Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream (Cashew/Almond base)

After many failures, I have finally figured out what I would like to use for my base. As mentioned in my Mocha Latte post, I figured out that cashew milk is not only delicious, but a very simple substitute for dairy! After messing around with the ratios a LOT, I have finally decided to reveal the most successful one thus far.

Cashew/Almond Base

(Obviously do NOT use this if you have nut allergies!)

2c. almond milk

1c. sugar

2c. cashews

4T. kuzu root (ground to powder)

Slowly heat the almond milk and sugar until sugar dissolves. Add kuzu powder and continue to heat until the mixture begins to thicken slightly. Make sure you are keeping control of the heat- not too hot! Pour the mixture over the cashews and allow to sit for 4 hours. Puree the mixture and strain. When straining, be careful not to push the cashew grounds through the sieve. You may stir the liquid in the strainer, but do not force the liquid through.

Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream

1qt. cashew/almond base

1/2c. vegan chocolate chips

2T. chocolate liquor

1 large brownie or 3 regular/small brownies

In a double boiler, heat chocolate chips and 1T chocolate liquor. As the chocolate chips begin to melt, add the base 1/4c. at a time. By the time you finish adding the liquid, the chocolate should be fully melted. Cool the mixture. Add remaining 1T chocolate liquor. Churn the mixture until thick. Fold chunks of brownie into the ice cream and transfer to freezer-friendly container. Freeze until firm and enjoy!

This ice cream is delicious when paired with a glass of shiraz.

Blueberry Nectarine Sorbet

No, it's not baby food- while it may not look as delicious as some other sorbets, I assure you this seasonal delight is delectable! I decided to use a different method this time because I wanted to maintain the fresh fruit flavor rather than the "oooh...pie" flavor of cooked fruit.

In order to achieve this, I macerated the fruits in sugar. This created a sort of thick syrup, so all I had to do was add a little water and voila! No stovetop needed for this puppy- the simple syrup basically creates itself! I topped the ice cream with a little heated up apricot preserves for a little extra sweetness.

Blueberry Nectarine Sorbet

7ea. nectarines

1 1/2c. blueberries

1c. sugar

1c. water

1T blueberry vodka (regular works too)

Wash and carefully peel your nectarines. This is a project- sit down in front of your favorite show and take your time. If your nectarines are as ripe as they should be, you will need to be very careful- use a paring knife please! Once you have peeled the nectarines, cut the fruit away from the pit. Make sure you get as much as you can!

In a bowl, combine the nectarine pieces, blueberries, and sugar. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours. Add water & vodka. Puree in blender or food processor. Put through a strainer. Churn & freeze!

This is the first sorbet I've made in awhile that isn't crystal-y and has a smooth texture. I am very happy with how this one turned out! Let me know how it works out for you :)

Concept: Don't Call Me Shirley! Sorbet

I have been sitting here, all morning, pouting because I want to make ice cream. Needless to say, this desire has struck the day before payday when I am unable to galavant and find interesting ingredients. So I do what every ice cream making fiend does- I rummage! What do you do when life gives you lime juice, grenadine, and cherries? Make Shirley Temples of course! And dollface, you are the inspiration for today's ice cream adventure.

Non-traditional (aka fruitless) sorbets are quite difficult because you are basically manipulating sugar water to not taste like...well...sugar water. These NTS are usually best accomplished if you are working with a concept that will not be achieved by adding dairy. Teas, extracts, herbs, and spices are usually what work best with the NTS but can also wind up being terrible.

I currently would much rather be playing around with the reactions of non-dairy yogurts in ice cream, but alas, that will have to wait. For now, it's Temple-Time.

Don't Call Me Shirley! Sorbet

2 1/2c. water

1c. sugar

1/4c. lime juice

2T. grenadine

2T. liquid from maraschino cherries

cherries for garnish.

Dissolve sugar in water over heat. Add lime juice, grenadine, and cherry liquid. Cool & Churn. Freeze until firm and serve with cherries as garnish.

All in all, it's a summer treat that's fun for kids. It's a cool twist on a favorite drink that can be served as a scoop on a cone or in a glass filled with lemon-lime soda. If you're looking for simple-stick with a regular Shirley Temple, but if you want to have some fun with it this is for you. Please keep in mind that there is no nutritional benefit to this NTS or to Shirley Temples in general- Grenadine, Soda, and Maraschino Cherries are literally all sugar. Please be sure to limit how many Shirley's your kiddo has, especially if they are still losing teeth- don't want to rot them out before they have a chance to grow!

Coconut "Key" Lime

I'm pretty sure that this is my first Alchemy post I have made since getting my new macbook! Woohoo! No more angry posts because my stupid laptop died, or Blogger didn't autosave because my compy is so old that it can't run the most efficient internet. It's time to celebrate! Double celebrate in fact because it's 4th of July weekend! And no one says "independence" quite like Will Smith!

Or, for that matter, Key Lime Pie! I decided to attempt making this delicious summer-time dessert into a dairy-free ice cream. I approached it with two concepts in mind:

1) a scoopable ice cream

2) a frozen "torte" of sorts

So I did both. The scoopable ice cream was okay. I wish the graham cracker would have been chunkier, but instead it kind of speckled the ice cream. The torte, however, was amazing. I loved the consistency and I felt that it was a very good representation of the real deal.

