Wow! Another dairy-free ice cream cookbook!

Vegan ice cream recipes are popping up all over the place. I just found out about yet another dairy-free ice cream cookbook, this one published at the end of last year. I don't yet have a copy, but it looks interesting.

The Ice Dream Cookbook says it contains "dairy-free ice cream alternatives, with gluten-free cookies, compotes and sauces."

I don't know much else about the book. One review on Amazon states: "The Ice Dream Cookbook also focuses on low glycemic, using a combination of agave nectar and stevia in most of the 'ice cream' recipes. As best as I can tell, this is also a soy-free cookbook; the 'ice creams' are primarily coconut milk or nut-based. All of the recipes are vegan-friendly, but I would like to note that there are choices given, such as honey or agave and gelatin or agar agar."

This sounds like it could be a winner for those with gluten allergies and those who are looking to avoid using cane sugar. And there are suggestions for stevia, which is great because I get these questions all the time and I have no idea what to do with stevia. (My husband hates it and I'm none too fond either.)

Sadly, the cookbook isn't all vegan--see the note about honey and gelatin above--but we vegans are nothing if not creative, and it appears that you can work around any non-vegan suggestions. I should also note that the author is clearly not vegan (her blog has all the typical bullshit about the wonders of grass-feed meat). And I always prefer to support fellow vegans when I spend my money, so I'm not sure if I'll buy this book.

But, wow. I'm so excited that there are more and more vegan/dairy-free ice cream products--from hemp ice creams to cookbooks to new dreamy flavors in the supermarket.

Now if I can just get my butt in the kitchen and actually make some ice cream, that would be even better.

Coffee Ice Cream (with Variations)

I personally love making the mocha variation of this recipe. Depending on how much of the coffee flavor you want to shine through, you can use regular drip coffee or espresso. Espresso will produce a much stronger flavor, but coffee will be fine too (and not everyone owns an espresso maker). Of course, the better the coffee you use, the better this will taste. If you use Starbucks coffee, well, don’t blame me if it sucks. (You could also use decaf or half-caf if you don’t want too much caffeine, but where’s the fun in that?)

2 c. soy creamer (or any non-dairy milk)
1 ¼ c. soy milk (or any non-dairy milk)
¾ c. fresh, strong coffee or espresso
¾ c. sugar
2 T. arrowroot
1 t. vanilla

Directions:

Mix ¼ cup of soy milk with the 2 tablespoons of arrowroot and set aside.

Mix the soy creamer, soy milk, coffee, and sugar together in a saucepan. When the mixture has just started to boil, take off the heat and stir in the arrowroot slurry. This should immediately cause the liquid to thicken (not a lot, but a noticeable amount; it will be thicker when it cools).

Stir in vanilla extract.

Set the ice cream mixture aside to cool. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.

Variations:

Add-ins: Add in ½ cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate-covered espresso beans during the last five minutes of freezing.

Mocha: Reduce soy milk to 1 cup. Melt in ¼ cup chocolate chips during initial heating phase. For more chocolate excitement, add a couple tablespoons more chocolate chips, or use chocolate non-dairy milk instead of plain.

Kahlua: Reduce soy milk to 1 cup. Stir in ¼ cup Kahlua or other coffee liqueur after adding vanilla.

Matthew Scudder: Reduce soy milk to 1 cup. Add a plug or two of bourbon after adding vanilla. Then go catch a criminal or solve a murder or something.

Guinness Ice Cream

Danielle F. sent me this recipe. She says, "I'm not a vegan, and frankly, I know nothing about it, but I have a friend who is lactose intolerant, and I found this recipe for Guinness ice cream that I wanted to try but wanted her to be able to eat, so I adapted it using your website and recipes. Thought I'd share. I realized afterwards that Guinness is actually a genius choice for vegan ice cream because it already has a creamy flavor."

I use arrowroot powder to thicken my ice creams, but Danielle skipped the arrowroot altogether, so I'll leave it out of the recipe, as well. Here's Danielle's awesome creation:

2 c. soy creamer (or other non-dairy milk)
1 c. soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)
12 oz. Guinness
3/4 c. sugar

Whisk ingredients together by hand. For best results, chill before freezing. Then freeze according to your ice cream maker's directions. Enjoy! Raise a scoop in honor of Danielle!

Danielle notes that this recipe made more liquid than her ice cream maker could handle in one freezing cycle. So you can either scale back the amounts, or freeze in batches. Don't overfill the ice cream maker. It makes the baby Jesus cry.