Dairy-Free-Strawberry-Ice-Cream

As a child, one of my fondest memories was our after dinner walks into town to the local ice cream parlor. I would get a single scoop of apricot ice cream on a waffle cone. At least we were told it was apricot. We lived in Europe and there was a bit of a language barrier. However, food is a universal language. Whatever “flavor” it was, was absolutely delicious.

So naturally you can imagine my devastation, as an adult, when I was told I had a dairy allergy…..and then for my daughter to have it as well. Well, to me it’s unthinkable, and unacceptable to think that she’d miss out on something as universal as ICE CREAM!!!!

I hope that some day Olivia looks back on our homemade ice cream expeditions as fondly I as remember apricot ice cream with my family. Olivia and I have yet to challenge ourselves with an apricot flavor, but other berries or fresh peaches substitute in place of the strawberries perfectly. Enjoy!

Dairy Free Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 2 and ½ cups fresh strawberries, washed and cut
  • ½ cup REAL maple syrup
  • ⅛ tsp pink sea salt
  • 2 cans of full fat coconut milk
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. In a medium pot, bring strawberries, maple syrup, and salt to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
  2. Combine fruit mixture, coconut milk, vanilla extract, into a blender or food processor. Process until creamy smooth. (You may have to divide your ingredients and do this is two batches.) Place into fridge for 4-6 hours or in the freezer for 30 minutes.
  3. Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s instructions. We pre-chill our canister.
  4. Serve immediately or store in a freezer safe container.
  5. If you do not have an ice cream maker you can try the soft serve, zip-lock bag method. Place ice in a gallon zip-lock bag. Place ice cream mixture in a second zip lock bag. Make sure your bag is sealed tight. Place it down in the first zip-lock bag, seal tight and gently hand toss the bag. Flip flop it, knead it, massage it, till it firms to soft serve consistency. Sometimes this method is more fun for the kids.

 

Things You Might Need

Ice Cream Maker

Food Processor

Coconut Milk

Pink Sea Salt

Real Maple Syrup

Vanilla