Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Health Nut Ice Cream

I wanted to try adding flax oil to ice cream, since it is such a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. So I figured I'd try to make a "healthy" ice cream, which isn't really healthy, but it's not too bad for ice cream. It's got berries (I used blueberries) and flax oil and granola! How crunchy hippie could I get? Well, crunchy enough to break out the Sucanat, a type of unrefined sugar that has a much more pronounced flavor than my usual "evaporated cane juice."

A word of warning: the Sucanat is a dark brown color, so it will make your ice cream darker. The blueberries and Sucanat combined to make my ice cream look kind of like cement. Not very attractive, but still yummy!

1 c. soy creamer (or other non-dairy milk)
c. soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)
2 c. berries of your choice (fresh or frozen and thawed)
¾ c. unrefined sugar, such as Sucanat
2 T. arrowroot
1 T. vanilla
¼ c. flax oil
1 c. granola or ¾ c. granola and ¼ c. chopped nuts (if your granola is nut-free)

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

Slice 1 cup of berries (if necessary; obviously you don’t slice blueberries) and set aside.

Combine the remaining berries, soy creamer, remaining soy milk, and sugar together in a blender and puree. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and bring to a boil. When the mixture has just started to boil, take off the heat and immediately 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).

Add the vanilla.

Set the ice cream mixture aside to cool. When the mixture is cool, whisk in flax oil. (Heat damages flax oil.)

Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Add reserved berries and granola in the last five minutes of freezing.

15 comments:

  1. I can't tell you how much I love ice cream.....and your blog! Thank you so much for giving me some great ideas.

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  2. looks like an uber good recipe!

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  3. I'm sure you've covered this somewhere on here, but what ice cream maker do you use? Do you have a suggestion on where/what would be cheapest but work well?
    Thanks!

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  4. To Shaun Marie:

    Ice cream maker commentary is here!

    I hope this helps!

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  5. Hey Agnes!
    Great blog. Have you used agave nectar (or other liquid raw/organic sweetener) in a recipe?
    Thanks!
    Best,
    Deb

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  6. To Deb:

    I haven't ever tried sweeteners other than sugar-based ones. I do have one based entirely on molasses, since it's molasses-flavored ice cream. I keep meaning to get around to making maple ice cream, and also experimenting with agave, but I haven't tried it yet. If you try it, let me know how it goes!

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  7. I love your new picture! Georgous! I don't think I'd like blueberry ice cream, but I'm eyeballing some of your other recipes now...my refrigerator/power went off earlier and I was getting hankering for making ice cream...since I didn't have power, you know. Totally makes sense. ;)

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  8. i like Sucanat and this sounds good. will give it a go
    My ice cream maker made vanilla ice (soy) cream with choc chips--it was killer good. thank you for this blog!

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  9. Hey, Brownie Points Blog posted a chocolate-peanut butter vegan ice cream recipe today; saw it and thought of you!

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  10. Oh my gosh... vegan ice cream and you're in Seattle so you won't be listing obscure east-coast-type ingredients that I can't find!!!

    Yay! I'll be back!

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  11. Anonymous12:45 PM

    sounds great!

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  12. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have no idea how much I need this site. I have egg allergies, and most store-bought ice cream (and recipes for homemade) contain them. We also have a very good friend who's lactose intolerant and always raiding our refrigerator! So these are going to be perfect. They look delicious. Thank you for your creativity, and thank you for sharing. It looks like you recently got through a rough patch in your life. I'm glad you seem to have gotten through.

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  13. ooh, fun! I just discovered your blog and I can't wait to see what you come up with next. Now I have to buy an ice cream maker!

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  14. I made your vanilla ice cream last week and just now linked you to my post - I almost forgot! I'm not handling soy too well these days, so using your recipes substituting almond or rice milk instead of the silken tofu recipes is working out quite nicely! This Health Nut version looks super!

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  15. Anonymous11:02 PM

    This sounds so good. I can't wait to try it. I have some difficulty with soy so I too will probably substitute almond milk for it. By the way does anyone know about the new ice cream arctic zero? ANyone try it? 136 calories for the whole container.

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