
For a 800g base (which fits nicely in 1L machines):
Ingredients
- 400g Silken Tofu (50%)
- 150g Oat Milk (18.3%), you can use any milk, but oats match the tofu flavor
- 50g Coconut Oil (6.3%), use neutral tasting oil
- 50g Glucose (6.3%)
- 150g Sugar (18.8%)
- 2.4g Commercial Stabilizer (0.3%), or any other stabilizer
- 1.6g Salt (0.2%)
Procedure
- Smooth the tofu. Place the tofu in your (1L) curing container and whisk until smooth and even, then set aside in the refrigerator.
- Mix the dries. In a small bowl, mix the sugar, stabilizer, and salt.
- Boil the base. Place the milk, oil, and glucose in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat, and cook, whisking occasionally to discourage scorching, until it comes to a full rolling boil.
- Add and cook. Whisk the dry mixture into the pot. Reduce the heat to a low simmer and continue cooking for 2 minutes, whisking to prevent scorching. Remove the pot from heat.
- Chill. Immediately (optionally strain) the ice cream base in a shallow pan or ice bath. It is ready when the base is at least room temperature. Add the base to the container with the tofu and whisk (or use a hand blender) until evenly combined.
- Cure. Transfer the cooled base to the refrigerator to cure for 4 hours, or preferably overnight, or at most 3 days.
- Churn. Place (strain) the base into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The ice-cream is ready when it thickens into the texture of soft-serve ice cream and holds its shape, typically 20 to 30 minutes.
- Harden. To freeze your ice-cream, immediately transfer it to a container with an airtight lid and store it in your freezer until it hardens completely, between 4 and 12 hours.
I've made this many many times, and the texure is as good as normal ice-cream. With this recipe you can still infuse the milk with anything you want, you can infuse the base while curing, or add swirls/toppings. You really can just treat it as any normal ice-cream. It has a slight "hay/soy/grain" flavor, which is think is delicious just as-is. But as soon add any flavoring this is overpowered and it thus becomes a perfect base recipe.
See the calories, macro's, and ice-cream composition here: https://imgur.com/a/s6gBAw9. The ice-cream also has about 75% the calories of a normal ice-cream. It matches the "definition" of a frozen yoghurt with 8% fat, 25% sugar, and 6% MSNF, and 60% water.
by Eggywontgrow
3 Comments
Just to add some background: I wasn’t on the lookout for vegan recipes, but I was on vacation in Japan where I came across a small family owned place that sold tofu-based ice-creams and they were delicious. So that experience made me want to try my own tofu ice-cream. I started with tofu+milk+cream, but figured I might as well make it vegan by substituting milk>oat milk and cream>coconut oil, adjusting the other ingredients to maintain good ratio’s.
I do sometimes prefer vegan, like with dark chocolate, but I know I’m an exception because I really dislike the milk flavor (that lactic acid flavor, even if subtle), so this is a great base for me, specially for fruity flavor that I also don’t like with milk.
Adding silken tofu is a game changer!!