Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Blueberry lemon Ice Cream- Vegan Mofo day 10

I loved the look of the lemon blueberry ice cream sandwiches from herbivore dinosaur so decided to make it minus the cookies.

This recipe consists of lemon ice cream and blueberry compote but I decided that I was going to add the blueberry compote in the last minute in an attempt to get a blueberry swirl effect. As you can tell from the picture it didn't completely work.  The other thing that didn't work was the arrowroot or perhaps the corn starch, I've successfully put arrowroot into ice cream before but this time I messed up. I thought it was all nicely dissolved and mixed in but after eating the ice cream I discovered that I had lumps of gluey cornstarch or arrowroot. It's such a shame because the flavour of the ice cream is great but all those little gluey hard bits put me of it.





Here is the recipe, any ideas what else I did wrong?

Here is what you will need:
blueberry compote
2 c. blueberries (I used frozen)
1/4 c. sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. corn starch

ice cream
2 - 13.5 fl oz cans coconut milk (not the low fat kind!)
3/4 c. sugar
2 tbsp. arrowroot
4 - 5 tbsp. lemon juice ( I used 5 but I think it could possibly do with 6)


First thing first, you want to make the blueberry compote. That way you can put it in the fridge to cool while you make the lemon ice cream mixture. Start by rinsing 2 c. blueberries, put into a medium pot and add the sugar. With a fork or a potato masher, start to crush/smoosh the berries until they release their juice and there are no more whole berries left. Simmer for 5 - 7 minutes. You should have a dark sauce with smooshed up berries that look pretty mushy as well. Add the tbsp. of lemon juice to the 2 tbsp. cornstarch, mix and add to compote. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. It should have thickened up a lot, and be like a thick blueberry syrupy sauce almost. Set aside in fridge to cool.

Next up, the lemon ice cream. Reserve a 1/4 c. of the coconut milk, and set aside. In a medium sized pot, add the rest of the coconut milk along with the sugar. Cook on medium high. While this gets up to temp, take your 1/4 c. coconut milk and incorporate your 2 tbsp. arrowroot. When the sugar/coconut milk just starts to boil, take it off the burner, add the arrowroot mixture, and stir to combine. You should notice this getting a bit thicker as well. After everything is incorporated, add 4 tbsp. of lemon juice. Taste, and if you like it a bit more zingy, add another tbsp. of lemon. Stir, and set aside in fridge to cool completely.

Once totally cold, follow your ice cream maker instructions accordingly with the lemon ice cream. After it is done, I layered the lemon ice cream and the compote. For every couple of scoops of lemon ice cream I put into my container, I would add a big, heaping spoonful of blueberry compote. After filling your container in this fashion, simply take a knife and make swirly figures in your ice cream. Place in freezer to harden.

7 comments:

  1. Such a shame it didn't work - it looks beautiful!

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  2. It actually looks really yum! I've never made vegan ice-cream, so don't know what could have gone wrong (especially as you didn't detect any lumps!). Compote sounds so good - I'm going to make some to go with ricotta pancakes.x

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  3. Lumps or no, the ice cream looks delicious and I love the dish you served it in!

    I have had the lumpiness problem before with arrowroot, cornflour and agar now. For arrowroot and cornflour, I find it works best if I blend the flour with as little liquid as possible to start with and make a paste, then blend it with a gradually more liquid and keep stiring it to keep it smooth. I find it works best if the liquid is warm too, cold liquid seems harder to blend the powder in. If I'm in doubt that the lumps are all out, then I cheat and push it through a sieve :P

    What brand ice cream maker do you use? I had a small, cheap crappy one that died last summer and I think it is about time to replace it.

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  4. Aw, that's a shame!

    I'll take this as a warning to treat my arrowroot icecreams carefully. (I was really surprised not to have this problem with my recent caramel icecream.) I guess it's always safer to sieve.

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  5. Well, it looks good, even if it didn't turn out perfectly. I've never really made ice cream so I can't help trouble shoot, but you make me more determined to get an ice cream maker!

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  6. Thanks everyone, i really don't know what I did i've made loads with arrowroot which have been fine.

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  7. Maybe it was just bad luck if you've had no problems in the past. It looks beautiful and I cannot wait to try this combination!

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