Lemon Poppy Seed Ice Cream
While serving this ice cream to my daughter, I taught her the “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream” ditty. Not having heard it before, she thought it was pretty funny and ran around to everyone else saying “Say I scream!”
I realized after I titled it, however, that it’s probably more like a gelato than ice cream.
But does it really matter? It’s cold, it’s delicious, it’s refreshing. And a secret ingredient.
It’s also good for you, in so many ways, from lots of calcium to soothing the soul. But there’s no dairy (although you can use cream if you wish). There’s no egg either.
Can you guess what I thickened it with?
Chia seeds! In a highspeed blender, those little black seeds of goodness blend up nice and small, full of omega-3 and calcium.
And they blend right in with the poppy seeds. Poppy seeds are a popular ingredient in sweets here in Slovakia. While newly formed poppy seeds are the source of opium, ripened and dry seeds are perfectly safe and drug free, although they purportedly have a relaxing effect. Additionally, they are a very high source of calcium and manganese – just 1 Tbsp has 13% of the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) of calcium! They also have a decent amount of magnesium (the mineral in the spotlight that everyone is low on), phosphorus, zinc, and copper.
To make this ice cream I used homemade coconut milk. If you use bought coconut milk that has a lot of coconut cream, you won’t need the extra coconut oil. You can use any other milk, dairy or otherwise, but unless you add cream keep the coconut oil as it makes a huge difference in taste.
The amount of honey called for makes a refreshing ice cream but not overly sweet. Taste test before freezing to add sweetener to your taste. You can also substitute for your sweetener of choice.
Ingredients
- 3 cups/700g homemade coconut milk (or other milk)
- 1/4 cup/50g chia seeds
- 1/3 cup/77g lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 1/2 cup/140g honey (or sweetener of choice, to taste)
- 1/4 cup/50g coconut oil or ghee, melted
- 3 tbsp/35g poppyseeds (preferably soaked for two+ hours)
Instructions
- If you would like a smooth textured ice cream, add the poppy seeds at the beginning. If you would like little whole crunchy poppy seeds, add them at the very end.
- If you don't have a high speed blender, first grind the chia seeds (and optionally poppy seeds) before mixing with the milk. If you do have a high speed blender, pour the coconut milk and chia seeds in the blender and let sit while assembling the other ingredients.
- Add all the ingredients to the blender, blend on high until all the seeds have been pulverized, about a minute. Chill and follow the instructions for your ice cream maker.
- If you don't have an ice cream maker, freeze the mixture in a container (something rectangular). When frozen, dump out the ice cream and cut into chunks. Put the chunks in a high speed blender (I don't know if a food processor would work) and blend, tamping down to keep the thick mixture moving. Pour back into the container and freeze again.
- Alternatively, freeze mixture in container and whisk (then stir) every half hour until frozen.
- Scoop and enjoy a refreshing treat!
An attempt to capture that classic food in hands look, foiled by ‘me too! me too!’ from a number of different quarters. Soon we had melted ice cream in a bowl.
Originally published at Whole New Mom
May 23, 2014 @ 06:36:23
Naomi – your culinary creativity astounds me. Where on earth did you find chia seeds here??
May 23, 2014 @ 07:50:22
I’m blushing 🙂 Thank you! A friend sent us the chia seeds I used from Mexico, but I’ve seen them in bio shops too. I think flax seeds might do the trick as well, and are much easier to find and cheaper!
May 23, 2014 @ 10:12:22
Ej, tusim prideme na zmrzku 🙂
May 23, 2014 @ 14:08:32
Pod!
Aug 07, 2014 @ 16:19:41
love the combination!
Aug 07, 2014 @ 18:05:56
Thanks!
Apr 20, 2015 @ 16:11:01
The ice cream sound so refreshing. I like the addition of the chia seeds.
Apr 22, 2015 @ 10:38:02
Thank you!
Jun 07, 2017 @ 03:22:32
I am absolutely going to try this! Looks amazing!
Jun 07, 2017 @ 11:13:30
I need to make this again too!