The littlest Fagan just celebrated her 4th birthday, and this soon-to-be-chef had been planning her party menu for months.  At the top of her list was The Pioneer Womans’ Blackberry Chip Ice Cream.  Well, unfortunately for my tiny girl, a few days before the big shebang, we were told by her new doctor to avoid dairy and refined sugar.  Huh.  This placed quite the damper on our birthday party edibles.

But never fear, dairy alternatives are here!  While big sis was at school, my little chef and I transformed our kitchen into a recipe test kitchen.  We tinkered away for a few days and came up with a fabulous dairy free, refined sugar free version of The Pioneer Woman’s ice cream.

I hope you enjoy this summer treat as much as we did!

Dairy Free Ice Cream

Put 1 cup blackberries (these can be fresh or frozen) and 1/2 local honey in a blender.  Blend until smooth and set aside.

Pour 2 13.5 oz cans of coconut milk into an ice cream maker.  Switch the ice cream maker on and allow to run for 3-5 minutes.  To the coconut milk, add 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Once the vanilla is incorporated, add the blackberry/honey mixture.

Allow the ice cream maker to run until you notice a creamy consistency begins to form.  Then add 3 oz. dairy free chocolate chips (we used these).  Run the ice cream maker until the chocolate chips are evenly distributed throughout the ice cream.

Store in an air tight container in the freezer until you are ready to eat.  (I suggest taking the ice cream out of the freezer about 5 minutes before you intend to serve it because the coconut milk tends to freeze pretty solid.)

Enjoy!

*A note about all my recipes:  I use all organic ingredients, local when available.  I use non-homogenized milk, and all of the dairy we use is from animals raised on pasture. I also use oils that are non-GMO verified.  All our meat is raised locally on organic feed, and our beef is grass-fed, grass-finished.  All our spices and cane sugar are fair-trade certified and purchased through a cooperative.