Dairy-free and rich with it
Coconut milk chocolate
Full-fat coconut milk has enough fat to do everything cream does, and chocolate is generous enough to meet it halfway. Nobody at the table will feel they are eating the compromise option.
- Makes about 900 ml
- 20 min hands-on
- Chill 4 hrs
- Churn 20–30 min
- Dairy-free
Ingredients
- 2 tins (2 x 400 ml) full-fat coconut milk
- 120 g⅔ cup caster sugar
- 40 g½ cup cocoa powder
- 100 g3½ oz dark chocolate, dairy-free, chopped
- 1 tbsp golden syrup (or maple syrup)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- A good pinch of fine salt
Method
Full-fat tinned coconut milk only. The light sort is mostly water, and water makes ice.
- Whisk the cocoa, sugar and salt together dry in a saucepan, then whisk in a splash of coconut milk to make a smooth paste. Add the rest of the coconut milk.
- Bring to a gentle simmer, whisking, and let it bubble for a minute.
- Off the heat, add the chocolate and the syrup. Leave for a minute, then whisk until glossy and smooth.
- Stir in the vanilla, then blitz with a stick blender for 20 seconds. Coconut fat separates easily and this keeps everything together.
- Chill for at least 4 hours. Give it another short blitz once it is cold.
- Churn for 20–30 minutes, then freeze for 4 hours in a shallow tub.
Worth knowing
- Shake the tins before opening, or warm them in a bowl of hot water if the fat has set solid on top.
- The syrup is doing a job. A spoonful of golden or maple syrup keeps a dairy-free base from setting brick hard.
- Coconut is quieter than you expect here. With this much chocolate, most people cannot identify it.
- Blitz twice, once warm and once cold. It is the single biggest difference between velvety and grainy.
Make it yours
Five ways to change it
Mayan chocolate
Add ½ tsp cinnamon and a pinch of chilli with the cocoa.
Coconut and mango
Leave out the cocoa and chocolate; ripple 200 g of thick mango purée through instead.
Chocolate chip
Drizzle 80 g of melted dairy-free chocolate into the machine at the end of churning.
Mocha
Whisk 2 tbsp instant espresso powder in with the cocoa.
Salted
Use 1 tsp flaky salt and scatter a little more over each scoop.
If it goes wrong
Rescue remedies
The texture is waxy in the mouth
Coconut fat sets harder than dairy fat. Let it stand for ten minutes before serving, and do not skip the syrup.
It came out icy
Light coconut milk, or a brand with a lot of water and stabiliser. Look for one that is mostly coconut extract.
The base separated in the fridge
Perfectly normal. Blitz it again before it goes into the machine.
Can I use oat or almond milk?
They have far less fat, so the result is closer to a sorbet. Add 2 tbsp of a neutral oil or use cashew cream instead.