What would summer be without a gigantic bowl, heaping with delicious ice cream and topped with a cup of rainbow jimmies?
Terrible, that’s what.
But the alternate scenario that involves a whole-lotta dairy treats is an equally terrible and sometimes horrifying summer. You know the story. You indulge and have a gigantic bowl of delicious frozen delight and everything is butterflies and rainbows. A short time later, the clouds roll in and you’re in the throws of the most debilitating lactose intolerant episode of your life. All while wearing a bikini.
The bloating…
Ever since I was a child this has been my life. Resist the ice cream, feel sad and envious. Eat the ice cream, be full of sickness and regret. I really had to have some serious grown-up thoughts at a very young age. Tough decisions.
-The Search For Dessert-
For the longest time I had just accepted that I had one of two choices. Either eat “Nice Cream” which is just blended frozen bananas, or go to the grocery store and buy dairy-free ice cream that is full of sugar and stabilizers, and not full of a yummy ice cream taste.
Guys, those choices suck.
As I grew into full-sized adulthood, I decided “I have a degree in Dietetics. I get food science. How hard could it possibly be???” I became determined to have my ice cream and eat it too.
Silly, silly me.
I can’t begin to tell you how many pints of homemade ice cream I’ve made, tasted, been disgusted with, and then still ate. The reason why it never tasted right was because of the science of ice cream. I kick myself for not thinking of it sooner. For instance, cow milk and heavy cream are two important parts of traditional ice cream because they give the finished product a smooth and creamy texture. The higher the fat content of the ice cream, the softer the product. Sugar is also important because it not only makes it sweet, it keeps the ice cream from getting rock solid.
These key ingredients just so happen to be the ones I’ve been avoiding all of my life.
SO after far too many misfit pints and growing disdain for my lactose-tolerant friends, I finally found the perfect ingredient. Cashew Milk.
Here’s why this recipe is the shiz:
- Cashew Milk is much creamer and milder in flavor than its popular cousins Almond and Coconut. I am in love with the Silk brand.
- The recipe you’ll be drooling over is prepared as a traditional “frozen custard” lending to a softer, more full-bodied product while still maintaining a solid nutrition profile.
- It’s not that hard. Seriously.
***I HIGHLY recommend investing in an electric ice cream maker. I bought mine at the end of summer last year on clearance for a whopping $20. You can find the one I use HERE and even full price is pretty reasonable. ***
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Silk Original Cashew Milk (reserve 1/2 cup for the end process)
1 can full-fat Coconut Milk, unopened, refrigerated
3/4 cup Truvia Baking Blend Sweetener
2 Eggs, beaten
1/2 tbsp Vegan Butter, or real butter if not dairy free*
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Salt
-In a large pot, combine sugar, butter, vanilla, and 1 cup of Cashew Milk. Heat on medium until well combined.
-Open the chilled can of coconut milk and scoop out the “cream” which is the portion that has hardened, and add to the pot. Save the liquid portion for other recipes. (Maybe THIS from accidentally wonderful blog)
-In a separate bowl, beat the eggs well.
-Once the milk mixture begins to “steam” but not boil, remove a cup of the hot milk mixture and slowly stream it into the beaten eggs while mixing continuously until you have added about half of the ice cream base to the eggs. This is called tempering the eggs and ensures you won’t have scrambled eggs in your ice cream.
-Add the tempered egg mixture to the pot and cook on medium-low heat for about five minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a large container.
-Add remaining Cashew Milk and stir. Refrigerate overnight (or at least until cool) and then pour into your ice cream maker. *Make sure to follow the operation instructions on the ice cream maker. Most of them have a base that needs to freeze overnight before use.**
Trust me, it is not as complicated as it seems. I always keep the tumbler portion of my ice cream maker in the freezer when it is not in use. Then, if I want to whip up a batch the machine is ready.
Toppings I love:
Cookie Dough Quest Bar
Rainbow Jimmies (sprinkles)
Organic Dark Chocolate Sauce
Have you ever measured out the cream from coconut milk?
My can seems solid cream, mo liquid at all. This is my first time making this recipe hope I guess correctly. I can also buy coconut cream in a can and wondered if this would be easier.
Thanks, looking forward to the end results.
Diane
I’ve measured it for other recipes! It’s typically between 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup depending on the brand so I’d start with 1/2 cup and see how that treats ya! Let me know how it works!
Just looked over the ingredients, this recipe is not totally dairy free, it uses real butter. Explain this to me
Hi! How strong is the coconut flavor of this? My sister used to love ice cream but she hates coconut…
I don’t personally taste the coconut!
