Dairy free doesn't have to mean boring and missing out on all the good stuff! Lavender Goat Milk Ice Cream is a creamy, floral treat that is not to be missed.
I'm no stranger to eating dairy-free. Very often my babies require me to be dairy-free while I'm breastfeeding, and then once I stop, they need to continue with goat milk. Even into toddler years, I've had a kiddo that just does better on goat milk. Enter - goat milk ice cream! Mama needs a treat!
So often, people think you need to buy highly processed specialty food items at the grocery store in order to avoid allergens. Not so! Now, we do have a goat specifically for the milk, but you can certainly purchase goat milk from a farmer friend or the market in order to make this recipe. Coconut milk is also a great option, and we use that in Pina Colada Popsicles or Dairy-Free Berry Popsicles.
Key Ingredients
Goat Milk - If you didn't know, goat milk is slightly higher in both fat and protein than cow milk, making it a great ice cream option. No need to add any extra cream!
Sugar - Of course it wouldn't be a treat without sugar! Sugar and fat are what forms a creamy dessert.
Eggs - These do add fat from the yolks, and also more protein with the whites, so don't skip out on using raw, farm-fresh eggs. If it does make you worry, you can make no-egg ice cream as well.
Lavender - What a treat! Many times you'll see lavender lattes on menus, and I think it's such a great option to add to teas and other drinks. Adding it to creamy ice cream is a whole new experience!
How to Make Goat Milk Ice Cream with Lavender
***See recipe card below for precise measurements and instructions.***
Step 1: Combine sugar, water, and lavender in a saucepan. Stir to combine and start heating.
Step 2: Whisk eggs well until lightened in colour. Whisk in the goat milk.
Step 3: Watch that your syrup doesn't go too far into caramel territory, and let cool enough to stir into the mix without cooking the eggs.
Step 4: Churn per your machine's instructions and enjoy immediately!
Special Equipment
The best budget option I've found is the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, 2-Quart. These are often the types of machines you see at the thrift store when people decide they haven't been using it enough. For our family, it has paid for itself many times over.
A super splurge is the Whynter 2-Quart. This was a desired gift and is so worth the extra cost! This machine has its own compressor, so you don't need to store the container in the freezer to be ready.
If you aren't ready to invest in equipment yet, I've also got a no-churn ice cream recipe that turns out perfect every time! The popsicles I mentioned above only need a blender.
FAQs
No panic necessary. If you've gone a little past syrup stage, hurry and pour it out onto a sheet of parchment paper. It will harden either into a caramel or a hard candy, depending on how hot it got. You're just making candy! Try again with syrup when your cream is ready, but you can also stir bits of the candy into the ice cream as well as use on top. You can definitely make this as a candy on purpose!
We have no qualms about raw eggs here at our house, but we also have our own chickens. As long as you trust where your eggs are from and that they are fresh, there is no issue. You may want to be cautious with auto-immune issues or possibly pregnancy if you aren't used to eating raw eggs, but otherwise, our entire family eats them in ice cream.
It is for us! When avoiding dairy, that only means cow milk and products made from it like butter. Sometimes people get confused and think eggs are dairy because of where they are in the grocery store. But dairy is just cow, and we have enjoyed goat milk ice cream with friends and family that have dairy intolerances. It does contain egg, which knock wood, no one in our family has had issue with.
Photos by Dante from Shire by the Sea
More Allergy-Friendly Recipes
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Lavender Goat Milk Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 liter goat milk
- 3 whole eggs
Lavender Syrup:
- 1 cup organic cane sugar
- 1 ½ cups water
- 8 - 10 fresh lavender stems*
Instructions
- In small saucepan add water and sugar, stir to combine.
- With thumb and fore finger, pull and squeeze lavender flowers into the pot. Heat on medium stirring continuously.
- Lower heat to simmer and reduce until mix is ‘syrupy’. If you go too long it will thicken and start to stick to the pot. (see notes)
- Let lavender mix cool but not harden. Add a tad more hot water if it starts to go hard and sticky if that is the case. You want to be able to add cooled syrup to the milk mixture.
- Whisk 3 fresh eggs in a large bowl for a few minutes.
- Add got milk. Whisk together for another minute until well mixed.
- Gradually add the cooled lavender syrup. You can add some of the hardened lavender candy as well.
- Add mix to your ice cream maker and churn according to instructions.
- Ice cream may be eaten immediately as soft serve or transferred to freezer for hardening and later consumption.
Notes
- Cook your syrup too long? You can pour out onto parchment paper and spread out to harden for lavender candy and break up and add to ice cream mix or eat later and try again with the syrup. This does not have to be a happy accident - you can make this candy any time!
- Don't have fresh? A fresh stem has 6-10 flowers on it, so we are aiming for an average of 75 buds. If you only have access to dried, you'll want to halve it to start, so aim for 40 or so buds.
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