My favorite cooking gadget that I didn’t really “need” but HAD TO HAVE has been sitting unused for the past 7 months! The Whynter Stainless Steel Ice Cream Maker isn’t a cheap “Hey, might as well at that price” kind of purchase. My husband bought it for me for my 27th birthday after I had been asking for an ice cream maker for years but didn’t want to deal with the hassle of the freeze-ahead models that cost much less. I think he also was hoping I’d make ice cream every night for dessert if he got it for me. I don’t think my tummy can handle that much coconut milk though, and during my pregnancy if the craving for coconut milk ice cream has hit, there’s been lots of local places near me that can heed my craving!
Here’s the list of coconut milk ice creams I’ve tried since we’ve moved to Austin. They aren’t AIP since they contain cane sugar or agave (and sometimes chocolate) but all the flavors I’ve had are gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and soy-free!
- Lick Honest Ice Creams: My husband really likes this place. I think it’s okay. The customer service experience is always odd. The ice cream is really creamy though but the kids behind the counter are always confused about the ingredients. They say their chocolate flavors are soy-free.
- Nada Moo (store-bought): Definitely yummy in a pinch! Not the cleanest ingredients (gums, agave). The best flavors are Chocolate and Mint Chocolate Chip. The Maple Pecan tastes like gasoline.
- Sweet Rituals: basic ice cream flavors but very creamy (they use a gum in their ice cream to emulsify it but no egg) and you can get toasted coconut as a topping!
- Thai Fresh: my favorite by far because you can get a cold scoop of coconut ice cream over a warm ball of sweet and sticky rice – Thai Coffee, Thai Basil, & Lavender are my favorites! They say their ice cream is coconut milk and organic cane sugar with the flavor additions. They usually have 10 dairy-free flavors!
- Fat Cats: This one has a HUGE selection of coconut milk ice creams and toppings like coconut whipped cream and vegan salted caramel! I don’t know if it was the large serving size or what, but I got a tummy ache from their ice cream and my digestion was off for a few days – may have to try again to see if it was an off-day for me.
Organic strawberries have been on sale at Whole Foods for a couple weeks, and they reminded me of my Strawberry Milkshake from The Healing Kitchen! I based this ice cream recipe on that super simple “milkshake” recipe with some minor tweaks to make it creamier. The white sweet potato acts as the emulsifier to decrease the amount of water crystallization in the recipe caused by the freezing of coconut milk (which is 30-40% water). I don’t suggest leaving it out. I also don’t suggest complaining about how you can’t find white sweet potato. I have zero ability to control the distribution of white sweet potato to your town. Orange sweet potato would be disgusting here. Don’t even think about it. You can try parsnip (not as flavorless as white sweet potato though), raw egg yolks if tolerated, or a couple tablespoons of gelatin (not as creamy) in its place.
Sorry, but if I hear “I can’t get white sweet potato, plantain, ground beef that came from a cow named Jane who has a sister named Polly” ONE MORE TIME, I’m going to stop blogging. JK I’m being dramatic. But seriously, if I find a recipe I want to try and I don’t have access to that ingredient, I MOVE ON WITH LIFE. [Blogger rant ovah. Love you.]
Enjoy this creamy, dreamy fruit-based non-dairy ice cream!
AIP Strawberry Ice Cream
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 27 ounces (2 13.5-ounce cans) full-fat coconut milk
- 1 pint ripe organic strawberries, hulled
- 1 medium white sweet potato, cooked, cooled and skin removed
- 3 to 4 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract or the seeds of 2 vanilla bean pods (omit for AIP)
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
1. In a high-powered blender, combine all ingredients until smooth. Taste and add more sweetener, vanilla or sea salt to your liking.
2. Pour into prepared ice cream maker and run per manufacturer’s directions until cold and creamy. Serve with shaved dark chocolate or dark chocolate magic shell if not following strict AIP.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 cup
16 Responses
Hey and ty and I understand the millions if questions. But this is pretty legit……
I medium white sweet pot. Any chance on a measured amt? Meaning 1/2 cup, or 1 cup…etc…medium is a wide term. Thx for help.
Also can u halve this recipe?
Thx a lot. Donna
A medium sweet potato is about 8 ounces so about 1 to 1 1/4 cups cubed. Yes you can halve it!
Thank you!
Which type of whitennis sweet potato? I have two white skinned and purple skinned….two very different textures
I prefer the Hannah (light skin) variety!
Can you freeze after blending — do you need an ice cream machine? Thanks!
Yes, you can, but you should take it out of the freezer and over whisk a few times after an hour, after one more hour.. If you dont- you would have a hard and snowy ice cream
Our grandson cannot have coconut, would flax or hemp milk work?
It will be a little icier because those milks usually have lower fat content.
OK very annoying question coming up – do you think it matters whether the sweet potato is steamed or roasted? Because you mention water content, so I was thinking roasted may help minimise that.
thanks!
In this recipe, I recommend microwaving or dry roasting for best results! Steaming and then letting cool completely would also allow some of that water to evaporate.
thank you! 😀
Made this in an ice cream maker. Great flavor but the consistency of a smoothie. How do you get it thicker, like ice cream…time in the freezer? It was so good we didn’t give it a chance. Between me and the boys, my wife’s sweet treat vanished.
Did it not solidify in your ice cream maker? I wonder if your’s do not get as cold as mine and that may have been the issue?
When I first received “The Healing Kitchen” as a gift, I didn’t even know what a white sweet potato was and the #strugglewasreal.
Good luck to those seeking new and exotic ingredients for the first time. Never was anything adventurous about it especially coupled with feeling all the feels of combating AI and just striving to survive in a brave new world.
Try your local Asian and Hispanic groceries. If you don’t find white sweet potatoes at first at your grocer, don’t give up hope.
Sometimes they are mixed in with the orange ones and sometimes they’re in a completely separate place. Sometimes they’re labeled yams, they’re not. ?
Thankful for the sweet older gentleman in my local produce department who took the time to just talk to me with his expertise about produce. I felt like he cared and needed that that day during my quest to find the white sweet beast.
Once at the Asian market when I was just an inexperienced white sweet potato hunter, the produce guy looked at me like a deer in the headlights when I asked if they had white sweet potatoes; could have been a language barrier… but they did! Just took some detective work to locate them. That was funnier than it sounds here?
Don’t lose heart if you’re a novice at locating white sweet potatoes. You’ll get there. Stay the course. White sweet potatoes are also called camote, boniato, or batata… Cassava? I don’t know if that’s a good substitute, but I’ve used something that was labeled as that for recipes in Sarah and Alaena’s book.
The potatoes have rough, mottled skin that can be purplish or reddy with creamy-white flesh inside, and are often shaped more like turnips than potatoes.
Honestly I don’t know if I always end up with the right thing because the last one I used to make the chicken patties ? from “The Healing Kitchen” didn’t look like the description, but it wasn’t a regular baking potato. Lawd only knows.
Synonyms:
tropical sweet potato, Cuban sweet potato, boniato, white-fleshed sweet potato, batiste, batata, batata dulce, camote
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-sweet-potato_n_56e0613be4b0b25c9180663c