Candy Cane Ice Cream. Vegan. Gluten-free

Every year, the same question reveals itself right about this time in January:

What should I do with all those leftover candy canes?

Answer: Make candy cane ice cream!

The funny thing is, this is the first year I've actually done it. I bought some really awesome candy canes for everyone's stockings this year that I was particularly excited about. They are vegan, gluten-free, and about as natural as a stick of sugar can be. They are called Tru Sweets. I grabbed them at my local co-op grocery store, but I also saw them at a local, natural foods store, so I'm sure if you put in a little research in the next 11 months, you'll be able to find them too.

I had four left over, as you can see, so I ground them up in my nut grinder and got to work looking for a vegan candy cane ice cream recipe. This is the one I found, from A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise.

I decided to change a few things, for a few reasons: to use what I had on hand, and also to try out the flax milk from Good Karma foods (stay tuned for an upcoming review). Thus, my recipe turned out to be:

Ingredients:
3 c. Good Karma Vanilla flax milk
1 c. coconut cream (scooped out from the top of a refrigerated can of full-fat coconut milk)
3/4 c. Alter Eco golden brown sugar (fyi: this made the ice cream tan in color)
2 T. cornstarch
1 t. vanilla extract
2 t. peppermint extract
4 candy canes, ground up

The process is pretty much the same as on the blog I got it from, but I'll write instructions here for sake of ease:

Method:

1. Mix together the cornstarch and 1/4 cup soy milk. Stir well and set aside. 
2. In a stovetop pan, gently heat the milks and sugar, stirring infrequently. When the mixture begins to boil, remove it immediately from the heat. 
3. Stir in the slurry, which will make the mixture become a bit thicker. Mix in the extracts and set in the fridge to cool.
4. When the mixture is cooled, freeze according to your ice cream maker instructions, adding the candy cane pieces before putting into the freezer.