homemade non-dairy ice cream, plus fresh mint leaves
So I’ve tried a couple vegan ice creams so far: sorbet, coconut milk, and now, oat milk. The issue with oat milk is that it is pretty watery, not creamy at all. So how can you make oat ice cream out of it? After looking through multiple oat and nut milk ice cream recipes, I found that the addition of nuts, nut butter, and even cooked oatmeal, are used to thicken the ice cream. This recipe makes an ice cream that is lighter, not too creamy, but it is not watery either. It strikes a nice balance between a rich, creamy ice cream, and a sorbet, which includes no dairy-like ingredient at all.
For the mint flavoring, I added fresh mint to the ice cream mixture and let it all sit in the fridge overnight. When I tasted the mix the next morning, it wasn’t as minty as I wanted it, so I added some peppermint extract, which is completely optional, but pretty useful. I left the fresh mint leaves in the mix to bring a fresher flavor to the final ice cream.
This recipe can be made nearly completely out of natural ingredients. The almond butter can be made from whole, roasted almonds. The oat milk, that’s just oats and water. Honey and maple syrup are used in the recipe, as they are less processed and refined than other sugars. You can even make your own peppermint extract and chocolate bars at home!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup oat milk
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 2 heaping tbsp nut butter
- 1/4 cup cooked oats
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup honey
- splash of vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup mint leaves
- 4 oz chocolate
- 2 tsp refined coconut oil
Directions:
- Place the ice cream churning bowl in the freezer.
- Blend all ingredients up to salt until smooth.
- Transfer to a container and stir in the mint leaves. Allow to rest in the fridge overnight.
- The next day, pour the mixture into the churning bowl and churn for 45 minutes, until desired consistency is reached.
- While churning, place a loaf pan in the freezer.
- While churning, mix chocolate and coconut oil, then melt in a double boiler or microwave and stir until smooth.
- Stream the melted chocolate into the churning bowl, as the ice cream is churning.
- Once churned, transfer the ice cream to the frozen loaf pan, cover with foil, and freeze overnight.
- The next day, the ice cream is finally ready! Enjoy!
