Vegan Orange Cacao Nib Ice Cream (Bright Flavour, Creamy Cashew Mylk)

Happy Day Zebras!

Today I have a creamy-bright treat for you to try. You don't need no ice-cream maker for this either.
Ice-Cream weirdly is not something I miss too much since going vegan. On a hot summer day, I'll admit, I can be a tad sad and whiny when I see a person hold a solid cone with a hefty but perfect round of ice-cream. Other than that, I experiment with so many sweets and treats at home (and eat Amul dark chocolate all the time) to miss ice-cream on the regular.

Perhaps, that's the reason I really haven't done ice-cream on this blog before. Last night, I realized we had a bag of oranges left in the fridge, and I thought why not try to make some sorbet? But sorbet, I quickly realized was boring, I could get sorbet outside. Why not add that whole creamy effect? I did have a new bag of cashew too, just waiting to be used. I suspected the creamy cashew would harmonize well with the bright flavor of orange. Plus I've added cacao nibs that give you a rich chocolaty taste that manages to compliment the orange instead of overwhelm it. 

This recipe is fairly simple, but you need to have some patience and planning because you will have to reblend the ice-cream in a blender once frozen so you break-down the ice crystallization. And then wait some more for it to freeze. And then stir it up again. But it's worth it. Preferably do the main work the night before you want to eat it.

What You Need

3 Oranges
1 cup cashews
2 cups water
3/4th cup sugar (or more if you like it sweeter)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons pure virgin coconut oil
5 tablespoons cacao nibs (or itty bitty pieces of  vegan dark chocolate)



How to Make

The night before:

Peel your 3 oranges. You need to juice all of them and also take out some of the pulp (with your fingers) and put them in a separate bowl. You want to do this because adding bit of pulp adds to the texture and flavor.  So now you should have two small bowls, one with the juice of 3 oranges and one with some of the pulp. See the picture down below:

Juice in one, pulp in one. Make sure to remove all the pesky seeds

Now in a blender add your cashews (preferably soaked but it's ok if it's not), water, sugar, coconut oil, and vanilla. Blend well. You're 'cream' is ready!

In a tub (that you plan to put in the freezer), add your cashew cream and dump in the orange juice and orange pulp. Stir it up.

Now go ahead the sprinkle all the cacao nibs on top. Don't worry about working it into the mixture, you'll be blending again.

Alright! Your ice-cream is ready for the freezer. Pop that in overnight (or 6-8 hours).

The Next Morning (Or after 6-8 hours) 

Take out your tub from the freezer. It will be frozen but icey. We need to make it more cream-like in texture. Let the tub thaw out for 15 min. Then break up the ice and depending on the size of your blender re-blend it in batches. You might need to use your spoon to help break it down for your blender a bit. Once you've blended it all you'll see that it's way more creamy.

After re-blending the frozen ice your ice-cream should look like this

Now put this make in the freezer for another 2 hours. Before serving, let your tub thaw for 10--15 min, then take a large spoon and whisk it up again until it's a bit softer. Serve immediately!

This makes a perfect dessert to cap off a meal. It's light, bright, and leaves a pleasent after-taste. 

Yay for Vegan Ice-Cream! 

Till next time. Keep it kind!