GBBO Week 5 - Dairy Free Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Another great week of the Great British Bake Off, and this time it was all about alternative ingredients. The first challenge was all about making sugar-free cakes – my argument about this challenge really was that sugar was used in all the bakes…honey and agave syrup still are sugar-packed – it’s just not refined sugar (like caster or brown sugar)…apart from that the challenge was interesting – I actually loved the simplicity of Alvin’s pineapple upside down cake, but Ugne’s cake disaster reminded me of many of my own :(

The second challenge were gluten free pitta breads. Paul’s recipe had a really strange ingredient – psyillum powder…I really wanted to make these but couldn’t find this powder on such short notice. I did try a different recipe however, which I will hopefully post about soon.

The third challenge were dairy free artic rolls – traditionally a log of ice cream wrapped in a fatless sponge that has been coated with jam. I adored Paul’s tropical beach, and Nadiya’s bake was simply stunning. However it was Ugne’s peanut butter ice cream that intrigued me the most, so I decided to give this a go this weekend. I based it on a recipe found here.

I loved this recipe - I didn't have an ice cream maker so had to resort to the traditional way of making ice cream. Even with this hinderance however, the ice cream tastes fabulously soft and creamy.

Ingredients:

For the ice cream:

1x 340g can full fat coconut milk (I tried using light coconut milk but the ice cream didn't set as well)
80g smooth peanut butter (we made our own! See notes at the bottom for details)
110g runny honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For a peanut butter ripple:

1tbsp unflavoured oil
3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp honey
¼ tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. If you are lucky and have an ice cream maker, make sure that the insert is frozen and ready to use!

2. In a food processor (we used a nutribullet), combine the coconut milk, peanut butter, honey and vanilla extract, and blitz until smooth. Chill for at least half an hour.

Now if you have an ice cream machine, simply pour the ice cream mixture in, and follow your ice cream maker’s instructions.

3. If like me, you don’t have an ice cream machine, pour into a tub. Freeze for an hour, then pour into a food processor and briefly blitz (to get rid of ice crystals) – repeat twice (freezing an hour in between).

4. Whilst the ice cream is freezing/churning, make the peanut butter ripple (this adds extra sweetness to the ice cream so it’s well worth making). Simple stir together the oil, peanut butter, honey and vanilla extract until a smooth paste is achieved. You can adjust the sweetness by adding more honey if preferred.

5. After three hours of freezing (the traditional way), or after churning, pour in the peanut butter ripple goodness and swirl in.

6. Freeze the ice cream until completely solid (I left it overnight). To make it the creamiest possible ice cream, I gave my ice cream a blitz in the food processor after chilling overnight - which is why the ripple is not too visible here. I'd recommend doing this if you don't have an ice cream churner.

7. Enjoy!

Notes: To make your own peanut butter, use a food processor (I highly recommend nutribullets), to blitz down 200g roasted peanuts and 1 tsp unflavoured oil. We used slightly salty peanuts, but previously have used dry roasted (these were amazing but not suited for ice cream...). Keep processing until smoothness is achieved.