Vegan Peanut-Caramel Ice Cream with Chocolate (Vegan 'Snickers' Ice Cream Copycat Recipe!)

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Hi, hello, I’ve a question for you. If you could rank the most popular chocolate candy bars taste-wise, what bar would be (or, if you’re also vegan, was) your no. 1? While I’m aware that the most popular candy & chocolate bars differ from country to country, here in Germany I’d say they are 5 bars that stand out and I’m sure most of you also know which ones I’m talking about. So without me doing even more unpaid advertising for this certain company (even though I already did because it’s literally in the title of this blog entry and I’ve been rambling about chocolate bars for half a page now), there’s a clear winner in this ranking, at least for me, and it’s obviously the snickers bar!

It was, without a doubt, the one candy bar I missed the most when I first went vegan and therefore I started to make my own plant based versions of it.

So by now, I’m pretty content with my alternative whenever the chocolate bar cravings come along, however, when a friend told me recently that she misses the associated ice cream version way more than the actual chocolate bar I knew what my next recipe project would have to be!

So here it is now: a wonderfully creamy, plant based vanilla ice cream base, infused with salted caramel swirls, coated in non-dairy dark chocolate and topped with slightly salted and roasted peanuts: the vegan version of a snickers ice cream!

And I know I might be biased to say this but let me just get this straight here; This recipe is a dream come true. Like, it’s really, really good, you guys. If you’ll ever only try one of my recipes, maybe you should try this one.

now off to the recipe for this:

Vegan Peanut-Caramel Ice Cream

Ingredients (for 4 small popsicle molds*): 

 for the ice cream base: 

• 75ml oat milk*

• 70g natural cashew butter

• 2 tbsp rice syrup*

• ½ tsp vanilla / vanilla extract

 for the caramel swirl: 

• 20g natural peanut butter

• 30g coconut blossom syrup*

• 1 tsp plant milk

• a pinch of salt (optional)

 for the chocolate coating & topping: 

• 100g vegan chocolate of choice

• 1 TL coconut oil

• about 50g roasted and salted peanuts

Instructions: 

1. Start by stirring all ingredients for the ice cream base together until you reach a smooth, rather liquid consistency. (This will work best if the cashew butter you’re using is at least at room temperature because then it'll have a more smooth / liquid consistency!)

2. Set the ice cream base aside and combine caramel ingredients. (If you’re a fan of salted caramel or sweet & salty combinations, add some additional salt here! I highly DO recommend this step hehe.)

3. Now fill your ice cream base into some popsicle molds while also swirling in some of the caramel in between for a marbled effect. (You can also already add some of the peanuts right into the mix if you like!)

4. Stick the popsicle sticks into the filled molds and place in the freezer for at least 4 hours to set.

5. When the ice cream is firm enough to be removed from the molds, melt your vegan chocolate along with the coconut oil and chop up the roasted peanuts.

6. Add some of the chopped up peanuts into the melted chocolate and coat each popsicle with it. Then top each popsicle with the remaining peanuts for decoration. (Ideally, the chocolate coating should harden very quickly because of the cold ice cream, but if you notice that it’s not setting, place the popsicles back into the freezer for a few minutes.)

7. As soon as the chocolate has hardened up, you can store them in a freezer-safe container in the freezer for up to several months! (However I’d recommend removing the ice cream from the freezer a few minutes before serving, so it can start melting a bit. This way you’ll get the ultimate creamy experience!)

The one and only ice cream recipe.

*Notes:

1. Even though I used popsicle molds, you can also make this recipe using some kind of freezer-safe container instead. Simply fill in you ice cream base + caramel swirl into the container of your choice, place into the freezer and then serve scoops of ice cream using an ice cream scoop. Serve with the melted chocolate and peanuts on top or chop up both and mix them into the base before freezing for some chocolate chip ice cream action!

2. My plant milk of choice in this recipe was unsweetened oat milk, but you can use any other kind of plant milk as well. Just keep in mind, that the creaminess of your base might be affected when choosing a less creamier option like for example rice milk.

3. If you want to sub rice syrup, use agave or maple syrup instead. Any kind of liquid sweetener should work though.

4. While making the caramel swirl, I would highly recommend sticking to the coconut blossom syrup because it has an amazing texture for making vegan caramel as it is very thick and gooey!

Did you make this recipe?

leave a comment or tag me on Instagram @choartemi