imbb #19: i can't believe i ate vegan: chocolate ice cream with coconut whipped cream

here is number two in my imbb#19 entries, vegan chocolate ice cream. if you have any room left after eating your seitan shawarma, please further indulge in blasting away the "vegan food sucks" mythology. the myth that vegans eat nothing but light tan colored food circa 1974. heavy breads. seeds. twigs.

i remember when rice dream came out. i was sooo excited (even though i had no vegan pretensions at that time). and then i was sooo disappointed. that weirdly sweetish flavor and gross, grainy, icy texture. not one spoonful of "vegan" ice cream (hah! i would not be fooled again) went down my gullet for several years after that until i timidly ventured out to maggie mudd here in san francisco and tried one of their incredible coconut based ice creams. man, was that good. so bad. so good. so terribly good. nothing snow-cone-ish about that creamy bad boy wrapped in a (vegan!) waffle cone. if you live in sf, you gotta taste one of their coconut-based scoops.

so i got the itch. the "why can't all vegan ice creams be good - what's wrong with those retards - i could do it better myself" itch. one of those itches that end in humility, defeat and disaster. and then i went out and bought the cuisinart ice cream maker. this little machine has been cranking them out now for about a week, and i have had no luck in discovering the recipe to this creamy, delicious, dairy free scoop. instead i've been producing stuff that would be suitable for skiing. and then i found this guy, this vegan chocolate ice cream recipe off of the postpunk kitchen. however the original is straight from bryanna clark grogan's awesome italian vegan cookbook nonna's italian kitchen. and it is good. it is creamy. it could have been a tad more chocolate-y for me. maybe a littly nutty. perhaps a little cookie. but it was good. creamy. rich. bad. very, very bad. in the best possible way.

the only thing to note about this ice cream is that it may not go beyond a soft-serve stage in your electric ice cream maker. it will need an overnight stay in the freezer to get really hard. it softens quite a bit faster than the commercial stuff once out of the freezer.



Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream
Mixture #1:
3/4 c. water
1/2 c. corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
Optional: 1 1/2 Tbsp. amaretto, Frangelico, Kahlua, or other coffee, chocolate or nut liqueur

Mixture #2:
1 c. water
3/4 c. soymilk, almond milk or rice milk
1/2 c. raw cashew pieces
1/2 c. unbleached sugar or Grade A maple syrup
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. tapioca starch or instant tapioca pulverized into a powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
4 oz. dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips

blend mixture #1 in a blender or food processor until it is very smooth and frothy. it is easier if you first blend the cashews with a smaller amount of the water, adding the rest of the mixture once there is no more graininess. pour into a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan, and stir over medium-high heat until thickened. this mixture should thicken into a pudding-like consistency. Remove from heat and add in the chocolate chips, whisking until the chocolate is melted and fully incorporated. Let cool to room temperature. in the meantime, pour mixture #2 in the blender and process until frothy. add the cooled chocolate mixture and process until everything is combined. Pour into your automatic ice cream maker until it reaches a soft serve consistency. pour into a plastic container and freeze several hours or overnight before serving. Makes 1 quart Per 1/2 cup serving: 253 calories; 3g protein; 9g fat; 40g carbohydrate

coconut whipped cream topping
not really a recipe as i'm still experiementing with this one. basically chill a can of coconut cream overnight. place in a cold metal bowl and whip until light and fluffy. add powdered sugar and vanilla extract to taste. you can make your own vegan powdered sugar by grinding up regular (vegan) sugar in your blender or coffee grinder until light and powdery, adding a bit of cornstarch to keep it seperated. although pretty light and fluffy it wasn't quite perfect, so in the future i might try adding a bit of oil or a stabilizer to the mix. if you can't find cream of coconut (can be found in some stores that carry southeast asian groceries), then chill regular full fat coconut milk in the fridge, scooping out the congealed cream from the top. save the rest of the liquid for other uses.
IMBB19