Strawberry Short Cake Ice Cream Bars- gluten-free, top 8 allergen free
Many years ago, I used to eat what I would call Strawberry Kernel Ice Cream Bars. They were sold in the cafeteria at my middle school and quickly became my favorite. I loved the texture and flavor. While middle school can certainly be an awkward time for kids, I have very fond memories of that time due to these ice cream bars. Leave it to food to help a kid overlook the awkward days, ha ha. Looking back, it is interesting that I loved these bars as I hated ice cream (hello dairy intolerance). As an adult, I learned that most people call these strawberry shortcake ice cream bars. There are a few items on my food bucket list of things to make and for some reason these were on the list. They have hung out on that list for many years as we got settled here in Utah. I was determined that I would make these this summer. Of course, my family didn’t have a problem with this.
I had shortbread cookies in my freezer, so it was the perfect time to make these ice cream bars. As a note and big tip, the best way to make amazing free from food is to make extra when you're making an item and freeze the leftovers. This takes very little extra time when you are already making an item, but makes all the difference later. This is the perfect example. Since I already had the shortbread cookies for this recipe in my freezer, they only took about a half hour to make, including freezing time. We want you to have the joy of eating lots of great free from foods without a lot of time to make it happen. It is important to us that we help you live your best and most delicious free from life!
I had also purchased freeze dried strawberries at the grocery store long ago just for this project so when I needed them they were there. We have one kid with a strawberry allergy, so we also had freeze dried blackberries. You can use any freeze dried fruit you would like, these were just the flavors we chose. Fresh berries won’t work for this unless you would like to add them to your ice cream. That is definitely a delicious thing to add to your ice cream, but you need freeze dried fruit for the shortbread coating. These bars were devoured quickly when we made them and, just know, your loved ones will do the same. Head on over and grab our Rustic Scoop™ Pancake and Waffle Mix to make the shortbread cookies for this recipe!
Strawberry Shortbread Ice Cream Bars
Ingredients
5 Cups Rustic Scoop™ Shortbread Cookies
32 oz Vanilla Ice Cream
1 ½ Cups Fresh Strawberries (or other fruit)
2 Cups Freeze dried Strawberries (or other fruit)
⅓ Cup Melted Butter
Directions
Prepare a 9x13” baking dish with parchment paper and a baking sheet with parchment paper and set both aside.
Get your ice cream of choice out to become soft. Once it is soft, add your fresh fruit of choice. Mix well to combine. Once your ice cream is well mixed, smooth it into a parchment paper lined 9x13” baking pan. If you want thicker bars, you can use a smaller pan. Place in the freezer until mostly set. Once they are mostly set, but soft enough to cut, cut into desired shapes and sizes. Makes approximately 12-16 bars depending on size. After you are done cutting the bars, place them back in the freezer while you prepare the crumb coat.
Follow the instructions on making the Rustic Scoop™ shortbread cookies. Once they are cool, place 3 Cups of cookies in a food processor. You can do this by hand if need be. Place the cookies in a sealed bag, cover with a towel, beat until you have coarse crumbs. Place them in a medium bowl and set aside. Next, add the freeze dried fruit into the food processor with the remaining 2 Cups of shortbread cookies.and mix until the mixture is coarse crumbs. Add the freeze dried fruit mixture into the medium bowl. Using a large spoon, combine all of the crumbs. Add the melted butter and mix until well combined and all of the crumbs are evenly covered.
Take your ice cream bars back out of the freezer and roll each of them into the crumb coat, being sure to coat each bar completely. Put all of the bars onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and return to the freezer. Once fully frozen, wrap in wax paper and store in an airtight container. Enjoy!
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