Chocolate Cookies ?N? Cream Soy Ice Cream

I have been enjoying Hannah’s vegan ice cream from her ecookbook A La Mode so much over the past few weeks that I was inspired to try my own hand at devising a recipe for homemade soy-based ice cream.

With so many mouth-watering flavors of ice cream out there, I was faced with the somewhat overwhelming quandary of what kind to make. I ended up going with an oldie but a goodie. One of my all-time favorite ice cream flavors is cookies ‘n’ cream, so chocolate sandwich cookies were instantly added to the ingredient list. It’s been years since I ate an Oreo cookie, but I think these cookies from Back to Nature are an excellent, non-artificial stand-in.

The ingredient left to decide on was the ice cream base. Cow’s milk? Plain soymilk? Vanilla soymilk? There were a few options, but I settled on an extra special variety: light chocolate soymilk. I’m typically not a huge fan of chocolate ice cream, but I love Silk Light Chocolate Soymilk so much that I figured it was worth a shot in this ice cream recipe. The light version is neither as sweet nor as rich as the regular chocolate soymilk, so if you’re interested in a more decadent ice cream taste, feel free to make the necessary substitution.

Another decision I made was to leave out any added sweetener. Although the light chocolate soymilk is less sweet that the original chocolate soymilk, it is still very sweet. I also figured that the cookies would add their own sweetness to the end product, and I didn’t want to induce a sugar coma by consuming loads of sugar.

I was more than pleased with the outcome of this ice cream! Churning the cookie pieces with the light chocolate soymilk base resulted in a perfectly sweet, creamy, and chocolaty ice cream. With this recipe, you can indulge both your chocolate and ice cream cravings without the guilt that can accompany consuming heavy fat- & sugar-laden desserts.

Chocolate Cookies ‘N’ Cream Soy Ice Cream

Ingredients:

3 cups regular or light chocolate soymilk
3 Tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot powder
10-15 chocolate sandwich cookies (there are vegan varieties in stores if you’d like to make this recipe fully vegan)

Directions:

In a saucepan, combine soymilk and cornstarch/arrowroot powder. Whisk ingredients together thoroughly, ensuring there are no lumps.
Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat, then reduce heat to medium low and, stirring frequently, cook until it becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 5-10 minutes).
Remove from heat and let cool.
Refrigerate until cold (allow a few hours for this step).
Chop the cookies on a cutting board, and stir the pieces into the ice cream base mixture.
Churn ice cream according to manufacturer?s instructions.
Freeze until the ice cream can be easily scooped, a few hours.