Dairy-free Chocolate Cinnamon Ice Cream

Me & Andrea

We had some special guests Monday night.  Andrea of Rockin’ Gluten-free and her son, whom I shall dub Darth Serious, came through town for the night.  I got to cook for them and hang out with them for several hours.  Darth Serious, if you haven’t guessed already, is also a big Star Wars fan.  He even asked me if we could play Star Wars Trivial Pursuit.  I happily said, “Yes.”  I got that game for Christmas yearsago but no one would play with me.  Even my board game loving friends wouldn’t play.  No surprise since they wouldn’t play regular Trivial Pursuit with me anymore, either.

Ready to play?

Darth Serious is very expressive.  I absolutely loved the faces he was making.  Especially when I answered a question correctly.  Andrea and I decided after he got about 4 questions in a row in which the answer was C-3PO  to tell him when he’s not sure, just answer C-3PO.  Just like in school on multiple choice tests when you guess C.  Right?  What?  You didn’t do that?  You haven’t lived.

I spent the day doing prep work little by little so I wasn’t doing everything at the last-minute and feeling rushed.  This was after revamping the menu a few times a few days before.  If you think your food allergies/intolerances are bad, Andrea has a host of them, which I knew I could handle easily, but Darth Serious is also pretty picky on top of being gluten-free and dairy-free himself.  His favorite food?  Hamburgers.

I wound up making chicken burgers since Andrea can’t have beef and used my usual recipe for beef burgers, but added a little grapeseed oil to keep the burgers from drying

Foods By George gf, df, sf, cf English Muffins. Very light and fluffy.

out while I grilled them.  I was prepared to go bunless since all the burger buns I was finding had corn in them and Andrea can’t have corn.  But, tucked away almost out of sight in the freezer at Whole Foods was some gluten-free, dairy-free, corn-free, soy-free English Muffins by Foods by George.  I was a bit worried about how thick they are, but once they are thawed out and warmed up in the oven, they are light and fluffy.  Darth Serious wasn’t too sure about the chicken burgers, but he ate it anyway and called it, “spicy.”  He also gobbled up a lot of carrot sticks on the raw veggie plate I made.  I tried to get him to try my sweet potato fries, but he kept eating up the carrots.  He finally tried one when I mentioned ice cream.  You know a kid really wants something when they’ll try something they really don’t want to try in order to get what they want.

Now, the day before, I told Andrea I was going to make Chocolate Cinnamon Ice Cream.  She wasn’t sure Darth Serious

Darth Serious likes the ice cream!

would like it, but I figured what we didn’t tell him wouldn’t hurt him.  Right?  I even kept it light on the cinnamon so you get just a hint of it.  He was halfway through his bowl when I asked him how it was.  He looked up and said dryly, “What do you think?”  He is something else!  So then I mentioned cinnamon being in it.  Bad move, Debi.  He wanted

Andrea tries some Creamy Walnut Milk

nothing to do with it after that.  He ate a few more bites and went back into the living room.  Oh well.  Andrea finished it for him!

Later on, I gave Andrea a little cordial glass of some Creamy Walnut Milk, made just like I made my Creamy Cashew Milk.  She had commented when I posted the recipe that she wanted to try it.  I happened to have more walnuts on hand so I made it with those and got the same results.  Good stuff.  Used it in my smoothie this afternoon, too.

Back to the ice cream.  My inspiration for it was the Chocolate Cinnamon Ice Cream from Bubbies back home.  They make their own ice cream and is a popular spot for the college kids and after-movie crowd.  It’s fairly close to University of Hawai`i at Manoa and next to Varsity Theater.  For several years, I lived just a block away.  One day, I was babysitting one of my cousins, Surfer Cuz.  My Uncle dropped him since it was during the day, as opposed to picking me up to babysit at their place at night.  Surfer Cuz was about 4 at the time.  It was a beautiful day and thought a nice walk down the block for ice cream would be a good idea.  We weren’t even halfway to the intersection before he was complaining about being tired.  Guess who had to carry him the rest of the way.  He’s lucky I love him.

Anyway, once we walked in the door, I could smell cinnamon.  I was so intrigued, I bypassed my usual Strawberry Cheesecake or Banana

Dairy-free Chocolate Cinnamon Ice Cream

Royale ice cream and asked to taste the Chocolate Cinnamon.  I was in love at first taste.  I tried making a dairy version of it years ago when I first bought my ice cream maker and failed miserably.   I kept meaning to try it again, but other things took priority.  Now, with not being able to do dairy, I would like to have ice cream again, but a bit healthier than the dairy-free ones at the grocery.  Not to mention, cheaper.

Darth Serious may not have liked that there is cinnamon in it, but I’m in love once again.

Dairy-free Chocolate Cinnamon Ice Cream – makes approximately 1 quart

2 cans full-fat coconut milk (I used 365 Organic Coconut Milk)

6 tablespoons raw cacao powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

Chill your coconut milk in the can for at least 6 hours.  Prepare your ice cream maker according to your manufacturer’s directions.  Add all ingredients in a blender and blend well.  At least 3 minutes.  Pour mixture into your ice cream maker and run your ice cream maker at least 2o minutes before covering and transferring to the freezer.   Allow to freeze about 6 hours.

This post is linked to Wellness Weekend at Diet, Dessert and Dogs