When food allergies prevent you from enjoying the food you love and want to eat, it has the tendency to make a person sad. Being 8 years old and allergic to dairy has been a challenging journey for my daughter, Abigail, who loves pizza and ice cream but sadly can have neither. Yes, there is dairy-free cheese and ice cream available on the market but Abigail misses the taste of “real” cheese and the flavors her her favorite types of ice cream.
Fortunately for us, we have a very nice blender which can make yummy soft serve ice cream in just a couple minutes. The only problem with making ice cream this way is freezing the leftovers hoping hoping for the same creamy texture as a freshly made soft serve batch. Because I add ice cubes to the soft serve mix, when trying to freeze any leftovers, it is more icy than creamy. Recently I purchased this Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker to make creamy ice cream you can scoop. I’ve been experimenting with different flavors and proportions of cream, milk, fruit, and other mix-ins with great success. But I was asked by Abigail if we could try making dairy free ice cream we can also scoop for her to enjoy too. I asked her what flavor of ice cream she would like to have and she enthusiastically replied, “chocolate peanut butter banana.” Coincidentally, I had also just purchased agave syrup to use a sugar substitute when cooking and baking.
As a result, we made a batch of dairy-free ice cream/frozen yogurt Abigail and the whole family can enjoy. The nature of soy yogurt lends to a pleasant tanginess, the use of agave syrup adds a honey like sweetness, and the banana is a subtle complimentary flavor note in the background. Chunky peanut butter added in small chunks after all the other ingredients have been blended adds a welcomed texture addition with bits of chopped peanuts and small flavor bursts of peanut butter.
When Abigail took her first bite into this ice cream, she squealed with delight and said, “Mom, I can’t believe you did it! This ice cream is the bomb!” For today I was her hero. This ice cream made her feel extra special and if you knew her, you would know she is more than special… she is an amazing kid.
If you’ve been searching for a vegan ice cream to enjoy, I suggest this recipe. Kids and grown-ups alike will enjoy this chocolate treat any time of year. [/donotprint]
Abigail’s Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Chunk Soy Ice Cream / Frozen Yogurt
Makes approximately 2 cups
Special Equipment: Blender and Ice cream maker
Ingredients:
1 – 6oz container vanilla soy yogurt
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1/2 cup agave syrup (for a less sweet ice cream, use only 1/3 cup)
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 small banana
3 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
Directions:
Mix all the ingredients except for the peanut butter in a blender for 30 seconds on a medium high speed. Transfer mixture to an ice cream maker. Add small gumball size chunks (approx. 1/2 teaspoon) of peanut butter to the the rest of the ice cream mixture. Churn ice cream according to the manufacture’s directions. Transfer ice cream to a freezer friendly type container with lid and freeze according to preferred firmness. Enjoy!
Christy says
Thank you for the recipe. None of our family eat dairy or gluten/wheat so it was fun to find a peanut butter recipe to surprise my youngest daughter with on her birthday next week. We have been making other flavors all summer and really like the almond milk and coconut milk mixed in as well.
alice says
Hi Claudia,
Yes, soy does have a very distinctive flavor to it. I will try almond milk next time. All weekend we were making ice cream with coconut milk and absolutely love it! Thanks for your suggestions.
FOODESSA says
Hello Alice…I just came upon your recipe as I was searching for just this type of ice cream. I may not have an ice cream maker…however, I’m pretty handy without it too.
I can really appreciate the combination on ingredients. I will give it a try.
The only small aspect I would maybe change…would be to substitute the soy milk for almond milk so that the soy flavour doesn’t overpower this amazing treat.
Thank you very much for this creamy sweet delicacy ;o)
Flavourful wishes, Claudia
Fuji Mama says
All I can say is THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I can’t wait to try this! I am not lactose intolerant, but I have a problem digesting dairy because of something used in commercial dairy farming (my doc has yet to actually figure out what), so I have to really limit my dairy here in the US. I LOVE ice cream, but rarely eat it because of this reason, and because the soy ice cream tends to not fill the void. This looks amazing!
Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction says
Your ice cream looks wonderful! Your daughter is lucky to have a mom who can whip up tasty dairy-free treats like this. I have a good friend who cannot have any dairy but he doesn’t come from a family that cooks, and he ends up eating a lot of bland/boring foods. I’ll have to make this for him 🙂
kamran siddiqi says
What a wonderful tribute to Abigail! I think I’ll be making this very soon (when I have one of my let me make tons of ice cream because I LOVE the stuff moments)! Great, great post, Alice! 🙂
Allison says
Wow! I didn’t know dairy free ice cream could look so good! Amazing!
Georgia Pellegrini says
My grandmother bought that same ice cream maker recently and I was really impressed with what she churned up. She made an amazing tangy ice cream from rehydrated dried fruit and soy milk! Thanks for sharing this lovely version.
cjoy says
Bless you. We have 2 kids allergic to dairy, one of whom cannot have nuts, and another allergic to soy instead…but I think with our (very creamy) coconut milk, coconut yogurt and crunchy sunbutter subbed out, we just might have a hit that my kids will love. I’ll bookmark this for a day when we can try it. And thank you so much for sharing….this is exactly the kind of thing that makes their world a happier place!
Eliana says
MAN – dairy free (or any ice cream for that matter) never looked so good!
alice says
Thanks everyone for your encouraging and thoughtful comments!
Amanda: Just to let you know, we don’t eat organic most of the time. The only soy dairy products available are organic only.. which is what my daughter has to drink because she cannot have regular dairy products. I picked up the Agave at TJ Maxx for $3.99 and it just so happens it was organic. When we’re able to buy organic (on sale) I do but in general we don’t.
JacieG says
Thank you so much for this recipe! I myself can’t tolerate dairy and love the combo you came up with here. Can’t wait to try it this summer!!!
Amanda says
Looks great! And your ingredient list is to die for. I wish I could cook with all organic ALL the time! And raw foods… and natural… and well, I need to just have my own farm and garden. 😉
(sorry for the tangent!)
Blessings!
Amanda
Michael @ Herbivoracious.com says
Looks delish, Alice, and what I nice thing to be able to make something great for your daughter who has been ice cream-deprived. I’ve had some commercial ice cream made with coconut milk as a substitute lately and it is quite delicious, that might be another good area to explore. Obviously it has to be with flavors that can associate with coconut happily, like chocolate or mango.
Katrina says
That looks SO good. Three of my favorite flavors. I’m not dairy free, but I love trying to make really yummy treats more healthy, so I will for sure have to try this.
Veggie Belly says
this icecream looks incredible, yum!
Jessie says
My son too is allergic to dairy and we have been having fun expirementing with new food. One of our favorites is a peanut butter vilkshake. You can make a variety of vice cream with your Vita Mix have fun playing around and enjoy the new creations. Thanks for sharing this recipe, we’ll be sure to try it.
Cookin' Canuck says
Sometimes out of necessity we find the best recipes. This looks fantastic and I think would be enjoyed by anyone, whether they could have dairy or not. I had great success with making a dairy-free ice cream using coconut milk (and blueberries). My kids loved it!
Jessica @ How Sweet says
This is one of my favorite flavor combos!! It just sounds delicious.
Missy Gainer says
Alice, my sister cannot have dairy. I am sending her here right away. No reason the non-dairy people cannot have fun too! It looks yummy.
Cody says
That sounds yummy. I really want to get an ice cream maker… and for some reason I’m far more excited about making vegan ice creams than I am regular ice cream.
Maria says
Love this ice cream flavor. can’t wait to try it!
Megan Gordon says
Oh man, this looks fabulous Alice. When I was young, I was allergic to dairy as well (somehow it went away–thankfully!) and I remember being plagued with Mocha Mix, the only dairy-free ice cream available at the time. It had a funky aftertaste and very basic flavors. Abigail’s lucky to have a mom like you. Although I eat dairy now, I’ve bookmarked this to try.
Ashley says
Aww that’s such a sweet happy ending! (Errr…no pun intended…doy.) I’m glad you found a recipe that worked for her.
Melody Fury says
Yes please 🙂 I actually enjoy the flavour of soy so this would be perfect. You’re such a great momma, Alice!