Think Snickers ice cream bars but chocolate-ier!
These brownie ice cream bars with crunchy nuts and chocolate are the mini-batch treat for this cruel hot summer.
They’re completely no-bake and made with any ice cream (including store-bought) to minimize effort.
There are so many healthy ice creams and alternatives out there that sometimes it’s just easier to pick up a pint rather than blend and churn at home yourself.
Though that is also of course an amazing treat and a fun activity if that’s what you’re in the mood for! Here’s one of my fav homemade protein ice cream recipes.
Back to this current treat, it was inspired by Feasting on Fruit’s amazing bars and photography. I ran into it while looking for So Delicious ice cream‘s recipe index.
I wanted to create a similar but simpler treat at home, without a ton of leftovers and this is what I came up with.
Honestly, ice cream photography is a pain, but I managed OK. What do you think?
Side note, while perusing Feasting on Fruit website to find the link to the above recipe, I now found these ice cream bars, which look and sound even better, tahini caramel YUM! Should we make a mini-batch version of these next? Life is so short, LOL.
I sure envy you if you don’t have to take pics of your treats before you gobble them up (just kidding of course!)
I hope you give this one a try and do let me know in the comments if you do!
Mini-batch Ice Cream Brownie Bars
Equipment
- Small baking dish or muffin pan
Ingredients
Brownie layer
- 1 tbsp nut/seed butter (16 g) I used almond butter
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (21 g)
- 2 tbsp oat flour (15 g) sub coconut flour or protein powder
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder (12 g) or more oat flour if you prefer a cookie crust instead of brownie crust
- 1 tbsp (nut) milk (15 g) I use unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tbsp chocolate chips (15 g)
Ice cream layer
- 4 oz (about 1 cup) ice cream (112 g) df if desired, I used salted caramel flavor
- 2 tbsp roasted peanuts, or other nuts/seeds (15 g)
Chocolate coating
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips (45 g)
- 1 tsp coconut oil (5 g) or other neutral oil
Instructions
- Line a small baking pan with parchment (or use muffin liners). I'll link to the pans I use in the recipe notes.
- Get your ice cream out to soften.
- In a medium bowl add all brownie ingredients except milk and chocolate chips. Add enough milk 1 tsp at a time to get a non-sticky brownie batter.
- Stir in chocolate chips and spread the batter on your parchment lined dish (using a spatula helps).
- Top with your ice cream, spreading it to the corners. Sprinkle the nuts.
- Freeze this until solid, at least a few hours, ideally overnight.
- In a small bowl microwave your chocolate coating ingredients 30 sec at a time and mix until all chocolate is melted.
- Take out your bars, let them thaw a few minutes. Slice and freeze again until solid, at least 10 more mins.
- Cover them in chocolate: First spoon the chocolate over them, freeze to set, and then dip the bottoms in chocolate. Alternatively you can dunk them whole in one fell swoop, but be quick or the ice cream will melt.
- Freeze immediately to set the chocolate without melting the ice cream.
- Enjoy from frozen!
Notes
- I’ve made these with oat and coconut flour and both were amazing. They’re also great with peanut butter or sun butter.
- Here are the 3.75 x 5 inch pans I like to use for my mini-batch bar recipes. You can use any small pan and slice differently, or use muffin tins and make 4 single-serving cups.