Recipe: White Chocolate Peppermint Coconut Milk Ice Cream

I love ice cream.

Seriously.

Obviously.  I mean…who else in their right mind would make ice cream when it is -100°F outside.  That might be a slight exaggeration on the temperature…but it has felt like that the past couple of weeks.  And it’s driving me insane.  And when I go insane…I make ice cream.

A local ice cream store does some seasonal flavors every year, and one of the ones that is introduced at Christmas time is called Candy Cane Lane.  It’s a white chocolate base with peppermint candies broken up and incorporated into the ice cream.  It is phenomenal.

With the holidays now behind us…that ice cream flavor has gone back to the vault until next December.  With that being said…I set out to recreate it, but instead of using a base made with whole milk and heavy cream, I used culinary coconut milk.  Once again, So Delicious Culinary Coconut milk proves that it is just as good of a base as the heavy dairy, which tears my stomach up.

What was even better…it tasted just like the flavor at the ice cream shoppe.  You’d never even guess coconut milk was used to make it.  So, dig out that ice cream maker and give this one a whirl!

Recipe: White Chocolate Peppermint Coconut Milk Ice Cream

Servings: 8
Time: Prep 10 minutes; Freeze 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cans full fat coconut milk (I used So Delicious Culinary Coconut Milk)
• 1 cup coconut sugar (or your preferred sweetener)
• 8 ounces white chocolate, melted
• 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies or Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips

Directions:

In a saucepan, add a couple inches of water and bring to a simmer.  Place a large bowl over the saucepan, making sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water.  Break up the white chocolate into pieces, add them to the bowl, keeping the heat at its lowest, and allow the chocolate to melt slowly.  The chocolate will take about 5-10 minutes to melt and will become smooth and glossy.  Remove it from the heat and give it a good stir.

In a large bowl, mix the coconut milk, sugar, and melted white chocolate together until completely incorporated.  Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Add the ice cream base to the ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions.

In the last two minutes of processing, add in the peppermint candies/baking chips and continue to process until well incorporated.

Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container, cover the ice cream with plastic wrap, cover with the lid, then freeze until firm.

~*~*~

Yep…it’s super simple…and REALLY good.  And, no worries, you can’t even taste the coconut milk.  You get the smoothness of the white chocolate and that hit of peppermint from the addition of the candies or baking chips.  And in the end…it makes a delicious treat that everyone will enjoy.  Even when it’s colder than Christmas out there.

But…ice cream is good anytime, right?

Right!