Raw Vegan Ice Cream

Here is one of our favorite Raw Vegan Ice Cream recipes I found on Recipezaar
 (Julie's notes are in parenthesis)
I usually double this recipe! Enjoy!


Raw Vegan Ice Cream
By Mom2CuteBoys on December 20, 2007 from Recipezaar
Total Time: 1 hr
Serves 6

Ingredients:
2 c. raw cashews, soaked in filtered water 4 hours (or more)
2 c. young coconut meat
1 c. filtered water, as needed (Julie uses the coconut water)
1 c. agave nectar (preferably raw!) (Julie uses maple syrup when making carob flavored ice cream)
1/4 c. coconut butter or 1/4 c. expeller pressed coconut oil (liquefied) (I've had better luck adding this in a thin stream as the blender is blending)
2 T. vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped or double your vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 heaping T. lecithin (for extra smoothness)
4 heaping T. carob powder OR cacao powder

Directions:
   1. 1 In Vita-Mix, blend all ingredients (except cashews and approximately 1/2 the water)

until creamy and smooth.
   2. 2 Add water as needed to keep the mixture circulating through the blender.
   3. 3 Lastly add the drained cashews and blend till smooth again and a lot of air is whipped

into the mixture.
   4. 4 After that, "chill in the fridge and process in an ice cream maker according to the

manufacturer's directions" is the final instruction on the recipe I base mine on. However, I

don"t have an ice cream maker at the moment, so I just whip it up good in the Vita-Mix and pour

it into little cups and freeze as is. (This is what I do too) If I've put enough coconut oil/butter into the mix, it

will be plenty creamy and spoonable out of the freezer.
   5. 5 VARIATIONS.
   6. 6 I ALWAYS make chocolate because that"s my favorite! -- I add raw cacao powder until

it's chocolately enough for me in the coconut and agave mixture.
   7. 7 Another variation is adding fresh peppermint leaves and stirring in raw cacao nibs for

mint chocolate chip.
   8. 8 You can also add any kind of fruit.
   9. 9 YOUNG COCONUT MEAT, WHAT'S THAT? These are available at Whole Foods or ethnic grocery

stores, generally. The best price on them is at the ethnic stores. In St Lou they range from

$1.59 each to $3.99 each for the same kind of coconut depending on where you buy them. These

are not the small, brown hairy looking coconuts, but the shaved white big coconuts. The meat

inside them is soft and gelatinous. There are instructional videos on YouTube on how to open a young coconut. You use a cleaver to cut a small square in the top, and

drink the coconut water out with a straw (or dump it into a glass). It's full of electrolytes

-- nature's Gatorade. You can also use it in the ice cream instead of filtered water. When the

water is emptied out you hack the coconut in half and scoop out the meat. The amount of meat in

the coconut varies greatly -- try to pick coconuts that seem heavy for their size. I will drink

the water and freeze the meat until I have enough meat to make the recipe and then defrost it

while I soak the cashews. It does require some effort especially when you haven't done it

before, but it's worth it!
  10. 10 ENJOY! :).


Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/raw-vegan-ice-cream-273078#ixzz1DDdeIDjL