My daughter is allergic to milk so I've tried making dairy free ice cream in an ice cream machine. Being that it is missing the dense cream or milk solids it doesn't freeze completely in the machine but then freezes pretty solid in the freezer. I am trying to figure out how to overcome this. I wondered if coconut milk in a can would have enough 'cream' to overcome this.
I used rice milk with the two recipes I've tried and both had the same result. I'd like to avoid soy if at possible but I think some recipes out there call for soy creamer. Any suggestions other than just buy the So Delicious off the shelf?
I recently came a cross a chocolate gelato recipe that uses coconut milk. I haven't made it yet, but it sounds delicious. I will post it later this evening.
Good Luck
Here is the link: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/creamy_chocolate_gelato...
I haven't tried making dairy free ice cream but the coconut based ice cream substitute at Whole Foods is delicious and my dairy-free daughter also liked the tofutti cuties, ice cream sandwiches made with soy milk.
I don't know how to help you with making it homemade, but here is an article listing the "Top 6" non-dairy ice cream products:
http://grist.org/article/2009-06-30-review-non-dairy-ice-...
Hope this helps!
***ETA*** Only two of which are soy based, the others are either rice or coconut based!!
My friend recently told me, that Whole Foods has dairy free ice cream.
http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2010/01/lighten-up-with-...
To get it creamier, you'll probably need the soy. You are right, rice milk just doesn't have the fat. We used a recipe with rice milk a few times too. I boiled it with vanilla bean in an attempt to get a nicer flavor. It did have a nice vanilla taste, but it was a bit icy and hard. My hubby is trying to avoid soy when he can so using soy milk wasn't an option. So our solution was to make cookies and cream ice cream. We added a some crushed oreo cookies to the mix. This addition seems to make the iciness less noticeable. Our family likes it.
Let me know how the coconut milk work. I know I have made whipped cream with coconut milk. If you put it in the fridge and let it solidify, you can scoop the fatty part right off.
We have also been substituting sorbet for ice cream treats. Sorbet it dairy free. The store brand here is tasty and reasonably priced. And when it's on sale we pick up the Haagen Daas sorbet. They even have a chocolate that's dairy free and yummy.
I have a lot of friends who follow dairy free diets for health reasons and all of the recipes I've seen for ice cream call for full fat coconut milk which is the kind that comes in a can. Some good recipes on my friend's site: http://fastpaleo.com/mint-dark-chocolate-chip-ice-cream/
No ice cream will ever freeze completely in the machine, it is just not possible. It would break the churn, so it always will be soft and for a harder product you will have to put it in the freezer. You got some good advice here, but keep in mind that rice milk is water based and it will freeze up like water. Try a recipe that called for making a " custrard " first ( I hope there are no egg allgeries) and use that as a base for making the frozen treat. Good luck !!
As someone else has suggested, try the coconut ice creams or the Rice Dream stuff. I can't have dairy at all. Both of these have worked fine for me.
If you are determined to make something at home from scratch, try sorbets.
We bought a Yonana Bed Bath and Beyond sells for 50$ and offers 20% off coupons. You use frozen bananas and any other fruit and it is delicious and creamy. JUST banana and other fruit. It is not like a smoothie, it is creamy, like ice cream. They have a recipe for choc mint I have not tried yet. So worth the 40$
I would suggest using full-fat coconut milk, in the can. The FF version of coconut milk should have enough fat to equal what one would use if using cow's cream to make dairy ice cream.
http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2012/07/homemade-coco... has some recipes plus some tips if you want to use some of the other milks (soy, almond, rice).
I've try the Soy Delicious (soy based) and a coconut milk-based ice cream from Whole Foods. Of the two, I preferred the coconut milk based one.
My suggestion is to try making/buying fruit sorbets. They are wonderful and are just like eating a fruity ice cream. My favorite brand, and my daughter that's lactose intolerant, is Whole Fruit. The sorbet comes in a tub. They also have fruit bars (non-dairy) and frozen smoothies (dairy).
http://www.jjsnack.com/wholefruit/home1.aspx
My mom has an ice cream attachment for her KitchenAid mixer that I plan on buying to make some sorbet and ice milk (using lactose-free milk).
My daughter also misses pudding and wants to try frozen pudding pops, and I recently found a recipe that uses vanilla soymilk, corn starch, and cocoa powder. But we use organic soy and don't use a lot of it to begin with, so it's not a concern that she's getting too much.
