Soy-Free Homemade Vegan Ice Cream!

So this is by no means a health food, but it's a little healthier than dairy ice cream, and relatively easy to make, since most of the time is inactive or just giving it the occasional stir/churn/whirl. One of the big differences between making smooth coconut based ice creams and smooth almond, soy, or rice milk based ones is that you have to heat it first. Coconut oil (the fat that gives this ice cream a creamier mouth-feel than most nut milk varieties) is solid at room temperature, as you'll see when you open your can of coconut milk. You're still going to get a less than commercially 'perfect' consistency (a rant on the value placed on cosmetically perfect manufactured foods as perpetuated by food marketing may come another day,) but melting it first allows you to blend the oil into the rest of the ingredients easily.

Basic Coconut-Based Vegan Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 (15 oz) can Coconut Cream (a Goya invention as far as I know, it's sweetened)

-OR- 

1 (15 oz) can Coconut Milk (the higher the fat content the better)

Sugar, ONLY if using coconut milk, 1/4-1/2 cup to taste

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Almond milk (the kind that's refrigerated in the store is the best for this, it's a little thicker)

Optional additions (don't go overboard):

1 1/2-3 tbs cocoa powder

2-3 tbs high quality vegan chocolate, diced or shaved

1-2 tsp instant coffee 

Whatever else you want in your ice cream!

Directions:

1. Empty the can of coconut milk/cream into a small pot or microwave safe bowl, heat on low or in a microwave, stirring frequently until the oil is melted. 
2. If you're using cocoa powder mix it with enough almond milk to wet it all, you'll probably need to use a fork or small whisk. If you're adding instant coffee, dissolve it as much as you can in a few tbs of heated almond milk or hot water.
3. Whisk the coconut milk/cream, sugar if needed, vanilla, and any additions together. If you're using coconut cream and it's too sweet, slowly add almond milk to taste. 
4. Whisk the mixture every 5-15 minutes (use your best judgment,) until cooled to keep the fats from solidifying together. DON'T put it in the fridge.  ~You can skip this step if you want, but it will take your ice cream a little longer to set up, and if your ice cream maker is the kind with the bowl you freeze first, the bowl may heat up too much initially for the ice cream to set.~
5. Follow the instructions on your ice cream maker.** You may need to stir or churn more frequently than they tell you to, especially if you skipped step 4, since coconut oil solidifies at higher temperatures than the fat in dairy and you want to keep the oil from forming chunks (or, more accurately: large globules.)

It's done whenever you want it to be, and you can let it solidify more on it's own after it's thickened considerably as long as you've stirred it continuously to keep the ice crystals from getting too big, but it's not going to be as creamy as dairy ice cream and will eventually harden into a pretty solid block if you're not careful. That's also why this recipe is only for about a pint, it's best eaten the night it's made.

**If you don't have a little ice cream maker, there are a lot of alternatives, I'll do my best to describe a few. 

If you have an immersion blender: put the liquid ice cream mixture into a glass baking pan and pop it in the freezer. Once crystals start to form at the edges/on the bottom use a rubber spatula to scrape off the pan. Blend the mixture being careful not to splash/fling partially frozen ice cream all over the place, smooth the mixture in the pan. Repeat this process every 5-15 minutes (depending on your freezer, how big your pan is, the fat/water ratio of your mixture, and how much you're willing to work for smooth ice cream.) Until it's the consistency you want.

If you have a regular blender: This is a bit more time consuming, and I haven't personally tried using one to make ice cream, but you have two options. 

• For the Impatient-People (who like doing more dishes): Follow the instructions for the immersion blender, but scrape the mixture into the blender each time instead of blending it in the pan. Don't blend it for too long, especially if you've got a good blender, or it'll take your mixture forever to set up. Pour/dump it back into the pan, spread it out with the spatula if necessary, put it back in the freezer, and repeat until it's done. 
• For those with Time-on-Their-Hands (and an aversion to extra dishes): Put the mixture in the blender, and put the whole container portion in the freezer. Once ice crystals start to form, scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula, put the container back on the base and blend. Repeat as you see crystals form. If you blend too much/too often and your ice cream will take forever, which it's already going to do with this method since there's not as much surface area to freeze. I've never tried this, and every blender is different, so be careful and use common sense. I don't think you'll run into any problems freezing the container, just make sure the bottom is tightly on every time you put it back in the freezer. But don't come crying to me if you somehow break your blender.

With your (cold) bare hands: Pour the mixture into a heavy duty plastic zip top bag that your mixture fills about half way or less, get most of the air out (don't worry about getting it all out) and seal. Put another bag over it, so the opening of the second bag is at the bottom of the first, get most of the air out between layers and close it.  Put the bag in the freezer and take it out every 10-20 minutes after ice crystals start to form, and squish the bag around, mixing it up and crushing the ice crystals. Try to do your squishing quickly, so you're melting the ice cream as little as possible. Keep at it until your hands freeze or the ice cream reaches your desired consistency, whichever comes first.

And if the consistency doesn't come out the way you want it to? It's still going to taste delicious, worst comes to worst you get to make smoothies!