Modern methods can help you re-experience the joy of homemade ice cream

Betsy Dijulio
Correspondent
The Veggie Table

Whatever happened to the once-cherished summertime ritual of churning ice cream?

The tradition seems to have gone by the wayside for many people, maybe because they’re pressed for time, lactose intolerant, vegan or just searching for a healthier alternative to eggs, cream and half-and-half. 

But food journalist Aleksandra Crapanzano wrote in this month’s Gourmet that “Rituals are at once burdens and gifts; that’s what makes them worth doing, and having, and keeping.”

So it is with home-churned ice cream.

The handmade treat once marked the summers of my life. In my childhood, my father was the Master of the Dasher, coaxing my mother’s creamy confections from a noisy old electric machine. Time and again, he  worked alchemy from a bag of ice and a box of rock salt. Only licking the dasher (the ice cream maker’s churning paddle) clean – a task my sister and I shared – helped us bear the wait for the ice cream to cure.

Dad was succeeded, but certainly not replaced, by my graduate school boyfriend, who prided himself on doing things the old-fashioned way, organizing hand-cranked ice cream gatherings on his porch. He turned out to be a far better cook than boyfriend so, some years later, after I married my husband, Joe, the anniversary gift of a Donvier ice cream machine led to hand-cranking of an easier and quieter order.

Even my paternal grandmother, a terrific home cook whose strength began to flag only in her mid-80s, enjoyed taking a spin on the Donvier during family beach vacations. Gradually, though, the luster wore off that piece of equipment because it never seemed to freeze the ice cream firm enough and took too long at that.

Years passed with only occasional homemade ice cream until about three years ago, when my parents, ever in search of suitable gifts, gave us a Cuisinart ice cream maker. 

While its electric frozen cylinder technology removes the time-consuming and labor-intensive “burden” of the summer ice cream ritual, those of us increasingly concerned with calories, cholesterol or cows may still have deemed creamy frozen desserts a thing of the past.

However, thanks to Wheeler del Torro’s simple, never-fail base of soy milk, soy creamer and arrowroot (a natural starch for thickening) published in The Vegan Scoop, ice cream has again become a sweet ritual of summer at our house. That ritual is sweeter still in August with peaches at their prime in Hampton Roads.

Today’s recipes offer dairy-free vanilla and peach ice creams served alone or over barely broiled peach halves.

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Vegan Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Yield: about 1 quart
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1 cup unsweetened soy milk or coconut milk, divided into 1/4 cup and ¾ cup (plain, vanilla or vanilla lite would also work well)
2 cups plain or French vanilla soy creamer
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean
1 tablespoon vanilla extract  

            
In a small bowl, whisk arrowroot powder into 1/4 cup soy milk until smooth. Set aside. Pour remaining ¾ cup soy milk, soy creamer and sugar into a medium saucepan; stir to combine.

With a sharp paring knife, slit the vanilla bean lengthwise. Using the tip of the knife, scrape seeds out and stir into the milk-and-creamer mixture. Place saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, and bring just to a boil.

Remove from heat and quickly whisk in soy milk-arrowroot mixture until very smooth. (Do not return mixture to heat after adding arrowroot, as the mixture will “break” and not thicken.) Stir in vanilla extract. Allow to cool to room temperature, whisk again if lumps remain, and then cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Whisk to remove remaining lumps, and freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Transfer to an airtight container and store in freezer.

Source:  Slightly adapted from The Vegan Scoop by Wheeler del Torro.

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Vegan Sour Cream Ice Cream
Yield: about 1 quart
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk, divided in half (plain, vanilla or vanilla lite will also work well)
1 cup plain or French vanilla soy creamer
3/4 granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Juice of one small lemon
11/2 cups vegan sour cream

In a small bowl, whisk together the arrowroot powder with 1/4 cup of soy milk until smooth. Set aside.

Place the remaining soy milk, soy creamer and sugar into a medium saucepan; stir to combine. Place saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, and bring just to a boil.

Remove from heat and quickly whisk in soy milk-arrowroot mixture until very smooth. (Do not return mixture to heat after adding arrowroot, as the mixture will “break” and not thicken.) Stir in vanilla extract and lemon juice.

Allow to cool to room temperature, whisk again if lumps remain, and then cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Whisk to remove any remaining lumps and then whisk in sour cream. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Scrape ice cream into an airtight container and store in freezer.

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Vegan Peaches-n-Cream Ice Cream
Yield: about 1 quart
1 recipe Vegan Vanilla Bean or Vegan Sour Cream Ice Cream
1 cup peach puree (1 very large peach, halved, pit removed, but skin left on for nutrients and color, cut into chunks and pureed in food processor until fairly smooth; a little texture is fine)
If making the Vegan Vanilla Bean recipe, add the juice of one small lemon
Optional:  3 tablespoons pure peach preserves (intensifies the flavor and color)

Prepare ice cream according to directions, then whisk in the peach puree after removing from heat. If making the Vegan Vanilla Bean recipe, whisk in the lemon juice after the mixture is removed from the heat, too. For either recipe, whisk in the optional three tablespoons of pure peach preserves along with the lemon juice.

Fruit variations
Substitute 1 cup of your favorite pureed fruit for the peaches.  For berry puree, start with about 2 cups of whole berries. 

Mix-ins
For any of the recipes above, when ice cream is just a minute or two from being ready, pour in about 1/2 cup of your favorite vegan chocolate chips, broken nuts, small pieces of vegan nut brittle, frozen mini-chunks of vegan brownie batter or chocolate chip cookie dough, etc., and finish freezing to evenly distribute the morsels.

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Broiled Peaches
Yield: 4 servings
2 peaches, rinsed, halved and pitted
4 teaspoons granulated or raw sugar
Coarse sea or kosher salt

Position oven rack on the top shelf. Preheat broiler. Place peach halves, cut side up, in a small, shallow heat-proof dish. Sprinkle each half with a teaspoon of sugar and a tiny pinch of salt. Broil about 5 minutes just to heat through and melt sugar. Watch carefully. Remove from oven and serve with a scoop of Vegan Vanilla Bean, Vegan Sour Cream or Vegan Peaches-n-Cream Ice Cream.

About the writer
Betsy DiJulio’s vegan cooking column runs once a month in The Daily Break. You can also find her at www.thebloomingplatter.blogspot.com