Dessert Porn Alert! Dessert Porn Alert! Dessert Porn Alert!
I know how you are about dessert posts. You all go ape balls over it, pin it like crazy, make it for dinner every night of the week with wild abandon, and just plain love it more than any broccoli salad. 🙂
Well here you go! It’s been a chocolate kind of a week and what better way to fill that need then some creamy chocolate coffee peanut butter ice cream that just happens to be dairy-free. It also doesn’t involve the use of an ice cream maker, although you could use one.
It’s funny because I didn’t actually set out to make ice cream. I had bought 2 cans of 2 different brands of coconut milk, just to try them out and see if they varied. As of the last few days I’ve been working (writing, developing and crying) on the oatmeal ebook that some family and friends have thought me to be working on this last year. There are many reasons I’ve been lazy, unproductive, and had my feet cemented to the ground but they all sound whiny and I’m sure are only poisonous things that I believe(d) to be true.
Tossing those self-doubting shackles aside I’m pushing full force ahead to finish really dedicate time and then finish this project that scares me more than anything. I expect to cry a lot between now and whenever I finish this (I should give myself a deadline) because that just seems to be the best way to let out frustrations and it’s important to let them out so I can move past them and conquer the shit out of them. Conquer. Succeed. Surprise myself.
Part of this means I’ve finally given in to knowing that I’m going to eat a lot of oatmeal if I really want to fall in love with some of my crazy oatmeal ideas. This weekend was proof, Friday I had oatmeal for 2 meals, Saturday for 3 and Sunday for 2. Yowsers.
That was my long winded way of telling you I bought the coconut milk for an oatmeal recipe and after opening the brand I’d never used before I thought it smelled a little strange and the color wasn’t bright white like I remember so I then opened the 2nd can. I’m crazy like that. The brand I was familiar with smelled very similar but was the bright white I was familiar with, thank goodness. So I used only 1/2 cup of coconut milk for my oatmeal recipe and then had a lot of it leftover. What to do? Make ice cream!
I’m convinced that you can use 2 full cans and will achieve the same richness in flavor that I did.
The key to getting a true ice cream consistency lies within the stirring while freezing, using a full fat ‘cream’ source, and perhaps a little alcohol in the form of coffee liqueur (you could use straight vodka too).
Stirring throughout the freezing time adds air to the mix which helps it become fluffier or lighter. It’s what an ice cream maker really does. Using a full fat ‘cream’ means there’s less water in the mix which makes your ice cream more like, well ice cream, and less like ice crystals. And last but not least adding a little alcohol to the mix helps prevent it from freezing rock solid because alcohol is magic and doesn’t freeze.
I had set maybe 4-6 timers from the afternoon into the late evening for the freezing and stirring. I only stopped because it was bedtime and hoped the freezer smurfs wouldn’t let it get ruined/eat it all.
Luckily when I took it out this morning and let it sit for 10 minutes, folding it over one last time before switching out containers, it seemed fine and tasted wonderful!
Here’s the ice cream this morning with dollops of peanut butter right before the final fold/mix/stir. You could absolutely just stir peanut butter throughout the mix but I wanted those treasure chests of peanut buttery goodness hidden like gold throughout.
Who doesn’t want a tower of chocolate coffee peanut buttery ice cream on a thermos of coffee? Rhetorical.
Chocolate Coffee Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 cans coconut milk (full fat)
- 2/3 cup Navitas Naturals raw cacao
- 2/3 cup maple syrup/honey (I did a combo)
- 3 tablespoons New Deal Distillery coffee liqueur
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- dash of salt
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup natural peanut butter or nut butter of choice
Instructions
- In a large glass or porcelain bowl (Pyrex) whisk together coconut milk, raw cacao, maple syrup/honey, coffee liqueur, vanilla extract, and salt. Whisk it good, until all the little lumps of powder are dissolved.
- Place in the freezer and set a timer for 30-45 minutes. When the timer goes off, pull the ice cream out and whisk or stir a few times before placing it back in the freezer for another 30-45 minutes. Repeat 4-6 times (good for a weekend day).
- At some point when it has started to really thicken, add the peanut butter. I added dollops and drizzles by spoon over the surface and without stirring placed it back in the freezer. After 45 minutes, I gently folded over the mixture before adding the rest of the peanut butter the same way.
- At this point it was my bedtime, so I let this freeze overnight and then let it sit out for 10 minutes in the morning before taking out the first scoops to photograph and transfer into a lidded plastic container. If bedtime is not in your future keep repeating or get lazy, either way should be successful.
Hopefully this will last the week, as in I hope Jeremy doesn’t eat this in one sitting so I can eat some too. 😉
Let’s get real today. What dreams or crazy ideas are you preventing yourself from fulfilling? You see a lot of people telling you to follow your dreams and how great it is blah blah blah and while all of that is true. No one shares the insecure moments, the dreadful depressing moments, and the quaking self-doubt moments. They all exist and are part of the process. I encourage you to experience them as I am and hopefully we can hug from the other side when all these uncomfortable moments are just a vague memory. Well, that might not be a good idea as it could be years so maybe we should hug along the way and save an awesome fist bump for the other side. 😉
XOXO
I love your new ice cream recipe. And as for the oatmeal, I had it for breakfast and dinner one day last week. It is my go-to meal when nothing else appeals. And as for the frustrating and insecure moments, do not fret. I believe they are out there more than we know. People just aren’t willing to admit it. I have experienced my ups and downs as part of my journey to become a personal historian, which still seems somewhat of a dream for me. One foot in front of the other means one step closer. At least that is what I am doing. I believe in you sweet Michelle.
Love you,
Mom Felt
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Mom 🙂 and yes one foot in front of the other, head held as high as it can go for the day. 🙂 xoxoxo
Awesome blog!!! do you think you could use almond milk instead??? and also normal coffee instead of liqueur?? xxx
Thank you so much! I would say you could absolutely use almond milk but it will be more like ‘ice’ because the fat content is less but I think it would still be tasty – If you use regular coffee, add in a couple tablespoons of pure vanilla extract – the alcohol really helps the scoopability because alcohol doesn’t freeze. I would love to know how it works out. Thanks for stopping by! xo