Do-It-Yourself Rice Dream (kinda)

Agnes, of A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise, posted this recipe for Cherry Ice Cream on her site nearly a month ago, and I finally made it using wonderful, dark sweet cherries I'd gotten locally when they were at their peak.



I made my usual alterations: agave nectar for sugar, etc. I also used Rice Dream vanilla enriched rice milk for the almond milk, but I will use almond milk in another one of her recipes, rest assured. Additionally, I added unsweetened carob chips and chopped toasted almonds at the end.





To be honest, I hadn't expected it to be creamy like ice cream at all because I know the nature of rice milk and how it freezes. On the other hand, it made the best cherry almond carob ice I've had yet. Man! This stuff is tasty. I recommend making it and eating it right away instead of waiting for it to harden. It's just lovely when it's soft.

Timing warning: You will need at least 8 hours to chill the recipe before adding it to your ice cream maker, so build in that time.

Here's the recipe how I made it.

Makes 8 servings (I used small ramekins filled to the top as my serving size)

Ingredients:

2 cups pitted and quartered cherries
1/3 cup agave nectar
2 cups vanilla rice milk
2 teaspoons arrowroot
1/4 teaspoon cherry flavor
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened carob chips

Directions:

1. Place 1 1/4 cup of the cherries and all of the agave nectar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer until the cherries are soft.



2. Use a blender to puree the cherry mixture. (I used my immersion blender.)



3. Pour the puree back into the saucepan and add 1 3/4 of the rice milk. Bring the mixture to a boil.

While that's cooking, whisk together the remaining rice milk and the arrowroot.



4. As soon as the mixture boils, turn of the heat and whisk in the arrowroot mixture.



It thickens as it cools.



5. Add the flavorings and chill the entire mixture over night.



6. Chill your ice cream maker to the manufacturer's instructions and add the cherry mixture. Mine required about 30 minutes of churning, but in the last 10 minutes, I added the remaining cherries, the chips and the almonds.



7. Pack it in a container and freeze for an hour before serving.



8. I ate mine right away because it was so yummy.



By the way, this was the inaugural use of my new ice cream maker attachment for the KitchenAid mixer.



So, now I'd like to sell my Deni Scoop Factory. If you're interested, I'll take US$20.00 for it, plus shipping. It works just fine, comes in the original box with the recipe book. You can see photos and a movie of my use of it here.
First come, first served, as they say.