Peppermint stick ice cream is a serious issue around here, and I now know these issues come from both sides of the family. When I was growing up, the arrival of peppermint stick ice cream in the Schwan Man’s truck was small town news. Quantities were limited so one family couldn’t buy out the whole stash to put up in the deep freeze. In my husband’s house, arrival of peppermint stick ice cream in the freezer brought yet another thing for the youngest kid to torture his older brother with. His older brother’s mature nature to savor and spread things out over time, did not work well with limited quantities of ice cream that were quickly quaffed by my husband. I’ve since learned that my mother-in-law added greatly to the disappearing half-gallons, one little stolen spoonful standing over the sink at a time.
This year, Bobby, our Schwan’s Man gave us first dibs on his 16 containers of the season’s first…we were good and only took 6. Thankfully, making a dairy-free and egg-free peppermint stick ice cream for the rest of the family was very easy. Now we all can enjoy this little treat!
3 cups plain soy creamer ( 1 1/2 pints)
20 regular-sized marshmallows (about 1/2 bag)
1/2 cup sugar
2 T. mild oil, I use avocado, but coconut or canola would be fine
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract (more if you’d like it zippier)
6-8 mini candy canes, crushed in their wrappers
1.) Put the marshmallows in a big microwave safe bowl (I have an 8 cup Pyrex that is perfect for this)
2.) Heat for 1 minute, until soft and puffy.
3.) Whisk the soft marshmallows until smooth, then slowly pour in the soy creamer and sugar.
4.) Microwave for another 3-5 minutes, stirring every so often, until the creamer is hot but not boiling.
5.) Add the oil, the peppermint extract and the food coloring.
6.) Cool down in the freezer or refrigerator before pouring into an ice cream maker. I have a Cuisinart one that works pretty well.
7.) At the end of the freezing, pour in the packets of crushed candy canes and mix them around before transferring the ice cream to a freezer container.
Perfect Easy Dairy-Free Egg-Free Peppermint Stick Ice Cream Recipe
From the age of 14 until 20, I spent every summer working in various ice cream shops, everything from the little local stores all the way up to the big time…a real authentic Dairy Queen. At Dairy Queen, the secrets of the Buster Bar, Dilly Bar, DQ Sandwich and the Perfect DQ curl were finally revealed. I wish I could say that all those summers ruined me from ice cream, but I’m pretty resiliant. I probably eat ice cream every day in one form or another. The DQ Sandwich is still my favorite little treat, and I’m happy to present the Non-Dairy Queen Sandwich.
Now, there are plenty of dairy and egg-free ice cream sandwiches available at the grocery store made by Tofutti or So Delicious. But those are soft sandwiches, not to mention that the Tofutti chocolate cookie is made of some crazy mix of cocoa and glue because it sticks terribly to toddler fingers and teeth. These are crisp cookies, and super chocolatey. The ice cream is so easy to make, I’m a bit embarrased to post it…but after all that hard work on the cookies you deserve a break!
NDQ Sandwiches(Dairy-Free and Egg-Free Ice Cream Sandwiches)1 1/2 cups cake flour (I used Swan’s Down, be careful…Pillsbury Softasilk has egg and dairy.)
3/4 cup cocoa powder ( I used Nestle)
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 sticks (14T) dairy-free margarine, room temp ( I used Fleischmann’s Unsalted Margarine)1.) I found these to be pretty fussy as far as measuring goes. For the flour, cocoa and powdered sugar, I first fluffed up the item to be measured with a spoon or my measuring cup and then scooped with the measuring cup and leveled off with a knife.
2.) Place everything except the margarine into a food processor and pulse a few times to mix.
3.) Slice the margarine into the food processor bowl.
4.) Pulse about 8-10 times until the margarine is well blended, the mixture is still crumbly and hasn’t come together into a ball yet.
5.) Dump the crumbly mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap and form into a flat disk.
