Chocolate Ice Cream
Puree the coconut milk and dates in a blender until smooth.
If desired, make the optional thickener: whisk the gelatin in with 1/4 cup boiling water, until dissolved.
Add the rest of the ingredients, including the thickener, in the blender and puree until smooth.
Freeze for one hour or refrigerate the mixture until it's cold.
Pour the cooled ice cream mixture into your ice cream machine and turn on, per the manufactures instructions. Note: mine took about 20 minutes.
Move the churned ice cream (now has a texture of soft serve) into a freezer-safe container and freeze until hard.
Chocolate Whoopie Pie Cakes
Preheat oven to 325 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together.
Using either a stand or electric hand mixer, mix all the wet ingredients together except the coconut oil.
After thoroughly combined, turn the mixer on and slowly drizzle in the melted coconut oil.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet and combine with the electric mixer until smooth.
Using either a
size 12 scoop (for large cookies) or
size 40 scoop (for small cookies), scoop an even amount of dough onto the parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Using either wet hands or a separate piece of parchment paper and a heavy cup, press the cookie dough balls into flat discs.
Bake at 325 F for approximately 25 minutes, or until they lightly spring back when touched.
Let them cool completely then transfer to a freezer-safe container, each cookie separated by parchment paper, so that they can harden completely.
Frozen Mint Chocolate Whoopie Pies
Let the chocolate ice cream soften for a few minutes on the counter so that it is scoop-able.
With the same size scoop used for the cookies, scoop a heaping amount of chocolate ice cream and place it on the backside of one cookie. Place another cookie on top of the ice cream and press down. Repeat for the entire batch.
Freeze the ice cream sandwiches until set.
Let them thaw for a few minutes before serving and then enjoy!