Blackberry Basil Coconut Ice Cream

Yessss, it's another vegan ice cream experiment!  Over the weekend, I was inspired by the plump gorgeous blackberries at the farmer's market and the strong aroma of fresh basil. My husband has been loving basil this season almost as much as me :) so it's also motivating to use it in just about every dish ;) 

Yes even in ice cream. Somehow that flavor of basil, almost liquorice-like, that adds just the right match to the sweet-tart of berries. I have added it to berry crisps before but to the coconut cream ice cream it is just about the perfect subtle touch. I didn't even add the leaves into the blend... just let them soak and simmer into the coconut milk before it's blended. Sooooo good!!! Be inspired by fresh colorful amazing food and let yourself be nourished and ENJOY!

Blackberry Basil Coconut Ice Cream Recipe
{gluten, dairy, egg, soy, nut, and seed-free}

2 cans of coconut cream (14 ounce cans, just scrap out the cream and discard/reuse water)
1 TB of tapioca starch
1 lemon squeezed
1/2 cup of maple syrup
1/4 cup of coconut palm sugar
pinch of sea salt
1 handful of fresh basil tied with twine

1 pint of fresh blackberries

In a saucepan, put the coconut milk cream on low heat and let it get soft and liquid. Then sprinkle in the tapioca flour and put in the rest of the ingredients. Keep the basil in the twine because it is just soaking in the cream and not being blended in. In a seperate saucepan, cook and mash blackberries until soft and juicy. Then pour over a micro-sieve and use all of the flesh and juices but omit the blackberries seeds to have a creamier ice cream finish. If you liek the texture of seeds then just add the berries right into the milk mixture. 

Take out the basil and cool down the coconut milk mixture and then add to the high powered blender with the berry mix and blend on high until creamy and smooth. Then pour into a container to cool down more if it is still warm, and if you need to refrigerate for a while that's fine. When room temp or cooled down, add to a ice cream maker and let it do it's job for 20 minutes or so and then spread into a container to sit in the freezer for 1 hour or more. Then you can pull out and use a regular ice cream scoop to serve up perfectly. Serve with fresh fruit or with or however you like ice cream best!

If you have not invested in the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker- then you might want to in time for this summer. I got this as a birthday gift last year and have enjoyed using it. The instructions before you make the ice cream is to deep freeze the mixture container. It must be super cold! Then once you do that you can hook up the container and follow the instructions- which for this ice cream includes just pouring in the mixture while it has already started spinning. This will take anywhere from 20-30 minutes to thicken up the ice cream. It is like soft serve and ready to top or eat, but if you want a more scoop-able ice cream then let the machine run for the allotted time and then pour into a container and put in the freezer and within 30 minutes it will be a perfect scoop!

ENJOY and much love as always xoxo