6.) Refrigerate for at least an hour.
7.) Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into 3 inch rounds or hearts. I have a really cool set of nesting fluted round cutters that I got from Amazon, which I use all the time, the biggest size is perfect. Decorate with toothpick or cookie cutter impressions if you want.
8.) Place the cookies on a parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheet and place in the freezer.
9.) Preheat the oven to 350 while the cookies freeze.
10.) Bake for 10-12 minutes. They should puff up, then flatten out. When they start smelling good, they’re probably ready.
11.) Let them rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack, they’re pretty fragile when hot.
12.) When cool, you can fill them with ice cream and freeze. Because the cookies are crisp, make sure the whole sandwich is well frozen before eating…otherwise the ice cream slides out!The World’s Easiest Dairy-Free and Egg-Free Vanilla Ice Cream3 cups mini-marshmallows or 20 big ones
3 cups Silk Vanilla Creamer (about 1 1/2 pints)1.) In a microwave safe bowl, melt the marshmallows, 30 seconds at a time. Slowely pour in the creamer, wisking everything together until smooth.
2.) Freeze in an ice cream maker. I have a Cuisinart, which works really well. Williams-Sonoma has a deal right now with an extra bowl, which is great to have.
Honestly, my kids are not for lack of frozen treats during the summer. Our freezer is full of freeze pops and other frozen juice treats. There are so many great safe options out there in popsicle world…unless you really want a creamy dairy-free fudgesicle. The two dairy-free options in the store are either the terribly pricey and oddly numbered 3-pack of So Delicious Fudge Bars for $5 or the less expensive Sweet Nothings Fudge Bars which kinda gross me out having “pea starch” as an ingredient.
Dairy-Free Fudgesicles1 cup safe chocolate chips (I’ve used Divvies and Enjoy Life)
1/2 cup vanilla or chocolate soymilk
1 box silken tofu (12 ounces)1.) In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the soymilk and chocolate chips slowly, 30 seconds at a time stirring between zaps, until melted and smooth.
2.) Using a stand blender, immersion blender or a food processor, mix the warm chocolate soy mixture with the box of tofu until smooth and creamy. A hand mixer or whisk won’t do it, you have to blend it well to get the tofu lumps out.
3.) Freeze in popscicle molds. I’m a Midwesterner. I have Tupperware ones. But I did buy them on eBay and didn’t go full Midwest and buy them at a Party.
Blue Moon ice cream is a Midwest favorite among kids, and has a cult-like following among adults as well. When I was growing up, the chance to actually pick Blue Moon for my cone came along just about as often as a Blue Moon. With four kids and lots of dribbly cones to manage, my parents limited us to flavors they actually wanted to lick. I’m probably the only kid to who truly believed that Butter Pecan, Chocolate Almond, Carmel Cashew and Butter Brickle were better than Superman, Bubble Gum, Black Cherry and Blue Moon.
Blue Moon Ice Cream for Everyday Use3 cups plain soy creamer (about 1 1/2 pints)20 regular marshmallows (about 1/2 bag)1/3 cup sugar2 T. oil ( I used avocado, coconut or canola would be fine)1 teaspoon vanillaa pinch of nutmeg1/8 teaspoon lemon oilBlue food coloring ( I used Wilton gel icing color in sky blue)1.) Put the marshmallows in a big microwave safe bowl (I have an 8 cup Pyrex that is perfect for this)
2.) Heat for 1 minute, until soft and puffy.
3.) Whisk the soft marshmallows until smooth, then slowly pour in the soy creamer and sugar.
4.) Microwave for another 3-5 minutes, stirring every so often, until the creamer is hot but not boiling.
5.) Stir in the nutmeg, vanilla, lemon oil and enough blue to do the job.
6.) Cool the mixture down in the freezer or refrigerator before pouring into an ice cream maker to freeze. I have a Cuisinart ice cream maker that works pretty well.
7.) Enjoy!
