Something a little sweet

For a few years I have been sitting on the idea of making my own vegan ice cream. I bought the Vice Creambook and dreamed of someday buying an ice cream maker. After reading Mary Jessica's initial ice cream experience I was sold and I decided to finally take the plunge. After looking at a few blogs and reading lots of reviews I decided on this lovely red modelwhich arrived in the mail on Tuesday. Electric ice cream makers don't need ice and rock salt, instead they have a bowl that contains a liquid or a gel which you simply freeze overnight and place in the machine when you are ready to go.

For my first experiment, I went with the green tea ice cream recipe from Veganomiconwhich relies on coconut cream as a thickening agent. At first I was a little weary of using such a high fat milk, but after doing the math I found that there is less fat per serving than my favorite soy ice cream so I decided that it would be okay.

Green Tea Ice Cream

1/2 cup cream of coconut milk
1 cup soy milk
3/4 cup sugar
6 oz. silken tofu
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons green tea powder

Puree all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Pour into an ice cream maker and follow the machine's instructions.

Overall I am very happy with the recipe, it came out rich and delicious just like the green tea ice cream you get in a restaurant. The coconut flavor did show up in the final product which was good for this recipe, but I could see where it might be a problem in others so that is something to be aware of. As for the machine, I am completely in love. It turned liquid into a fairly firm ice cream in 25 minutes and the clean-up was nice and simple (a huge plus in my book.)