Get Cooking | Madagascar Vanilla Bean Coconut Milk Ice Cream

If you’ve read my blog you know I’m a yoga freak. And by yoga, I mean ice cream.

That’s the tagline on my twitter page and over in the sidebar here on this blog. And it makes me laugh when I read it. And a few people (those blessed souls that actually read the taglines on twitter pages and things like “about me”… bless their hearts) have remarked to me that it made them laugh as well. And it’s funny to me because it’s true (although I do really love yoga) I am an ice cream freak. If there were a 12 step program for ice cream addiction recovery, I’d have started over at least 4 times by now.

But my love affair witch ice cream has a tremulous past. You see, I was born with a very extreme intolerance to lactose. So extreme, in fact, that I couldn’t eat hot dogs (some have whey in them) or Starburst candies (sweetened condensed milk is an ingredient). Not a great situation for an ice cream lover like myself. Over the years I learned the best of the non-dairy variety (Tofutti Cuties) but even the best substitute didn’t stand up to the real thing. Luckily for me, I grew mostly out of my allergy through my teens and now only notice it if I go on a dairy binge. (Dairy binge? Who me? Never…)

And, luckily for my fellow timid-tummied dairy no goers, coconut milk has taken the stage as milk’s best ever substitute in ice cream. It’s so loved, that it’s even made the jump from specialty stores like Whole Foods to the ice cream aisle of your neighborhood Publix. How’s that for luck? But, you don’t have to pay $5 a pint (and let’s be honest here, a pint lasts maybe 3 days… or 1 afternoon if it’s a rough week) for this heavenly goodness. Nope. I’m going to show you how to make it yourself. It couldn’t be any easier and your options for tweaking and flavors are unlimited. Your stomach will thank me later…

Do you see the tiny little black vanilla dots? They are adorable, no?

Ingredients
2 fourteen ounce cans of organic coconut milk (use the full fat kind, trust me on this one)
3/4 cup of sugar (or 1 whole cup if you like it SWEET)
1 Madagascar vanilla bean (or vanilla extract if it’s all you’ve got)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Combine the milk, sugar, vanilla extract in small saucepan over very low heat. Whisk to combine. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise with a sharp paring knife and scoop out the seeds. Add the seeds to the milk mixture and whisk to combine. When mixture is fully combined and sugar is dissolved. Chill 1 hour. Pour into ice cream maker and churn according to manufacture instructions or pour into tupperware and place in freezer. Yields about 1 frozen quart. (Depending on how much you eat in the process.) Mine wasn’t quite a pint. ;)

*This recipe is naturally vegan