Chocolate Coconut Honey Ice "Cream"--Dairy Free!

Chocolate Coconut Ice "Cream"

This is another great recipe from our favorite vegan, Emily.  (Thanks, Emily!)  It's delicious, creamy and couldn't be simpler, made as it is with just coconut milk, cocoa and honey.

Instead of honey, Emily uses agave syrup--a nice alternative for those vegans who eschew honey.  There is, in fact, a great debate about whether honey can be included in a vegan diet. For more on that debate, check out this Slate article as well as this page on the Vegetus website. For the record, the Vegetus site argues that beekeepers exploit honeybees, a point we obviously dispute.  We can appreciate someone making a decision not to consume any animal or animal-created foods (like honey or milk) on principle, and Vegetus author offers a thoughtful and thorough discussion. Yet most of the foods that vegans enjoy are available because of the industrious (and indeed at times exploited) honeybee. As backyard beekeepers, we prefer to think that instead of exploiting them, we're helping them to thrive.

Whew! After that lengthy detour, it's time to enjoy some delicious ice "cream," don't you think?

Chocolate Coconut Honey Ice "Cream"
As Emily notes, the recipe comes from the Detoxinista website, with helpful directions for how to make it if you don't have an ice cream maker.  I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to give the flavor a little bump.

Just poured into the ice cream maker

1 14-oz can coconut milk
1/4 plus 2 tablespoons cocoa (I used Hershey's dark cocoa)
1/4 cup honey (or agave or maple syrup if you insist!)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whirl all of the ingredients in a blender and pour into an ice cream maker.  If you've made other more traditional ice creams before, this will look a bit more runny than most ice cream bases.  Have faith! Process in the ice cream maker for about 20 minutes until it is the consistency of soft-serve ice cream.  You can spoon it out into bowls right then and enjoy. Or, if you want the ice cream to be a bit firmer, place in a freezer-safe container and freeze for a few hours. This is best eaten within a day or two (I could barely stop myself from eating the whole thing in one sitting!.)

What it looks like when it's done

Ready to eat!

Flourless Chocolate Coconut Cookies

When my sisters and I were little, we'd beg my mother to make boiled chocolate cookies, which were more like candy than cookies and made with cocoa and oats.  They were the perfect way to satisfy a sweet tooth when we didn't want to wait for cookies to bake.  These flourless chocolate coconut cookies remind me a bit of them--though these are baked and not boiled.  They're rather candy-like in a chewy way and they come together very quickly.  I did have to wait 10 minutes for them to bake, but it was worth it!  I'd make one tweak to the recipe:  the cookies were a bit too big and they'll be smaller the next time I make them.

I found this recipe on a blog called Healthful Pursuit, which is the creation of Leanne Vogel, a holistic nutritionist.  Though I wouldn't make a meal of these, the basic ingredients--cocoa, honey, coconut, eggs and vanilla extract--make them at least seem like they're good for you. Make up a batch for your Easter basket!

Flourless Chocolate Coconut Cookies

1 cup coconut (I used unsweetened, but you could use sweetened if that's all you have)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup honey
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix well to combine.  Using a teaspoon, drop cookies onto a cookie sheet, forming cookies that are about the size of a walnut.  Bake for about 8-10 minutes until the cookies are firm to the touch and can be easily lifted from the sheet.  Makes about 12-15 cookies and the recipe is easily doubled.

BONUS RECIPE!  MOM'S BOILED COOKIES!

Well, I couldn't mention Mom's Boiled Cookies and not give you the recipe. These cookies don't have a lick of honey in them, but they're very good!  (Mom's secret ingredient is peanut butter.)

2 cups sugar

4 tablespoons cocoa

1/2 cup milk

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, cut into chunks

3 tablespoons peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/2 cups rolled oats

In a sauce pan, mix sugar, cocoa and milk until well combined. Add butter.  Place pan over medium heat and bring the mixture to a rapid boil, stirring to mix in butter as it melts.  Boil rapidly for one minute.  Remove from heat.  Add peanut butter and vanilla and stir.  Add oats and mix until well combined.  

Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper. Cool.  Makes enough for three sisters and a mom! :)