Today looks like the first day of Spring. Theoretically, I love Spring - the air is fresh, the skies are blue and the flowers are blooming, it's lovely!
The only problem is... I'm allergic to it. Who else has hayfever? Have your symptoms kicked in yet?
But despite the sneezing and puffy eyes, I'm really enjoying this weather. I was even inspired to make ice cream!
...A vegan mint chocolate chip ice cream which makes a wonderful palette cleansing dessert - and the mint also acts as a natural decongestant (bonus for the hayfever sufferers!)
The ice cream is coconut milk based and those who are familiar with my blog, know how much I love coconut milk ice cream :-) But there is another surprising ingredient in this ice cream...
Promise you won't run away when I tell you what it is??
It's spinach!
Yes, I put spinach in ice cream but I'm not a monster, I swear!
The spinach is added to give that natural green colour but trust me- you cannot taste it at all. But you can feel completely smug about eating something as healthy as spinach in your dessert. It's win win!
And seeing as this is a green dessert, I'll take this opportunity to mention St Patrick's Day which is on it's way soon. Do any of you celebrate or "go green" for the occasion?
I'm from an Irish family and I'm ashamed to say I don't do an awful lot on the day, usually. Other than, perhaps, enjoy some Irish whiskey...
📖 Recipe
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream {Vegan}
A delicious and refreshing ice cream with a secret healthy ingredient!
Ingredients
- Approx 80g baby leaf spinach
- 3 x 400ml cans of coconut milk - chilled in the fridge for at least 3 hours
- optional 1 heaped tbsp coconut flour
- 180 ml honey or maple syrup
- 1 ½ tbsp peppermint extract
- 150 g chocolate chips
Instructions
- Place spinach in a blender with a few tbsp of water, just enough to make it blend. Mix until smooth and transfer the juice to a small saucepan. Cook on a medium heat, uncovered, until the liquid has been reduced and you are left with a thick puree. Leave to cool completely.
- Make sure the coconut milk is chilled until the fat is separated. Discard the liquid left in the can (or save to add to a curry!) and keep the thick, coconut cream.
- Using a food mixer, or a bowl and a whisk, mix a small amount of the coconut cream with 1 tbsp of the spinach puree and (optional) coconut flour until thick and smooth. It should be a nice green colour! The coconut flour helps thicken it but isn't strictly necessary.
- Add the rest of the ingredients (apart from the chocolate chips) and whip until a smooth, creamy mixture is formed.
- Add the mixture to your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturers instructions. Add the chocolate chips during the churning.
- Once churned, transfer to a shallow, freezer safe container and let it set in the freezer for at least a few hours before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
I like to blitz the chocolate chips in the food processor before adding to the mixture. This gives a more "speckled effect" to the ice cream.
jazzmin says
what is the best replacement for coconut milk for this recipe that is vegan, i want to make this but my sister is allergic to coconut.
Aimee says
Hi Jazzmin, this recipe relies heavily on the coconut milk because of it's high fat content (which other dairy free milks don't have) but you could experiment with a cashew base. I don't have a recipe for this but if you google "vegan cashew ice cream" then you can use that as a base, adding in the flavur additions from my recipe. If that makes sense!
Weeze says
I bought coconut milk waitrose own brand and despite being in the fridge almost 8 hours hasn't seperated (which happens to all coconut milk I've previously bought without putting them in the fridge! Argh.
What amount roughly should be used (ml)
Weeze says
Oh it did work!! Ignore/delete comment!!
Aimee says
Haha! No worries :-) I think I recall that Waitress brand is particularly watery... If it sloshes about when you shake it, it usually means it has less fat. I get mine from Sainsburys, I can't remember the name but it's in a blue tin and it doesn't make a sound when you shake it (it's solid coconut cream inside)
Julie C says
I don't understand why this calls to make so much spinach puree to only use 1 tablespoon? I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to add the rest in so I put it all in and good thing I tasted it before putting in the ice cream maker! I am not vegan so I added 2 organic pastured egg yolks, some raw heavy cream from the top of my fresh raw milk and added an extra teaspoon of peppermint extract and a 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. It came out delicious! It worked out because my 4 year old is very difficult to get veggies into him so this was perfect. Will probably make it the same way next time just so I can have that extra spinach in there.
Jennifer says
Probably not a good idea to feed your kid raw milk though.
tamarque says
Huh! Raw milk is the best for babies/young children outside of breast milk. Remember humans survived on raw milk for millennium which helped the population grow.