Vegan Ice-cream! All of the yum and none of the dairy

This past weekend we went for a visit to my sister's place. The weekend was filled with lots of enjoyable outings (tamper included) and some local sight-seeing but my favourite part had to be the vegan ice-cream. We had discussed ahead of time that we would be preparing this and I was very excited at the notion. I had never made traditional ice-cream (with an ice-cream maker) before, let alone a vegan variety, so needless to say I was very excited about this activity. Given my severe lack of experience and my sister's relatively little experience we decided to consult an expert - Isa Chandra Moskowitz and adapt her pumpkin vegan ice-cream recipe.

This recipe is surprisingly simple and although it requires specific pieces of equipment, it is relatively simple. The longest parts are the boiling of the cashews and the churning and chilling of the ice-cream. However these do not require your attention so you can be doing other things while your ice-cream is being made for you, almost!

In terms of flavours we went for a coconut and cashew ice-cream with hazelnut croquant pieces inside. The flavours come together deliciously and could be augmented with some vegan caramel, I found a delicious looking recipe here but on to our recipe.

Hazelnut Croquant Vegan Ice-cream

Equipment: Ice-cream maker, blender and saucepan

2 Cups Unroasted Cashews
2 cups Coconut Milk (1 can)
1 cup distilled water
3/4 Cup maple syrup
1/4 cup golden syrup
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt

1 cup hazelnuts
3/4 cup sugar

1 - Boil your cashews for 45 minutes.

2 - Meanwhile to make your croquant - melt your sugar in a thick bottomed saucepan and swirl, do not mix, until golden brown, then add your hazelnut and stir quickly before pouring onto a piece of greaseproof paper and let cool.

3 - Once your cashews have boiled, drain the water and add them to your blender. Now add your coconut milk, water, vanilla extract, maple syrup, golden syrup and salt. The blender will look like a delicious ombre bubble tea!

4 - Now blend until completely liquified. The finished product should coat the back of a spatula and hold a line if you run your finger down the middle.

5 - Follow your manufacturer's instructions to churn your ice-cream, first for 20-25 minutes.

6 - Meanwhile chop up your hazelnut croquant with your blender on the chop setting.

7 - Now add your chopped hazelnut croquant and continue churning for another 20-25 minutes.

8 - Move to an air-tight container and eat now, like a soft serve ice-cream or freeze overnight for well frozen traditional looking boules.