Now onto the composition. I originally wondered how well coconut milk would do for the milk base...and then I remembered...

Of COURSE they go together! I also wished there were a whipped cream substitute (without being whipped soy cream) which is why I came up with the coconut glaze. I feel like the original base was just barely too icy, so I revised the recipe and cut out some of the water. The recipe below is the altered version, so you should not need to make any changes.

Coconut "Key" Lime

1c. canned coconut milk

1 1/2c. water

2/3c. key lime juice (fresh is best, but bottled with do)

1c. sugar

1 drop green food color (optional)

graham cracker crust mix (click for recipe)

Combine everything except the crust mix. Churn in ice cream maker until desired consistency.

For scoopable ice cream: Turn off machine, and fold in crust mix. Transfer to freezer-safe container and freeze until hard.

For torte: Line a small cake pan with parchment paper. While base is churning, press the crust into the bottom of the cake pan. Make sure to cover it completely. Once ice cream is finished churning, spread evenly into the pan. Cover with plastic and freeze overnight. Before serving, remove plastic and carefully run a knife around the edge between the ice cream and the pan. Flip onto a piece of plastic and give the bottom one nice "knock" (firm...but pound sounded too harsh). This should release the ice cream from the pan. Carefully peel the parchment from the crust. Cut into pieces and serve

For Coconut Icing: Take 1c. of canned coconut milk and mix with 1c. confectioner's sugar. Whisk until smooth. Icing should be thick. Drizzle over ice cream or slice of torte before serving. Garnish with toasted coconut or lime supremes if desired.

Infusion: Lemon & Olive Oil Sorbet

Mmmm, sorbet, it has been quite some time since I devoted time to the fresh and fruity cousin of traditional ice cream. I've even made granita since I last made sorbet! Jeez, what is this!? Well, my Mocha Latte triumph inspired me to continue my experimentation using household ingredients. Of course, my household ingredients aren't always as convenient as others. For example, not everyone has a bowl of kuzu root in their pantry, but I do! If you do not have any of this, I recommend getting some.You can get it at Asian markets, and I actually got mine at Whole Foods. It was $1.99 for quite a lot. Especially since you only need 1 tablespoon at a time- and you never know when it will come in handy. Basically, I use kuzu root as a stabilizer and emulsifier since I do not use eggs in my ice creams or sorbets. I know, you think I am a crazy person, "there are no eggs in sorbet!" Correct, however, stay tuned because I will explain this in a moment.

If you've ever made a vinaigrette, you know that oils tend to separate from other liquids. I know, ice cream addicts like us tend to avoid our leafy lunch options, but bear with me. What would make the oil act any differently in an ice cream or sorbet than it would in a salad dressing? It wouldn't! So let's dig a little deeper- when you are making an emulsified dressing, you need to add...an emulsifier...you see? Generally this is egg yolk or mustard...buuut since we don't want either of those in our sorbet, we will use our good old pal kuzu. He will do the very same thing that the egg would do, but will 1) be vegan and 2) actually has a lot of medicinal qualities.

Kuzu or "Kudzu" has actually shown to help with allergies, nasty hangovers, and migraines. In addition, long term use of this root has proven (in mice, idk about humans) to significantly decrease the effects of postmenopausal hypertension and type II diabetes. Of course, all the sugar in the sorbet won't really help you, but it is always good to know when your alternative ingredients are actually beneficial rather than detrimental. To the recipe!

Lemon & Olive Oil Sorbet

12 lemons- juiced (or 1c. lemon juice...I discourage this)
1c. sugar
1c. water

1T tequila or vodka

1/4c. olive oil

2T kuzu root

I'm going to take a minute to talk about these ingredients. 1) I recommend using Meyer Lemons...they are delicious and will have a more powerful flavor than using bottled lemon juice. 2) I used powdered sugar because I did not have any real sugar in the house (which makes it no longer standard vegan). I recommend making a simple syrup out of your usual sugar and water and using that. 3) I typically try to use alcohols that will be beneficial to the flavor of my product. You can always substitute them with vodka, but the alcohols I list are the ones I feel will impact the flavor best. The alcohol is used to keep the product from overhardening. 4) I would not use a strong or expensive olive oil for this. While you do want the flavor, you do not want it to overpower the lemon.

the instructions: Combine the first four ingredients, and set aside. In a blender, puverize kuzu root until it is a powder. Add the olive oil and blend until homogeneous. slowly add the lemon juice and blend just until emulsified. Churn immediately and then freeze until firm. I would serve a big scoop of this with some fresh or frozen fruit. Yum!

Experiment: Caramel Mocha Latte (vegan!) with homemade cone

First off I'd like to thank everyone for voting for my Matcha Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream in the Foodista book contest! Still a couple of months left of voting, and since I have recently left the world of social media I could really use your help! If you could just follow the directions on the sidebar, I would love you foreverrr!

Now onto the important stuff!

