Have you ever seen such sweet cheeks? I am loving spending time with this little one this weekend.
To celebrate Memorial Day weekend, I decided to bust out my ice cream maker (got it as a bridal shower gift 9 years ago) and make some vegan ice cream. There are many substitutes for dairy when making frozen desserts, the ones I am aware of use either full-fat coconut milk or nuts. I learned everything I know about this topic from the book called Lick It! Creamy Dreamy Vegan Ice Creams Your Mouth Will Love by Cathe Olson.
I’ve been finding frozen sweet cherries at the store more frequently lately so I decided to make a Sweet Cherry Ice Cream. I used these ingredients:
If you want to put whole cherries on top of the final product, then be sure to buy an extra bag and let them defrost in the fridge. I used the Vitamix to blend the coconut milk, dates, vanilla, cherries, carob (unpictured) and soy milk:
I then poured the base into the frozen ice cream maker and let it do its thing for 30 minutes:
Oh baby, this was good!
Here’s the recipe:
Sweet Cherry Ice Cream (dairy-free, gluten-free, no added sugar)
6 servings
Ingredients:
2 10-ounce bags of frozen cherries (one frozen and one defrosted in the refrigerator)
1 13.5 ounce can of full-fat coconut milk (chilled in refrigerator)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons carob powder
1 1/2 cups Medjool dates or about 12 pieces (or more to taste)
1 1/4 cups of unsweetened soy milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)
Directions:
1. Place the contents of the bag of frozen cherries, chilled coconut milk, vanilla, carob and dates in a high-speed blender and process until smooth. Taste the mixture and add more dates if necessary for sweetness.
2. Pour the resulting mixture into the base of an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s directions for freezing.
3. Serve the ice cream frozen with a scoop of the defrosted frozen cherries on top.
The little one is still too young for people food, but I have a feeling I may be making him some vegan ice cream in the future. In fact, his mama has made a special request that I pass along my cooking skills to him so he can cook for all of us one day. For now, we’ll just keep pinching his sweet little cheeks and letting the grown-ups eat all of the ice cream. Enjoy the rest of the long weekend!
Note: this post has been submitted to Gluten-Free Fridays.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Carrie, that baby is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!!! OH MY WORD!!!! I just wan to kiss those cheeks!
Your ice cream looks DELISH!!!! Can’t wait to try it!.
Thanks Tanya! Let me know how you like the ice cream and I’ll give the baby a kiss for you.
What a cutie pie!!
The ice cream looks wonderful too….I’ve been all about the coconut based desserts lately!
side note….pencil me in for a get together sometime in Sept—I’m gonna spend the month in Santa Monica! I won’t have a car, but I’ll find a way to meet you somewhere (maybe the train?).
Hi Lisa! Awesome, let’s for sure get together. I likely can come out to Santa Monica. At this point, I have no plans for September so just let me know when you make your plans. Yay!!!
awwww…what a cutie!!
I made the banana and peanut butter thing you suggested and your chocolate cherry bomb and TJ and I enjoyed them
That’s great, Robyn! Be sure to let me know about any delicious concoctions you come up with in your new blender.
Lovvvveee me some cherries! This looks yummy! And bebe looks yummy too
xxoo
We miss you Auntie Shoshannah!!!
What a cutie he is!!!
Your ice cream looks awesome! I haven’t made any since becoming vegan, but you just changed that for me! Thanks for the inspiration Carrie!
I got an ice cream maker for Christmas and first of all there was no room in the freezer for the bowl, then we got given another freezer, then when I finally read the instructions and got the bowl in the freezer my baby seemed to take up so much of my time, then when I finally read the recipes in my vegan recipe book I didn’t like the fact I had to use boiled arrowroot in them all. So when I saw this recipe I jumped straight into the kitchen and made it straight away as it looked so quick and easy, and it was! Although I had frozen cherries, they are hard to get hold of so wanted to save them just in case something went wrong so I used frozen mango instead and it was absolutely gorgeous. My baby was desperate to try it and I’m ashamed to say we both ate mango ice cream for dinner. That’s the first time we did that but at least it was a healthy recipe. This is one of the nicest things I’ve tasted in a very long time. Many thanks for this gorgeous recipe and cute pics of this gorgeous baby too.
Awww, thanks for sharing that great story, Katherine! I won’t judge you for eating ice cream for dinner.
Oh my gosh — he is such a cutie!!!!!!
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