Monday, August 3, 2009

Dairy free Strawberry Sherbet

You can buy really good coconut milk ice cream at the store these days. It's actually AWESOME. But I came across this recipe at Karina's Kitchen and just had to try it. What's not to like about homemade ice cream? The catch is that it's gluten free and dairy free.....but it looked so yummy that I decided to try it. It was a smashing success. I changed the recipe every so slightly, but it's pretty much the same as Karina's recipe. The best part about this recipe is that it doesn't have to be dairy free. If you can have milk, you can use milk and omit the tapioca starch and xanthan gum. I will definitely be making this again.


Without further ado, here's the Strawberry Sherbet recipe:


Macerate your berries ahead of time:

1 pint fresh ripe organic strawberries, gently rinsed, stemmed, and sliced
2 tablespoons lemon
3 tablespoons sugar

Combine the sliced strawberries with the lemon juice and sugar; toss to coat; cover and chill for two hours.

In the meantime:

In a medium-large saucepan, combine:

1 cup almond milk
2 tablespoons tapioca starch
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk well to combine. Stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the tapioca has thickened the mixture. Remove from heat.

Whisk in:

2 cups ice cold almond milk

Pour the custard base into a mixing bowl and placed it in the fridge to chill. The colder the mixture is before you add it to the freezing cannister of the ice cream maker, the better. In fact, I put it in the freezer and checked on it frequently until the custard base was starting to freeze to the sides of the bowl.

When the strawberries have macerated for two hours, place them in the blender and puree them. Then mix the strawberries into the custard base.

Pour the mixture into the ice cream cannister and follow the manufacturer's instructions.

Scoop the sherbet into freezer containers; cover and freeze. For best flavor, soften sherbet slightly before serving.

Makes about 6 cups.

Enjoy!! :)