Ice-Cream and Giggles

I am pretty sure I have already let on that Waffle Cones are in fact vegan (but don't forget, just in case, to check the ingredients!). This little how-to is designed to make Waffle Cones even funkier: through colour and sprinkles. Cause sprinkles make everything better.*

Makes 3-4, approx 10 minutes preparation.

You will need:

1 tbsp almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp icing sugar
vegan sprinkles (i.e. avoid gelatine, milk and colouring 120).
3-4 waffle cones
food colouring of choice

1. In a small bowl, mix the almond milk and icing sugar until smooth. Divide between bowls, depending on how many colours you are using.
2. Add food colouring to each bowl.

3. With the back of a spoon, coat the tips of the waffle cones with the icing. When covered, cover with sprinkles. Place on baking paper icing end down so that the excess icing will run off. Repeat for all cones.


4. Once the excess has come off the cone, place in the fridge for 5 minutes to accelerate the setting process.
5. Serve with your favourite ice-cream!


* it is a scientific fact.

This is one of those ice-creams that are best served as a rare treat. Imagine a sweet coconut ice-cream, filled with chocolate flakes, shredded coconut and served with a hard chocolate shell, so that it is just like a bounty bar, but cold and vegan! Trust me, it tastes as good as it sounds!

You will need:

For the ice-cream:
400 ml coconut milk
1 tbsp shredded coconut
1 tbsp corn flour
1/4 cup maple syrup

Optional: waffle cone

For the chocolate:
I used Fork and Beans chocolate recipe which is made from coconut oil, cacao and maple syrup. You need something with a coconut oil base so that the chocolate sets quickly for the choc-top. You will however probably only need half of the amount of the chocolate that the recipe makes for the ice-cream.
1. Combine all of your ice-cream ingredients in a blender. When mixed, pour into a metal tray and cover with glad-wrap and place in freezer. Stir every 30 minutes until ready.
2. For the chocolate flakes: drizzle the vegan chocolate over the cold ice-cream and mix in with a whisk so that you get flakes. Put in freezer for another 30 minutes until hardened. You can also add more shredded coconut to get that "bounty" texture.
3. For the choc-top: put your ice-cream in a waffle cone like normal. Then drizzle the vegan chocolate over the ice-cream until coated. Place in fridge or freezer for 3 or so minutes so that chocolate sets. My choc-top turned out really messy, as I decided to do it on a 30 degree day: imagine dripping ice-cream and melting chocolate...


Enjoy!

Sometimes there are days when normal waffle cones may not cut it for you (sorry to any Coeliac's among us!). Maybe your ice-cream needs that extra "oomf"; maybe it's your birthday and you want something special, or maybe, just maybe, there is no reason at all, you just want a fancy ice-cream, cause well, who doesn't want need one every once in a while? I thought I would just share here today a way you can decorate waffle cones. Of course there are a ridiculous amount of variations possible: from the type of nuts to the other possibilities, like cookie crumbs, shredded coconut, vegan honeycomb.... I'll leave the rest to your imagination!

You will need:

Waffle cones
A topping (I used a handful of cashews)
Vegan Chocolate (you will need approx. 1tbsp per cone)


1. Crush your topping (a rolling pin usually works great)


2. Melt your chocolate. I usually do this in a microwave: simply put in a bowl, put in the microwave on a medium setting for 30 seconds to one minute. Take out bowl, stir chocolate. Repeat until melted.
3. Using a spoon, smooth the chocolate across the top of the cone.


4. Roll the cone into your topping.


5. Put your cones into glasses so that they can stand upright, and place in fridge until chocolate is set. This shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes.


6. Serve! I served mine with some left over Nutella ice-cream.

Now this isn't exactly one of the most healthy ice-creams, but it is definitely much healthier than some store bought alternatives. The recipe still comprises of banana and coconut milk, though with the addition of cacao powder. There is however the option to add chocolate flakes to this ice-cream, and for this you need to either have vegan chocolate or to make some yourself. For a great raw-vegan chocolate recipe check out Fork and Beans.

Chocolate Ice-Cream

You need:


2 bananas
1/4 cup or more of coconut milk (or another plant-based milk)
2 tbsp cacao powder
OPTIONAL: At least 3 tbsp of melted vegan chocolate

Method:
1. Mix banana, coconut milk and cacao powder in a blender. If it doesn't blend, add more milk.
Pour into a metal tray, cover with cling wrap and place in a freezer.
2. Every 30 minutes whisk the ice-cream mixture until it gets thick and creamy.

