I went to over to the dark side and I made a vegan ice cream. Say what? The butter and cream girl eschewed both, and liked it?
It all started last summer, when my kids were making fun soda drinks. They hit upon a wonderful combination: root beer and coconut syrup.
It might sound odd, but it is so good! They graduated from the soda drinks to making sno cones with those flavors. We must have gone through several large bottles of coconut syrup before we moved on to other treats.
So I was dreaming about ice cream-izing those flavors. Just my luck, a new cookbook arrived — “Vegan Ice Cream Sandwiches,” by Kris Holechek Peters – and wouldn’t you know it, she had already developed such a recipe. She suggests serving the ice cream sandwiched between Very Vanilla Cookies, which sounds like a great idea, but I opted just to make her ice cream today.
The finished ice cream reminded me of my beloved root beer floats! When right out of the maker, it had a sticky, gelato-like quality (this is a good thing, in my opinion). After ripening in the freezer for a few hours, it was creamy, with the perfect mouth-feel. The flavor is outstanding.
This is the last day of Ice Cream Month. Now’s your time to celebrate in style! What flavor will YOU make?
Reminiscent of a root beer float, this Root Beer Coconut Ice Cream is a wonderful combination of two iconic flavors.
Ingredients
- 1 (13.5- 14-ounce) can full-fat coconut milk (not the light version)
- 1 cup nondairy milk (this will also work with whole milk, which is not vegan)
- 3/4 cup vanilla sugar [2] (use regular granulated sugar if you like)
- 2 teaspoons root beer extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- In a large saucepan, combine the coconut and nondairy milk, add sugar and stir to combine. Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often. Once it boils, turn heat down to low and stir until sugar dissolves. This should only take a minute. Remove from the heat, add the root beer and vanilla extracts, stir and allow to cool completely. Pour into a lidded container and refrigerate until cold, a few hours or overnight.
- When ready to make ice cream, pour mixture into your container and churn according to the machine’s directions. When it turns to ice cream (15-20 minutes or so), scoop into a lidded container and freeze for at least 2-3 hours to firm up.
- Makes 1 quart. Serves 8.
- No wait, serves 3. Or 2.
Notes
Recipe source: “Vegan Ice Cream Sandwiches,” by Kris Holechek Peters (2014; Ulysses Press; $15.95)