Ice Cream!

I went to a pre-sale, garage sale and bought a practically brand new ice cream maker. 


So, we have been making all sorts of ice cream. First I made: Mayan chocolate for Dalton and Kyria's 10 year anniversary. It was very rich with heavy cream and Ghirardelli chocolate, cinnamon and a touch of cayenne. VERY GOOD!


I then made a vegan, cococut, cashew ice cream. It too was good. Since I am off of dairy I thought I would experiment with vegan ingredients for my next few experiments. We have a grove of Pink Grapefruits just across the street and when they pick them, we usually get a bag full. So we tried a fresh pink grapefruit sherbet, with honey. No one liked it. However, Dennis and I are eating it, it is refreshing but not sweet.  I also, made a Blueberry/wildflower ice cream, with a cashew base and coconut water. It was ok. Dillion liked the creaminess of it. 


But the all time favorite is what is pictured above!  It is light, fruity, refreshing with just the right sweetness. EVERYBODY LOVED this one! I researched different recipes then adjusted to a vegan version. It is not creamy, more of a consistency somewhere between a popcicle and sorbet. The flavor is out of this world, delicious!!!!




Lemon-Basil Sherbet




A large bunch of fresh basil

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)

2 2/3 coconut milk (I used Coconut Dream from health food store)

Grated zest of 2 medium organic lemons




Preparation:

Tear the basil leaves. Put the leaves and sugar into a medium bowl. With your fingers massage the leaves with sugar. This will release the basil flavor into the sugar. Add the lemon juice to the bowl, stir, cover, and let stand for one hour.




Stir the coconut milk into the lemon mixture. Strain through a fine sieve into another bowl, pressing lightly of the basil leaves. Add lemon zest. Chill for four hours or overnight. (always do overnight) Process in an ice cream machine following manufacturer's instructions. If there is any lemon zest on the dasher, scrape it and stir back into sherbet. Serve the sherbet soft right from the machine or transfer into a freezer safe, airtight container and freeze to firm up at least 3-4 hours before serving.




We ate ours right from the machine! THis is definitely a keeper recipe, especially for those avoiding dairy products. 

Next up! Dion's request: Ginger Ice Cream with crystallized ginger.

We will let you know how this turns out!