Thursday, April 12, 2007

Ginger Ice Cream

I think that coconut milk is a natural choice for this ice cream, but you can use any non-dairy milk you like and omit the coconut extract. Need a chocolate fix? See “Variation” below for Chocolate Ginger Ice Cream. Finally, you’ll notice quite a range in the amount of minced ginger you can use. My husband loves ginger, so I’d use the full ½ cup, but that might be too much for some people.

3½ c. coconut milk (or other non-dairy milk)
¼ - ½ c. minced ginger (depending on how gingery you like it)
¾ c. sugar
2 T. arrowroot
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. coconut extract (optional)
¾ c. crystallized ginger, chopped into small pieces

Directions:

Mix ¼ cup of coconut milk with the 2 tablespoons of arrowroot and set aside.

Mix the coconut milk and minced ginger together and bring to a boil. Take off the heat and set aside for 25 minutes to steep. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth to remove the minced ginger. Keep the milk; throw out the ginger.

Mix the coconut milk and sugar together and bring to a boil. When the mixture has just started to boil, take off the heat and stir in the arrowroot slurry. This should immediately cause the liquid to thicken (not a lot, but a noticeable amount; it will be thicker when it cools).

Stir in vanilla extract and coconut extract, if using.

Set the ice cream mixture aside to cool. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Add crystallized ginger in the last five minutes of freezing.

Variation:

Chocolate Ginger Ice Cream: Add ½ cup chocolate chips and/or ¼ cup cocoa powder with the sugar. For an extra chocolate kick, add 1 teaspoon pure chocolate extract in addition to or in place of the vanilla or coconut extract.

20 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:23 PM

    I'm so glad you posted again =)

    This sounds interesting. I've never really been super into ginger, but adding it to ice cream sounds good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chocolate chips and ginger! two favorite flaves combined, plus the ice cream part--- sounds great!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous3:10 PM

    Ummm.. How about pineapple as an addition?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous6:10 AM

    wow! sounds great! i will be reading your past post!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous9:22 PM

    I've actually had a similar recipe on my "to figure out" list for a while. I just found your blog after researching milk-free frozen confections. My idea was inspired by a coconut ice cream, paired with a red plum-ginger sorbet, so I had been thinking of figuring out something with all three flavors. Looks like I could just whizz up some red plums and mix into your recipe! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous7:41 AM

    This would be great with Silk spice milk!

    ReplyDelete
  7. hey, i just got myself an ice cream machine and i am so excited! i want to try one of your recipes but i have a question, do you think i can use agar agar instead of arrow root?
    thanks

    ReplyDelete
  8. To Ahu--

    I've never tried using agar agar, but you could certainly try it! Let me know how it works for you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Agnes,
    I am really excited about your blog. I'm lactose intolerant and always looking for good non-dairy fun. I appreciate how you make every effort to avoid political argument from all directions. I happen to be vegetarian, but only because it feels healthier.

    Right now, I've got some ginger that needs mincing. I can't wait to try this recipe.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous8:15 PM

    oh dear your blog is fabulous! i just got an ice cream maker - i love coconuts and ginger... i will definitely try out your recipes... thank you for sharing! by the way, i miss seattle terribly... it's so much more vegan friendly than vegas...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous7:25 AM

    Thank you for this recipe! We had some people over to grill out last weekend (all non-vegans, except me) and I made this for dessert. It was almost funny because they were all ooohing and ahhhhing so much over this ice cream, then everyone kept talking about it for the rest of the night. One of the guys was a big-time foodie, and he just could not stop talking about how good this was.
    You rock!

    ReplyDelete
  12. just thought you should know that i made this recently and it's awesome! i have to remain dairy free while i nurse my daughter and this was a great way to enjoy some ice cream now that it's hot outside. i think next time i may make a green tea version of this. mmmmmmm!

    ReplyDelete
  13. ok, i made a green tea version of this. i scaled back the ginger but crushed it in a garlic crusher to get a lot of the juice out. i added 2 tblsp of green (matcha) tea to the mix while it was still hot after adding the sugar. the only thing i wish i had done differently was to sift the green tea because a lot of it clumped and whisking only took care of 80% of the clumps. i also whisked in 1/4 cup of flax oil after the mix was cool. it's delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Awesome! I've made both the plain ginger and the chocolate ginger versions and they were hits with vegans and non-vegans alike!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Has anyone tried something like this - green tea ice cream for there vegan ice cream?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oooooooh, that looks SO GOOD. I'm already craving it!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous6:30 PM

    This was great! It tastes just like something I had at a gourmet ice-creamery but without making me feel sick after! =) I'm making this again for sure, thank you so much.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I have never heard of ginger ice cream before! But this is interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Seriously, best ice cream I've ever made. I'm not vegan but I've experimented with milk-free ice creams before, using coconut milk. I've been intimidated (who knows why) by using arrowroot but I got some at whole foods and the whole thing was much easier than I thought - and I credit it to how wonderfully thick and creamy mine turned out to be.
    I left out the coconut extract and crystallized ginger, used about 1/3 C freshly minced ginger.
    I can't wait to experiment - want to add cacao nibs or ghiradelli chips (understand they are vegan and am now all into this stuff because of you) - cinnamon, coconut flakes...
    I promise to let you know how it turns out. Thank you* Just divine-

    ReplyDelete
  20. Definitely going to try this. I remember eating i used to be completely obsessed with ginger biscuits so I'd imagine that ginger ice cream would go down a treat!

    ReplyDelete