This is such an easy recipe to make… if you have an ice cream machine.* My allergy to dairy products as well as coconut has limited my ability to purchase ready made frozen desserts. A local restaurant used to offer an oats cream that was delicious but the company went out of business. So I was thrilled when I found a possible alternative recipe on-line that I could modify to fit my allergies. My son has made a chocolate variation and my grandson a vanilla one so those alternatives are listed under the recipe. As usual, feel free to modify to suit your needs.

First, in a small saucepan heat:

1 cup oats milk

1/4 to 1/3 cup gluten-free organic oatmeal (regular or quick cooking work equally well)

1/4 teaspoon salt (or this can be added later)

Bring just to a boil and turn off heat. Stir and leave to cool before going to the next step.

In a blender, process until smooth:

the cooled oatmeal mixture

2/3 cup chopped dates (Amazon has several varieties of chopped dates available including one with oat flour and another with rice flour) OR 10 large pitted dates

When well blended add:

3/4 cup nuts or seeds (my son used cashews since they are a mild nut and I use Tahini since I’m allergic to all nuts) OR 1/2 cup nut or seed butter

Blend again until smooth then add:

1 1/2 cup oat milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup instant coffee

Blend until smooth then pour into ice cream freezer and process. My machine holds four cups and usually takes about 45 minutes to churn. Enjoy immediately or freeze in airtight container(s).

If, like me, you’re always looking for ways to add protein, you can add several scoops of protein powder in the last mixture.

*If you don’t an ice cream freezer, put the mixture in a shallow pan. Put it in the freezer and in 20-30 minutes, stir it. The more frozen it gets, the sooner you’ll have to stir it before it’s frozen. This adds the air that makes the mixture creamy. Time consuming but it works as long as you don’t let it freeze too much between stirrings.

VARIATIONS:

Coffee chocolate swirl: Remove paddle from the mixture then swirl in any ready-made chocolate sauce (I found on Amazon, a sugar free chocolate syrup made with date syrup that’s delicious. It’s made with cocoa and doesn’t affect my chocolate allergy as long as I don’t add too much of it!).

Chocolate: Instead of the coffee, add 4 ounces melted chocolate (my son uses milk chocolate but any type works). Or, of course, carob works as well.

Vanilla: Delete the coffee and add double the vanilla extract along with 1/4 cup vanilla paste or 2-3 pods (the inside scrapings only not the pods themselves).