Dairy-free Strawberry Ice Cream

We're having a public holiday here today in honour of the Ekka, otherwise known as the Royal Queensland Show. Gotta love a day off in the middle of the week!

I have such fond memories of going to the Ekka as a child - catching the train in with huge crowds of people, feeding the animals, climbing into the rickety stands to watch the dog show, eating a dagwood dog and a strawberry sundae.

We've never actually taken the kids to the Ekka and we're not going this year either. Mr 2 still has a daytime sleep and also broke his arm a few weeks ago so has a sling on. It all seems too hard. Next year the boys will be 8, 6 and 3 which I think will be perfect for them to handle a full day out and enjoy all the different activities.

I have to say, ice cream has always been my weakness. Back when I was a bit of a sugar addict I would easily eat a tub a week (if not more). Terrible right? Well it's now been almost 3 years since I ate commercial ice cream. And I'm totally ok with that.

The ice cream they use for the strawberry sundaes at the Ekka is actually great quality, so perhaps next year my kids will experience the joy of having one.

Until then though my dairy-free strawberry ice cream will definitely satisfy everyone.

I made this ice cream a little differently than I have in the past. I know from past experience that adding strawberries can really water down the mixture making it very icy, or leave you with pebbles of rock hard frozen strawberry that will break your teeth.

This time I was careful to make the custard base extra thick and creamy and use very ripe strawberries for maximum flavour.

The result?

Just divine. Smooth and creamy ice cream with big strawberry flavour. The kids declared it to be 'the best ice cream ever' (although they do have short memories because my chocolate ice cream formerly held that lofty honour).

This really was so simple to make.

If you don't have a Thermomix, I would recommend beating the eggs, syrup and arrowroot together in a large bowl until smooth. Warm the coconut milk and vanilla in a medium pot then pour over the egg mixture and whisk together well, then pour the mixture back into the pot and stir over medium heat until the custard has thickened. The follow the instructions below for adding the strawberries, churning and freezing.

Dairy-free Strawberry Ice Cream

500g strawberries (washed, stems removed, halved)
150g rice malt syrup, divided
500ml coconut milk (full fat, from a tin)
4 egg yolks
60g arrowroot powder
2 ts vanilla extract

Place the strawberries and 40g of rice malt syrup into the mixing bowl and blend for 10 seconds / SP 5. Pour into a small bowl and set aside.

Without washing the bowl, add all remaining ingredients and cook for 7 minutes / 90 degrees / SP 4. It will be very thick and creamy.

Remove the lid and leave to cool for 20 minutes. Add the strawberry puree and blend for 5 seconds / SP 4.

Place into the fridge to cool completely (several hours).

Pour into ice cream maker and churn as per manufacturer's instructions - about 20 minutes.

Enjoy straight away as soft serve or pour into a glass container and freeze for a few hours until firm enough to scoop.

Linked up to Thriving on Thursdays.

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Dairy Free Strawberry Muffins

I feel like I've lost my baking mojo a little over the past few weeks. The kids and I have all been taking turns to get sick and I just had my first exam of the year, so time and energy has been pretty low. Every weekend I've just been baking the essentials of bread, a couple of snacks for the week and prepping some dinners.

Today though I was inspired to whip up something yummy for the boys to have for afternoon tea. The sun was shining, I had nowhere to be and there was a punnet of strawberries calling my name!

We are huge fans of strawberries but it's rare that I cook with them, they just never seem to last long enough.

Did you know that strawberries are one of the highest spayed crops? So if you can't get organic berries then washing them well is essential. I tip strawberries into a bowl, cover with water and a splash of apple cider vinegar and leave them to soak for 5 minutes before rinsing. Easy. If you have an abundance of fresh strawberries you can wash them, trim the tops off and freeze to use later.

The boys loved these muffins. They are light and sweet and packed with fresh strawberry flavour. I would like to say I know they'll freeze well but there weren't any left for me to find out!

I got 8 full muffins from this recipe but you could probably stretch the mixture to 12.

My Dairy Free Strawberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups white spelt flour
1/3 cup coconut sugar
2 ts baking powder
1/4 ts salt
1 egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup non-dairy milk, at room temperature
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 ts vanilla extract
1 punnet strawberries, washed and quartered

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 160 degrees fan-forced. Place 8 paper liners in a muffin tray and set aside.

Place the dry ingredients in a large bowl and use a whisk to combine.

Place the wet ingredients into a jug and whisk together until smooth.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix gently until only just combined. Fold through the strawberries reserving a handful to scatter on top of the muffins.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tray, about 2/3 full, and top with reserved strawberries.

Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and the top springs back when pressed lightly.

Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Makes 8

Strawberry Sorbet (Thermomix)

Does anything more perfectly say springtime than strawberry sorbet? Strawberries are abundant at the moment and so cheap that we are buying 4 or 5 punnets at a time with the intention of just freezing them. They are perfect to add to smoothies but my kids love just eating them straight from the freezer.

If you have a few extra punnets lying around then why not make sorbet?

This strawberry sorbet was our dessert on Father's Day a few weeks ago and it was so refreshing after our delicious BBQ dinner.

A lot of sorbet recipes include an egg white as this helps stop the sorbet from becoming icy like a granita. I am still a bit iffy about raw eggs (a leftover hang-up from pregnancy I think!) so I decided that adding a tablespoon of rice malt syrup might do the same job, preventing the sorbet from freezing rock hard. It worked pretty well!

This recipe is my own take on the sorbet recipe in the Everyday Cookbook which comes with the Thermomix. The possibilities for sorbet flavours are endless and I am already thinking of mango, pineapple and melon sorbet for summer.

Strawberry Sorbet

600g frozen strawberries
300g ice cubes
100g dextrose
juice and zest of 1 orange
1 tbs rice malt syrup

Put the dextrose into the Thermomix and mill for 10 seconds on speed 9.

Add strawberries, rice malt syrup and orange juice/zest into the bowl. Slowly turn the speed dial to speed 10 and blend for up to 30 seconds until everything is smooth.

Add the ice and blitz for 30 seconds, slowly increasing the speed to 10. Use the spatula to assist in incorporating the ice until it is completely smooth. Scrape down the sides as needed.

Freeze for about 20 minutes to get that perfect sorbet consistency. If freezing for longer you will need to let the sorbet rest on the bench for at least 10 minutes so it is scoopable.

Oaty Pancakes with Strawberries

I am the early riser in the family. Morning is my favourite time of the day and my alarm goes off at 5.30am every day. When the mood strikes I get up and exercise, or I'll just have a cup of tea and enjoy some peace and quiet, mentally preparing myself for another busy day with my 2 little people.

After yet another long week of illness in the food.baby household a yummy Sunday breakfast was definitely in order so that's what I spent my early morning doing.

Usually after having a breakfast of pancakes made with white flour and loads of sugar I will crash a few hours later, starving and with a headache. Recently though I've been making simple changes to our diet, swapping white rice for brown, always buying wholemeal or multigrain bread, reduced fat cheese and the like. So my challenge was to make some pancakes that the kids would actually eat while still being pretty healthy.

Oats are my breakfast of choice most days so that's what I used here and I was really happy with how these turned out. The batch of 12 disappeared in record time and with the strawberries on top it was the perfect start to our Sunday!

Oaty Pancakes with Strawberries
Makes 12 pancakes, serves 4.

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 tbs sugar
1 ts vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup almond milk (or whatever milk you like)
1 punnet of strawberries
1 tbs orange juice
1 tbs maple syrup

Wash, de-stem and halve the strawberries and place them in a bowl. Pour over the orange juice and maple syrup and toss well to combine. Leave to macerate while you make the pancakes.

In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour, oats and sugar. Add the eggs, milk and vanilla and mix until well combined.

Lightly grease a large fry pan with butter and cook pancakes over medium heat 4 at a time (or whatever will fit in your pan). You should get 12 pancakes from this mix. Cook on the first side until you see lots of bubbles start to form then slip over and cook until golden brown. Continue with the remaining batches.

Serve warm with a big spoonful of strawberries and syrup. Yum!

No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

I've made a lot of cheesecakes over the years like these here, here and here. But I can't even remember the last time I made a no-bake one! So in honour of my dad coming to dinner I decided to make this no-bake Chocolate Chip Cheesecake.

The taste test ...

Wow, seriously good! The filling is smooth and light and the natural yoghurt gives it a lovely tangy creaminess. I actually chopped the chocolate rather than grated it so I had a few bigger chunks of chocolate that sank to the bottom. Not that there's anything wrong with that! Served with fresh strawberries this was the perfect make-ahead dessert and a great alternative when you don't have time for a baked cheesecake. Two thumbs up!!!

No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
Recipe by me

250g chocolate chip biscuits
100g melted butter
250g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 x 400g tin condensed milk
300ml natural yoghurt
1 ts vanilla extract
100g dark chocolate, grated
3 ts gelatine
1/4 cup hot water

Line the base of an 8 inch springform pan with baking paper and set aside. Using a food processor, crush the biscuits into a fine crumb. Add the melted butter and blitz until well combined. Pour the crumbs into the prepare tin and smooth over the base and about halfway up the sides. Place in the fridge to set.

Sprinkle the gelatine over the hot water and set aside for a few minutes then stir to make sure it is completely disolved.

