Upon playing with the ideal of making vegan ice cream this week I had the question "Could it be possible to make vegan ice cream that you could just throw in your freezer and eat the next day without having to do anything else that actually taste like the real deal?"  Boy did that question intrigue me.  Healthy ice cream in under 10 min prep.  That would seriously rock my world (and my husband's).  Well I've been playing with recipes all this week, and I'm happy to say mission accomplished.  My world may never be the same again.  I just had gelato for breakfast today!  It was creamy, quick to melt in your mouth, and had a denser (less airy texture), and you would never dream it was vegan and made from fruit and nuts, or that it only took about 10 minutes of prep time to make!

We have an ice cream machine (we used to make our low sugar vanilla ice cream), but since we don't have an ice machine on our fridge, we have to clear out a lot of our freezer and slowly make ice cubes in our trays, dump out the ice and rock salt in our bath tub and hope we can keep Mr cat out who is beyond curious about the whole process. Too much fuss for us to make often, so I figured I'd try to make some without an ice cream machine.

Most recipes that don't call for an ice cream machine tell you to freeze it for 1/2 hour and then stir the mixture and basically repeat until ideal texture, or to create a frozen mixture in a high speed blender and serve immediately for soft serve ice cream.  While the soft serve method can be good, it's still not the same as ice cream.  And the human churning method can work with the right recipe, but I frankly don't love the ideal of having to check and stir something every 1/2 hour.  Not unless there's a better way.  Luckily there is.

Upon researching for this recipe I learned some tips and tricks which I shared here, in developing this recipe.  Basically I learned with the right ingredients you can lower the freezing point so that your ice cream doesn't need to be churned to stop it from developing ice crystals. Meaning you can simply mix up your ingredients in a food processor and dump it into a freezer safe container, cover it and check on it the next mourning, that's it!  It's like crock pot cooking, it takes longer to make but overall less effort.  I'm all about that!

 How This Recipe Is Healthier

• Has healthier fat, vitamins and minerals, and fiber (from the nuts or seeds (if using seed butter), bananas, and avocado)
• No refined sugar and less sugar (only 1 Tablespoon of honey plus sugar from the bananas)
• I know their is alcohol in this recipe which isn't very healthy but keep in mind that it is a small amount and chemically necessary for this recipe to work as no churn.  If you are not able to have alcohol at all I would suggest trying to substitute with nut butter (peanut butter, almond butter, etc) or more honey.  I have not tried this but theoretically it should work.  See more at my post Tips and Tricks to Make Creamy no Churn Ice Cream.

for a truly dark chocolate (ultra dutch processed) you could try black cocoa via The Kitchen

Chocolate Kahlua Gelato Recipe
(vegan, paleo, dairy free, GF)
serves 2

• 2 large ripe bananas peeled and cut into 1” pieces and frozen (about 14 oz)
• 1/2 large ripe avocado pitted, cut in quarters and frozen (about 3.5 oz)
• 1/2 cup cocoa or raw cocao
• ¼ cup of favorite milk alternative (I used cashew milk)
• 2 Tablespoons stevia
• 1 Tablespoon raw honey
• 1/4 cup Kahlua (this is needed to help keep from freezing, you can reduce to 3 Tablespoons it will just have very tiny hardly noticeable ice crystals, do not reduce further I have tested it and this is the lowest amount of alcohol you can use and still have it no churn, if you can't have alcohol try subbing with nut butter or honey,)
• 1 Tablespoon almond butter (or any other nut or seed butter)optional this just helps add to the flavour demension)
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract or one vanilla bean
• ¼ tsp pink salt
• 1/8 tsp xanthan gum (to help keep from forming ice crystals and to make it creamer)
   

• put all ingredients except the frozen bananas (unless you have a vita mix or other high speed blender) in a food processor, and pulse on high until smooth. Then add the frozen banana pieces a little at a time. If your having problems blending you can add more milk alternative, but add a little at a time and the least amount necessary to get everything to blend (so that your ice cream doesn't end up too icy).
• Pour into a freezable container that holds 3-6 cups (I used a 6 cup square freezable glass pryex container) cover and freeze for 8 hours or more and serve.