Having not purchased groceries in about a month, I have been having ice cream experiment withdrawals again. With all my business planning for the future Zoey's Ice Cream Cafe I have been in major research mode trying to find the very best recipes for vegan ice cream base. Of course, I can't remember where I found this information (if I did I would credit, I promise!), but in the midst of all my searching I found a beautiful concept: Cashew based ice cream. What? Uh..yeah. Basically, you soak cashews in your desired liquid (coffee, tea, juice, milk, fake milk, whatevah) 1:1 ratio, add some sweetener, additional flavoring, allow to soak for 4 hours, and blend. It makes this amazingly milky base that is absolutely incredibly. No joke. Luckily, I happened to have everything I needed right in my cupboard!

Of course, when I get an idea in my head, I can hardly wait more than 10 minutes before I do something about it, so my ice cream had a slightly different texture...however, being so minor of an issue, I have zero doubt that the texture would be been amazing had I given the cashews the full 4 hours to absorb the liquid. Don't be an anxious-Agnes like me, give it the full four, you won't regret it.

Even though cashews don't have a tremendously overpowering flavor, I still wanted to try out one of my more powerful ideas on this base. What is more intense than coffee and chocolate, right? I manipulated the original 1:1 ratio to suit my needs- because I wanted to get the milky aspect of the "latte" into the ice cream.

Caramel Mocha Latte "Ice Cream"

2c. whole cashews
1c. brewed coffee- hot
1c. sugar (add this to the hot coffee, especially if using raw sugar)

stir together until sugar has dissolved and whisk in the following ingredients

1c. almond milk (this would be amazing with soy creamer or hazelnut milk as well!)
1/2c. cocoa powder
1T chocolate liquor (you may use vodka if you don't have chocolate liquor handy)

cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

While the base is soaking, you can make the caramel. I recommend using the caramel recipe at A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise , however, for convenience sake I just used the almond milk (or whatever milk you plan to use) and I also left out the arrowroot. Allow to cool.

After the base has soaked for four hours, put in blender and puree until cashews are full pulverized. You should hardly be able to see little specks of cashew- this could take a few minutes. Strain the mixture, but do not push the grounds through the strainer- simply allow the liquid to pass through (you may stir the contents of the strainer to allow liquid to pass through, just don't force the cashew pieces through the strainer). Churn for about 15-20min or until relatively firm. Turn of your machine and gently fold in your chilled caramel. Freeze overnight or until firm.

I really wanted to serve this one in cones, but have never had any luck with them. I found a recipe at Cupcake Project and decided to make it my own by veganizing it

Vegan "Pancake" Cones

1 C almond milk (or other milk substitute)
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/4 t ground cinnamon
Pinch ground allspice
1 T cornstarch

Whisk all ingredients together and allow to sit for about 15-20min.

For the actual cookery of the cones, I didn't have the spare funds to invest in a waffle-cone-maker so decided to make a "pancake cone," if you will, by pouring the batter into a very hot cast-iron pan. I know it would turn out better in a real waffle iron, but this certainly worked fine! If you choose this method, just make sure you spread the batter as thin as humanly possible, and be careful not to tear the cone when you flip it. They are a little thicker than the standard cone but they are also mighty delicious.

All in all, I would consider this a major "check" in the success column! I think I will conducting a lot more cashew-based expirements this summer! AND! I officially have my first recipe for Zoey's :D

Inspiration: Cucumber Mint Icy

With, what feels like, an early summer in our midst, I have been drowning in a sea of iced treat inspiration. I have been wanting to try this one out for awhile because I feel like cucumber and mint are both rather refreshing, cool-you-down ingredients.

I didn't want this to be an ice cream or a sorbet so I played with a few different options; the mold, the Popsicle, and the granita. All three used the same recipe, the only difference was the way it was presented. I call this an "icy" because I was aiming for the crystallized texture that I usually hate having in my other recipes. While I think this flavor combination would work well as a smooth sorbet, when I first came up with the idea I imagined it as a cold, crystallized treat that would take significantly longer to thaw in the summer heat.

Cucumber Mint Icy

4 cucumbers
3 sprigs of fresh mint
4 T agave nectar
1 t tequila

Peel the cucumbers (if desired, reserve a few strips of the skin for garnish). Cut peeled cucumbers in half - the long way - and scoop/discard the seeds using a spoon. Cut into chunks and blend until there are no chunks. Strain the mixture completely (there will still be some pulp on the bottom of the strainer- this is fine to use...you just want to break up the bigger chunks). Chiffonade the mint leaves and add to cucumber liquid. Mix in agave and tequila.




For Popsicle: Add to Popsicle mold and freeze - Don't forget the sticks!
For Mold: Pour mixture into desired mold and freeze...be sure to let it freeze long enough for the middle to be solid!
For Granita: Pour into freezer-proof bowl and freeze. Agitate mixture with a fork approximately every 10 minutes until ice crystals are firm.

Garnish: Julienne strips of cucumber skin and stick in bowl of ice water until they begin to curl. Toss in sugar and place on top of icy!


If you would prefer a sorbet to the harsh iciness of the icy just add another 1/4c. of agave, another 1/2 teaspoon of tequila, and churn in an ice cream maker.