My recent trip to Hugo’s for vegan soft serve ice cream (click here to read the post) inspired me to try and create some vegan ice cream of my own with Japanese sweet potatoes as the base. I am in the midst of pumpkin fever and wanted make some pumpkin flavored vegan ice cream that was health conscious along with being truly creamy and decadent.
This was so easy to make and the results were so good that I can’t wait to make more and more flavors. I am dying to make a chocolate version, but my son is requesting peanut butter and since I am a big fan of anything PB, I am sure I will go that route next… I am happy to score some points wherever I can!
INGREDIENTS 3 cups cooked (fresh) Japanese sweet potato, peeled 1 cup So Delicious Original Creamer 1 cup canned organic pumpkin ¼ cup yakon syrup 3-4Tbs. Somersweet*** or Stevia to taste 1 vanilla bean (or alcohol-free vanilla extract to taste) 1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice ***Somersweet no longer contains Acesulfame K. It’s ingredients are Inulin, Erythritol, Fructose, and citrus peel extract ~To cook the Japanese sweet potato steam them until softened (mine took 30 minutes) and then bake them at 400-425 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-30 minutes. I learned this technique from my Chinese in-laws and it makes sweet potatoes and yams sooooo sweet and creamy. It is my experience that when a sweet potato or yam in only steamed they have a slightly watery texture. Baking the sweet potatoes after steaming them makes them creamy every time.
Place all of the ingredients into your high speed blender and blend until very smooth. I blended mine long enough that the mixture was warm. Although I have not tried it, I am sure it would work ok in a food processor as well (make sure you periodically scrape down the sides).
Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. You may decide to cool the mixture in the fridge first; I poured it straight in to my ice cream maker.
***A little side note…sometimes taking photographs by yourself can get messy. Notice anything funny about the pic above??? My depth perception was messed-up since I was looking through the camera and I ended-up pouring some of the ice cream mixture onto the counter, down the cabinet, and onto my feet. After cleaning up, I took the picture below and actually made it into the ice cream bucket. Sheesh!!!
If you have any of the ice cream left and freeze it, make sure you take it out of the freezer 15 minutes before serving so it can soften a bit.
For a printable version of this recipe click here.
