Strangely for Vegetarians, we don’t consume a whole lot of soy. We eat tofu around once a week and have a carton of soy milk hanging around for cups of tea, but more often than not the last little bit goes off before being consumed. I prefer to use fermented soy products like tempeh and miso and use rice, almond and coconut milk more than anything else. However, when I saw soy ice cream at the supermarket recently, I thought one little tub might be a nice change from these, to help keep us cool in this crazy summer heat. Back home in NZ there was only one brand of commercially made ice cream available that was both dairy and gluten-free, but it seems Sanitarium must have been reading this post, because their ice cream is now not only dairy-free, but gluten-free too!
For a really special treat I whipped up a batch of dairy-free sauce using coconut milk, good quality dark chocolate and a touch of brown rice syrup. You can serve it warm or leave it to cool slightly, thickening more so as it does. Or chill it in the fridge until truffle-like and eat it straight from the spoon, minus the ice cream! I won’t tell…
dairy-free chocolate sauce
I would usually use coconut cream in place of regular cream in recipes but had 1/2 a can of coconut milk hanging around the fridge needing to be used so went with that instead. I’d use whatever you have. The coconut cream will produce a slightly thicker, richer sauce. But coconut milk is delicious too! You can find brown rice syrup in the health-food section at your supermarket (in Australia, Coles and Woolworths stock it) or track it down at your local health food store. It’s a lovely not-too-sweet sweetener, but I reckon agave nectar or possibly maple syrup would also work just as good if you can’t find it. Use your favourite dairy-free chocolate for this recipe, the higher the cocoa solids % the better, I use Whittaker’s 62% dark cacao.
makes approx 1 1/4 cups
- 170g dark chocolate, see head notes above.
- 1/2 cup (125ml) coconut milk/cream
- 1/4 cup (60ml) brown rice syrup
- generous pinch of fine sea salt
Place all ingredients into a heat-proof bowl sitting over a pot of boiling water. Heat, stirring with a whisk until the chocolate has melted and the sauce is smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool to room temperature. It will slightly thicken further as it cools.You can serve warm if preferred, or chill slightly in the fridge before serving over scoops of your favourite dairy-free ice cream. Top with chopped toasted nuts if desired.
Will store in a covered container in the fridge for up to one week. If sauce thickens too much in the fridge, simply reheat in the bowl over a pot of water again.
This recipe is linked to:
And is this months entry to Sweet New Zealand, being hosted by Arfi from HomeMadeS.
13 Responses
Absolutely luscious and I love the first shot with the thick dribble – screen lickable! 🙂
This sounds incredible. I love the pairing of dark chocolate and coconut… will have to try making some of my own. Hmm… am thinking brownie ice cream sundaes now 🙂
Your sauce looks so delicious!!! I love that first shot with the sauce oozing down the bowl.
I've been using coconut milk and cream a bit recently, so I love that you've used that here. I will have to give this a try.
i had soy ice cream for the first time this past weekend, i was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. i have relied heavily on soy products and i am in the need of branching out to rice & almond alternatives.
this sauce looks just like the most perfect complement to ice cream!
It looks great! Do you think it would work with raw cacao instead of chocolate?
Sorry, I'm not sure as I've never worked with raw cacao before. Let me know if you try it and it does!
I reckon that sauce with coconut milk will taste better than regular!
I think it does taste better!
Very delicious indeed! Love anything coconutty 🙂 my favorite dark chocolate is Lindt, is has such a lovely melting point.
Oh yes please drizzled over some vanilla ice cream 🙂
I just made myself coconut palm and pandan ice cream today, will use your chocolate sauce recipe for it for tomorrow shoot. Thanks for your submission, Emma. Thought you might like to submit more recipes?
Love,
Arfi
I totally love this – don't know why I've never thought of using coconut cream to make chocolate sauce before. Chocolate and coconut is such a great flavour combination. I make an ice cream out of Nutella and coconut cream which is also divine.
Love your ice cream scoop too 🙂
sue xo
Nutella and coconut cream ice cream sounds amazing! I found my ice cream scoop at a opp shop and was so stoked when I found it as it's just like the one my Nana has always had 🙂