Two-ingredient maple caramel sauce…
Yesterday was the birthday of a close friend, and when she asked me to make my Chocolate Zucchini Brownies, I came over with the works: frosted brownies, ice cream, and caramel sauce for a small gathering of friends.
Maybe “gathering of friends” is the wrong phrase. It sounds so formal… like we were there for tea or something. A caramel brownie sundae is obviously NOT tea! We sat on the floor, stuffing out faces with brownies and licking the plates completely clean. Our sundaes looked just as beautiful as the ones in the photos… for about 2 seconds before we demolished them!
To go with the brownies, I made up a funny new version of my favorite egg-free healthy ice cream recipe… the flavor can be best described as “Pancake Batter Ice Cream.”
It seriously will remind you of eating pancake batter!
2 Ingredient Maple Caramel
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (agave also works)
- 1 tbsp arrowroot (cornstarch also works)
Combine ingredients in a small pot and whisk together. Turn stove to medium and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts to bubble, stir constantly for 3-4 minutes, then remove from heat. Fridge 1 hour to set. This gets thicker as it cools, and if you let it sit long enough it will get completely hard. (Technically you can make this maple caramel in the microwave; but watch it carefully, as it bubbles up quickly.) I’m not listing a nutrition link, as the nutrition facts will just be pretty similar to the numbers on your jar of maple syrup.
Pancake Batter Ice Cream
- 1 cup raw cashews or macadamia halves (120g)
- 1 1/3 cup milk of choice (320g)
- scant 1/4 tsp salt
- 10 drops maple extract
- 3 tbsp sugar of choice or xylitol (30g)
- 1/16 tsp pure stevia, or 2 extra tbsp sugar of choice
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Cover the nuts with water in a cereal bowl. Let soak 4-8 hours, then drain and pat dry very well with a paper towel. Now combine all of the ingredients in a blender, and blend until the mixture is completely smooth. If you have a Vita-Mix: Pour the blended mixture into 2 ice-cube trays, and freeze until solid. When frozen, pop ice cubes into the Vita-Mix by pushing a knife down one side of each piece. Blend on high, using the tamper, until a smooth soft-serve texture is achieved. Quickly scoop into individual bowls, using an ice cream scoop for authentic presentation. Eat immediately or freeze each bowl up to an hour for a perfect ice-cream texture and consistency. Although the best texture is achieved with a Vita-Mix, you can still get good results with an ice cream maker. (If you don’t have an ice cream maker or Vitamix, you can either turn the blended mixture into really delicious popsicles, or: a few readers say they’ve had success with a food processor by thawing the ice cubes a little more for a soft-serve treat.) Ice cream maker ice cream: Pour the blended mixture into one large container, and freeze 30 minutes or refrigerate 4 hours or more. Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker, and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Once a smooth texture is reached, scoop into individual bowls, using an ice-cream scoop for authentic presentation. Eat immediately, or freeze up to an hour for a firmer texture.
Any of the following milks works well in the ice cream recipe: Silk Almondmilk, canned full-fat coconut milk, homemade cashew cream (the milk version), Alpro soy cream, Earth Balance soymilk… many other milks will surely work; I just haven’t tried them. (It is probably best to use a milk with some fat.) Due to the lack of stabilizers and preservatives, as well as the lower sugar content in this all-natural ice cream, it tastes best the day you make it. However you definitely can freeze for up to a month: portion out the ice cream into individual bowls before freezing, then remove a bowl from the freezer 20 or so minutes before eating. The hard ice cream will thaw back into a smooth treat.
View Pancake Ice Cream Nutrition Facts
awh… the ice cream looks and sounds great. I just printed you recipe so I can give it a try. I assume your recipe will work in an ice cream churn? Crused around your site, love all the recipes, found a few others I plan to try.
Looks like you also mkae alot of ice cream! I have a woodshop and make alot of different things, including an ice cream scoop, end grain cutting boards (great for cutting chocolate, etc.)… check it out.
thank you for the recipe.
Michael
Your posts never fail to make my mouth water (;
Are you kidding me? This is just too freaking amazing. Everything about this is screaming my name! Pancake batter ice cream? How creative! 🙂
Wow. If only I had your food-arranging skills. Those photos are BOSS.
By the way, I recently made your frozen hot cocoa ice cream, and I thought it was delicious and super chocolatey, not at all like “frozen ice milk”. Reminded me of Italian ice, but more on the creamy side. Don’t sell those ice cream recipes short!
Meanwhile, I shall be making enormous batches of instant vegan caramel *mwahahah*
Hi! 😀
I have to say I love your blog and voted for you (even though I can’t really vote for other matters such as vegan restaurants, for I live in a country where many of those don’t exist…)
For all of the posts I have read, as well as for the comments, you are very sweet. I fell in love with your blog and intend to but a food processor soon thanks to gou 🙂
I am writting to compliment your job, but also to ask you something (I hope I am not misunderstood – you just said “feel free to ask” in a post and, as I believe you are a nice girl, I want to know the truth about all of the rumours): is it true that you once asked a forteen/fifteen years old girl to write a post for you to publish and, as you got more famous, you refused to publish it?
