Dairy-free coconut ice cream

With all of the beautiful sunshine we had today, I decided it was time to break out the ice cream maker again. This time, I wanted something cool and tropical so coconut seemed the natural choice! My ice cream maker is happily churning away and I can't wait to taste this new concoction. The base itself was smooth and tasty so I'm sure I won't be disappointed.

I toyed with the idea of making this batch a dark chocolate ice cream, but wanted to be sure I had the base right before messing with the recipe any further. For those of you who missed my first foray into ice cream making, check out my green tea ice cream recipe.

I didn't want my ice cream to be lonely, so I heated up one of my famous chocolate cupcakes, added a sprig of chocolate mint from my garden and voila! A beautiful and harmless dessert that is picture-perfect and tummy-friendly.

If you have never eaten or grown chocolate mint before, you must try it! It really does have a delicate chocolate flavor that is a pleasant surprise to those not familiar with this variety. The stems tend to be a purplish brown and the leaves tend to be rounded and a deep green. Can't find any? Regular mint would do in a pinch for this dessert.

I had another brain-wave when I was scooping the ice cream out - why not just scoop little balls of ice cream into small containers? Homemade ice cream, when left to its own devices in the freezer, can sometimes require nothing short of a jackhammer to get out of the container to scoop it out (not that the ice cream lasts that long in this household!). Now, it's all neatly pre-portioned in little Gladware containers in my freezer. Really, some days I am clever! Unfortunately only some days though...

Need to use another brand of coconut milk or almond milk? Go ahead. Just be forewarned that some of the others on the market have added sugar and other stabilizers that may produce different results.

Tip: Don't forget to freeze your ice cream maker insert ahead of time if yours doesn't have a built-in freezer unit.

Coconut Ice Cream

2  cups Thai Kitchen Lite coconut milk
1/2 cup Unsweetened Original Almond Breeze (almond milk)
1/2 cup liquid honey
3 tbsp cornstarch
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
Ice for an ice bath to cool mixture

In a saucepan, heat the coconut milk and honey over medium heat, just until it begins to steam.

In a small bowl, whisk together the almond milk and cornstarch, making sure that there are no lumps. Whisk into the honey and coconut milk in the saucepan. Bring the mixture barely to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer. The mixture will begin to thicken so keep whisking! Continue to simmer the mixture for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pour the mixture into a heat-proof glass bowl, then whisk in the shredded coconut. Place the bowl into a shallow ice bath to help cool the mixture. (If your ice cream maker has a built-in freezer unit, you can skip this step.) From here you can follow the instructions that came with your ice cream maker. Depending on your machine, in 25-35 minutes you will have ice cream that is ready to serve.

Enjoy!