French Vanilla Coconut Milk Ice Cream
Both of my children are getting their tongue ties fixed soon. Part of how I am motivating them to want to get this done is with a promise of lots of ice cream once it is over. Since we are following GAPS this means that I am making lots of ice cream.
I have often made ice cream with GAPS Sour Cream (we like yogurt the best) but I was wanting the sweet flavor of french vanilla ice cream and yogurt always adds that tang. I decided to try to make it from coconut milk and I’m glad I did! It is just what I was missing. I hope you like is as much as we do.
French Vanilla Coconut Milk Ice Cream
- 1 3/4 cups shredded coconut (available from Amazon or Tropical Traditions
)
- 3 cups of water
- 6 egg yolks
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1/3 cup coconut oil (available from Amazon
or Tropical Traditions) - 1/2 tsp Celtic salt
- 1 tsp ground vanilla bean (available from Amazon
) - 1 tbsp vanilla extract (available from Amazon
)
Also kitchen equipment
- 1 Nut-Milk Bag
or Butter Muslin
and Strainer
- 1 Vitamix
or other blender - 1 Ice-Cream Maker
(this is the one we have but there are lots of good ones)
Heat the water in a kettle. While it is heating put the coconut shreds into the vitamix or blender. Just before the water reaches a boil take it off the heat and measure 2 cups and add that to the blender. Blend on high for 4 minutes. Pour the coconut shreds through a nut milk bag or butter muslin lined strainer. Squeeze out as much liquid as you can. This will be very hot so either wait for it to cool a bit or use tongs or something like that to squeeze the bag. Return the coconut pulp to the blender and add one more cup of hot water (reheat it if you need to). Blend on high for 2 minutes and then pour this through the bag again. Squeeze out as much liquid as you possibly can. This should yield about 3 cups of coconut milk. The pulp you have left at this point is coconut flour and can be dried and used in coconut flour recipes.
In a medium sauce pan whisk together the egg yolks, honey, ground vanilla bean and salt. Add the coconut milk and coconut oil to this mixture and cook on medium heat for 8 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour it into a container and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Remove the chilled mixture from the fridge and pour it into the ice cream maker and process according to the instructions with your machine. It should take 45 minutes or more. The ice cream will be like soft serve. Scoop it into a container and freeze for at least 2 hours in the freezer to get firm.
Note: If you can get coconut milk without bpa or gums you can skip the first part of the recipe and use 3 cups of it instead. This recipe takes some time with the heating and cooling. I have been making it till the point where it needs to chill in the fridge one day and freezing it in the ice cream maker the next day.
Let me know what you think if you make it in the comments!
We all love this.
It isn’t exactly like dairy ice cream but we are all thrilled with it.
Many of my blog posts contain affiliate links. Purchasing through an affiliate link allows me to keep blogging and sharing what I learn with you. It is a bit like leaving a tip for service and is very much appreciated. Thank You! -PattyLA
Shared on Whole New Mom Allergy Free Wednesdays
and on Pickle Me Too Traditional Tuesday Nutritious and Delicious
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That looks so yummy! Any advice for those of us without ice cream makers? I guess “buy one” is good advice too!
I have heard that some people make ice cream without one but I haven’t tried it. They aren’t terribly expensive and so worth it in the summer in my opinion. We don’t feel jealous of others and their ice cream at all with this on hand. It takes longer than running to the store but it is so much healthier! No comparison really.
I can attest that it’s amazing. I firmly believe that it could be sold to non-GAPS people.
Thanks for the endorsement Honey.
Mmmmm, I hope to try making this ice cream this coming weekend. I think I have everything on hand to try — except the Vitamix! LOL
The vitamix shouldn’t be necessary. In fact I have seen a method for making the coconut milk where you just knead it with your hands for a few minutes.
YUM! Putting ice-cream maker on wish list
I have been looking for a good ice cream recipe. This one sounds very yummy. Thanks for posting. Prior to going on a traditional food plan, we got rid of the two ice cream makers we owned. Boy am I regretting that decision:-(
Oh no! I consider an ice cream maker to be a must when eating traditional foods!
I am cooking up the mixture for the ice cream as soon as I get up from this computer. I was curious Patty about your ice cream insert - what is it made of? I have the Donvier and it’s an aluminum insert so I’m a little bit nervous about using it. I know the ice cream is only in there for a few minutes but would like to have options for something without aluminum. Will report back later on how yummy the ice cream turns out to be. I don’t have ground vanilla bean but I think I’ll use some vanilla bean caviar.
