Dairy Free Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream Without a Machine

We’re huge ice cream lovers at our house. Chocolate ice cream with naturally sweetened hot fudge sauce regularly makes an appearance at the table. One of my favorite flavors as a child though, was cherry vanilla ice cream. Now you can make it at home with healthy ingredients, even without an ice cream machine.

Is an ice cream machine really necessary?

For many years we didn’t have an ice cream machine, and I made do with a food processor and the freezer. Constant freezing of the food processor was hard on the plastic, and eventually it cracked under the pressure. So then I tried just freezing a batch of ice cream in a bowl and stirring every 30 minutes or so. That didn’t really work so well either, because the ice cream would turn out all icy and clumpy. Not very ice creamy, which is really the whole point of ice cream.

I eventually lucked out and found an ice cream machine at Gooodwill for next to nothing. We love that thing and use it several times a week. I foresee needing a new one soon in our near future though, and I’ll get this one, which is the newer model. The cover on ours mysteriously ended up with a large crack and a chunk of the plastic missing. Did I mention that plastic doesn’t seem to like me?

Getting the perfect scoop

If you haven’t gotten an ice cream machine yet (which I highly recommend if you love it as much as we do!), then there are a few simple tricks to getting the perfect dairy free ice cream.  I just got this new e-book from Jessica over at Delicious Obsessions and she gives all the details on how to achieve the perfect ice cream, even without a machine. As much ice cream as we make,  I’m excited to make these few tweaks for an even better dish of the stuff.

There’s a lot more than just ice cream in a bowl in this book though. The Splendid Scoop mixes favorites like creamy vanilla, with intriguing new concoctions like Strawberry Mint Watermelon Slush, Water Kefir Ice Cream Floats and Dark Chocolate Crunch. Oooh, I want that Dark Chocolate crunch one right now. You can check out The Splendid Scoop here.

Cherry vanilla ice cream

Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream - Dairy Free

Ingredients

• 4 cups full-fat coconut milk we use this one
• 1/3 cup. organic raw cane sugar or coconut sugar (whiz it up in a food processor or coffee grinder to make it extra fine)
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract OR vanilla bean powder
• 1-2 tbsp. rum, vodka, etc. OR grass-fed gelatin (optional - see note on page 8 of The Splendid Scoop e-book)
• 1 1/2 cups fresh cherries, pitted and roughly chopped

Instructions

1. Mix all the ingredients together with a hand mixer until thoroughly combined.
2. Chill completely, at least 4-6 hours, or overnight.
3. Prepare according to your ice cream maker's instructions.
4. About halfway through the churning time, add the cherries. That way everything doesn't sink to the bottom.
5. No ice cream maker? No problem. Refer to the instructions on page 9 of The Splendid Scoop. Freeze the mixture in a freezer safe bowl and stir every 30 minutes. You'll want to add the cherries once the mixture starts to solidify. That way everything doesn't sink to the bottom. (hint, for the best success without a machine, you'll want to follow the tricks outlined in the book)

© 2024 Recipe from The Herbal Spoon