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No churn Cherry Amaretto Ice Cream

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  • Author: Alice Pagès
  • Prep Time: 3 hours
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
  • Yield: 8 servings 1x
  • Category: dessert
  • Method: freezer
  • Diet: Vegan

Description

This no churn vegan cherry amaretto ice cream is the perfect summertime dessert. It is very easy to make and doesn’t require an ice cream machine. It combines the deep flavor of cherries with crunchy gluten free amaretti cookies and a soft banana ice cream. 


Ingredients

Scale

Ice cream

  • 3 frozen bananas
  • 1/4 cup full-fat coconut cream
  • 1/4 tsp almond extract

Amaretti cookies

  • 1/3 cup oat flour (see notes)
  • 1/3 cup almond meal
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tbsp melted coconut oil (or aquafaba for an oil-free version)
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 1 pinch of salt

Cherry sauce

  • 220 g pitted dark cherries
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup 
  • 1 tbsp Amaretto liqueur (optional)
  • 1 tsp cornstarch 

Garnishes

  • 1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks

Instructions

Ice cream

  1. Peel the bananas and chop into small pieces. Place the banana pieces in a freezer-safe container or a freezer bag. Freeze until solid, for at least 6 hours or ideally overnight.
  2. Place the frozen banana pieces with coconut cream into a small food processor or a high-speed blender and pulse to break up. At first the mixture will look crumbly, but keep pulsing until you get a perfectly smooth and creamy ice cream texture, with no chunks. This process can take a few minutes. Scrape down the food processor as often as necessary. If you have difficulties to blend the bananas, add a little more coconut cream to help the process.
  3. Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container and place in freezer while you prepare the rest of the ice cream components.

Amaretti cookies

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
  2. Mix the oat flour, almond meal and salt in a large mixing bowl. 
  3. Add the maple syrup, melted coconut oil and almond extract, and mix to combine until a dough forms. The dough should be thick and firm, a little wet but not too sticky to be shaped. If the dough is too dry, as a little more maple syrup. If too sticky, add a little oat flour.
  4. Using your hands, divide the dough in small bite-size pieces and roll between your hands to form balls. Arrange the balls of dough on the lined baking sheet, and with the palm of your hand gently press on top to flatten and shape little round cookies. Bake for 10 minutes.
  5. Remove from the oven and transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. Allow to completely cool down. The cookies will dry and become very hard while cooling down.

Cherry sauce

  1. Rinse and stone the cherries. Place all the ingredients in a small pan, mix to combine and bring to a simmer. Mash the cherries with a fork to release their juice. Then reduce to low-medium heat and allow to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cherries are soft and break apart.
  2. Transfer the sauce to a bowl and place in fridge to chill and firm.

Assembly

  1. Once the Amaretti cookies are dry and the cherry sauce has firmed a little, it’s time to assemble the ice cream. Roughly crush half of the cookies into small pieces and keep the remaining ones whole. 
  2. Remove the chilled ice cream from the freezer and give it a good whisk. 
  3. Transfer one third of the ice cream into a serving container or an ice cream tray or a loaf pan. Pour cherry sauce on top and sprinkle with crushed and whole cookies, and dark chocolate chunks. Repeat these steps until all the ice cream is used. Finish with a generous drizzle of cherry sauce, chocolate and cookies.
  4. Place in the freezer for at least 2 hours to firm up before serving. Once the ice cream is fully frozen it will be quite firm. Set out for 10 minutes before serving to soften.

Notes

  1. Make your own oat flour by mixing whole oats in a blender or food processor until finely ground.
  2. Make your own almond meal by mixing whole blanched almonds in a blender or food processor until finely ground.
  3. To make the Amaretti cookies, you can use either coconut oil or aquafaba in the same quantities. The aquafaba or chickpea brine is the liquid leftover from cooked chickpeas. The easiest way to get aquafaba is directly from a can of chickpeas.
  4. For an express version, you can replace homemade Amaretti cookies by store bought almond cookies.