VEGAN cherry ice cream (made with coconut milk)

made up this recipe.  i'm sure it could be tinkered with.

bought a pint container of the plain coconut milk creamer from whole foods.  i've also seen it at target in the grocery section, so it isn't a "specialty" from WF.  i also bought a jar of dye-free maraschino cherries (maybe an 8 oz jar?).  i had on hand organic cane sugar, vanilla, and ener-g egg replacer (it is a powder you can find in the baking section.  it replaces the egg for baking purposes but not nutritionally.)

i started by trying to find a "normal" ice cream recipe.  the recipe in joy of cooking was for 1 qt, used both cream and whole milk, and egg whites.  so, i made up my own from that.

heat up a small sauce pan on the smallest burner you have over med-low heat.  pour about 1/3 the container of creamer in the pan and let it warm.  stir in a skant 1/4 cup of sugar and let it boil, stirring often if not constantly, for a while.  not sure how long, just a while - i'm gonna guess about 10 minutes total low boil/simmer time.  i removed it from the burner for about 15 minutes.

in a blender (i did this while the milk was warming in the pan), pour the remaining creamer in add the stemmed cherries - i left out about 5 from the jar i had.  i also poured in about 2 Tbs of the juice/syrup.  i put the lid on and let it get smooth as it would get.

when the hot milk cooled that 15 minutes, i added it to the cool liquid and turned the blender on again.  i added about 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1 heaping tsp of ener-g egg replacer (with the idea that it would thicken it, and i didn't add extra water since there is water in the creamer already).  i tasted to make sure it was sweet enough - and it was, but you may have to tweak yours.    if it needs more sugar/sweet, add syrup.  supposedly when it freezes, it will taste less sweet.

so, i put it in a large glass measuring cup and covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight.  we have one of those personal-size ice cream makers, so i put the top of that into the freezer also so it would be ready in the morning to make ice cream.

in the morning, i assembled my ice cream maker and poured in the liquid.  in about 20 minutes, it was as hard as it was gonna get.  i put it in a plastic tub and put it in the freezer.  it is wonderful.  tastes like real ice cream (which it is, just not cream-o-cow).

so, let me know if you try it. it worked out great for me. i'm taking it to mom's tomorrow to let everyone try it.  in all, it made a little over 2 cups.  i suppose that isn't a lot for some, but in my house that is plenty.  it was the perfect amount for our personal ice cream maker.