If I had to call myself an expert in something, I think it would have to be coconut ice cream. Since I stopped eating commercial ice cream 6 or so years ago, I’ve probably made hundreds of batches of coconut ice cream. If you’ve been around the blog for long, you’ve probably seen some these recipes, like cinnamon ice cream, chocolate chip and raspberry coconut ice cream, chocolate mint coconut ice cream, and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Today I want to share a recipe for one of our new standbys: strawberry chocolate chip ice cream.
I pretty much took the strawberry ice cream recipe from my coconut e-book and added my homemade chocolate chips. I think strawberry and chocolate is always a winning combination, and this ice cream is no exception. We’ve been gulping it down by the bowlful in my house. 🙂
Notes on the Recipe
This strawberry chocolate chip ice cream is dairy-free and sweetened with honey. It’s both GAPS- and Paleo-friendly, as long as you use acceptable chocolate chips.
I always use frozen strawberries in my ice cream because I buy big bags of frozen organic strawberries at Costco for a very affordable price. We buy our fresh strawberries at the farmers market and thus I prefer to save these more expensive berries for applications where their superior flavor can really shine. If you happen to have an abundance of fresh strawberries, however, they be perfect in this recipe.
I have a high-powered Vitamix blender, but it still sometimes struggles with blending this ice cream, probably because the amount of liquid is relatively low. If you have a regular blender, you might consider using your food processor instead, as I’m not sure whether a regular blender would have enough power to effectively blend up the strawberries.
I prefer this brand of coconut milk. It’s free of preservatives and any added gums/starches, and comes in a carton rather than a can.
In my experience, the BEST place to buy this coconut milk is at your local Asian market. If that’s not an option, though, you can buy coconut milk online here.
What if I Don’t Have an Ice Cream Maker?
I get this question from time to time. Honestly my first response is: get an ice cream maker! 🙂 Seriously. If you like coconut ice cream and think you’ll make it regularly, an ice cream maker is 100% a worthwhile investment. We got this model for our wedding in 2008, and it probably made a few hundred batches of ice cream before it finally gave out in 2016.
I replaced it with this newer model, which I’ve been very happy with. My family LOVES ice cream, and since Jesse can’t eat any sweeteners other than honey, homemade ice cream is our only option. (Plus, have you seen the cost of coconut ice cream in the store? That stuff is expensive.)
If I haven’t convinced you, though, here’s a post from The Kitchn on how to make ice cream without a machine. Give some of their ideas a try and see what you think. I haven’t tried any of these methods myself, so I can’t comment on how well they’d work for this particular recipe.
Equipment You’ll Need
Ingredients
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 2 cups strawberries, fresh or frozen
- 2 tablespoons raw honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chocolate chips (I use my homemade chocolate chips, but you can use whatever chocolate you prefer)
Instructions
- Add coconut milk, strawberries, honey, and vanilla to your blender or food processor and blend/process until strawberries are pulverized.
- Pour mixture into your ice cream maker and process until ice cream is creamy and frozen but still a few minutes away from being done. Add your chocolate chips to your ice cream maker, then continue to process until ice cream reaches your desired consistency.
- Serve ice cream immediately, or transfer it to the freezer for several hours to allow it to firm up. I recommend storing your ice cream in a wide, shallow container to simplify future defrosting.
- By the next day, your ice cream will have become very hard in the freezer. Simply allow 20 minutes or more for it to defrost a bit on the counter before you serve it.
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