Katy Salter’s Dairy-Free Ice Cream

Coconut Milk Ice Cream

This ice cream is so luscious and creamy that you’ll never hanker after the store-bought stuff again. Once you’ve mastered the coconut base, you can leave the vanilla out if you want to play up the coconut flavour – to make a coconut and mango ice cream, for example. Or you can make the cinnamon crunch variation. It’s the contrast between the smooth, creamy base and the buried treasure of the golden nuggets that makes this cinnamon ice cream ridiculously addictive.

Makes about 600ml

Ingredients

5 egg yolks
75g golden caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour
300ml coconut milk
200ml coconut cream
For vanilla flavour
seeds of 1 vanilla pod or ?-1 tsp vanilla powder (optional)
? tsp vanilla extract
For cinnamon crunch flavour
1 tbsp vanilla extract
? tsp ground cinnamon
35g crunchy cinnamon cereal flakes (such as Curiously Cinnamon), roughly chopped into small pieces (check the label to make sure it’s dairy-free)
Tools
Ice cream maker

Method

Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour together in a bowl.

Pour the coconut milk and cream into a saucepan and stir in the vanilla seeds or powder, if using, and the vanilla extract. Heat until simmering over a low-medium heat, removing it just when it starts to bubble around the edges of the pan; don’t let it boil.

Pour onto the egg yolk and sugar mixture in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly with a balloon whisk to combine. Once you’ve got a smooth custard, return it to the pan and cook over a very low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until it is moderately thick – be patient and don’t be tempted to turn the heat up, it will thicken eventually. It’s thick enough when it can pass the spoon test: when the custard coats the back of your wooden spoon and you run a finger down the back of it, it should leave a clear line. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Once cooled, churn in an ice-cream maker according to the instructions. Pour into an airtight container and freeze for a couple of hours before serving. Any extra ice cream will store in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.

For cinnamon crunch flavour
Prepare the ice cream as above, adding the vanilla and ground cinnamon with the coconut milk and cream in the saucepan. Continue as instructed until the ice cream has churned in the ice cream maker. At this stage, when it is a soft-serve consistency, fold in the cinnamon cereal pieces. Freeze as above.

Extracted from Dairy-Free Delicious by Katy Salter (Quadrille, approx €27). Photograph by Laura Edwards.

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