Vegan Cookies 'n Cream Ice Cream

Recently I've been craving sweets all the time, like I've needed to eat dessert every day. Lately I've been munching on gummy candies, chocolate covered pretzels and almonds, and chocolate truffles. But, I've been missing a very important component to the dessert equation: ice cream! So, I decided to make my own. Not just any old ice cream though, cookies 'n cream!

Makes about 4 servings 
Ingredients:
- 1- 15 ounce can of coconut milk
- 3/4 cup of raw cashews (soaked overnight)
- 1/2 tsp. of salt
- 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- 3 tbsp. of maple syrup
- 2/3 cup of soy milk
- 15 Trader Joe's Joe-Joe's or Oreo cookies

Place ice cream bowl in the freezer for at least 24 hours. Also, soak the cashews in water in a covered bowl overnight.

When you're ready to make the ice cream, drain and rinse the cashews several times. Pour the cashews into the food processor.

Add coconut milk, salt, and vanilla extract to the food processor and blend until the cashews have become completely liquified.

Add sugar to the food processor and blend until combined. Add maple syrup and soy milk, blend until completely mixed. Taste the mixture; you may need to add additional maple syrup/sugar since this ice cream isn't super sweet.

Place cookies in a zip-loc bag and smash them.

Place the liquid mixture into your ice cream bowl and let the ice cream maker run for approximately 40 minutes. When it reaches your desired texture, let the machine continue running while you slowly add in the crushed cookies.

When the ice cream is thick and the cookies are mixed in well, stop the ice cream maker and scoop several scoops out for yourself and dig in! I apologize for only having one not-so-great photo. It was nighttime and the lighting was horrible. That, and I couldn't wait to eat it...which just shows how delicious this ice cream was!