Ice Cream Crunch Bars

Adapted from Our Best Bites
Please, do not die of shock that another post is coming so quickly after the last one! I am really trying to do better. And, while trying to organize all my recipes, I came across one that I had originally planned on posting in July as part of our ice cream month. I guess it is time to find a better method of organizing!

But I digress... this recipe is very much a summer recipe, so it needed to be posted before the summer is over. I cannot believe we are in the last few days/weeks of summer. Many kids have already started back to school (thankfully, mine still have a few weeks of summer). And since we are only 8 days out of July,  we can still enjoy some ice cream recipes.

These are super yummy, but weren't the healthiest thing, so I set out to make them healthier. While we all love a good treat, a healthier treat that is still delicious is even better! They were originally allergen free (at least egg and peanut) so nothing needed doing in that area. Unless you have a true milk allergy, than you would want to substitute the butter and ice cream for a vegan version (or healthier yet, coconut oil and dairy-free ice cream made with coconut milk).

Now... for the recipe.

2 1/2 cups Brown Rice Cereal *

1 cup chopped pecans

1 1/2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut **

3/4 cups sucanat (or brown sugar if you don't have any sucanat)

pinch of cinnamon

1 stick real butter, melted

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream

* I bought my brown rice cereal at Winco. If you have a Winco near you, it was much, much cheaper than at a health food store.

** You can buy unsweetened shredded coconut at a health food store. Try to avoid the kind at a grocery store as they generally all have added sugar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9X13 inch pan with foil, extending a little over the edges of the pan.

Place brown rice cereal, pecans, coconut and sucanat in foil lined pan - like so. Well ok, they can be in any order in the pan so it doesn't need to be exactly the same but you get the point.

Drizzle melted butter over mixture and combine well. Sprinkle a pinch of cinnamon over ingredients in pan and mix. Bake for about 30 minutes, stirring once or twice. Remove from oven when toasted and golden brown and let mixture cool completely (very important).

Remove half of the crispy mixture and spread remaining half in an even layer on the bottom of the pan. Gently spoon softened (not melted) ice cream on top of mixture. Use a spoon and gently spread mixture, being careful not to lift crisp from bottom of pan. Spread ice cream out evenly and then top with remaining crisp mixture. Gently press top crisp into ice cream with hands. Cover with plastic wrap or foil and chill overnight. FYI...I put this into our regular freezer and it didn't freeze very hard. It did better in the chest freezer at 0 degrees.

When ready to serve, use foil to completely remove ice cream from pan. Slice into squares and try not to eat the whole pan by yourself!!

Jana