Throwdown trial and error. And error. Rinse and repeat.

This weekend, my goal was to make some awesome dairy-free ice cream for my office ice cream "throwdown." I started by checking all my recipes and finding that I was missing one ingredient from each recipe. Yep, just one. From every recipe. Sigh.

A trip to the grocery store. I have the most exciting weekends. So I didn't make the first one on Friday as planned but started Saturday.

First up, coffee ice cream. Giant fail. I hate straining tiny things out of liquids. The recipe said strain twice. This is what was left, including the lovely layer of coffee grounds, after at least a dozen strains. I tried paper towels, cheesecloth, mesh....

strained down to a cup. of grounds.

I'd like to remake using instant espresso. Or brewed coffee. The ice cream base actually smelled, looked, and tasted amazing, as long as you don't mind eating coffee grounds.

Next I made cherry strawberry chocolate chip ice cream. I forgot to take a photo until I was eating a little in the office today. I liked it but my husband Mick thought he could taste the coconut milk. Hmmm.

Sunday, I made the chocolate peanut butter ice cream. The peanut butter ribbon didn't "ribbon" but mixed in. I added the chocolate chunks listed optional. Mick thought they weren't needed but also the ice cream froze too hard. I only mention that because it didn't soften as quickly as the others for the competition so most of the taste testers didn't even try it.

my ice creams :)

Only two other people brought something; one was a Belgian chocolate ice cream (I heard it was like a Frosty) and the other was a strawberry sorbet made in a Vitamix. Both were completely eaten and the chocolate won. I brought my leftover 3rd and 4th place ice creams home. I got decent feedback but it still was disappointing.

*****

I had picked this mix up at the Gluten-free Expo but I usually end up making tacos or burgers when I have ground beef. Saturday, I decided to make this. It ends with the addition of pasta sauce. I'm not sure why, but I decided to use a Muir Glen portobello sauce instead of my normal Classico marinara. I'm not sure if it was the mix or the sauce or both, but the final product looked like dog food. Or dog poo. I'm not sorry for forgetting to take a photo. It was edible but not good.

available at AJs

There were leftovers and I was not looking forward to finding a way to fix it when Mick suggested it was kind of like a stroganoff. Hmmm. I looked at some recipes to confirm that sour cream is the main missing component. Sour cream. Dairy. Hmmm.

looks like sour cream...

So I found this quick fix non-dairy sour cream and tried it with half a can of Trader Joe's coconut cream. I eyeballed the amount of salt and lemon juice. It did have a kind of sour cream tanginess, but I wouldn't eat it as a sour cream topping. For mixing in, I thought it worked pretty well. And I used regular sour cream for his.

I am not a food photographer

BTW, there was no separate liquid as these coconut cream recipes always say. I assume because I used coconut cream instead of coconut milk, although supposedly it's the same. Anyway, I decided to use the other half of the can for whipped cream, which I've read about a zillion times. Again, I eyeballed the addition of maple syrup and vanilla. It was tasty but thin.

whipping the coconut cream

So I had a big giant depressing (or treatment for depression) bowl of ice cream and whipped cream. So the texture is a little off but it works for me I guess. However, he wants me to make real ice cream for him. I'm not sure I want to use the same ice cream machine bowl for his and mine. But I have the perfect-ish solution.

My hand mixer broke a couple months ago. I've been using my other hand mixer that is actually a removable mixer for a stand mixer. This one is acting wacky, skipping the slowest setting and dropping a beater in the middle of a job, so I think it's time for a new something. I've always wanted, but never wanted to pay for, a Kitchenaid stand mixer. I see there is a highly recommended ice cream bowl attachment. That is SO mine and he can have the one we got as a wedding present (cough) years ago.

Now, someone just tell me why these mixers range so much in price and which one I should get and where I should buy it...thanks!