I’ve been making this ice cream for years, ever since I bought my little Krups ice cream maker. The recipe works like a charm, as long as you follow the directions: freeze the bowl properly (the colder the better), make sure the custard thickens nicely, and cool it enough before making the ice cream.
A traditional ice cream is made from a rich custard—with heavy cream, milk and egg yolks. But we’re going to create a version that’s just as creamy, but without the saturated fat and cholesterol of the old-fashioned kind 🙂 The vegan hack to making custard is to use cornstarch. If you read my guide to egg substitutions, you’ll have learnt that one of the functions of eggs is to thicken a mixture. But cornstarch does this too! I also use full-fat coconut cream for richness (since we don’t have the fat from the egg yolks), mixed with soy milk (or another plant milk) so that we don’t have a strong coconut flavour.
So we’ll make a custard, cool it to room temperature, then churn it in an ice cream maker, which introduces air to the mix while it freezes (the key to a smooth and light ice cream experience).
If you’ve tried this recipe successfully and want to get a bit more adventurous, try caramelising the sugar—I learnt this by accident. After you add the sugar to the pan with the coconut and soy milk, don’t mix it at all: just leave it at the bottom of the pan while the mixture heats. The sugar will start to caramelise, and after a few minutes you can mix it through the milk. It’s an awesome variation!
If you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @PlantifulCoach + #PlantifulCoach! I’d love to see your foodie creations 🙂
Vanilla Ice Cream
Equipment
- Ice cream maker
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups coconut cream
- 1 1/2 cups soy milk or other plant milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tbsp vanilla essence or a scraping from half a vanilla pod
Directions
- First, make sure you’ve frozen your ice cream bowl overnight.
- In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch with 1/2 cup of the milk, making sure to remove any lumps.
- In a saucepan, combine the coconut cream, milk, cornstarch mixture and sugar.
- Bring to a boil, stirring often as it thickens.
- As soon as it begins to boil, remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
- Cool, cover and refrigerate for an hour or two.
- Pour into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions.
- Serve immediately, and store the rest in airtight containers in the freezer.