How to Make Creamy Vegan Ice Cream
As an ice cream shop, it can seem daunting to make good vegan ice cream. Without the high fat content and low water content of dairy, vegan ice cream tends to freeze much harder than its traditional counterpart. There's a simple way to make vegan ice cream without the danger of breaking your scoop! Use this simple recipe:
What You'll Need:
- 1 cup of raw cashews (you can use store-bought cashew milk, but it won't be as creamy of a result)
- 1 cup of water + 2 tablespoons
- High-Power blender
- 1 cup of coconut milk
- 1 cup of organic vegan sugar
- 2/3 a cup of cacao butter
- 1/4 cup of coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
How to Make it
1. Make your cashew milk
Soak your cashews in room temperature water overnight (or for at least four hours). After that, drain your cashews with a colander or cheese-cloth. Add the cashews to your blender with 1 cup + 2 tablespoons of cool water. Blend this mixture until it's smooth and creamy. Depending on the strength of your blender, this could take anywhere from 2-6 minutes of blending. You'll know it's done when it has the consistency of sour cream.
2. Mix it
Add your cashew milk and your coconut milk to a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.
3. Dissolve your sugar
Add your sugar to a saucepan with a quarter cup of water. Stir over low heat until sugar is completely dissolved. You'll know it's dissolved when you can tip your pan and no granules of sugar show on the bottom.
4. Add the oil
Once your sugar is dissolved, add the cacao butter, coconut oil, and salt to your saucepan. Stir until fully melted and smooth.
5. Mix it together
Add your sugar mixture and vanilla extract to your coconut/cashew milk mixture and stir to combine. Blend this a final time with an immersion blender until very smooth and silky (if you don't have an immersion blender, just use your regular blender).
6. Chill
Cover your bowl and put it in your freezer for 15 minutes. This way, your ice cream base has time to cool down before going into your ice cream maker. If you find it freezing to the sides of the bowl, just scrape the bowl and re-mix it.
7. Make it
Once your mixture has cooled sufficiently, give it a quick stir. Pour it into your ice cream maker. Allow it to churn until it's the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. Once you've reached this point, pour it in a container with a lid and freeze it. It's ready to eat once it's hard enough to scoop.
This ice cream should be creamy and easy to scoop. It's a great dairy-free alternative for your vegan customers. We hope you enjoy this cashew/coconut ice cream!
Have you made vegan ice cream? Tell us about it in the comments, we love hearing from you!
