Homemade Vegan Black Sesame Ice Cream

I was ecstatic to hear that my good friend, Alyssa was planning a visit to my home this afternoon so I prepared a special ice cream mixture for her last night.  The mixture was chilled in the refrigerator this afternoon and I was planning to throw it into the ice cream maker while she was here.  Alyssa and I ended up spending our day lounging around at the Redondo Beach Pier trying to duck under the sea gulls and pelicans that were flying so close by our heads. 

The view at the beach was spectacular and we sure do appreciate Southern Cali weather during the winter!

We didn't have time to make ice cream when we returned to my home and she left me with a tub of homemade ice cream.  I was a little sad when she left without trying my ice cream but then I thought, "Hey!  More Ice Cream for me!"  This dessert is pretty decadent so one scoop usually satiates our appetite.

 

  

Homemade Vegan Black Sesame Ice Cream

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 can of coconut milk (Approximately 14 ounces.  Not the light version)
• 3 tablespoons of black sesame seeds (throw in a food processor and pulse a few times to break up seeds and release oil)
• 1 tablespoon of tahini (you can omit if you don't want a strong nutty flavor)
• 1/2 cup of sugar (you can use sucanat or turbinado)
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt

1. In a sauce pan or small pot, add coconut milk, black sesame seeds and tahini before turning on the stove.  Turn on stove to high heat while you are stirring the mixture for one minute to keep it from burning or sticking to the bottom of the pot. 
2. Turn the stove down to low heat and continue stirring for 5 minutes to ensure that the oils from the sesame seeds are infused into the coconut milk. 
3. Turn off the stove and add sugar, vanilla extract and salt to the mixture.  Stir for one minute to ensure that the sugar is mixed into the coconut milk. 
4. Set aside the mixture and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.
5. When the mixture is chilled, pour into ice cream maker for at least ten minutes.  Spoon and serve.  If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can place the mixture into the freezer after it has been chilled and return to the freezer every 30 minutes to use a spoon to stir the mixture until it has a creamy thick ice cream consistency.