Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

As a Canadian who loves winter, this summer is brutal. There has been a heat warning on Ontario for practically the whole summer, in spite of this I was inspired to get as cool as can be. When you’re in a cottage without air conditioning – the breeze, jumping in the lake and standing next to a freezer are your best bets for getting cool.

I have been wanting to make vegan cookies and cream ice cream forever, our cottage is always stalked with the best non-vegan ice cream (as my siblings tell me), Kawartha Dairy. That is how I learned I love cookies and cream ice cream. So I decided to make my own vegan version.

When I buy vegan ice cream I go to brands like So Delicious, and Halo Top. In So Delicious, you can have a coconut or cashew base – I was researching which way makes for better consistency and the answer was coconut milk. Although I have had a problem with coconut based ice cream – I can’t ever taste the flavour, only the coconut! When there is a cashew base I find it is much more neutral and the flavour come through better. I made a bit of a mix of the two. There is no better way than using coconut milk in ice cream, as it is a thicker consistency and works to replace the heavy cream. I also used blended soaked cashews to achieve a thicker consistency too.

I wanted a more natural sweetener too, I used medjool dates in replacement of sugar or artificial sweeteners. Just to clarify I don’t count Oreos as non-artificial or natural – you can skip the dates and just add Oreos if you think it’s sweet enough.

I did use an ice cream maker to make this, mine is from Cuisinart but has been discontinued. For those of you who don’t have an ice cream maker or don’t want to buy one, there’s a link here.

Ingrediants:

• 1 cup of Cashews
• 24 Double Stuffed Oreos
• 400mL of Refrigerated Canned Coconut Milk
• 8 Medium Sized Medjool Dates

Instructions:

1. Soak a cup of cashews in water overnight
2. In blender, blend cashews, 12 Oreos, 8 dates, and coconut milk until it has a creamy consistency
3. Cut the rest of the Oreos into 6 Pieces – set aside
4. Put ice cream in frozen bowl (from ice cream maker) – churn for 25 minutes (it should become thick and creamy)
5. Add in oreo bits – churn for another 5 minutes
6. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. Transfer the ice cream into an airtight container and                                                                                           freeze.