Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Let me start out with a warning… this ice cream might not be what you’re thinking. When I think of my childhood favorite ice cream flavor of mint chocolate chip, I think of what most people probably do. Hand scooped, 10 percent heavy cream, 50 percent sugar, and 40 percent unknown chemicals. Okay, so slight exaggeration, but you I bet you know what I mean! :)

In contrast, this to me is REAL mint chocolate chip ice cream. It actually tastes like fresh mint. It’s not as sweet nor as creamy as a regular MCC ice cream, but its a fresh taste that seems to rejuvenate the taster, if that’s possible.

You’ll see from the recipe that its flavored only from real mint leaves. It uses unsweetened cocoa. It is a bit fattening on account of 2 avocados and a can of coconut, but these are the good fats!

Even though it sort of a cliche thought, I’m posting this today in honor of my Irish roots.  (Cause, you know… it’s green? :D) Enjoy!!!

Vegan Mint Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients:
1 can of coconut milk (not coconut cream, can be a ‘runny’ coconut milk)
1 cup fresh mint leaves (approx)
1/3 cup light agave nectar
2 avocado
1 tsp arrowroot powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup finely chopped unsweetened cocoa bar (I think it was about 3 ounces)

Instructions:

In a medium saucepan, mix the coconut milk, agave nectar and arrowroot with a whisk. Put on medium heat.

While it warms up, wash the mint leaves (and stems!) in a colander with cold water. I really made use of my hands to make sure they were really clean.  Then use the coconut milk and mint leaves like you’re making tea! Once the coconut milk and agave have started to slightly boil, remove it from the heat and add the mint leaves. I let them ‘steep’ together for about an hour to really extract the flavor.

With a medium mixing bowl and a fine strainer, pour the coconut milk through the strainer into the bowl. I used a large serving spoon to then press the mint leaves into the strainer to get any little extra flavor I could muster. Then you can throw out the mint leaves and stems.

I then put the mix into the freezer for about 45 minutes. If you’re more of the patient type (which I obviously am not :)), you can just put it in the fridge overnight or for the day. You just need to make sure the mix is cold before you move on. Also, as I keep avocado’s out to ripen, it’ll work better if you put the avocado’s in the fridge a few hours prior to forming the ice cream.

Scoop out the avocado’s into a blender, discarding the skin and seed. Add the chilled coconut milk mixture and blend well. I also added the vanilla extract at this time.

Pour this mix into your electronic ice cream maker. It took about 20 minutes before it started to form solid bits. I added the finely chopped cocoa pieces at that point.

When the machine stops spinning, scoop the ice cream into storage containers OR a large freezer container before serving. It needs about 2 hours in the freezer after churning to be the normal ice cream consistency. The photos that are on this post show the ice cream right out of the mixer, so its frozen, but its very smooth and ‘spoonable’ at that point.

This ice cream really is a cool and light treat. If you love fresh mint, this is for you!

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This recipe is linked to Friday Favorites, Food on Fridays, and Foodie Friday.