We make a lot of nice cream. Blended up frozen bananas with an array of frozen fruit. It’s quick, easy, and pretty healthy. I never feel guilty when I’m eating it. Sometimes though, I crave something more decadent… something that screams dessert. If you like what I’m putting down, keep reading. If you’re not into desserts, we should probably part ways right now. Ice cream, coming right up!
All about that base
The first thing I needed was a base. Coconut milk quickly came to mind. You see it often enough in commercial vegan ice creams. I figured it was a good place to start. I used a can of refrigerated coconut milk, but room temp would work just fine.
I’m not sure how other non-dairy milks would work. I’ll give it a try sometime soon, but if you want to spare me the heartbreak (or share a victory), let me know!
If you’re looking to explore the magic of coconut, check out our coconut whip recipe. It’s what dreams are made of.
Keep it together
Next up was to figure out what could help the ice cream stay together, give it a smooth consistency, and help prevent ice crystals from forming. After a quick google search, xanthan gum seemed like it would do the job. I’d never made anything with it before but it was definitely worth a shot. It’s only a few dollars, so even if I botched the batch, I wouldn’t be too mad (haha).
As far as I can tell, a lot of the xanthan gum on the market is vegan, but not all of it. So it’s better to be safe. Honestly, the name alone kinda makes is an unusual ingredient. If you’re like me and you don’t have it in your pantry yet, I’d recommend Bob’s Red Mill. It’s definitely vegan and easy to find (online, at least). I can also tell you that it worked great in this recipe.
That’s love
The only thing left to do was figure out what type of ice cream I wanted to make. It it were just up to me, I probably would have made something like chocolate chip cookie dough with caramel drizzle. But we just didn’t have it in us to make cookie dough and Christopher has always loved strawberry ice cream anyway, so we went with that.
We put all those ingredients in our Vitamix, added in a healthy portion of maple syrup, and poured the mixture into a loaf pan. We covered it up, popped it in the freezer, and waited for what seemed like an eternity for it to harden. In case you’re wondering, an eternity was 5 hours.
If you end up trying out this recipe, we’d love to see your photos!
Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- Blend all ingredients until there are no chunks. It’ll look a little gelatinous.
- Pour contents into a loaf pan
- Cover and freeze for 5 hours.
- Scoops and enjoy! If it’s too hard, leave at room temp a few minutes.
