Three words: Snickers Ice Cream. Happy Birthday to me!
Yes, it’s true. Yesterday was my 27th birthday and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than with ice cream – my all-time favorite food group.
Don’t worry. I haven’t sold my soul to the egg and dairy devils just yet. I’ve kept this recipe vegan and as simple as possible. That way, I can indulge with half the guilt and share it with all of you. Best community birthday present ever.
Speaking of best birthday present ever, I WON THIS CUISINART ICE CREAM MAKER in the Foodess’s giveaway! I had a suspiciously good feeling about it when I entered my name in the drawing and was absolutely floored when I received an e-mail from Jennifer notifying me I’d won!
I kicked, I screamed, I squealed. And then I responded with gratitude and my physical address. Once it arrived it was on. I wasted no time breaking it in with this luscious vegan snickers ice cream. I hope I’m doing Jennifer proud.
This ice cream is simple.
Coconut milk.
Raw sugar.
Vegan caramel sauce.
Peanuts.
Bittersweet chocolate curls.
(And a vegan snickers bar for good measure)
That’s it! And it’s so rich and satisfying that I’d almost rather it than the actual candy bar. Or on second thought, maybe I’ll have both. Yeah, it’s my birthday so I’ll definitely be having both. Hooray!
The best part about this ice cream, besides it requiring only easy to find ingredients, is that it’s fairly hands off. Once you combine your base and let it cool, you let your ice cream maker do the work.
You can make this without an ice cream maker, but it will likely affect the texture, making it icier and denser than it would be otherwise. But if it’s the flavor you’re going for anyways it doesn’t really matter. The bottom line is: You need to have this flavor combo in your mouth, STAT. Get to churning!
Vegan Snickers Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 13.5-ounce cans full-fat coconut milk (2 cans yield ~3 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 – 3/4 cup raw sugar (depending on preferred sweetness)
- 1 tsp quality vanilla extract
- 1 pinch xanthan gum (optional)
- 1/2 cup vegan caramel sauce (subbing full-fat coconut milk for the cream)
- 2 ounces quality dark chocolate (non-dairy)
- 1/3 cup roasted salted peanuts
Instructions
- Add coconut milk to a saucepan over medium heat. Add sugar, stir and bring to a simmer. Continue whisking for 1-2 minutes.
- Remove mixture from heat and stir in the vanilla extract and xanthan gum. Whisk to combine.
- Transfer to a glass bowl and refrigerate until cooled. I left mine in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours and covered it with plastic wrap once it was no longer steaming hot.
- Once the mixture is thoroughly chilled, transfer into the pre-chilled bowl of your ice cream machine and mix according to manufacturer’s instructions.
- Once the ice cream is nearly done add half of the caramel, chocolate flecks and peanuts. To make my chocolate curls I melted my chocolate first, let it cool and then ran a scraper over it to make the pieces more edible. This, however, isn’t necessary.
- When the ice cream machine stops, transfer to a freezer-safe container and sprinkle in the rest of the chocolate flecks, peanuts and caramel in layers, swirling with a knife to slightly incorporate. I also added in a Vegan Snickers Bar, but this is also optional.
- At this point you can either consume it soft, or pop it in the freezer to harden. It should keep fresh for about a week. Thaw for 10-15 minutes before serving.
Beckett says
So I’ve actually made this recipe loads of time. I can’t say enough good things about it!
I don’t add any extra snickers bar as it already took so many steps to make it without an ice cream maker, and I’ve always left out the xanthan gum as it doesn’t say what purpose it serves, but I’m about to make this for the first time in an ice cream maker (delighted!) and would love to know what the xanthan gum adds?
For anyone who’s curious, I use my own caramel sauce recipe and replace the “sugar” in this with coconut sugar as I can’t have regular sugar. And it’s overwhelmingly delicious every single time. Not to mention the vanilla base is just a great one to work with for any other mix-ins you might want to experiment with!
We’re so glad you enjoy this recipe, Beckett! Thanks so much for sharing! Xanthan gum makes it more creamy because it reduces ice crystal formation.
Susanna says
Hi! Just a quick question! I have the exact same ice cream machine and yesterday it was the first time using it. I was wondering if you also have same problem I had with it. Lots of rock hard ice cream were stuck to the sides of the bowl after churning… The ice cream was delicious!! but I was curios to see if that problem could be avoided somehow!!
thanks!
So when the churning bowl is really cold it can promote firmer ice cream on the sides. So I generally just let it set out for a while to thaw the remaining ice cream, or use a pie server or something thin to shave the hardened ice cream from the sides. Hope that helps!
susanna says
I will try to do that!! I was just curious to see if this was something that was happening to me only! Good to know I was not doing anything wrong.