Have you tried this with “just egg” or any other egg replacement? I have a dairy and egg yolk allergy. I was thinking to add the just egg once the mixture has completely cooled. Thanks for the recipe!!
I haven’t but I’d look up a custard recipe using egg replacement and see what they recommend! No sense in reinventing the wheel and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone out there has done it!
I couldn’t find one but I didn’t look very hard. I tried it with the “just egg” and it worked out great!! I figured it would because it worked well with my cookie and cupcake recipes. I used real sugar, country crock vegan “butter”, and added in melted vegan chocolate the last few minutes. Next time I’ll use less sugar, but it’s really good! Looking forward to tweaking it to my taste buds. The consistency is perfect. Exactly how I like my soft serve. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Am I missing something I don’t see when to add the salt? Please advise. Thanks
Susan
Sorry Susan! The salt goes into the liquid mixture! Thanks for pointing that out!!
Does the warm liquid kinda congeal…or did I fail to temper my eggs properly? Probably a stupid question. 🤦🏼♀️
You could have scrambled your eggs if it got chunky! The mixture is sort of a thin custard consistency when it’s hot, it that helps!
I suppose it was more curdled than congealed. I THINK it is because I added a touch of coconut sugar to the mix because I didnt have enough truvia. Anyway…i decided to try it anyway…tossed it in the ice cream maker and OH MY. This is far better than the store bought cashew milk ice cream. Simply define! Thank you for sharing your recipe! You’re a goddess
You’re too sweet 🙂 I’m glad it worked out in the end Lindsey!
just out of curiosity — this recipe is listed as “dairy free,” but “real butter” is listed as one of the ingredients. is this a specific brand of non-dairy butter, or is it actually dairy? i’m allergic to dairy, so i don’t have the same leniency as someone who is lactose-intolerant might, and i was really excited to try this recipe, but i don’t believe it’ll be the same without the butter, as you said you based this recipe on food science and adding vegan butter would definitely be changing things up.
Hey Lane! Glad you asked. You’ll be happy to know that what we need from the butter is additional fat to thicken the basic custard mixture and the flavor that traditional butter lends. Vegan butter would work just fine! And if you are dairy free and not too worried about added carbohydrate, using real sugar or honey will help a lot with the texture and scoopability!
I have to apologize, this recipe was written when I was really learning about blogging and being *exact*! Thanks for asking and feel free to ask any more questions!
Cashews are my absolute favorite nut. Does that milk have that sort of sweet taste a cashew has? The ice cream looks great!
My opinion on flavor is just a delightful, sweet taste. You could say there is a hint of cashew, along with the vanilla, that is much more palatable than any other non-dairy recipe I have tried! I really enjoy this recipe because you can alter it to fit your needs. As written, it’s more of an “ice milk” where there is less substance because it’s lower in fat. If you double the coconut cream it ups the fat content but you get a thicker product. Both are delicious and satisfying 🙂
I know exactly how you feel! I hate spending so much on dairy free ice cream and it ends up being so bad, will definitely have to try out this recipe xx
This was great. I don’t think you need to me to write your recipes at all. If I did I would have excluded the rainbow jimmies……
But the Jimmies are the best part!!! Would you prefer sprinkles instead?
Yes I would.
Seriously though, they get in the way and are too crunchy. I don’t want to crunch when having ice cream!
Those crunchy little sugar capsules are half of the reason I eat ice cream! To each his own, I guess.
It’s fine, I still think you’re cool.
Love this recipe! I can’t wait to give it a try. xx
BTW the pics are amazing….makes me want to eat my computer screen.
This looks so yummy!! Can’t wait to give it a try!! 🙂
First, I love that you call sprinkles jimmies!! Me too! I thought it was mainly a Boston thing! 🙂 Second, this looks delicious! I love ice cream and need to try! I’m also excited to try cashew milk – never had it before!
Haha I know! No one ever knows what I’m talking about when I call them Jimmies! I’m trying to bring the lingo to Michigan 🙂 You DEFINITELY have got to give Cashew Milk a try. It is so different from almond milk. It’s just great! 🙂 🙂
So funny!!!!! I love it! 🙂
Since cashew milk is creamier I bet it would make an awesome coffee creamer!
It does! And the flavor is just, in my opinion, more mild. I’t has quickly been my go-to for non dairy milk. I’m slightly obsessed… 🙂
This looks delicious!
Emory
helloscarlettblog.com
It tastes delicious, too 😉 Thanks for stopping by!!!
Pictures look great! The ice cream tasted great too!
Would adding some fresh strawberries or raspberries work with this recipe?
Thanks Liz for this wonderful recipe. Absolutely creamy and truly delish! Best non-dairy ice cream I’ve ever had!!
You are welcome Kim! <3