I Scream I Scream We All Scream for Ice Cream

Ice cream, sorbets, granita...yes please. Last Friday was "frozen desserts" day. We made a variety of different frozen desserts ranging from classic flavored ice creams to unusual flavored granitas. I was in charge of the chocolate ice cream. The word "chocolate" in the recipe title should have been bold and capitalized. Even with the absence of eggs, cream, and milk it was the most decadent chocolate ice cream to have ever touched my lips. To make it vegan, I used a coconut milk, almond milk base and added two tablespoons of cashew butter for extra richness. As a thickener I used Agar. Agar is a sea vegetable in a flake form that acts as a natural thickener (like corn starch) without adding a flavor. The most critical ice cream connoisseur would NOT have noticed it lacked dairy.
After completing my assigned ice cream we were asked to create an improv ice cream in groups of four. Our group took one look at the available ingredients and decided on "mojito ice cream". A twist on one of the ultimate spring/summer cocktail. To make it we steeped fresh mint leaves in almond milk, added rum, maple crystals, and lime. Once it was thickened, we churned it in an ice cream maker which turned the mixture into a blissful creation. This ice cream was worthy of a menu position in the top ice cream parlor. To rim the glasses we boiled down maple crystals into a candy and broke it up to resembled salt. The added maple crystal "salt" as a glass rim put a margarita twist on the final presentation, but we still called it a mojito.
The high-quality ingredients and freshness of the frozen desserts we created came through in the flavors. I was pleasantly surprised that the ice cream made with coconut and almond milk had the same creaminess as the one made with cream and eggs. I dipped my spoon in all of them (a couple of times).