Black Sesame Ice Cream

Gary and I usually don’t agree on the same flavors of ice cream. When I ask him for his suggestion on the next ice cream flavor to make, he usually asks me to make a sorbet instead. Whoa, it’s like the Twilight Zone! Years ago, he was all into the ice cream, eating a whole quart in one sitting. Me, on the other hand, would have a fruit bar or popsicle in my hand. I was always lazy to scoop ice cream. I loved how convenient popsicles were because I could just grab it out of the freezer and have instant gratification. Ice cream on the other hand had to be scooped, and sometimes it would be hard to scoop, and I had little patience for that. How times have changed since then.

When I asked Gary if he would like black sesame ice cream, his eyes lit up! Black sesame desserts were something we both grew up with. They sell little pouches of instant dessert mixes in the Chinese supermarkets in flavors like black sesame or peanut (both of which we have in the pantry). It brings back memories of my childhood because my mom used to make it for us…however I vaguely remember her grinding up sesame seeds and making it from scratch.

If Gary had said no, he wasn’t interested in that flavor, I would have made it as written. I knew he would have been interested so I had already looked up dairy free alternatives for the ingredients. The recipe came together very nicely. The dairy free sweetened condensed milk actually tasted like the real thing! Gary loves coconut flavor, me not so much. The “half and half” had a hint of coconut flavor without being too overpowering. Gary also said it looked like cement when it was done…LOL!

This recipe is vegan if using the dairy free alternatives.

Black Sesame Ice Cream
inspired by: The Cooking of Joy
printable recipe

ingredients:
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (dairy free version below)
3 1/2 cups half and half (dairy free version below)
2 pouches black sesame instant powder mix

for dairy free sweetened condensed milk, adapted from Go Dairy Free:
combine 3/4 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1 cup plus 2 TBSP soy milk powder in a nonstick saucepan (otherwise you’ll have a tough time cleaning your pan afterwards) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook until thick, about 15-20 minutes. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool. Milk will thicken more as it cools. Store in refrigerator if not being used immediately.

for dairy free half and half, adapted from Go Dairy Free:
Combine 1 3/4 cup coconut cream to 1 3/4 cup soy milk (1:1 ratio). I used a coconut cream powder mixed with water for the coconut cream.

directions:
Whisk together all ingredients.

Store in fridge to chill.

Freeze in ice cream maker per the manufacturer's instructions.