Wipe out the food processor bowl then add the cream cheese and whiz until smooth. Add the condensed milk, yoghurt and vanilla and mix well. Add the cooled gelatine mixture and whiz for 1 minute until thoroughly combined. Tip in the grated chocolate and blitz to mix through.

Pour over the prepared base then refrigerate until set, a few hours at least or overnight. Serve with sliced strawberries and a dusting of icing sugar. Serves 8-10.

TWD BWJ - French Strawberry Cake

Strawberries, cream and a vanilla genoise? Yes please!

This week we have the very gorgeous French Strawberry Cake hosted by Sophia of Sophia's Sweets and Allison of Think, Love, Sleep, Dine.

I was planning on making this to take to my mother in law's place for Sunday lunch, but we ended up going down the night before instead which meant I was in a mad rush to get the cake made and cool enough to ice before leaving. Thanks to the P & Q I knew lots of others had trouble with their cakes not rising and there not being enough cream to decorate with.

While a traditional genoise requires beating the eggs over a bain marie this recipe didn't say that. To compromise I placed my eggs in a bowl of warm water while I got everything else ready.

I took lots of care whipping up the eggs and followed the recipe to a T and was lucky enough to end up with a cake tall enough to slice into 3 (very wonky) layers! I also made extra cream and even had some left over.

The taste test ...

This was heaven on a plate. Strawberries and cream are a perfect match and when you add in a lovely light sponge cake you really can't beat it. Not much to say really other than we loved it and it didn't last long!

You will find the recipe on Sophia's and Allison's blogs.

Tuesdays with Dorie: (Not) Tarte Noire

No your eyes don't deceive you, that is definitely not a chocolate tart! This week's pick was an epic fail for me, resulting in a bowl of black sludge oozing fat. Yech. I have made ganache many times without any problems so I can only think the fat content of my cream was too high. Whatever it was it was totally unusable and ended up in the bin.

Having now run out of both cream and chocolate (soooo glad Lindt was 50% off this week so I only wasted $6 on chocolate instead of $12) I had to come up with another use for my tart shell.

Inspired by the Mystery Box challenges on MasterChef I searched the fridge/pantry and came up with condensed milk, sour cream, eggs, vanilla and lemon. Voila! The baked lemon custard tart was born!

As my tart shell was already fully baked I was a little worried it would get too dark upon baking again but I kept a close eye and had no problems.

Baked Lemon Custard Tart
(makes enough filling for 2 tarts)

400ml sour cream
1 tin of condensed milk
2 eggs
1ts vanilla paste
juice and rind of 1 lemon
2 tbs strawberry jam
Fresh strawberries and icing sugar to serve

Preheat your oven to 180/350 degrees. Place your prebaked tart shell on a baking tray. Brush the base with strawberry jam and set to one side. Combine all other ingredients in the food processor and blitz until very smooth. Pour the filling into the tart shell and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until set (firm but with a slight wobble in the middle). Tent with foil during baking if the crust is becoming too dark.

Remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature then refrigerate for a couple of hours.

To serve, carefully remove the tart from the pan and place on a serving plate. Cover the top with sliced strawberries and a dusting of icing sugar.

The taste test ...

An absolute winner! The filling tastes almost exactly like a lemon cheesecake but a lot lighter (obviously without all the cream cheese). The lemon and strawberries complimented each other perfectly and the sweet tart crust was delish as always. Hubby was really looking forward to chocolate tart but even he wasn't too disappointed to get this instead!

My apologies to Dharmagirl of bliss: towards a delicious life for completely stuffing up her pick this week! To see how it should have been done visit the other TWD bakers here.

** Blogger seems to be eating my comments for some reason. I'm not sure who you are, but if you were one of the 7 or so people who commented this afternoon and your comment isn't here, that's why! Anyone had this happen before??**

Tuesdays with Dorie: Strawberry Shortcakes

So this week Cathy of The Tortefeasor chose Dorie's Tender Shortcakes. I, having no real idea what a shortcake was, wasn't particularly enthused. Till I figured out they were big, buttery scones covered with cream and berries!

These are incredibly quick to make but just as with the Sweet Cream Biscuits from a few weeks ago, the amount of liquid/cream in the recipe was woefully inadequate. I had to add a full 1/4 cup extra to get something even resembling a crumbly, scone dough. Certainly nothing like a soft dough that you scoop out and plop on the baking tray.

No matter. These baked up buttery, golden and melt-in-the-mouth tender. Smothered with diced strawberries and a big dollop of sweetened whipped cream, you have something truly sensational!

I made just a half batch and got 7 gigantic shortcakes. Some are headed straight for the freezer.

You will find the recipe at The Tortefeasor under today's date. Thanks for a great pick Cathy!

Next week we have Raisin Swirl Bread chosen by ... ME!