Raise your hand if you like chocolate ice cream. Keep it up if you love it but can’t have dairy!
dairy-free bittersweet chocolate ice cream
Okay — now keep your hand up if you like to make ice cream every time you want a bowl of it.
Right.
If you’ve experimented with dairy-free ice cream, you know the thrill of tasting it straight from the ice cream maker: ultra-creamy, like soft serve. But then you freeze it, expect the same texture the next day, and find a brick instead. That disappointment is common when adapting recipes to dairy-free ingredients.
What I learned while perfecting this dairy-free chocolate ice cream
- Fat. Traditional ice creams blend milk and cream for a balance of flavor and texture. For a dairy-free version I chose cashew milk for its neutral creaminess. Coconut milk can work too (and is a good nut-free option), but coconut fat tends to firm up more in the freezer. I relied on intuition rather than exact fat percentage calculations — feel free to experiment.
- Booze. A small amount of alcohol helps keep the ice cream scoopable. Alcohol doesn’t freeze, so it lowers the freezing point and preserves a softer texture.
- Eggs. This recipe is a frozen custard, so egg yolks are included for richness and structure. If you need an egg-free version, there are vegan frozen custard recipes that use other stabilizers, but I don’t have a tested egg-free adaptation for this particular custard.
An ice cream maker is required to get the right texture. A good countertop model will work well.
This ice cream is intensely rich. A little goes a long way, so serve small scoops in small bowls.
dairy-free bittersweet chocolate ice cream
creamy (yes, really!) dairy-free chocolate ice cream
- Author: zenbelly
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10–15 minutes, plus time to chill and freeze
- Total Time: 45 minutes, plus time to chill and freeze
- Yield: 1 quart
- Category: dessert
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 2 cups filtered water
- 1 ¼ cups coconut sugar
- 10 egg yolks (preferably pastured)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup cacao powder
- 2 tablespoons cognac
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Soak the cashews in 2 cups of filtered water for 30 minutes, then blend for one minute or until very smooth.
- Whisk the egg yolks, salt, and coconut sugar until the sugar dissolves and the mixture becomes creamy.
- After blending the cashew milk, transfer it to a medium saucepan, add the cacao powder, whisk to combine, and heat over medium-low until steaming. Stir constantly to prevent sticking.
- Pour one ladle (about 4 ounces) of the steaming milk into the egg yolk mixture, stir, then slowly pour the warmed yolks back into the saucepan.
- Heat over low for 2–3 minutes, stirring until thickened. When it reaches the consistency of warm pudding, transfer the custard to a clean bowl set over an ice bath.
- Stir until cool, then add the cognac and vanilla extract.
- You can chill the custard in the refrigerator for several hours until very cold, or continue stirring over the ice bath until cold if you’re impatient.
- Transfer the chilled custard to an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
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