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5 from 9 votes

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Avocado Dark Chocolate Ice Cream (Vegan)

A healthy vegan dark chocolate ice cream with avocado for extra creaminess

Course Dessert

Keyword ice cream

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 10

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3/4 cup raw cashews
• 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp espresso powder
• 2 tbsp dark cocoa powder dutch process is best
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 avocado perfectly ripe
• 1/2 cup coconut cream can sub coconut milk if full-fat and you don't have coconut cream
• 6 oz dark chocolate bar can do whatever % chocolate you like
• 1/2 cup sugar white or coconut

Instructions

1. Put your ice cream maker unit in the freezer if you have to - this requires 24 hours! 

2. In a high-speed blender, add the water, cashews, xanthan gum, espresso, dark cocoa powder, vanilla, salt, coconut milk, coconut cream, and avocado. Blend for about 1-2 mins or until it's completely smooth and creamy and no bits of cashews remain. 

3. Put a medium sized saucepan on the stove and pour the blended mixture in reserving 3/4 cup for later. Turn heat on low and stir slowly.

4. Add in all of the dark chocolate and the sugar, stirring to make sure you don't get a film on top and it doesn't stick to the bottom. Stir gently until the chocolate fully melts and the sugar dissolves. 

5. Add the cornstarch to the remaining 3/4 cup of liquid set aside and whisk to combine. 

6. Pour the cornstarch mixture into the saucepan while whisking the mixture in the pan to ensure no lumps form. Let the mixture come to a soft boil and remove from the heat to let cool. 

7. Cover the mixture with a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap to stop it from forming a film while it cools. After about 20-30 mins or until cool, pour into your ice cream maker and voila! 

An unlikely delicious match

Have you made the foray yet into the world where avocado and chocolate are the perfect mates? I know it seems like an odd combo because you’re like, avocado is for making guacamole, and chocolate is for when I’m sad, and I don’t make guacamole when I’m sad. But trust me. These two were made for each other.

I’m certainly no expert on finding a perfect match…..but….I first sampled a chocolate avocado mousse when living in NYC and I was hooked. Like, I thought about that chocolate mousse A LOT, as in I would say no to getting lunch with people sometimes if they didn’t want to go near the mousse place (note: maybe that’s why I never found a perfect match for myself).

If you remove everything you’ve ever been conditioned to think about avocados, then you realize it’s just a creamy fatty spreadable delight that doesn’t really have much of its own flavor. This is what makes it so perfect for adding into vegan treats to add that lovely creamy element without needing butter or cream! As an added bonus, avocados pack quite the nutritional punch, they’re surprisingly high in fibre, Vitamins C, B6 and A. I know you’re sitting here going gosh my vitamin C levels could be higher I should definitely try out this ice cream!! And you’re right, you should.

Vegan ice ‘cream’?

For those of you who are new to the vegan world or aren’t particularly interested in vegan recipes and you’re like meh why would I want a vegan ice cream the whole point is cream. And let me tell you friend, I’ve been there. Real cream is quite sensational. However, I made many many many trials of vegan ice cream because I was determined to find a way to make it just as creamy and I really think this is pretty close. I tried different nut bases, various milk alternatives, those exotic ingredients (xanthan gum I’m looking at you) to really settle on a good ratio for that ultimate creaminess and I really do think this one takes the cake.

It has been approved by a vegan friend of mine who told me it was amazing and I that should package it and sell it. The amount that she consumed convinced me she was not lying. Not trying to brag here guys but this stuff is honestly delicious and melts like a dream. I actually have used it as a base for a vegan version of the Ben and Jerry’s classic Phish food which was probably the tastiest thing I’ve ever made. Let me know if you’d like that recipe and I’ll get that up here.

Treat yo’self to an ice cream maker

Full disclaimer – you’re going to need an ice cream maker to succeed with this one because while you COULD do the whole ‘put it in the freezer and whisk it every hour for like 6 hours’, you need to be honest with yourself. You’re not going to stir it every six hours, are you. And then it won’t get enough air and it’ll be rock hard and sad and take an hour to properly defrost when you decide to eat it and you don’t want that. So stop kidding yourself that you’ll seriously take up six hours of your day to be near your freezer stirring ice cream and just buy an ice cream maker because they’re truly affordable and totally pay for themselves if you have the cupboard space and enjoy the occasional frozen delight.

Now that’s enough from me, go forth and enjoy this dark chocolate goodness and be sure to remember that sometimes unlikely pairs end up being the best and tastiest combinations.