Vegan Strawberry Dark Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

Mmmm… let’s just all take a moment and stare at the picture above – yes, creamy, dreamy, sweet, chocolaty, cold, deliciousness.

I truly can’t believe how many ways there are to make healthy, refined sugar-free, vegan ice cream these days!!

Typically there are a few common methods used (you can see some different variations using these methods in my Fave Five list at the end of the post!). The base can either be frozen bananas, like I use in my  Banana & Peanut Butter Ice Cream, or soaked cashews (which I have yet to try), or using coconut milk (like I did in this recipe today!). There’s some other methods too but these seem to be the most used!

I just think it’s awesome that “ice cream” doesn’t have to be this bad, unhealthy, high fat, sugar-loaded indulgence anymore, and it can actually be made with whole, unrefined, healthy ingredients!!

For this decadent ice cream I have for you today, I used 4 simple ingredients.

Yup. Four.

That’s it! Fresh, beautiful, juicy, bright red strawberries, organic whole coconut milk, stevia (which can be substituted with another sweetener of choice such as pure honey, coconut palm sugar, etc.), and bakers unsweetened dark chocolate.

The active making time is also quick and easy – blend everything up, melt the chocolate, stir it in, and pop it in the freezer!

The only hard part is waiting the few hours it takes to freeze – if you have an ice cream machine this process is likely a lot faster, but alas, I still have yet to get one ….any donations out there??!? 😉

I love the way the chocolate hardens into little chunks, secretly hidden inside the smooth, cold, and creamy strawberry ice cream. Which each bite you get a little chocolaty crunch!

I was sure to use a completely dairy free, unsweetened dark chocolate to keep this recipe vegan and refined-sugar free but the chocolate is very bitter alone, so I used stevia when melting it to sweeten it just a tad!

Sometimes, it just comes down to taking that little bit of extra time and effort to create something you can feel good about enjoying. No, this ice cream isn’t “skinny” or “low cal” per se, but like I’ve said before, often with those words you also get a bunch of chemical, lab-made, junky ingredients!

This ice-cream is however, lower in calories than the typical regular run-of-the-mill ice cream, and MUCH lower in sugars (all of which are naturally occurring from the strawberries!)

I enjoyed a serving of this ice cream the day I took these pictures (as if I could wait any longer!!) and the Hubby… enjoyed the rest… all of the rest… lol!

At least I know that means it was good!

So, I encourage you this summer, to pass by the frozen desserts section at the grocery store and the fatty, chemical-filled, sugar-laden ice creams and try making this one – or another variation of your own ice cream! The possibilities are endless – just check out the Fave Five for more ideas!

You won’t regret it, and I promise nobody will even know – unless you tell them, which I would, and then revel in the impressed looks on all of their faces!! 🙂

Enjoy!

5.0 from 4 reviews

Vegan Strawberry Dark Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

 

Print

Prep time

3 hours

Total time

3 hours

 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh strawberries, halved
• 1 can full fat coconut milk refrigerated overnight
• 8 packets stevia (or ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons alternative unrefined sweetener - such as pure honey, pure maple syrup, coconut palm sugar)
• 1 oz unsweetened dark bakers chocolate

Instructions

1. Refrigerate or freeze the coconut milk in the can overnight - this will separate the fat layer from the coconut water as you only need the fat for the recipe.
2. Once refrigerated or frozen, scoop the coconut fat layer out of the can and place in a blender with the strawberries and 6 packets of stevia (or ¼ cup sweetener of choice)
3. Blend until a thick, smooth, consistency is achieved.
4. Pour the mixture into a loaf pan or Tupperware container.
5. Heat a small saucepan over low heat and add in bakers chocolate and 2 packets stevia (or 2 tablespoons sweetener of choice) and melt chocolate.
6. Once melted pour chocolate into coconut strawberry mixture and stir lightly by "cutting" with a knife (the chocolate will harden into chunks once it is in the cold mixture).
7. Place the container in the freezer and freeze for 3 hours, stirring once every hour to ensure even freezing.
8. Once desired consistency is reached, scoop into serving bowls.
9. Enjoy!

Notes

*Nutritional facts based on using stevia as the sweetener.

Nutritional Information

Serving size: ¼ recipe Calories: 200 kcal Fat: 17g Carbohydrates: 12g Sugar: 4g Fiber: 3g Protein: 3g

3.5.3251

Have a wonderful weekend – we are off camping! It’s our first trip in our newly renovated trailer! I will post some before and after pics on the blog soon – it’s actually pretty neat what we did with an old 1988 Prowler we bought off Kijiji! Stay tuned….!

Christal