Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream
Recently, I switched over to a dairy free lifestyle. However, due to my love for sweets, I wanted to eat something that I could have guilt free.
So, I decided to make a vegan version of a chocolate ice cream. The best part about the recipe below is that you don’t need an ice cream maker. A blender or mixer would simply do, while giving you a creamy and rich consistency as that of ice cream.
VEGAN CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM
Ingredients
½ cup cocoa powder
1 cup coconut milk
3 dates, without seeds
6-7 cashew nuts
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp sugar
1-2 tbsps of baking chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
1.The day before, put the coconut milk in ice trays and freeze.
2.The next day, soak the dates and cashew nuts for two hours before starting to make the ice cream.
3.Line a loaf pan with parchment or butter paper and keep aside.
4. Take out your blender/mixer and put all the frozen coconut milk cubes, soaked dates and cashews, vanilla essence, and the sugar inside it. Blend till you get a smooth consistency.
5.Now add the cocoa powder into this mixture and blend till a creamy and smooth consistency is formed. I like to blend in all the above ingredients first and then add the cocoa powder. I feel that you can really get the taste of the ice cream after adding the cocoa powder later on. However, if you wish you can add the cocoa powder with the rest of the ingredients.
6.Next, put all of the ice cream mixture in a loaf pan lined with parchment paper. You can use any other container too, if you don’t have a loaf pan.
7.Sprinkle in some chocolate chips and put the pan in the freezer. Let it freeze for 4-6 hours, until firm.
8. Thaw 10-15 minutes before serving to soften. Use a scoop to ease scooping. Enjoy!
Notes
The more cashews you add the more creamier the ice cream will be.
To make it more flavourful, you can add 1-2 teaspoons of mint extract making it a mint chocolate ice cream. Yum!
There’s something magical that happens with sugar in this recipe, so I wouldn’t recommend subbing it for maple syrup or coconut sugar, as it will likely lack creaminess. But, if you give it a try, let me know how it goes in the comments!
*Recipe loosely adapted from Pooja Makhija.