Rosemary Infused Ginger Butternut Squash Ice Cream with Apricot Caramel Popcorn!
Now wait, I know what you are thinking, "Vegetable ice cream?" Well, I promise it is better than the sweet potato ice cream I tried earlier. As a matter of fact - my husband said, "This is the best ice cream you have made!" Wow! I have tried many ice creams since going vegan. I can honestly say it is the only thing I miss since becoming plant strong. (That is correct, I don't miss cheese.) So, now do you want to try this velvety rich scrumptious dessert with crunchy sweet and salty caramel corn for yourself? I will give you the recipe as best I can because, I was cooking by taste. Here it goes!
Ice Cream Ingredients
1 cup cooked butternut squash (I cut it into 2 inch "cubes" and boiled it until tender.)
1 can full fat coconut milk
About an inch of fresh ginger sliced
2 large sprigs of fresh rosemary
Orange zest of one orange
1 cup almond milk
3/4 cup agave nectar
pinch of salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
A few shakes of ground cardamon
In a small saucepan, heat the coconut milk, ginger, rosemary sprigs, and orange zest until simmering (small bubbles.) Heat for about 20 min then turn off the heat and allow the milk to cool somewhat. Remove the rosemary sprigs.
Put the squash, coconut milk mixture, and the rest of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. (I tasted here and decided to put just a little more orange zest in the mixture.) Put the mixture in the refrigerator for a few hours. (If I was on Food network"s Chopped I'd be using the blast chiller.)
Churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker. Put the soft ice cream in the freezer to harden.
Now make your caramel corn. My caramel corn was even more free form. I used coconut oil because I felt there was less chance of burning.
First pop about a third cup of popcorn without oil. I don't have an air popper so I will share my secret popcorn method. I put the kernals in a large (8 c. or larger) heavy class bowl (measuring cup) with a plate over the top. No oil. I pop it for 3 to 3.5 minutes - until there are 2 seconds between pops.
Pour the popped corn into an even larger bowl. Pre-heat your oven to 250 degrees.
I melted 1/2 c of coconut oil in a large saucepan. I added 1/4 c brown sugar, 3/4 c. white sugar, 1/4 c. corn syrup, 2 scoops of apricot preserves, and boiled the entire mixture, whisking constantly until the sugars started to string a little. I turned off the heat and added 1/2 tsp baking soda and a splash or so of vanilla. I poured the hot mixture over the popcorn and stirred rapidly then spread the mixture on a jelly roll pan.
I baked the mixture in the oven for about 40 minutes, stirring every 10 and then let it cool. My 6 year old daughter came out from her room where she was supposed to be sleeping because it smelled so good.
And that is how I created my Chopped Vegan masterpiece. I hope my recipe is a winner, but even if it isn't I had a great time creating it. I hope you will give it a try as well. Eat your vegetables! Eat Ice cream!
