Coffee Coconut Ice Cream

Has anyone ever noticed that there is no vegan coffee ice cream available in stores?  There are mocha variations, but no good old coffee.  Recently, my brother inquired at our local Whole Foods to see if they were able to special order some in.  But, alas, it wasn't possible.  Maybe the dairy industry has a monopoly on coffee ice cream or something...

Whenever my brother has a difficult time finding a vegan version of old favorite, he asks me to make it for him.  Luckily, I love making desserts for my brother.  I was more than happy to satisfy his craving for coffee ice cream ;)

This ice cream is a sweet and creamy combination of coffee and coconut.  It makes an amazing soft serve directly out of the ice cream maker(as shown in the pictures), but is also a delicious hard ice cream when placed in the freezer for at least 6-8 hours.  It got the happy vegan seal of approval from my brother, who said it has an immediate coffee taste followed by a coconut aftertaste.  So, if you like coffee and coconut, you'll like this ice cream ;)

Coffee Coconut Ice Cream
procedure adapted from Manifest Vegan

1 can of full fat coconut milk plus 1 cup (The easiest thing to do is have 2 cans of coconut milk on hand, since one needs to be chilled.)
3/4 cup vegan sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp ground coffee of choice
1 cup of water

Place one can of coconut milk in the refrigerator and allow to chill for at least 24 hours.

Brew the coffee with the water to make one very strong cup of coffee.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the other can of coconut milk(not the one that was placed in the refrigerator) with the sugar and whisk continually until sugar has been dissolved.  Remove from heat and stir in the coffee.  Lastly, add in the vanilla and almond extract.  Chill in refrigerator until cold.

Once the coffee infused coconut milk has been chilled, whisk in one cup of the chilled coconut milk from the top of the can.  Whisk until it is very smooth.  (If there are small pieces of hardened coconut milk throughout, that's ok.)

Add the mixture to ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions.  Transfer ice cream to a flexible plastic container and place in freezer until desired hardness has been reached.  Or, eat it immediately, as it has the perfectly thick and creamy texture of soft serve directly out of the ice cream maker.

On another note, I want to thank everyone so much for your outpouring of love and support for The Vegan Chickpea's First Birthday.  You cannot imagine how happy I was to read all of your thoughtful comments.  You really know how to make a girl feel special!  Thank you for reading(and hopefully enjoying!) my blog.  I cannot wait to continue sharing and growing with you as a gluten-free vegan cook and baker <3