An alternative to my dark chocolate ice cream, this recipe contains less cocoa powder, with most of the chocolate coming from plant-based milk chocolate. Basically just a veganised version of the Gelato Messina milk chocolate gelato, it’s really hard to go wrong with, quick to make and so, so good.
When I made this flavour, I used Whittaker’s oat milk chocolate. Naturally not everyone is going to have access to this brand; it’s widespread in Australia and New Zealand, and is exported to some other countries, but doesn’t seem to be available in Europe, the UK or the US. The brand doesn’t really matter, though – if you can find a good vegan milk chocolate, try it in this recipe. It’s fantastic.
Vegan Milk Chocolate Gelato
Time: 30 minutes (active), 6 hours (total)
Makes: 1 Litre
Ingredients
| 650 grams | 3% Fat oat milk |
| Powders | |
| 80 grams | Sucrose (White sugar) |
| 40 grams | Dextrose (D-glucose) |
| 10 grams | Maltodextrin |
| 10 grams | Cocoa powder |
| 5 grams | Stabiliser, such as xanthan gum |
| Fats | |
| 200 grams | Vegan milk chocolate |
Directions
- Combine all the powders in a bowl and whisk together until they are evenly distributed. Heat the milk in a double boiler over medium / medium high heat. While the milk heats, slowly incorporate the powders, whisking constantly.
- When the milk-powder mixture hits about 80°C (175°F), add the milk chocolate, mix it through and take it off the heat.
- Place the ice cream mixture in the fridge once cool enough and leave it there until cooled to 4°C (40°F) or overnight. Sometimes I like to move the mixture to the freezer for the last half hour to get it as cool as possible and help with the churning process, but don’t leave it long enough in the freezer that it starts to solidify.
- Use your stick blender again to homogenise the mixture a bit before churning it (for about 30 seconds or until it has a nice, even consistency). Next, pour the custard into your churner and leave it running until fully churned. Being ‘fully churned’ is hard to judge without experience, but your ice cream should have increased somewhat in volume and look a bit denser than soft serve. The time needed will vary dramatically depending on your churner.
- You can serve your ice cream as soft serve now if you like, or you can put it in the freezer to harden to your desired level. If it’s been in the freezer for more than 12 hours or so, you might need to give the ice cream a bit of time to soften at room temperature before you serve it.