And that once one recipe blog girl linked back to a recipe from you because she’d made it, saying that she liked it but she believed in an eating real unhealthy desserts once in a while lifestyle, and you answered in a rude way, saying she was the meanest person ever and a shame for her parents (WOWW sorry katie this does sound dumb, I bet it was some kind of troll pretending it was you, I just read it online but it’s too strange!)
I am truly sorry for asking, I just wanted to clear thing up once I do not want to believe in that kind of stuff so easily, and I find it better this way (instead of posting in a blog anonimously complaining…)
Oh and go on with the great texts, photos, recipes and all… For as much as one does, there will always be haters! I was searching for your blog on google and “cck anorexic” showed up, so I clicked just out of curiosity to see if there were further problems with you and all of a bunch of people cricticizing showed up ! Glad the amount fans overcomes the number of haters! 😉
Thank you very much 🙂
Hi Joanne,
Thanks for taking me up on my asking offer… I really did mean it! I’d rather people ask for the truth than speculate and come up with all sorts of weird conspiracy theories ;).
The email thing you asked… haha no definitely not! Even if I saw a mean post and wanted to respond by screaming at someone in an email, I’m certainly not stupid enough to put something like that in writing lol.
About the other thing… I think maybe you mean a guest post by someone called Little Bookworm? I actually DID post that guest post, and it stayed up for many years. I just recently took the post down because I noticed that Little Bookworm no longer had a blog, and so her links on my page were “dead” links that got 404 errors.
Thank you very much for answering 🙂 I do believe that most of the stuff they say about you is not true really… You seem a very healthy person 😀
Besides, I just made your hot chocolate… How could a person who brought that up be mean in anyway? Haha
The guest post wasn’t that one, but I think it’s kind of a coincidence that the person who claims that has a mean gossip blog for criticizing people!
I think you do fine about not reading critical stuff – I’d probably freak out too, I bet it’s annoying!
Thank you again… and I look forward to drool over your posts (too creepy? Hope not haha!)
Ps: different email – 😛 I no longer the other one (just in case you notice
Is it possible to get the carmel to melt after it hardens?
Hmmm… I don’t actually know. Maybe if you let it sit out of the fridge and soften? Or maybe gently heating?
Voted for you! I love a lot of vegan blogs, and ThugKitchen is really funny, but I’ve made more of your recipes than I have from any other blog, so you got my vote. 🙂
Really love your blog!!
Pancake flavored ice-cream? What! This needs to get in my belly now! Thank you for all your creative recipes!!
This is the best ice cream I have EVER had! It was so easy to make too!
Great pictures. I am now hungry for ice cream and its not even noon yet. LOL. About the yummy cooking caramel when would you advise someone make this if they were serving it after dinner? Is this something that can be made ahead of time or does it get too hard to even pour over things after a couple hrs? Any suggestions would be great.
I made your banana breakfast pops I found on pintrest. I wrote about it in my blog, linking it back to yours to acknowlege credit where credit is due. Delish – my 4 yr old son had so much fun eating breakfast on a stick. Huge smiles all morning long! Thanks you are so creative!! http://noreservations4lunchdinner.blogspot.com/2013/08/5-ingredient-easy-healthy-banana.html
Aw thank you so much for trying them… I loved your post 🙂
Katie, let me just say…
I just discovered your blog today, and while I haven’t tried any of your recipes for myself yet – you have already made me a very, very happy woman.
That’s right. Just looking at all of these amazing recipes is a complete joy! I am the token baker in my inner circle and I pride myself on cooking everything I make with healthy, whole foods ingredients – I can’t tell you how many times I have edited recipes and experimented to make foods suitable for friends with dietary restrictions: gluten free, sundry allergies (peanuts, chocolate, latex), low carb, the list goes on… but almost inevitably, I end up investing all this time and energy in foods that do not support my own needs. I am miserably lactose intolerant and prefer vegan baking by and large, though this often seems to translate into desserts that require long lists of absurdly expensive or difficult to acquire ingredients, using processed substitutes I’d rather say “no” to or investing more time than I am reasonably able into baking up treats that should be enjoyable to make and to eat – not stressful.
Enter this blog. My *absolute favorite* part is reading the lists of ingredients: short, sweet (literally :D) and most of them are items I already have in my pantry.
… the ingredients list is usually the part where I roll my eyes at recipes, asking myself if I really need to shell out eight bucks for another item I will only use once – good heavens, I have every kind of oil, flour, starch and sugar known to humankind in my kitchen as it is, do I really need another one? – or if I’m willing to spend three hours on a multi-step nightmare of a task.
But I don’t see any of that here, thus the dilemma ends! So thank you for creating a blog that is friendly to the down-to-earth kitchen enthusiast who does not live within 300 miles of a Whole Foods. I really appreciate the time and effort you’ve put into all of your recipes – and generously sharing them with the rest of the sweet tooth-afflicted world. <3
You’re perfect and my total inspiration! I literally tell everyone about your blog hahah. I aspire to one day have something like this, I just love what you’ve done and the large audience that you’ve captured with your awesome treats. Thanks so much for always sharing wonderful recipes!
This kind of made my day 🙂
I absolutely love this website. I visit it everyday. Thanks so much for making healthy eating fun and easy!! 🙂
Pancake batter ice cream, mm good! 😀
Pancake batter is gross! but this looks good!