Vegan Caramel Pecan Ice Cream Dessert

All my friends and family back home in Ottawa and Toronto have been saying how warm it’s been there lately. I’ll be there in a couple weeks myself and I really hope that the weather holds-up. I’m especially looking forward to those long hot summer evenings. Sydney has amazing weather all year round, but the sun sets so early here – even in the summer. I guess you can’t have it all – but I’m counting down the days until I’m home!

Vegan Caramel Pecan Ice Cream Dessert

Anyway, all this talk of summer heat inspired me to make a dessert that was one of my favorites growing up. I veganized this a few years ago and made it for a BBQ with friends and it was a big hit at the time. The original recipe calls for “caramel ice cream topping”, but since that stuff isn’t usually vegan, I used the caramel recipe from my Vegan Chocolate Truffle Torteย instead. In the past, I’ve substituted the butter in the crumble part with vegan margarine, but I took it one step further this time by using coconut oil and it worked out wonderfully. No matter how you make it, this is a sticky-sweet, yet cool and refreshing treat that you can make ahead and store in the freezer for up to a month. It’s quite possibly the perfect summer dessert!

Vegan Caramel Pecan Ice Cream Dessert

Notes

  • The original recipe calls for a 9×13 pan and it makes a lot of dessert if you’re in a small household like mine. My recipe below is the halved version, which calls for a 8×8 dish. Feel free to double it if you have a big family or are making it for a large gathering.
  • This will keep in the freezer for up to a month but it has to be very well covered. Using two sheets of foil is one option but it would be even better to use a largeย Tupperwareย container with a lid – that way you can easily open and re-seal it as needed. If this is not well covered, the ice cream will crystallize and get all yucky.
Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream Pecans Crumble Mixture
Oat Crumble Topping Vegan Caramel Vegan Caramel
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Vegan Caramel Pecan Ice Cream Dessert

This cool and sweet dessert is a perfect summer treat. It’s great to serve at a party, or store it in an air-tight container in the freezer and enjoy it for up to a month. Vegan

  • Author: Angela @ Vegangela.com
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 20 mins
  • Total Time: 35 mins
  • Yield: 6-8 1x
  • Category: Dessert

Ingredients

Scale
  • 3/4 cups + 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil (or vegan margarine, melted)
  • 3/4 cup caramel sauce (see below)
  • 1 quart vegan vanilla ice cream, softened

Vegan Caramel Sauce

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 lb (1/2 cup) vegan margarine
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp cornstarch

Instructions

  1. To make the caramel sauce: melt the margarine in a small saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla, stirring constantly until the sugar is smooth and melted. Add cornstarch and stir until it is evenly distributed and the sauce is smooth and shiny. You should end-up with 1 cup of caramel sauce so set aside 3/4 cup for this recipe and store the rest in the fridge for another use.
  2. Preheat oven to 400F/200C.
  3. Combine flour, oats, pecans and brown sugar in a large bowl. Mix in the coconut oil (or margarine) until evenly distributed.
  4. Spread the mixture in a thin layer on a baking pan and bake for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Crumble the mixture while it is still warm and let cool.
  5. Press half of the crumb mixture into an 8ร—8 dish (or covered plastic container if you plan on eating it over a few weeks) Drizzle half of the caramel sauce on top and spread the ice cream on top. Top with remaining caramel sauce and crumb mixture.
  6. Cover the dish well (either with a lid or double foil) and freeze until firm (it will keep up to a month if well covered).
  7. Remove from the freezer 5 minutes before cutting into squares and serving.

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Vegan Caramel Pecan Ice Cream Dessert

Vegan Caramel Pecan Ice Cream Dessert

Vegan Caramel Pecan Ice Cream Dessert Vegan Caramel Pecan Ice Cream Dessert

26 thoughts on “Vegan Caramel Pecan Ice Cream Dessert”

  1. I made this with banana nice cream (blended frozen banana with a splash of agave and coconut milk) and it was absolutely DIVINE!!

    Reply
  2. OMG! A vegan caramel sauce. You may have single handedly saved me from cheating at some point in time. Caramel has been HARD to give up, and now, I might not have to……

    Reply
    • Hi Nadia – Thanks for your comment. Yes, I have coconut oil listed in the ingredients. That’s what I used and it worked very well. Let me know if you make it! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
    • Hi Nadia – Sorry, I see what you’re asking now… the margarine in the caramel sauce – right? I’m not sure whether that will work with coconut oil… You can try it but I don’t think it will have the buttery taste that caramel should have…

      Reply
  3. I made this on the weekend and it was incredible. Our guests loved it and my kids gobbled it up. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful (make-ahead) summer dessert recipe.

    Reply
    • Hi Kimberly – Thanks so much for taking the time to leave feedback on the recipe, I really appreciate it! I loved this as a kid so I’m glad to hear that your kids liked it too! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  4. Hi Angela, I am so glad that you posted the vegan version of the caramel and ice cream dessert. I am going to make it with Rice Dream as it is your favourite. We should be able to find locally grown strawberries to savour with it.

    Reply
  5. Hmm, I don’t remember the name but it could have been Rice Dream. I’ll be picking some up for this recipe soon so I’ll get back on that. I just remember how good it was, combined with just some mashed raspberries and agave.
    And summer in Holland is terrible right now, I just read an article that stated if it goes on like this, this July will be the wettest one we had since 1930! So much for my plans to get a nice tan this year ๐Ÿ™‚

    I read you’re returning to Canada, but I was actually wondering why you are in Sydney right now. Work? (sorry, was born an extremely curious person)

    Reply
    • Hi again ๐Ÿ™‚

      Yum, I love raspberries. Any berries with ice cream is actually probably my favorite summer dessert. So fresh – yum!

      That really sucks about your summer – we’ve had summers like that in Canada too. I remember a few years ago, it would be gorgeous from Monday-Friday, and then it would rain all weekend. The Americans had a joke about us: “Q: What do you call the day that follows 2 days of rain in Canada? A: Monday!” I feel for you!

      My fiance was posted here for his job and we’ve been here just over 2.5 years. Don’t really want to leave, but we miss our families so we’re heading back to the “Great North”. It’s going to be tough though – life here is pretty awesome… ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  6. I think I actually started drooling while reading this. Do you use soy icecream? I reently found some really nice rice milk icecream here, and it was really nice and light. Out here it is by no means hot enough to think of icecream (summer is on strike) but I won’t let that stop me ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • Hi Laura – thanks for your comment! Yes, I use soy ice cream but rice milk ice cream would work too. What kind of rice ice cream did you try? Was it Rice Dream? That stuff was my favorite in high school. They had (and may still have) and orange flavor that tastes like Creamsicles. I think I ate a whole container once! Have you guys been having a bad summer too? I know it’s been really bad out in Western Canada (Vancouver). I hope it gets warm for you guys soon. The winter is long enough as it is – you deserve a nice summer! X

      Reply

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