Dehydrated Chocolate Mousse & Peppermint Ice Cream Sandwiches

These Peppermint Ice Cream Sandwiches are perfect around the holidays. The sandwich wafers are made by dehydrating chocolate mousse in your Ronco 5-Tray Classic Dehydrator. They have a crispy brownie texture but are made without any flour or dairy for a healthier alternative to most cookies or baked goods. Plus, these dehydrated wafers are naturally gluten free! So if you are avoiding gluten, this is recipe will be a nice, welcome treat.

For this recipe, I paired these dehydrated mousse wafers with a quick, homemade peppermint ice cream... but these dehydrated wafers are a delicious treat on their own as well. If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can often find Peppermint Ice Cream in your grocery store during the holidays.

Dehydrated Chocolate Mousse & Peppermint Ice Cream Sandwiches

What You'll Need:

• Ronco 5-Tray Classic Dehydrator, with 2 Fruit Leather Trays
• Stand or hand mixer with whisk attachment
• Ice cream maker (if you're making your own)

Dehydrated Chocolate Mousse Wafers

Ingredients

• 5 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate 60%-70% cacao
• 3 egg yolks, room temperature
• 6 egg whites
• 2 ounces granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

 Directions

1. Place chocolate in a clean metal bowl over a pan of simmering water on medium a heat. Make sure the water does not touch the bottom of the metal bowl, making the chocolate too hot. Using a rubber spatula, stir chocolate to evenly melt.
2. 
   Remove chocolate from heat and whisk in room temperature egg yolks one at a time.
3. Set melted chocolate aside.
4. In a metal bowl, combine egg yolks and cream of tartar. Beat with a whisk until soft peaks form.
5. Gradually add in salt and sugar and whisk until firm peaks form.
6. In thirds, gently fold meringue into melted chocolate to make mousse. Don’t worry too much if there are a few chocolate chunks here and there.
7. Spread mousse lightly with a spatula onto fruit leather tray of your Turbo Dehydrator. You can shake the tray lightly to even out the chocolate to about ¼ inch. This recipe will use 2 fruit leather trays.
8. Set Turbo Dehydrator to 160º F and dehydrate for at least 8 hours. You want it firm, but not brittle. At about 4 hours into the dehydrating process, use a biscuit or cookie cutter to score the mousse wafers making them easier to remove.
9. With a stiff spatula, remove mousse wafers  when finished dehydrating. Set aside until ready to assemble sandwiches.

Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream

 Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups half and half
• 1-tablespoon vanilla bean paste
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 capful peppermint extract
• ½ cup chopped peppermint

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients, except for peppermint candy, in a metal bowl.  Whisk vigorously to dissolve sugar.
2. Place bowl into freezer to chill for about 30 minutes. Whisk again to redistribute ingredients before adding to your ice cream maker.
3. Follow your ice cream maker’s instructions to freeze ice cream, adding in to peppermint candy in the last few minutes of the freezing process.
4. Transfer peppermint ice cream to freezer bowl with lid and freeze overnight.

To assemble Chocolate Mouse & Peppermint Ice Cream Sandwiches place a scoop of homemade peppermint ice cream onto a chocolate wafer, top with another wafer and gently press down to make your sandwich. Use a spatula or butter knife to smooth out sides ice cream sandwiches. You can eat these right away or store them in your freezer in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Enjoy!