olive oil ice cream & vanilla coconut ice cream with caramel

I do not miss dairy ice cream. Usually it's full of chemicals, drugs, antibiotics and unhealthy fats. Even if that doesn't bother you - it's an abusive industry that steals baby food from another species. That's mean and weird.

But if you don't consume dairy then how will you survive without ice cream!? Do not fret: because I have something better (in every possible way). It's raw, vegan, healthy, creamy and equally delicious. Especially if you like coconut. If not, still no need to cry over spilled coconut milk; you can adjust the coconut flavour to your liking.

Today I have two majorly delicious recipes for you. The first I am sure everyone can enjoy, it is a vanilla bean coconut ice cream with a caramel swirl. The second is slightly less known but believe me - one of the best ice creams I've ever tasted. It is olive oil ice cream. I know, it sounds strange but I wouldn't joke about ice cream. It's outta this world. I had heard about it before and finally decided to face my skepticism and make it. It's hard to imagine the flavour of olive oil and ice cream complementing each other but as you taste you have an epiphany. I did, anyway.

The sweetness of the ice cream picks up the fruity tones of olive oil and the olive oil provides extra creaminess and a savoury layer of flavour to the ice cream. I'd say I just created a new pair of best friends. Apparently olive oil ice cream is pretty normal in places like Italy, which is not surprising when you think about it. Why not, right? Food is about experimentation and discovering new favourites!

I didn't calculate the nutritional information for this recipe because... well, I never do, since I don't think that it is important. As long as your diet is comprised mostly of plant-based whole foods, you're golden - and this recipe fits that category. Having said that, the fat content is probably quite high for this one so just make sure not to eat much other fat in your day.

vanilla coconut ice cream with caramel & olive oil ice cream:

Ice cream:
3 cups cashews, soaked in water for 3-4 hours
1 1/2 cups young coconut meat
2 1/2 cups coconut water (or plain water if you're not cookoo for coconut)
1/2 cup agave/maple syrup
seeds from 1 vanilla bean
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Caramel:
1 cup dates
1/4 cup vegan milk (or more, as needed)
1 tablespoon nut butter

To make the vanilla ice cream: in your high speed blender, blend all the ice cream ingredients - EXCEPT the olive oil - until smooth and deliciously addictive. Add what you think it needs then pour about half of it into a freezer safe container. Set aside.

To make the olive oil ice cream: add the olive oil to the remaining ice cream mixture in your blender and blend until it is incorporated. Now the moment of truth - taste it. AMAZING, RIGHT? Put this into another freezer safe container.

To make the caramel: blend all ingredients until smooth, adding as much liquid as needed.

If you have an ice cream maker, I'm jealous. Use it according to its instructions for each ice cream (separately). If you want a caramel swirl in your vanilla ice cream, gently stir in the caramel by hand when the ice cream is the consistency of soft serve.

If you don't have an ice cream maker (like me), put each container into an ice bath until cold. Then put them in the freezer and stir them every 30 minutes until frozen. Same directions for the caramel swirl as written above. Serve with chopped nuts and sprinkle with salt.