It’s official, we are having a heat wave, 6 days and counting – with temperatures over 38′C (over 100′ F), there is good reason to have air conditioning or to find a hobbit hole and dwell!
My recent kitchen gadget purchase, a Zoku - ice cream maker, has come in handy and I love the way that it takes around 8 minutes to create an ice treat (once you have prepared your mix).
I am also enamoured with new-found ability to create a hard-core chocolate shell for the paddle pop – so now my dairy allergic son gets to enjoy the experience of having a chocolate coated ice cream – he is very happy with that!
I turned to the fabulous Vegan Ice Cream Paradise blog for her chocolate ice cream recipe – it is a winner! I used my much-loved Valhrona Cocoa – just remember to reduce the amount as it is stronger in taste and complexity. And I omitted the raspberries, but please feel free to add them back in! Another tip, with all ice cream making, make sure you place your ice cream maker into the freezer 24-36 hours before you plan to use it, and always make sure your ingredients are chilled before placing into any type of ice cream machine.
You will see in the recipe that it calls for soy creamer, I can’t find this in the store so it is pretty easy to make my own, just check my strawberry ice cream recipe on how to do it.
For the hard chocolate shell, I just use a double boiler and melt some dairy free chocolate with a teaspoon or so of coconut oil – let it cool and then using the Zoku chocolate station, place the frozen paddle pop in, and ta da, chocolate coated ice cream. It sets instantly so you could eat or place it in the Zoku storage station for eating, later.
And just in case you think I am in love with the Zoku range, well yes I am and I am not even paid to say that!
