Vegan Lactose-Free Strawberry Ice Cream

Being sick to the stomach is never fun, especially because food is tasteless and the diet becomes heavily restricted. Last week I had a bacterial infection that lasted more than expected and had me on a “special” diet for more than ten days. Bland, dull, mushy foods for the first five days and then, slowly some solids, but no lactose or red meats for the up to ten full days. The hardest part was keeping ice cream out of my diet, especially during the summer weather we’ve had for these last days.

I was back home in Costa Rica for spring break during half of my sickness and with the warm weather my crave for something cold and sweet spiked. I craved ice cream, a cold cream to cool off on a sunny afternoon pictured in my mind as something incredibly soothing. By the 5^th day I managed to eat a guava water-based sorbet at a local gelateria, but I still reminisced the creamy feel.

I took a trip to the supermarket and was incredibly drawn by some plump fresh red strawberries. I thought an ice cream with those strawberries would really bring out the sweetness of the fruit, however, lactose was still not permitted in my diet. And so I brainstormed for a few minutes and thought that almond milk would work perfectly for a dairy-free strawberry ice cream; I headed home with some strawberries and almond milk on the back of my car.

Once back home, I  searched for a lactose-free ice cream recipe to satisfy my crave. I found pastry chef, David Lebotiz, had a great vegan strawberry ice cream recipe in his blog. He used rice milk, but almond milk worked magically for me. I also added the optional alcohol (I used Kirsch), extra limejuice, and less sugar (almond milk was sweetened). The original recipe also called for lemon juice but I used limejuice instead.

The result was a tasty rich strawberry ice cream that looks more like sorbet than ice cream. The almond milk I used was sweetened and vanilla flavored, which gave it a nutty hint that makes the ice cream so delicious one would never think it was lactose free. Super easy and tasty!

 

Lactose Free Strawberry Ice Cream

Adapted from David Lebotiz, July 13, 2010

 

600 grams fresh strawberries, washed and cored

1/3-cup sugar

2 tablespoons honey

1 ½ cup sweetened almond vanilla milk

3 teaspoons fresh limejuice

2 teasooons kirsch liquor

 

Place strawberries, sugar, and honey in bowl and combine. Let stand for 15 minutes.

In a blender pour strawberry mixture, along with the rest of the ingredients, pulse until smooth.

Place mixture into a container and into the fridge for about an hour until mixture is cold.

Freeze strawberry mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

*I usually make the ice cream in the machine a couple of hours before serving, this way I can freeze it in a container for couple hours. This makes the ice cream firmer, melting much slower when served than if directly served from the machine.