I love being able to delight my family with holiday treats that include a twist. Traditionally, my family would serve sinfully delicious ice cream in special dishes reserved for entertaining. The kids would sit at a special table, fully decorated for the festivities. I get giddy just thinking about melding tradition with new recipes and décor that are more on trend and appropriate for my family at this time. We all grow, change and develop, and this year I will be cooking and entertaining without using dairy. The beauty of this type of change is that you don’t have to alter much in order to change a lot. Using the right products, traditional dishes can be morphed and elevated to something exquisitely better than the original. That’s what growth is about.

I use Silk Coconut Beverage, as it produces a thick and delicious ice cream. The maple syrup will help with the creamy texture, and the cornstarch helps to thicken the ice cream.

It’s your choice whether you use the vanilla bean, but given that it’s the holidays, I would recommend it! These beans are expensive, so you will want to use it well. The water that you soak it in can be added to a smoothie or used in a baking recipe. Don’t discard the vanilla bean after scraping it. You can throw it in a tub with sugar and in a week your sugar will have a beautiful flavour.

Coconut Candy Cane Ice Cream Ingredients

3 cups Silk Original Coconut Beverage

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup maple syrup (you can substitute agave or honey)

2 tablespoons of cornstarch

¼ teaspoon sea salt

1 vanilla bean pod, split and scraped

1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

4 ground candy canes

Coconut Candy Cane Ice Cream Instructions

1. A day in advance, freeze your ice cream maker churning bowl.
2. Place your candy canes in a plastic bag and use a mallet or hammer to gently break them apart. This is a great task for the kids!
3. Soak a dried vanilla bean in water. Once soft, use a sharp knife to slice the bean along one edge. Using the back of a fingernail or butter knife, scrape the vanilla seeds out of the bean and set aside.
4. In a saucepan on the stove, pour in 2 ½ cups of the Silk Coconut Beverage, setting ½ cup aside.
5. Add the sugar, maple syrup and salt.
6. Simmer on medium low heat, stirring occasionally until the sugars are dissolved. (1-2 minutes).
7. Whisk the cornstarch into the reserved coconut milk, and pour into the saucepan.
8. Increase heat to medium, and stir the ice cream base until it thickens, but does not boil. This should take about 6-8 minutes.
9. Pour in the vanilla, peppermint and vanilla bean seeds.
10. Let it sit on the counter until it gets to room temperature. Transfer to a covered container, and before you put it in the fridge, place a piece of plastic wrap over the mixture to prevent a skin from forming.
11. Add mixture directly to chilled ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions – about 20-30 minutes. It should look like soft-serve.
12. Add the candy cane pieces until thoroughly mixed.
13. Place in a covered container and freeze for at least 4 hours.

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