Dairy-Free Chocolate Ice Cream

Hudson and my husband LOVE ice cream. It's their favorite treat, by far. I love sweets, but I could always do without ice cream, until I made this one. This ice cream tastes like a rich chocolate mousse. I was doing a bit more sampling than was really necessary before I even got it into the ice cream maker! So yummy.

Dairy-free ice cream is a necessity around here because of the milk allergies in our family, but if you've ever made homemade dairy-free ice cream, you know that it's either rock hard or a melted mess. There is little time when you can enjoy it while it's soft and creamy - like a traditional ice cream texture. This recipe is perfect to eat right out of the ice cream maker, and instead of melting immediately, it holds its mousse-like consistency in the bowl. It's amazing - and it's only 4 ingredients!

The secret? Dairy-free heavy whipping cream. Since online grocery perusing has become my new way of grocery shopping during quarantine, I came across this dairy-free heavy whipping cream from Silk. I thought it was worth a try. The ingredients are pretty clean and it has a coconut oil base, which is safe for our family. Now that I've found this I will be going back to make so many recipes that I had previously skipped over because coconut milk or coconut cream just didn't do the trick. I used this cream in scalloped potatoes and it was perfect. It tasted just like the real thing, with all of the richness and creaminess. I don't normally like to tell you that you need to buy a specific brand for an ingredient (not sponsored!), but this is an exception. You will only get the mousse-like texture if you stick with this specific coconut-oil and fava bean based heavy whipping cream. If you can't find it, you can definitely sub in canned coconut milk or coconut cream and it will still taste amazing, it just won't hold the same form for long outside the ice cream maker.

This recipe really couldn't be any easier. It's only 4 ingredients and they all go straight into the blender. (In case you can't tell, I really like blender and food-processor recipes. Makes my life so much easier!) After a few hours chilling in the fridge and a few whirls in the ice cream maker, this chocolate ice cream is ready to be devoured!

Prep Time: 5 minutes Chill Time: 4-6 hours Servings: 4 small scoops

INGREDIENTS:

1 16 oz carton Silk heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

*Make sure that you have placed your ice cream maker bowl in the freezer ahead of time for the necessary time according to your manufacturer instructions*

1. Add all ingredients to blender and blend for 45 seconds - 1 minute until smooth. Stop blender and scrape down sides to make sure all the cocoa powder gets incorporated. Blend for another 15-30 seconds.

2. Pour ice cream base into stainless steel bowl (any bowl will do here, but stainless steel will help it chill faster than plastic or glass). Cover ice cream base with plastic cling wrap. Place the plastic wrap directly onto liquid to prevent a skin from forming while it chills in the fridge. Cover with lid and chill for 4-6 hours.

3. Set your ice cream maker up and turn it on. I have found that if my ice cream maker is not on and already spinning prior to me pouring the base in, a layer of the ice cream base freezes onto the bowl and prevents the rest of the liquid from churning and freezing properly later.

4. The ice cream base will be very thick out of the fridge. Spoon the ice cream base into the ice cream maker bowl and let it run for 15-20 minutes. You may need to gently loosen the ice cream occasionally if it gets too thick and stops spinning momentarily. As soon as the ice cream looks churned like soft-serve, immediately remove from the ice cream maker bowl and serve (because the heavy whipping cream is made of coconut oil, it will harden quickly if left in the freezer bowl unattended).

Recipe Notes:

1. Honey may be subbed for maple syrup if not vegan.

2. Canned coconut milk or canned coconut cream can be substituted for the dairy-free heavy whipping cream, but it likely will not hold-up outside the ice cream maker - it will need to go directly into the freezer and will become solid frozen at that point.

3. Cow's milk heavy whipping cream can be substituted if there is no dairy allergy.

4. This recipe can be doubled if the capacity of your ice cream machine can hold it.

5. This recipe can be made without an ice cream maker by following the instructions through step 2. Instead of chilling ice cream base for 4-6 hours, chill in the fridge overnight. The chocolate base will be scoop-able and ready to eat straight of the refrigerator as a mousse, or can be transferred to a loaf pan or ice cream container and stored in the freezer, where it will become frozen solid.