I hope everyone is doing well. We're still enjoying beautiful, warm weather here in VA. :-)
There are so many great dairy-free ice cream brands out there, but nothing is better than having complete control of the ingredients like homemade ice cream.
Everyone in my house is a fan of this recipe. The ice cream does melts faster than traditional brands (food companies use additives to prevent fast thawing) but the texture is creamy, and it goes well with vegan cookies and homemade chocolate sauce.
Ingredients:
1 cup cashews, soaked 2 hours
1 1/4 cups water
Young Thai coconut meat-found in produce section (I use all of the meat in the coconut)
Don't let opening the Thai coconut intimidate you. It took me a few times before I felt confident with handling this fruit.
Here's a great tutorial and here
Video for scraping out the meat
2 tablespoons alcohol-free vanilla extract
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon lecithin powder (used to thicken ice cream and available at most health food stores)
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup coconut oil, warmed to liquid
Directions:
Place the cashews, water, coconut meat, vanilla extract, agave, lecithin, and salt into a blender and process until smooth.
Add the coconut meat and blend again.
Process mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
I paid about $20 for this Cuisinart brand ice cream maker and it takes about 15 minutes to become solid.
Also, be sure to enjoy the sweet water inside your Thai coconut. It has more potassium than a banana and is more hydrating than sports drinks.
If you have leftovers (which rarely happens in our house), store ice cream in freezer safe container (be sure not to tighten the lid) and allow to thaw for about 10 minutes on the counter before enjoying.
