Today’s recipe comes from Tess, the creative and inspiring blogger at Hold The Grain. I feel a kindred connection to Tess, as well Macy from last week’s guest post, because her serious health symptoms arose in high school. She turned to nutrition to heal herself, and began blogging to share her recipes with others.
Ice cream has always been my favorite treat, and dairy free ice cream has naturally taken its place now that am dairy-free. I share quite a few dairy free ice cream recipes on my blog because I’m a tad obsessed, and because what better treat is there in the summer?
Paleo Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
This ice cream is creamy and packed with the mint, chocolaty flavor that you get from classic mint chocolate chip ice cream. The carob chips have a slightly different flavor than chocolate chips as carob is fruitier than bitter chocolate, but this is the favorite chocolate chip replacement that I’ve had. Sweet and rich, the carob bars were loved my both myself and chocolate-eaters. If you can eat chocolate, feel free to substitute the carob powder with cocoa powder to taste or replace the carob bars with chocolate chips. And don’t worry about the avocado- the flavor is masked by the mint, coconut and honey, and you won’t taste avocado at all.
- ½ Cup coconut butter, available here (not to be confused with coconut oil)
- 3 Tablespoons coconut sugar, available here
- 3 Tablespoons carob powder, available here
- 2 ½ Tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 (14 oz) can full fat coconut milk, recommended brand here
- 1 Teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 Teaspoon pure peppermint extract
- 6 Tablespoons honey
- 1 Medium Hass avocado
- Pinch of sea salt
- Use the homemade carob chips in this recipe or substitute a heaping ½ cup of dairy free chocolate chips. The carob chips make this recipe autoimmune-paleo friendly.
- For the carob chips Fill a small pot with 1-2 inches of water over medium-high heat. Set a medium sized bowl over the pot (the bowl should be big enough so that the water is not touching it).
- Place the ½ Cup coconut butter in the bowl, stirring as it melts. If the water is boiling rapidly, reduce the heat. Whisk the carob powder and coconut sugar into the melting coconut butter. Whisk in the coconut oil.
- Once the mixture is melted and combined, remove the bowl from the pot and turn off the heat. Line a small freezer-safe dish with parchment paper or use a chocolate bar mold. Pour the carob mixture into the mold/dish and freeze until set (15-20 minutes).
- For the ice cream Place all of the ice cream ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and churn per its instructions.
- While the ice cream churns, remove the carob bars from the freezer. Roughly chop the carob into “chocolate chunk” pieces and reserve ⅓ of the chips. Store the remaining chips in the freezer.
- When the ice cream has thickened and has about 5 minutes left to churn, pour the ⅓ cup of carob chips into the ice cream.
- Scoop the finished ice cream into a freezer safe container. I use a metal loaf pan lined with parchment paper. Freezer for 2-4 hours for a hard ice cream texture. Enjoy straight from the ice cream maker for a soft serve texture.
About Tess at Hold the Grain
Tess is the author, cook and photographer behind the website Hold the Grain. She shares new gluten-free, grain-free and allergy-friendly recipes each week. You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
YUMMMMMMMMMM! I’ll have to try this 🙂
Do you think it be all right to replace the coconut milk with almond milk? (I have a family member who has trouble digesting coconut products.)
Hi Sarah. I can’t say for certain because I’ve never tried it, but I believe it will work. The texture will most likely be different because coconut milk is thicker than almond milk. You could also try adding in a thickener, either egg yolks or a gelatin mixture (1 Tbsp dissolved in 1/4 Cup boiling water). The avocado adds a good amount of fat/thickness though, which is why I believe the substitution may work well here.
If you give it a try, let me know how it works out!
This looks great! I’ve never used avocado in ice cream before…I’m excited to give it a try 🙂
Thanks Christina! Enjoy!!
Wow! This looks delicious! I love making mint chip ice cream with spinach, but I’ve never thought of using avocado! What a great idea:)
Thanks Sadie! I love the texture when avocado is used 🙂
I just made this and it’s AMAZING!!! Thanks so much for the great recipe 🙂
Thanks so much Kate! 🙂
Can you use something else for the coconut butter?
Do you have suggestions for doing this without a machine? Most of the paleo ice cream recipes I’m finding need an ice cream maker, which I don’t want to buy.
You could just pull it out of the freezer every 20-30 minutes to stir it around until it hardens, but the texture won’t be as light/fluffy as what an ice cream maker would produce. I used to do it this way but it was such a pain, I eventually broke down and bought a machine. I actually found one on clearance for $7! Hope that helps 🙂
What keeps the avocado so green? Do you have to eat it as soon as it freezes?
Freezing it keeps it from turning brown 🙂
This ice cream recipe is the best! So creamy and wonderful! The avocado really makes all the difference.
I am STUNNED!! This ice-cream filled the ice-cream shaped hole that was not just in my heart, but deep in my soul. After doing AIP for 8 months, I got my blood sugar under control, lowered my A1C levels, and was finally ready to try some dessert recipies. I was skeptical and did not expect to even like the ice-cream, but it was amazing!
A couple notes: I used cacao powder because I was afraid I would hate it with carob, but I am going to try it with carob powder next time. Also, I finished off the last bit of ice-cream just after eating something salty and the ice-cream was 10 times better than before, so I think will try adding a little more salt next time.
Thank you so much for this recipe!! I love ice-cream with all my heart and now I can have it back in my life again.