Chocolate lovers rejoice! This delicious all-natural Chocolate Ice Cream is dairy-free and gluten-free. It’s also paleo friendly so you can enjoy it without cheating on your diet. Plus, the ingredients are all plant-based making this dessert vegan-friendly, too!
What Makes This Ice Cream Different?
It’s made with coconut milk instead of heavy cream or condensed milk. It is also made with dates for natural sweetness and nut milk to get a creamy texture without the added sugar found in traditional dairy ice cream.
This recipe uses pure cocoa powder as well as vanilla extract for a deep chocolate flavor that will satisfy any sweet tooth cravings!
This recipe for Chocolate Ice Cream comes from Dairy-Free Ice Cream: 75 Recipes Made Without Eggs, Gluten, Soy, or Refined Sugar by Kelly Brozyna, the author of another paleo book, The Paleo Chocolate Lovers’ Cookbook: 80 Gluten-Free Treats for Breakfast & Dessert
How To Make Paleo Chocolate Ice Cream
For this paleo-friendly creamy ice cream, you need the following ingredients:
- full-fat coconut milk
- Medjool dates
- almond, cashew, or hemp milk
- cocoa powder or raw cacao powder
- vanilla
To make it, begin by puréeing the coconut milk and dates in a blender and purée until smooth.
Add the almond, cashew, or hemp milk, cocoa powder or raw cacao powder, vanilla extract, and thickener (if using). Purée until smooth.
Freeze for about an hour or refrigerate until cold.
Pour into the ice cream maker and churn per the manufacturer’s instructions.
Eat right away or freeze until hard for pretty scoops. Store prepared ice cream in an airtight ice cream storage container.
This ice cream is fantastic just the way it is. However, if you want to add more deliciousness to this dessert, you can add chocolate chips, coconut, almonds, etc. to the ice cream base once it has finished churning.
Tip: If you need a thickener, use ½ teaspoon guar gum or 1 tablespoon gelatin completely dissolved into ¼ cup boiling water.
Paleo Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients
- 13.5 ounces coconut milk (full fat)
- ½ cup pitted Medjool dates about 10 soft
- 1 cup almond milk (cashew or hemp milk can be substituted)
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder or raw cacao powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- extract optional: thickener
Instructions
- Put the coconut milk and dates in a blender and purée until smooth.
- Add the almond, cashew, or hemp milk, cocoa powder or raw cacao powder, vanilla extract, and thickener (if using). Purée until smooth.
- Freeze for about an hour or refrigerate until cold.
- Pour into the ice cream machine and churn per the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Eat right away or freeze until hard for pretty scoops.
- For the thickener, use ½ teaspoon guar gum or 1 tablespoon gelatin completely dissolved into ¼ cup boiling water.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
About the Dairy-Free Ice Cream Cookbook
Dairy-Free Ice Cream begins with A History of Dairy Free Ice Cream. Don’t skip this small chapter – it has some interesting information. Do you know when the technique was developed to artificially freeze food? You will if you read about the history. I will go ahead and let you know that it was in the sixteenth century. But if you want to know some cool facts like when the first ice cream book was published, then you will need to read the book.
Kelly gives us, the readers, a quick introduction to dairy-free ice cream before she shares her delectable recipes with us. She tells us about the effects of sugar and the importance of fat in ice cream, and gives us some tips (techniques) on how to make and store ice cream. She has also included recipes for making almond, cashew, and hemp milk, which along with coconut make up the base of most of the recipes.
There is a page of information about dates, coconut sugar, and stevia – the sweeteners used in the recipes. One more thing discussed before moving on to the recipes is thickeners – when and why to use them.
The recipes are divided into 5 sections:
- Classic Flavors
- Coffee & Tea
- Cakes & Cookies
- Yogurt, Pops, & Sherbet
- Sauces & Sprinkled Toppings
If you weren’t in the mood for ice cream before picking up a copy of Dairy-Free Ice Cream, you will be after looking at the gorgeous photos in the book. So far I have made a few of the recipes: Swiss Almond Ice Cream, Chocolate Ice Cream, and Cookie Bowls. Both of the ice creams turned out well.
The cookie bowls were a different story. In retrospect, I think I made an error when I made them. After preparing the dough as directed, I placed the dough onto my molds. However, I think I put them on the mold upside down and the dough stuck to my molds. Note to self: Next time put the parchment paper next to the mold to prevent sticking.
I really like Kelly’s new book and am looking forward to trying other recipes such as Salted Caramel Sauce, Honey Marshmallow Fluff, and Mint Whipped Cream Bites. You can try her recipe for Chocolate Ice Cream because I have been permitted to share her recipe with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
I feel confident that if I were to meet Kelly in person that I would like her. How could I not – the girl loves ice cream! Also, she posted this on her About Me section of her website: I believe in eating healthy real food. I know that chocolate and dessert can be as nutrient-dense as pot roast. I couldn’t agree more.
Dairy-Free Ice Cream: 75 Recipes Made Without Eggs, Gluten, Soy, or Refined Sugar is available at your local bookstore or at Amazon.com.
You can find more of Kelly’s recipes on her website, The Spunky Coconut. You can also connect with her on Facebook | Twitter | and Pinterest.
What is your favorite ice cream?
More Great Paleo Recipes:
happy wheels 2 says
It sounds so easy to make, Thank you for sharing the recipe! Gonna try it this weekend!
Emily says
Well that does look delicious! Healthy too!
Jen - Life With Levi says
When I first learned I had a very low milk tolerance, ice cream was the thing I ALWAYS craved. I’m so glad to see a huge variety of recipes to try out.
Misty Nicole Overstreet-Roberts (The Lady Prefers To Save) says
What a great tip! Hello, my name is Misty, from The LadyPrefers2Save at http://theladypreferstosave.com, and I’m one of the new co-hosts for the Merry Monday Linky Party! Thanks for linking up at the Merry Monday’s Linky Party this week. Have an awesome week!