Summer is on it's way...

...how do I know? You may well ask! When my children are running around in their underpants, when the sky is blue with not a cloud in sight...when the mosquitos are attacking in their droves..THAT, my friend, is when i know that summer is on it's way. And so it begins, the endless calls for icecream! I dug out the old icecream machine yesterday, and remembered to stick it in the freezer last night, so today we were ready to go.
After a short debate on which flavour to go for, on this, the first spin of the year, we settled on chocolate. Always a crowd pleaser in this house of chocolate lovers...i have made it my mission to find the very best recipe for dairy free chocolate icecream. And i have to confess...THIS IS IT! I have taken tips and pointers from a few different sources, and it has been a bit hit an miss trying to find the perfect dairy free milk with which to create my icecream but I can now reveal my findings...i used coconut milk (not the canned stuff with the heavy cream) this coconut milk comes in a carton (much like a milk carton) and is thicker and fattier than soya milk.
 I used 2 cups, and added 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil to up the fat content a little more- this mixture i put into a pan with 2 oz chocolate (dairy free of course), and 1/3 cup of cocoa, heat until the chocolate is melted and then stir so that it all comes together in a glossy chocolate milk. Take off the heat, and while the mixture is cooling, in a clean bowl, seperate 4 egg yolks and add 1 cup of sugar. Beat the eggs and sugar mixture, and then add the chocolate milk 1 tablespoon at a time, (you must let the mix rest in between each spoonful so that you so not end up with scrambled eggs).

When you have added all the chocolate milk to the eggs, and it is all mixed together, return the mixture to the pan and boil for 2 minutes. Now you need to cool your mixture for at least 1 hour before you put it into your icecream maker. My icecream maker takes about 25 minutes to turn the mixture into softserve icecream, but i prefer mine to be firmer, so i then turn the icecream into a container and back into the freezer it goes for an hour or so.

Now, you might have noticed that you are left with 4 egg whites....what luscious thing can we do with those??? Ah, I know-MERINGUES! Place 4 egg whites into a bowl (not plastic) and whip until it makes peaks when you lift the beaters out of the bowl. Then add 115g sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until you have incorporated all the sugar,and the egg whites are glossy and stiff.

Line a cookie sheet with baking paper, and spoon the egg whites onto the paper in whatever shape you like. Into the oven at 100C for 1 and 1/4 hours et voila.... Icecream with meringues...dessert fit for a king!