I am unashamed to admit that the recipe you are about to read was the result of me needing to clean out my refrigerator of several leftover components. I purchased way too many fresh cherries, I had half a block of unpureed bright green edamame tofu that I needed to use up, some chocolate ganache that was laying around, and I was 1oz of old pistachios away from being able to refill my container of them in my pantry. Since I had chocolate, cherries, and pistachios, the only solution was Spumoni! Spumoni is an Italian dessert, usually ice cream that features pistachio, cherries, and sometimes chocolate. In this case, a lot of things lined up for me to make a spumoni dessert, so I figured, why not just go for it? I had leftover chocolate ganache glaze from a doughnut recipe, a ton of fresh cherries that I would have to make jam or compote out of anyways so that they don’t go moldy and ruin my refrigerator, and I had to use up that tofu and the pistachios somehow, so why not blend the tofu and pistachios together into some kind of dessert through that way? Since I had an initial flavor combination in mind already, it just came down to how was I going to serve this thing, and what the components would be.

With the tofu and pistachio, I knew I wanted to do something creamy with that, since when you blend the two together, that’s the texture you get. I have made tofu ice cream in the past, and since pistachios contain oil and fat from being a nut, I figured emulsifying those together into a vegan pistachio ice cream made perfect sense! With the cherries, I went with a compote, since again, I just wanted to make sure that they did not go bad, and in a frozen dessert, a compote will not taste as sweet, since the lower the temperature, the less sweet anything would taste! Since we were going the ice cream route, I needed a vehicle of some kind to serve it on or with. Originally, I was going to do a cream puff, since that would look super cute with the ice cream coming out of it. But instead, I decided to opt into an ice cream sandwich, since those are super nostalgic too, and I decided, if the ice cream is going to be a vegan ice cream, why not just make the entire thing vegan? I used a variation on my chocolate cake recipe, making it a little denser, and more ice cream sandwich cookie-like(if that’s a term), just to make the assembly a little neater. Just so that the chocolate glaze gets to have a place to call home too, I dipped each ice cream sandwich into it, and crushed some pistachios on top for garnish to round out the entire spumoni experience!

For the cherry compote:
8oz pitted and stemmed cherries
1/4 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp cooking sake or white balsamic vinegar

In a pot, cook everything down on low heat, stirring occasionally, until the cherries are tender, Store in an airtight container, and refrigerate until time to use.

For the pistachio ice cream:
3oz silken edamame tofu(can use plain silken tofu too!)
1oz shelled pistachios
2oz olive oil
4oz granulated sugar
2oz almond milk
1/4 tsp xanthan gum*
1/4 tsp green spirulina powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a blender, puree everything together until smooth and creamy. Churn in an ice cream maker for 20 minutes. Fold into the ice cream about 3oz of the cherry compote and then allow the ice cream to sit in the freezer for at least 1 hour before using.

For the vegan chocolate cookies:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup black cacao powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
a pinch of salt

In a bowl, mix everything together into a batter. Pour the batter into a lined quarter sheet tray, spreading it as thinly as possible. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Allow the dough to fully cool before cutting it in half along the width. Spread the ice cream on one half, drizzling 3/4 of the remaining compote, and the press on the other half. Transfer to the freezer for 2 hours before cutting into 4-inch by 2-inch squares, and returning to the freezer.

For the chocolate glaze:
1/2 cup dark chocolate
A pinch of salt
1 tsp coconut oil

Melt everything together over a double boiler, stirring until everything is combined and smooth in texture. Keep the glaze warm for assembly.

For final assembly:
Crushed pistachios
Remaining cherry compote

Quickly dip the still-frozen ice cream sandwiches halfway into the chocolate glaze. Then sprinkle on some crush pistachios on top. Wipe off any excess glaze, and return the sandwiches to the freezer for at least 1 more hour. Finish the tops of the ice cream sandwiches with a small amount of the cherry compote, just as a way to reiterate the cherry flavor in the sandwiches themselves!