Recipe: 'Vegan Power Motherfuckers' Coconut and Almond

'Vegan Power Motherfuckers' is a piece of graffiti scrawled in my back alley by the 'activist' types in the area. It's probably amusing to no one but me, but I figured I'd included it here in a public forum anyway. Don't judge me, I have no life.

I feel for those who embrace the vegan lifestyle, I really do. Pretty much everything contains animal products these days: apples (often waxed with crushed-up beetles), beer (fish scales), wine (fish scales, egg albumen) and condoms (milk proteins) to name but a few. Ice cream, of course, usually contains both eggs AND milk, so it's hardly suited for those who shun animal products. Except, that is, for this one. It uses arrowroot powder as a thickener in place of eggs, and coconut milk in place of the cow juice.

400 ml can coconut milk
400 ml can coconut cream
1/2 cup sugar
2T arrowroot powder (available from health food stores)
3/4 tsp Boyajian lime essence (optional)
roast almonds (optional)

1. Mix the arrowroot powder into about 1/2 a cup of the coconut milk and stir it until the lumps are gone. Put this to one side.
2. In a saucepan, heat the rest of the milk, coconut cream, sugar and lime oil (if using) until it starts to boil.
3. Take the pan off the heat, and immediately add the arrowroot goop. Stir like crazy and you should see it start to thicken.
4. Let the mix cool down to room temperature, then wack it in the fridge for a couple of hours.
5. Dump the whole lot in your ice cream maker and add the almonds (if using) once it starts to firm up.

Props: This method of using arrowroot for thickening is actually taken from Agnes L, over at A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise. If your serious about making morally-correct ice cream, then do check out her range of recipes, its a far better resource than this blog of animal exploitation.

The Verdict:
Not bad at all. While I won't be giving up my dairy-based ice cream any time soon, this is a delicious dessert. The texture was smooth, albeit a little bit floury (not as bad as it sounds). Next time around, I would probably use all coconut cream, rather than half cream, half milk to increase the creaminess a bit. All in all though, this is pretty good stuff!