So…my newest obsession is making my own ice cream. Yum. Yum. Yum. I love ice cream. Despite being lactose intolerant, I find ways to indulge in one of my favorite sweet treats whenever possible. Usually at least once over the weekend. Hey…they thankfully make little supplements that can be taken to help with the digestion of dairy. However…while that’s fine and good while we’re out and about, I don’t want to always have to pop a supplement before eating ice cream at home.
And, let’s face it…non-dairy ice cream is expensive! Like…really, really expensive. Like if I were to buy some regular ice cream the grocery store, the non-dairy variety is at least twice…if not three times more expensive. This is why I don’t buy ice cream for home unless there is a mega super sale going on non-dairy varieties…and that is a rare thing.
Now that I have broken out and have learned the ways of the ice cream maker…I’m delving into the wonders of making vegan ice cream. And this first recipe I gave a shot came from a blog called A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise.
You see…my CSA bin had some awesome looking fresh, organic cherries in it this last delivery and I didn’t want to see them go to waste. What better way to use them than in my first vegan ice cream experiment. And that’s exactly what I did…
Recipe: Vegan Cherry Dark Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Servings: 6-8
Time: Prep 2 hours; Freeze 20 minutes
Ingredients:
2 cups pitted cherries, quartered
1/2 – 3/4 cup sugar, depending on how sour your cherries are
Splash of water
2 c. almond milk (or any non-dairy milk) (I used Unsweetened Original Almond Milk)
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (I used Nestle)
Few drops red food coloring (optional)
Directions:
Place 1-1/4 cup of the pitted cherries and the sugar in a medium saucepan. Add a tiny splash of water and bring to a boil, stirring to mix the sugar and the cherries. Once the cherries are getting soft and yummy and sweet, pour them into a blender and puree.
Pour the puree back into the saucepan and add the almond (or other non-dairy) milk. Bring the mixture back to a boil. When the mixture has just started to boil, take off the heat and immediately stir in the arrowroot slurry. This should immediately cause the liquid to thicken (not a lot, but a noticeable amount; it will be thicker when it cools).
Add the vanilla and almond extract. If you want a brighter shade of pink/red ice cream, add red food coloring until you’re happy with the shade.
Set the ice cream mixture aside to cool. (I kept mine in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours).
Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
Add remaining cherries and the dark chocolate chips in the last five minutes of freezing.
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Now…just so you know…the texture on this isn’t your typical creamy ice cream texture. This comes across more like a sorbet than an ice cream. That being said…the flavors worked so amazingly well together. It was the perfect use for those very ripe and perfect cherries that I received in my CSA bin. I really didn’t have to add a lot of sugar to the recipe because of how sweet the cherries already were. I loved that. This recipe is incredibly easy…and for my first attempt at an almond milk-based ice cream…it came out better than I anticipated.
I can’t wait to experiment more! So…if you have an ice cream maker…or if you want to try some vegan ice cream…go ahead and give this a whirl. I promise…you’ll be hooked.
The Celiathlete 