A couple Non-Dairy "Ice Cream" Recipes

[Bethers]

I was looking for easy, non-dairy, non-sugar, no artificial ingredients (no juice unless make myself) etc recipes.

I learned to always refrigerate the cans of coconut milk (found by Oriental foods in the grocery store) at least overnight - I've been doing at least 24 hours)

First one I made is a keeper:

Strawberry

2 cans coconut milk
6 ounces frozen strawberries OR 1 ½ cups fresh strawberries (can do this recipe with any berry)
1/3 cup raw honey
Using only the fat* from the canned coconut milk, blend all ingredients.
(I had fresh strawberries, which I chopped up in my food chopper, then simply mixed all the ingredients in a bowl. Started the ice cream maker, poured all in)

A trick I found on line was the following to tell if the ice cream is to the consistency I want (like soft serve) ...
When the ice cream is starting to look more frozen than liquid, simply dip a spoon into the top of the ice cream maker; if the ice cream immediately runs off, it’s not ready yet – if it sticks to the spoon, you’re ready to go! (If, when you do this, it's not quite the as hard as you want, stir the ice cream well and stick the entire thing in the freezer for a few minutes - 5- 20 - stirring occasionally until it is.) If you have left overs, it will freeze harder than store bought ice cream - but you can get it back to the same soft serve consistency by taking it out of the freezer and stirring occasionally as it's thawing until it gets back where you want it. My freezer really freezes well, so it took about an hour.

Next one I tried was a dark chocolate ... I liked it but it needs tweaking. When I get it tweaked I'll share the final recipe. (Can you believe I felt it was TOO chocolatey?)

Last one I made was Orange Dreamsicle - was good but did not have enough orange flavor - so am adjusting the recipe here a tad - to what I think will be better. And can do this recipe with any similar fruit - lemons, limes, etc.

1 can full fat coconut milk (do not use the coconut milk out of a carton), refrigerate the can for at least a day for best whipped results
2 blood orange, zested and juiced (a regular orange will work, too) (I only had regular oranges available - recipe only called for 1 orange - not enough)
2-3 T pure raw honey, or to taste
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS:
Dump the water out of the coconut milk can and just put the coconut cream into a mixing bowl. With a mixer, whip your coconut milk until peaks form (about 5 minutes). (I don't have a mixer, did this the first time just whipping by hand - will try doing it in my blender next time to make better peaks). I wasn't totally thrilled with the little pieces the zesting puts into the ice cream - so going to try it next time using just the juice. But one of my "testers" thought that was the best part - so experiment.

Pour your fresh juice from the orange, the orange zest, vanilla, and honey into the bowl and stir until combined.

Start the ice cream maker, then pour in. (This took only about 10 minutes to pass the spoon test.)

I'm probably going to make this one again this week - as I have oranges. But not going to zest, and might add a touch of orange extract instead of a 2nd orange - I do like to try things differently.


The orange recipe made about 1/2 as much as the strawberry recipe - so you could double the orange, or 1/2 the strawberry if wanting less or more. The strawberry recipe is the maximum amount I can make in my ice cream maker at one time. Personally, I'd normally do the smaller size - as it's just for me.

[judi]

Thank you for posting these recipes. I've been sick for a few weeks but now I feel great and am back to cooking. I have coconut milk in my pantry and I'm ready!
Judi

[Bethers]

Thank you for posting these recipes. I've been sick for a few weeks but now I feel great and am back to cooking. I have coconut milk in my pantry and I'm ready!
Judi

Judi, I've refined the orange a bit - used the same amount of coconut milk and honey, but juiced three oranges and skipped the zesting. I mixed the coconut milk, but not in a blender and not to the degree the recipe called for (just too much work for me) and it came out absolutely wonderful.

Oh, I've also learned that if I take it out just a tad before it's really the soft serve that I want, stir it good and stick it in the freezer for a bit (about 1/2 an hour worked for me) the entire thing ended up the perfect soft serve.

Now, storing in the freezer these freeze hard. But if you think ahead, and take it out early (even an hour or two) and occasionally check it and start stirring it as it thaws, you can get it back to the soft serve state. I think I'm going to have to find some way to freeze very small (individual size) portions so that I can take just that out when I want it... that would thaw quickly!

I'm really happy with how it's going so far. Just stuck the freezer bowl in my freezer and will try something again tomorrow.

[mitch5252]

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Found this article on various ways to keep homemade ice cream soft...

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/07/tips-for-making-1/

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[Bethers]

..
Found this article on various ways to keep homemade ice cream soft...

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/07/tips-for-making-1/

..

I'm avoiding sugar, additives, etc, so will deal with ice cream that freezes hard. And since I've found that I can pretty easily soften it, no big deal. And obviously he's never dealt with the fat from coconut milk, as it sure does freeze.

[mitch5252]

..
Found this article on various ways to keep homemade ice cream soft...

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/07/tips-for-making-1/

..

I'm avoiding sugar, additives, etc, so will deal with ice cream that freezes hard. And since I've found that I can pretty easily soften it, no big deal. And obviously he's never dealt with the fat from coconut milk, as it sure does freeze.

I didn't read it all, but liked the vodka idea!

[Bethers]

..
Found this article on various ways to keep homemade ice cream soft...

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/07/tips-for-making-1/

..

I'm avoiding sugar, additives, etc, so will deal with ice cream that freezes hard. And since I've found that I can pretty easily soften it, no big deal. And obviously he's never dealt with the fat from coconut milk, as it sure does freeze.

I didn't read it all, but liked the vodka idea!

You mean you don't want wine favoring?

[judi]

Looks like I'll be using vodka in mine - what a great idea.

[mnladyus]

I think I will have to get this Ice Cream maker ordered... This sounds really Yummy!!! Thanks for sharing.

[MandysMom]

Really appreciated the recipes, and glad I read down and found NOT to use the carton coconut milk I usually have on hand. Any particular brand of canned you like? Also , what ice cream maker do you like to use? I can use VitaMix to do it, if I have enough frozen ingredients, such as freezing cubes of coconut milk to go with the berries, but a dedicated ice cream maker would be handy. Love the great new idea.