Fantastic Frozen Soy Desserts - Recipe

Vegetarian Journal, July, 2001 by Debra Daniels-Zeller

Sizzling summer days and cooling, creamy frozen treats naturally go together. But if you re looking for something nondairy with low fat content, but that still has a creamy texture, a short trip down the frozen dessert aisle in your local market usually reveals a limited selection if you're lucky (although in many areas it is getting better). With a few basic recipes, your own creativity, and flavor enhancing suggestions, you can create your own fabulous frozen soy desserts. Ice cream makers are relatively inexpensive, easy to use, and they make a succulent, creamy, textured dessert, but they aren't absolutely necessary. You can make frozen desserts, puddings, and soysicles without using an ice cream maker.

Before you start, look through the following recipes and select the type of dessert you want. For soysicles and puddings, you need only decide on the flavor, blend the mixture, and pour into a container or individual molds. You can buy popsicle molds in most housewares sections of department stores. Still-frozen desserts (made with the same recipes without using an ice cream maker) require mixing every half hour until frozen. This takes about three hours. Use a hand blender or mixer until the mixture gets too thick, then stir by hand until mixture has reached the desired consistency. For best results with an ice cream maker, blend all the ingredients except the agar (a marine algae used as a gelatin substitute and found in Asian markets or natural foods stores in the sea vegetable section) and water or juice the day before you make your dessert. This gives the flavors a chance to marry and gets the mixture cold before making your frozen dessert.

For the creamiest texture, the mixture should be as cold as possible before pouring it in the ice cream maker. Place the ice cream maker base in the freezer at least 8 hours before making your dessert. (I keep my base in the freezer, wrapped in a plastic bag, when I'm not using it.) When mixing your frozen soy dessert, turn the ice cream maker on first, then pour the mixture in. Let it churn for 35 minutes. (If you pour your dessert into the cold base before turning the machine on, some of it will stick to the sides and develop a grainy, not smooth, texture.) Most ice cream makers direct you to mix until it thickens--about 20 to 25 minutes. But, if you wait until it is very thick and ice cream-like (just 10 more minutes) you will have a much better texture. Carefully sample the mixture to make sure it is the consistency you want before you turn the machine off. (This is the fun part--save this task for yourself!) Then transfer the frozen dessert into individual serving dishes and enjoy.

If possible, serve the dessert immediately. You can freeze it in pint-size containers for up to two hours before serving. As the mixture sits in the freezer, the frozen water molecules begin to link up and form large ice crystals. So the longer the mixture remains in the freezer, the more the texture will change from smooth and creamy to hard and grainy. This change in texture is also due, in part, to the lower fat content--the very creamiest of ice creams often have 15% to 16% butterfat. Fat molecules prevent water molecules from linking up, and thus the texture remains creamy for longer storage. If you do freeze it for a few hours, the ideal freezer temperature is between 10 and 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Any colder than this and your dessert will soon be a very solid block.

Feel free to experiment with any of the following recipes, changing flavorings but keeping the same proportion of tofu or beans, sweeteners, liquid ingredients, and agar. The salt helps boost the flavor, especially if you use an alternative sweetener such as a fruit sweetener or preserves. Once you have the basic recipes down, take a stroll down the ice cream aisle in your local grocery store for more flavor ideas. There is no end to flavors, additions, and toppings you can try once you get going.

So what are you waiting for? Go forth and have some frozen dessert fun, be creative, and impress your family and friends with these delightful frozen soy treats.

VERY VANILLA SOY TREAT

(Serves 4-5)

This is an easy recipe to begin with, and you can see how easy frozen desserts are to make. Add chopped fruit, nuts, vegan candies, or your favorite toppings when you're finished churning. If you can't find amazake, a naturally sweetened rice drink, in your natural foods store, use vanilla soymilk and increase the sugar by 2 Tablespoons. Sample the mixture for sweetness before churning. Add more sugar, if needed, and blend in.

2 vanilla beans, slit down the middle,
  or 1 Tablespoon real vanilla extract
1 cup vanilla-pecan or almond shake
  flavor amazake
10 ounces firm silken tofu, drained
1/4 cup vegan granulated sweetener(*)
1/8 teaspoon salt
Pinch of nutmeg
2 Tablespoons canola oil
2 1/2 teaspoons agar or agar agar
3/4 cup water

Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla beans, if using, and combine them (or extract) with the amazake, tofu, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and oil in a blender. Blend until creamy. Pour into a container and chill for at least a few hours.