Secret Ice Cream

 This ice cream has a secret. A secret ingredient. Can you guess what it is?...

Quick oats! Did you guess? Well believe me, oats will make your ice cream the thickest, creamiest, most scoop-able homemade vegan ice cream ever. I promise. It does take some preparing ahead to cook the ice cream base and chill it, but it's so worth it.

This is kind of a re-do of my first-ever post. It had a super duper dreadful picture, and as it is getting crazy hot here in Texas and our freezer is working again, I thought it would be the perfect time to update. I made it a bit healthier too!

 
Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups water
• 1/3 cups quick oats (you can use regular oats too, just blend a bit longer)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2-3 tsp mint extract
• 1/2 tsp butter extract
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 can coconut milk (I use Imperial Dragon, it's 90 calories per serving and thickens up really well!)

Directions:

• Add water, oats, cornstarch, extracts, salt, and sugar to a blender and blend until oats are smooth (about 40 seconds, I'd guess).
• Pour into a pan and heat on medium, whisking until thickened (a couple of minutes).
• Scoop back to the blender and add coconut milk. Blend until combined, scraping sides down if necessary. You can add 2-3 leaves of spinach to make it a lovely pale green color if you want (it won't taste like spinach, I promise!), but I was out of spinach this time!
• Pour into a container and put in fridge overnight or for at least a few hours.
• Make sure that your ice cream maker tub is in the freezer!
• Get your lovely base out of the fridge -- it will be super thick, that's part of what makes it so creamy!
• Process according to the ice cream maker's directions -- I just pour it in while the motor is running and process for about 10-20 minutes, pushing the ice cream around with a rubber spatula if it stops churning before I think it's done.
• Scoop back into your container and freeze for at least 2 hours, to harden. If it's super solid when you go to eat it, thaw it on the counter for 5-10 minutes. The oats really help it scoop easier though!

Ohmygoodness, I can't get enough of this stuff right now, and for way less than $4.19 a pint (the price of my favorite vegan ice cream at the stores around here), it's kind of dangerous. But, it's only 105 calories per 1/2 cup, which is really, really not bad for ice cream, so indulge! I even added chopped semi-sweet chocolate to mine to make mint-chip -- my favorite!

cals per 1/2 cup: 105kcal | fat: 5.88g | carbs: 12.64g | prot: 1.05g

Paschal is wondering what I'm doing -- the sunniest room is kind of the cats' room, but I usually put them outside before taking photos. He's mighty curious about the ice cream though...