Coffee Cashew Ice Cream
on Jul 15, 2015, Updated Jan 12, 2025
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This Coffee Cashew Ice Cream is ultra thick and creamy thanks to the raw cashews and vanilla cashewmilk! You’ll never suspect it’s dairy-free and vegan!
Here it is the middle of July and I bet many of you are in the heat of summer. I can’t complain about the heat too much here in Colorado. We’ve had a couple “hot” days where it’s been around 95 degrees, but that’s nothing compared to my days growing up in Arizona.
It’s about this time of year that not only are most days 105-110 degrees, but the humidity goes up and even at night it’s miserable! So when I say I can’t complain about 95 degrees here, I really mean it, I know what hot is!
My favorite way to cool down on a hot day is with a scoop of ice cream. Growing up in a hot climate I pretty much wanted ice cream every day! This may explain why ice cream is my favorite dessert.
A few summers ago I finally got my own ice cream maker and I have to say it’s one of my favorite kitchen gadgets. I of course love making traditional ice cream with cream and eggs, but this time I decided to give vegan ice cream a try.
Recently Silk came out with both vanilla and chocolate cashewmilk. Being both a vanilla and cashew lover I knew I had to give the vanilla version a try.
Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy chocolate every now and then, but I have always been a vanilla lover at heart. The cashewmilk was so creamy and had a rich vanilla flavor, I knew it would be the perfect dairy free substitute in the cashew ice cream.
While I could have just stuck to vanilla cashew ice cream, I opted to add in a cup of coffee and some instant espresso powder because 1) I am a coffee addict and I say that with no shame 2) my husband is a sucker for coffee ice cream and 3) vanilla is a great flavor enhancer to coffee.
Not only does this coffee cashew ice cream use the creamy cashewmilk, but it also uses raw cashews. The cashews are soaked in water overnight so they become soft. Once they were soft I added them to my high speed blender along with the vanilla cashewmilk and pureed the mixture until it was smooth and thick.
To the cashew cream I added a cup of brewed coffee, sugar, espresso powder, and vanilla bean paste, then blended it again until it was completely combined and smooth. The ice cream base chilled in the fridge for a couple hours then I put it in my ice cream maker and churned it until I had some of the creamiest ice cream I had ever eaten!
For a little extra coffee flavor I mixed in a few chocolate covered espresso beans, but it’s totally optional. If you’re like me and need a cold sweet pick me up on a hot summer day, then you have to give this dairy-free, vegan, Coffee Cashew Ice Cream using creamy Silk Vanilla Cashewmilk a try! I bet you won’t even suspect that it was made with cashews!
Coffee Cashew Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups raw unsalted cashews
- 1 cup vanilla cashew milk
- 1 cup brewed coffee, chilled
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup chocolate covered espresso beans chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Place the bowl of the ice cream maker in the freezer and let it freeze overnight.
- Place the cashews in a bowl and cover them with water. Let the cashews soak for at least 4 hours or overnight. Drain the soaked cashews and add them to a high speed blender along with the vanilla cashewmilk. Blend the mixture until it is thick and smooth.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients to the blender except the chocolate covered espresso beans and blend until smooth. Refrigerate the ice cream base until it is cold, about 1-2 hours.
- Pour the ice cream base into the prepared ice cream maker and follow the manufacturers instructions. During the last minute of churning add in the chopped up chocolate covered espresso beans.
- Once the ice cream has finished churning, pour it into a loaf pan or other freezer safe container, cover, and freeze until hard. The ice cream will freeze hard so allow 10-15 minutes for it to sit out before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Thanks to Silk for sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own.
More Vegan Desserts
Vegan Strawberries and Cream Popsicles
Pumpkin Espresso Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Gluten Free Peach Crisp
Going to make this today. I couldn’t find vanilla cashew milk. How much vanilla extract would you recommend using??
Hi Deb,
I would add an extra 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract on top of what the recipe already calls for.