freeze the “mix” in ice cube trays, and then when frozen, pulse in food processor until you have ice cream. 🙂