Peanut butter Mock-Icecream Sandwiches

Along with the many discomforts of pregnancy during the summer, baby has blessed me with gestational diabetes.  That means no fun stuff like lemonade and popsicles because there are too many carbohydrates and sugars that can do wonky things to her growing little body.  So...I've had to get creative in how I treat myself on hot sunny days.  This recipe is something I came up with based on a peanut butter cookie recipe from Diabetic Living.  I tried making the original recipe, which tastes great, but the batter only made 1/2 the amount of cookies that it states.  Which of course, means that the carb count for each cookie was twice the stated amount on the site, and therefore out of my range.  (Not entirely true...I could have 2 with no problem, but I couldn't have the milk to dunk them in so I decided it wasn't worth it. Hubby got to eat that batch.) So then I tried making the cookies with Splenda.  They tasted fine but were very crumbly and fragile.  I didn't want to waste them so I combined them with a craving for icecream sandwiches that I'd been having and managed to come up with this frozen treat...

Peanut butter Mock-Icecream Sandwiches-makes 7-9 sandwiches based on how evenly you scoop your cookie dough

1 Cup Peanut butter
1 Cup Granulated Splenda
1 large egg
Approximately 4 oz (half a tub) Lite frozen whipped dessert topping, thawed
(I used the store brand, but it's better known as Cool Whip)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (or grease it generously) and set aside.

2. Combine the peanut butter, splenda, and egg and mix until smooth.  Do this by hand or the splenda will fly everywhere.

3. Use a mini icecream scoop (or roll into 1" balls) to dish out the dough.  Set the dough mounds 2 inches apart on the prepared pan.

4. Using a small piece of parchment and a flat bottomed drinking glass, smash the dough mounds into flat discs.  If you don't have parchment, grease the bottom of the glass to keep it from sticking to the dough.

5. Bake for approximately 9 minutes or until slightly puffed and barely golden around the edges.  Remember, splenda won't brown up the same way sugar does, so don't bake them too long. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack. They are going to be very crumbly and fragile, so be delicate when removing them from the pan.  Set the pan aside so you can re-use it in the next step.

6. Once the cookies are cool, begin assembling the "sandwiches".  Flip a cookie so the flat part is facing up.  Place a generous dollop of whipped topping on the cookie and set a 2nd cookie on top with the flat side facing the center of the sandwich.  Place the assembled cookie on the cooled baking pan while you arrange the rest.

7. After all your cookies have been turned into sandwiches, pop the entire pan into the freezer and leave it there for about an hour.  The whipped topping will firm up and have a taste and texture very similar to vanilla icecream.  At this point, you can enjoy your treat or individually wrap them in plastic wrap to enjoy later.


If you use the lite version of the whipped topping, an entire sandwich yields roughly 10g of effective carbohydrate, or 1 carb serving. (Which means I could chow 3 if I really wanted to!)  The cookies are approximately 4g carbohydrate each and the Whipped topping is 2g. This is based on plugging the ingredient information into the recipe calculator at SparkRecipes.com and the nutrition facts printed on the topping container.  They're not the same as a real icecream sandwich and they're still a bit crumbly, but they're a good enough substitute for this chick on a hot summer day.  I hope you like them too.