Mine is also aluminum. It is not the best available but it is what I have. I’m not familiar with vanilla bean caviar.
Oh, okay. I really think since it’s in there such a short amount of time it can’t be that bad. The vanilla bean “caviar” is just what is scraped out of the vanilla bean.
Oh, and Patty is it 8 minutes from the time you start it on the stove? Or 8 minutes from the time it starts to simmer? Thanks.
Also since it is cold I am less worried than I would be if it was hot.
Oops. I meant to remove that last question before I hit Post Comment. I actually already have the mixture in the fridge cooling and I think it was probably 8 minutes from the time it goes on the stove. DUH. I should have known that with cooking egg. I cooked it a little too long and now it’s all coagulated-like so I am going to just blend it before I put it into the ice cream maker and I’m sure it will be fine.
Yes 8 minutes from when it goes on the stove and keep stirring! It should thicken slightly but not be a coagulated mess. You won’t necessarily be able to tell it has thickened, that is how slightly but that will keep everything in solution and keep it from separating in the fridge.
Okay, at 8 minutes I could discern the slight thickness and should have stopped there. I want to try making it again. I cooled overnight in a casserole dish and since it had separated from being cooked too long I put it into my blender and it was nice and smooth. Then into the ice cream maker and it was delicious. I only have one more question. My coconut oil hardened and even after blending there were teensy specks of hard coconut oil. It doesn’t seem like that happened with yours? I think I might try a batch without adding coconut oil. I just posted a photo on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=442465512449496&set=a.205924246103625.62008.205919616104088 I got the tulip style glasses for $1.50 each and they hold 4 ounces. It makes you think you are getting a lot. LOL. Also, I wanted to say that I used canned coconut milk from Natural Value (full fat and not organic). It has no additives but the cans are not BPA-free.
One other person said that the coconut oil separated. Mine didn’t. I assumed that it didn’t separate because of the egg yolks so I’m not sure what happened for each of you. I’ll have to make it again and see what happens this time. I have only made it with the extra coconut oil once and that made the resulting ice cream stiffer which I liked. That time I used half as many yolks from turkey eggs since I had them and they were huge. Perhaps it needs another yolk.
(I didn’t get the CAPTCHA code right when I’d entered that question in earlier so when I came back to my computer I had to hit back and enter the captcha - that’s why it seems I’m just now asking the question when actually I thought I asked a few hours ago!)
Is it necessary to make your own coconut milk? Or, could you use a canned product?
You can use a canned product. Gums are not allowed on GAPS and nearly all canned coconut milks are in bpa lined cans. It is difficult or impossible to find a coconut milk to purchase that is free of gums and bpa for most people. If you have a canned coconut milk you feel good about go ahead and use it.
Hi - have you tried making this directly in the Vitamix using the Vitamix instructions for making ice cream? I have the vitamix but no ice cream maker…I thought maybe since Vitamix advertises you can use it to make ice cream, it might work?
I am pretty sure that the vitamix directions involve freezing the mixture and then processing the frozen mixture in the vitamix. You can certainly try that. I haven’t myself. If you do, please report back here how it went!
I just wanted to report back that last night my son with Down Syndrome had his share of the ice cream but he wanted chocolate, so I mixed in some cocoa powder. Oh wow, was it delicious. I had to lick the bowl that I mixed it up in. I will be making this again. Thanks for sharing with us Patty!
Me again. I’m making this today. I omitted the coconut oil, and I lost track of the cooking time so I went and looked on the Internet and cooked puddings should be raised to 170°F and then removed from the heat immediately and started the cooling process. I also made Pecan Pralines (using honey) to mix in when it’s done. Oh, the pudding part is smooth and creamy so I didn’t overcook this time.
Yay! Can’t wait to have some later.
I made this for an ice cream party and Colin was super excited to have his own ice cream. We don’t have an ice cream maker, so I put the dish in the freezer and stirred it every 20-30 minutes. It was great! Now I’m getting requests to make it again.
I wonder if using coconut cream (plus a little water if necessary) would work? Looks like this one has no added gums.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0074A3WXG/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i02
To the posters above regarding the ice cream maker paddles. Mine has a plastic one which has broken already from the stress of the churning. I’m going to see if Cuisinart will replace it.
Yes that is likely to work. They also make a coconut milk in a green box. It is not organic but it doesn’t have bpa or gums. I haven’t ever had an ice cream paddle break even with very thick ice cream.