Cinnamon Cashew Ice Cream (vegan)
Cinnamon + cashews
When I decided to make Cinnamon Cashew Ice Cream, I figured the flavors would taste good together, but I had no idea they’d taste like Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. This is a good thing! On its own, the ice cream is rich and creamy, with lots of cinnamon flavor, and subtle nuttiness from the cashews. But it also makes a great backdrop for other flavors, so feel free to get creative with toppings or mix-ins. See the notes below the recipe for some ideas to get you started.
Cashews as a vegan ice cream base
I had heard that cashews make a good base for dairy-free or vegan ice cream, but had hesitated to try them. I thought blending them would be a pain. In fact, they’re not any more difficult to work with than any other nut in creating an ice cream base, except that they need to be soaked before blending. If you have a high-powered blender, like a Vitamix, you could probably skip the soaking step. I use a food processor, and while soaking isn’t absolutely necessary, it does make the nuts blend much more quickly.
Bonus pudding!
Cashew Cinnamon Ice Cream uses the simplest possible method: blend, chill, churn. You can even skip the churning step if you like. Once chilled, the base makes a great pudding.
For more vegan ice creams based on nut/seed butters, check out: Pistachio Ice Cream with White Chocolate, Trail Mix Ice Cream, or Salted Date, Tahini, and Cardamom Ice Cream.
Cinnamon Cashew Ice Cream (vegan)
Makes ~ 1 quart
Ingredients
Instructions
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SOAK (optional, but helpful)
Place the raw cashews into a bowl and add the almond milk. Leave to soak on the counter or in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. This step is not strictly necessary, but it will help the cashews blend more easily and smoothly.
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BLEND
Use a slotted spoon to scoop the cashews out of the almond milk, letting most of the almond milk drain off. You could also strain off the almond milk, but either way, save the milk! Place the cashews into the food processor. Process until the cashews make a smooth paste, adding back the almond milk slowly as needed to aid in processing. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the food processor as necessary to get everything blended.
When the cashews are completely smooth with no graininess, add the remaining ice cream ingredients and blend until fully incorporated.
(The picture shows everything being added to the food processor at once, but I discovered that blending the cashews alone at first achieves a smoother result more quickly!)
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CHILL
Transfer to a container and chill in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight.
For a quicker chilling time, place the bowl containing your mixture in an ice bath (a larger bowl containing ice water) for a few hours. Stir the mixture occasionally. As the water in the ice bath warms up, pour off some water and add ice to keep the mixture chilling as quickly as possible.
When fully chilled, this ice cream base is thick like pudding, because of the cashews. In fact, if you skip the churning, you can have delicious Cinnamon Cashew Pudding.
Ideally, the mixture will be about 40 degrees when you churn it.
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CHURN
Before you start churning, set up everything you'll need to quickly transfer the ice cream from the machine into a container for freezing. I use a knife to scrape down the dasher (or paddle) and a wooden spoon to scoop out the ice cream.
Set up your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Pour (or scoop) your mixture into the ice cream maker and churn. Because this mixture is thicker than many ice cream bases, it churns more quickly than most. In my machine the perfect churning time is 8 minutes, but your experience may vary.
The ice cream is ready when it has the consistency of soft serve and has started pulling away from the edge of the canister.
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STORE
When the ice cream has finished churning, scoop it as quickly as possible into your storage container. Cover it with plastic wrap or parchment paper, if using. (Placing a sheet of parchment paper between the container and lid will help prevent frost, or you can press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the ice cream.) Put the container in the freezer. The ice cream will be fully firm in a few hours.
Note
Suggested toppings/accompaniments:
- Caramel sauce
- Caramel sauce + dried or freeze dried apples
- Chocolate sauce
- Fresh berries
- Whipped cream (vegan or regular)
To create a mix-in, wait until the last minute of churning to add it to the ice cream maker. Adding the bits too early will mean they sink to the bottom. Alternatively, you can layer and swirl them into the ice cream as you transfer it to your storage container. I like using 1/2 to 3/4 cups (~2-3 oz). It's usually enough to get a little mix-in in every bite of ice cream.
Recommended equipment: (may include affiliate links)
- My ice cream maker (2 qt)
- Newer version of my ice cream maker (2 qt)
- Well-reviewed less expensive ice cream maker (1.5 qt)
- Insulated ice cream container
- Heat-proof spatula
- Immersion/hand blender
- Standard blender
- Ice cream scoop
- Measuring cups
Recommended ingredients: (may include affiliate links)