Vegan bounty ice cream bites

These luscious, chocolatey vegan bounty ice cream bites are reminiscent of the chocolate bar we all know and love, but with out the dairy! Made with dairy free chocolate and a coconut ice cream its sure to satisfy those chocolaty ice cream cravings.

I have been on a bit of a coconut kick lately. Who doesn’t love the winning combination of chocolate and coconut? If that’s you, you may want to check out some of my other ice cream recipes. Otherwise read on!

When I was developing this recipe with a coconut base it just made sense to use dairy free chocolate, making these a dairy free and vegan treat. If dairy free chocolate isn’t your thing you can of course make this with regular milk or dark chocolate.

Tips and tricks

• Blend well to ensure the mix is nice a smooth. No one wants gritty ice cream.
• Freeze the bites well. You want to make sure they are as cold as possible before dipping them in chocolate
• Work fast and return the bites to the freezer as soon as possible after dipping in chocolate

Ingredients and substitutions

Coconut cream – is commonly available from supermarkets and asian stores. I do not recommend substituting the coconut cream with coconut milk. The fat content isn’t high enough and you ice cream will be more icy.

Coconut sugar – is commonly available from supermarkets and asian stores. The sugar gives the bites a more natural creamy colour instead of the bright white of traditional bounty bars. You can substitute the coconut sugar with the same amount of castor sugar if you prefer.

Dairy free chocolate – available from supermarkets and health food stores. You can substitute it with regular milk or dark chocolate.

Roasted cashews – help give the ice cream a lovely creamy texture. I use roasted cashews here for extra flavour. You can use raw cashews if you prefer. I have not tried this recipe with different types of nuts. Cashews make some of the most creamy non dairy ice cream, so if you use another type of nut its likely your ice cream won’t be as creamy.

Coconut oil – I have used unrefined coconut oil here for extra coconutty flavour. You can use refined coconut oil to. Both will help thin the chocolate and make it easier to dip the bites and have a smoother, less waxy mouth feel when eating after the bites have been frozen.

Optional extras

Desiccated coconut – is finely grated coconut, commonly used in baking. It helps give the ice cream some texture and extra coconut bite . Be sure it add the desiccated coconut towards the end of churning the ice cream, so as not to clog the paddle of the churner.

Xanthan gum – sometimes called vegetable gum, is a fermented by product. It’s used to commonly in gluten free baking and a huge variety of other products to thicken and stabilise food. Its often used by vegans and those with egg allergies as an egg substitute.

You only need a tiny amount, just one gram. Its better to measure this with a pair of digital kitchen scales that go down to .1 grams . If you don’t have scales measure out one quarter of a tea spoon and make sure its a flat quarter tea spoon at that.

You can leave it out if you prefer. Your ice cream may be more icy, but will still taste delicious!

To make the vegan bounty ice cream bites

First, make the cashew butter. If you’ve made my blueberry cashew ice cream or coconut blueberry ice cream you’ll already know how easy this is.

To make the cashew butter

Put the roast cashews into the bowl of the chopping bowl of an immersion blender or food processor. Blend until the mix starts to resemble bread crumbs, then add the coconut oil. Blend blend blend until you have a smooth butter and its no gritty any more.

To make the coconut ice cream

In a large bow you can use an immersion blender in, add the coconut cream, coconut sugar, salt and vanilla. Whilst the blender is running carefully sprinkle in the xanthan gum, if using. Continue to blend for one minute to ensure the xanthan gum is well mixed in.

Hot tip: shake up the coconut cream first, to try and blend in the solids. Even then you may need to scrap the tin lid and insides to get all that creamy coconut goodness out.

Chill the mix well for at least four hours, ideally over night. If using a self churning machine, turn it on about ten minutes before you churn your ice cream. Other wise take the churning bowl out of the freezer right before churning. While the ice cream churner is chilling, put the mini muffin moulds in the freezer to chill.

Churn the ice cream. It will be the consistency of soft serve when done.

Working quickly mix in the desiccated coconut. Fill mini muffin moulds to about two thirds full and smooth out tops. Return to freezer to harden u.

Hot tip: If you have any left over ice cream after filling the moulds, or making individual bites is just to hard you can make this in a container. Melt some with a teaspoon of coconut oil. As you are filling your chilled container with ice cream, drizzle spoonfuls of chocolate and some extra desiccated coconut if desired. Continue, laying ice cream and drizzled melted chocolate until all the ice cream is used up. Put into freezer to firm up.

Line a baking tray with paper. Remove from moulds and trim if needed. Return to the freezer to firm up. You want them to be very cold before dipping them in chocolate!

To assemble the ice cream bites

Cut up chocolate into small pieces and melt. This can be done in a microwave in short 30 second bursts, checking in between, or you can use a double boiler. Mix in the coconut oil.

Working very quickly remove ice cream from moulds and dip into chocolate and put into baking paper. Sprinkle with shreaded coconut. Do not wait until end to sprinkle the coconut as the chocolate will set to quickly and the coconut won’t stick. Put the bites into freezer as soon as done to firm up ice cream.

To serve

Remove from the freezer, eat and enjoy!

Storage

These vegan bounty bites can be stored in a airtight container lined and layered with baking paper in between for up to a week. They will still taste good after this but the ice cream may start to go a little icy in the freezer.

Looking for more allergy friendly recipes? You can find my collection here of egg free, dairy free or entirely plant based and vegan recipes.

Have you made this recipe? Tell me how it when in the comment below and tag me so I can see your delicious creations! @KCAEIC or #KCAEIC