OPTIONAL: for the chocolate flakes, drizzle the chocolate on the cold ice-cream still in the tray,

Using the whisk, mix the chocolate into the ice-cream. The chocolate should freeze when it touches the ice-cream, and the whisk will break the chocolate into "flakes". Repeat until desired amount of flakes is in the ice-cream. Let sit in freezer for another 30-45 minutes and serve.

Voila!

N.B. Coconut milk helps make a ice-cream texture, though the result can be a little bit heavy. My favourite banana-chocolate ice-cream is made with almond milk, but usually it is best served as a soft-serve.

Most of the recipes posted on this blog generally won't include step-by-step photographs, though it does depend on the complexity of each ice-cream made. Blending banana and plant-based milk isn't exactly the most difficult challenge you will face this week, though deciding what flavour to make might be (Strawberry or chocolate? How does one even decide!). However there are some practicalities to consider: how do you know when the ratio of banana to milk is okay? What do you mean by whisking every half an hour? When do you know when it is done? Hopefully this post will address some of these basic issues: once the "basic formula" has been mastered, there is a world of opportunities that opens up to you: double-choc choc-top anyone?

The basic banana ice-cream and the foundation of most vegan ice-creams:

You will need:
2 bananas (super ripe is always the best)
2 tbsp to 1/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk or coconut milk (in this tutorial coconut milk is used)
A high-speed blender
A metal tray (at least 20cm x 15cm, with a depth of around 5cm)
A whisk (alternatively, an ice-cream maker)
A freezer

Optional:
1-2 tbsp maple syrup (the basic banana ice-cream in my opinion doesn't need sweetening)
1tsp vanilla essence (purely for aesthetic reasons; the banana-coconut mix can tend to go a bit grey looking).

Time:
Preparation: 10 mins
Freezing time: 4-8 hours.

Yields 3 to 3.5 "scoops."

The usual suspects: 2 bananas and 1/4 cup coconut milk


Mix in a blender, add more milk if they won't mix well (about a tbsp at a time) until the banana and milk will blend easily. Keep in mind the amount of milk needed depends on the size of the bananas used. The result should be a fairly thick sludgy concoction (we aren't trying to make a banana smoothie here, folks).


Pour into the metal tray, cover with cling wrap and place in freezer. If you have an ice cream maker, you can skip this step and follow the instructions for that appliance.


Every 30-45 minutes grab your whisk and beat the ice-cream. This breaks up any ice formed and gives air to the mixture. Below is photos taken every 30 minutes to demonstrate how your ice-cream should look at each stage of whisking.

1.

2. Each time you take the tray out of the freezer you will notice that the mixture gets thicker. When you whisk it make sure you break up the bits that are freezing, usually these are the sections closest to the side of the tray and the base. This will prevent the mixture turning into a giant ice-cube.

3.

4. This is the stage you want to reach. The mixture is thick, cold and most importantly, ready to be served. At this stage you should be able to use an ice-cream scoop without any issues.
Depending on where you place the tray in your freezer, and how cold your freezer is, it could take anywhere between 4-8 hours to become "ice-creamy". Keep in mind sometimes it will not reach this stage: it may just freeze solid like an ice-block, especially if you used almond milk. If this happens, let it defrost for a bit, put it in your blender, and serve it as a soft-serve. This will definitely happen if there is too much juice in your mix, and if you refuse to whisk it as it freezes which will allow ice to form.

Whether or not you are left with an ice-cream or soft-serve, the time is ripe to serve and eat this delicious concoction, and if you miraculously manage to have some left, place in a container and leave it in your freezer. I topped the ice-cream with some shredded coconut, cacao powder and shaved vegan chocolate. I know the colour may look grey and funky, but this is the banana going "brown" as it freezes. To remove this colour you can place bananas (with their skins) in the freezer, then when frozen remove skins and use them in the blender. Alternatively, you can add some vanilla essence or food colouring if it really disturbs you. However, in this instance I did not add anything as this is the "base" recipe, and in most instances ingredients will be added that will change the colour of the ice-cream to something more aesthetically pleasing.