Vegan Coconut Vanilla Ice Cream

This is my standard vanilla "ice cream". Because I cannot have dairy, this is how I get the creaminess that I desire without the dairy. It's also a great base for all sorts of other ice creams.

I've run into several problems along the way, typically with texture. Understanding how to make this ice cream makes it easier to prepare the other vegan ice creams.

Originally I tried using a whisk to make these ice creams, but I often cannot get a smooth texture unless I put in a lot of work (my poor arms...). So I moved to using a blender to mix the ingredients and that worked better.

Sometimes, however, I would get a clumpy texture in the final ice cream. It appeared that the coconut cream had split like a typically dairy-based recipe might. With dairy, splitting cannot be fixed and you must start over. But with coconut cream, splitting means that you need to mix the cream for longer to get the ideal smooth, creamy texture. I detail how to do that in the first step of the instructions, below.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Oat milk
• I go with gluten-free, higher fat versions
• Dairy alternative: regular milk
• 3/4 cup Coconut Cream
• I prefer the "Aroy-D" brand coconut cream because it doesn't have guar gum (see the notes, below)
• Dairy alternative: heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon Vegan Cream Cheese
• I prefer Daiya plain cream cheese because it doesn't use nuts or potato starch
• Dairy alternative: cream cheese
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• I prefer organic cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• As mentioned in my Vanilla Lemonade Smoothie recipe, I prefer the Villa Vanilla Super Extract

Instructions

1. Prepare the coconut cream
1. Empty the entire container of coconut cream into the blender
• You will likely need a rubber scraper to get all the cream out of the container
2. Blend until smooth (typically 1 to 2 minutes)
• Start at a low speed and ramp up to about 70% of full speed, otherwise you will end up with a large clump of oil on the jars' lid
• At some point in the process you will see clumps/specs of coconut cream clinging to the side of the blender jar: keep blending, you're almost there
• You want to see a smooth mixture bouncing up the sides of the jar
3. Measure out 3/4 cup of cream for the next step
• Refrigerate the remainder (or make more pints 😉)
2. Combine 1 cup oat milk, 3/4 cup coconut cream, 1 tablespoon cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla into blender and blend until smooth
• I like this recipe so much, I typically do a double-sized batch and make 2 pints
3. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes
• The blending process introduced a lot of air, which we want to release so we get more cream in the final pint
• You may want to lightly stir the mixture to help release that air
4. Pour the mixture into the CREAMi pint(s), up to the "max fill" line.
5. Freeze for 24 hours
6. Spin as "ice cream"
7. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

Coconut cream is notorious for separating in its container. Some people recommend just shaking the can/box for a minute before opening it. Just shaking is typically not sufficient for me, probably because I buy coconut cream which doesn't have guar gum as an additive.

Guar gum is a stabilizer/emulsifier meaning it helps the coconut cream stay mixed and smooth for longer. But guar gum seems to irritate my immune system (it makes my mouth feel fuzzy) so I avoid it, which is why I purchase the kind of cream that I do, and is why I need to go through the extra effort of blending the cream until absolutely smooth.