Have a great week!
Jackie Dubill says
I had the same issue. I couldn’t even get it to churn there was so much hard build-up within a minute. I tried holding the lid down and ended up breaking the plastic churning piece.
In the end, we were able to hand mix it, pour it into a bowl and freeze.
The flavor of the actual recipe is wonderful so we are hoping try again after I receive my new part. Love the flavor of the coconut milk and the vegan caramel.
One other thing, the peanuts I bought, Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts, are NOT vegan. They have gelatin in them. So if you are a very strict vegan, check your peanut ingredients.
Thanks for sharing, Jackie!! That’s helpful. If it’s freezing that fast in the churner you may just be able to throw it in a container and freeze it, no churn!
Jessica @ Citrus Blossom Bliss says
This ice cream looks PERFECT!! I love Snickers so this is totally right up my alley :)
Monalisa's perfect love says
Coming back to say thank you for the recipe. i made this last Saturday for my princess, she totally loved it..
coming back for more recipes soon
Lionel says
Good post. I learn something totally new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon on a daily basis.
It’s always helpful to read through articles from other authors and use a little something from other websites.
Amber says
hi,
this may seem like an odd question, but do you actually taste the coconut (seeing as you’re using coconutmilk)? because I really don’t like coconuts… sorry for being a bother… And would it be possible to use almondmilk instead?
It does taste a bit like coconut milk. If you’re looking to do a different base, I’d recommend cashews over almond milk because almond milk will make it a big block of ice (not enough fat content). See my vegan chai ice cream recipe for that method. Hope that helps!
bakedalove says
Unfortunately, I cannot have dairy and soy is also, for the most part, a no-go as well. This ice cream was delicious. Thank you so much for posting!
Adrienne Urban says
Hey there. I am sharing this on my fan page right now. I shouldn’t — my readers are not going to be happy :). My kiddos have been BEGGING me to make this for them for a week……Take care!
Thanks Adrienne! I appreciate it!
MarianHJones says
Hope I can be your food tester. Yummy!
ayudiahrespatih says
Cant belive its vegan… It looks so amazing
Holly says
I missed your bday while I was on vacay – HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE!
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious says
Happy birthday! What a wonderful way to celebrate. And those swirls of caramel – SWOON!
natalie@thesweetslife says
1. not going to lie, ice cream makers IN YOUR HOUSE are life changing. (dangerous, but life changing!)
2. i was relieved to see that even if things are vegan around these parts, you’re still hitting up DQ for the good stuff ;)
3. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. belated, but 27th bdays call for multiple day celebrations (that’s what I’ll be telling myself next month). hope the actual day was great and that the celebrating continues this weekend. blessings for a new year!!
Angie says
Love this ice cream, looks so good!
Emma says
Congrats on winning the ice cream maker! That must have been a great birthday present, along with this incredible dessert. Snickers bars were my fave chocolate bar as a kid and I still love the salty peanut chocolate combo.
Lindsay @ The Live-In Kitchen says
Happy birthday! Ice cream is a great way to celebrate.
Mary-Clay @ Cooking With the King says
Happy birthday, Dana! This looks so wonderful! As always, your photos are gorgeous as well. I’m so impressed with every post.
Foodess says
Happy Birthday, Dana!!! Your ice cream sounds divine! My soul is already property of the egg and dairy devils, so I’ve never dreamed of vegan ice cream, but looks like you did it right! Xo Jenn
Ha! I kinda try and keep my ice cream recipes veg-friendly. I totally ate Dairy Queen last night though! Just have to keep such indulgences to a minimum :D Thanks again for the ice cream maker. Kinda made my month!
Jennifer says
Happy birthday!
xo Jennifer
Christine @ Gotta Eat Green says
Oh wow.. this looks amazing! I don’t have an ice cream maker but I think even without one this would be amazing!
Sophie says
Oh my gosh, yum!!! Happy late birthday!!
dixya| food, pleasure, and health says
Happy Birthday and Congrats on the ice cream maker :) :) so many things to celebrate and ice cream is a perfect way
Tieghan says
Happy Birthday and thank you for this!! I feel like it is my birthday with this recipe. I mean come on? It is crazy awesome. Like crazy, crazy awesome!! I love it!
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
I need to find a way for this to appear in my kitchen this weekend – heaven!
Holly @ EatGreatBEGreat says
I can’t believe it’s vegan! It sounds like the most amazing ice cream ever!
Kim @ Hungry Healthy Girl says
You had me at snickers! I love the ingredient list, too. I think it’s time to break down and buy an ice cream machine!!