Yes, I am still making ice cream in the fall. I can’t help that I started making ice cream during the beginning of this pandemic and it became my main hobby through the spring, summer, and now the fall. It’s still warm outside so I’m going to keep going and creating fun flavors until someone stops me! Or until it drops below 40 degrees. Which unfortunately may be sooner than I hope.
For those of you following me, I live in California and work on job locations throughout the country (and international) for film production. Well, I hopped on a plane to Philly in January for a job that was finishing up in April. Until the Corona decided to make an appearance and everything was shut down in days! Being immunocompromised, not knowing anything about this virus back in March, and wanting to avoid travel, I decided to get in my car and drive up to stay with my parents in Massachusetts ‘for a few weeks’, while the virus settled.
Cut to… OCTOBER and I’m still here. Our job is back up and running in Philly now, but I am working remotely from home, errr, my childhood bedroom. I am homesick to say the least, but don’t think I’ll be able to make it back home to California until end of the year, or maybe even after the holidays! I am trying to make the best of it by embracing the New England seasons; appreciating the warm summer nights and beautiful changing of the leaves for the fall. Something I never appreciated when I lived here.
So, I was inspired by all things fall when I decided to make this ice cream. Because come on, how fun is it?! I am a huge Halloween fan and these just remind me of October! I’ve always been a fan of fun holiday creations, I guess I’m just a big kid at heart.
Ok, get those ice cream bowls frozen and whip out your natural food colorings, let’s make some candy corn ice cream! The best part? It contains gelatin which is very healing for the gut and great for digestion… so we can add this to the gut healthy desserts list.
What’s in this Candy Corn Ice Cream?
Coconut Milk: You’ll need the full fat, canned kind here. You can use any other full fat milk or creamer, but make sure it has a higher fat content so it’ll become ice cream and not icy milk
Honey: this is what makes it taste like candy corns! You can swap this out for any other sweetener but it’ll just be more like a vanilla ice cream
Vanilla Extract: This adds a nice vanilla flavor to the ice cream. You can substitute this for vanilla paste
Sea salt: This balances out the sweetness in the ice cream, but can be omitted
Gelatin Powder: This is what gives your ice cream a nice, thick creamy texture and less icy out of the freezer. Make sure it’s unsweetened
Natural Food Colorings: I use Color Kitchen Food Colored Powers, they are all natural made from plants and are so vibrant! You’d never know! They mix in well too and don’t stain your fingers for days.
What you’ll need for this Candy Corn Ice Cream:
Ice cream maker (optional but recommended!)
Saucepan
Whisk
A bread pan or airtight container
Ingredients:
2 cans of full fat coconut milk
1 tbsp of unsweetened gelatin powder
6-8 tbsp of honey
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Sprinkle of sea salt
Natural food coloring drops or powders, Yellow and Orange (I use Color Kitchen Foods)
Make the ice cream:
If you are using an ice cream maker, make sure your ice cream bowl is frozen in advance.
Add cans of coconut milk to a saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin on top. Let sit for 3 minutes until a skin forms, and then whisk it into the milk.
Turn on your stove to medium heat and add in the honey, vanilla and sea salt. Start with 6 tbsp of honey and taste, if you want more honey flavor, or sweeter, add another tablespoon until your desired sweetness. The more honey you add, the more the ice cream will taste like candy corn! I recommend 8 tbsp (1/2 cup)
Heat your mixture until it reaches a low boil, then turn down and let simmer for 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool until just room temperature. Then transfer into an airtight container and refrigerate until completely cold. Overnight is best. The mixture should firm up like a pudding/jiggly texture
Once cold, transfer to your ice cream maker and churn for 20 minutes, or until ice cream is ready, per your machine. If you skip this step, your ice cream will not be as creamy but will still taste great. (You would just mix your cold mixture well until it’s smooth, skipping the churning).
When you have your honey-vanilla ice cream ready, divide it into three bowls evenly. Add one packet of orange to one bowl, and a one packet of yellow to the another bowl. Mix them in until you have a nice even color. You can add another packet of color if you want your colors to be more vibrant. Leave the last white bowl as is.
Now layer your ice cream in a small bread pan (or elongated airtight container) in three rows, starting with the white. Scoop the orange in the middle, and the fill the rest in with the yellow. So it looks like a candy corn! Optional to sprinkle real candy corns on top.
Place in freezer to set, about 45 minutes. Scoop and enjoy! It may take up to 30 minutes for your ice cream to be scoopable out of the freezer once fully set.
Recipe notes:
You don’t have to churn this ice cream but I highly recommend it. It makes it nice and creamy, and ice cream makers aren’t intimidating! If you decide to omit this step, just use your mixture out of the refrigerator, and mix really well before dividing into the bowls
You can use less honey but this is what makes it taste like candy corn! I’d start with 6 tbsp and add more from there. If you want less sweet, start with 4 tbsp and add from there.
As always, leave comments, ratings or questions below!
xo Stephanie