Chocolate Cherry Tofu Ice Cream

While visiting OK last week, Mason's mom bought us a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. She has developed an excellent sorbet recipe using hers, so I was excited to see if I could do the same with a soy based ice cream. I was skeptical that a good soy ice cream could be made at home, without the *FILTERED WATER, ORGANIC SOYMILK (FILTERED WATER, ORGANIC SOYBEANS), ORGANIC DEHYDRATED CANE JUICE, CHOCOLATE FLAKE (BEET SUGAR, COCONUT OIL, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, CHOCOLATE LIQUOR, SOYA LECITHIN, VANILLA), ORGANIC BROWN RICE SYRUP AND/OR ORGANIC TAPIOCA SYRUP, CHOCOLATE SAUCE (BEET SUGAR, WATER, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, TAPIOCA STARCH, NATURAL FLAVORS, CHOCOLATE LIQUOR), ORGANIC SAFFLOWER OIL AND/OR ORGANIC SOYBEAN OIL, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, CHICORY ROOT EXTRACT, VANILLA EXTRACT, CAROB BEAN GUM, GUAR GUM, ALGIN (KELP EXTRACT), CARRAGEENAN, YUCCA EXTRACT, POTATO SUGAR.* that comprise my usual favorite, Purely Decadent. As I have zero ice cream making experience, I turned to VegWeb for help. This recipe looked promising, but I only had firm silken tofu. It was 95F outside and I was reluctant to ride the two miles to buy soft silken, so I decided to make a few adjustments and try it anyway. Here's my version that completely filled the machine.

1 box of Mori Nu Firm silken tofu
1 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips
2 cups of vanilla soy milk
1/2 cup of chopped cherries

Spread chopped cherries on a plate in the freezer.
Melt the chocolate chips and let cool to room temperature.
Process tofu in a blender or food processor until smooth.
Add the melted chocolate and blend thoroughly.
Slowly blend in soy milk until completely mixed.
Store in the refrigerator (in a container with a spout for pouring).*
When you are ready to freeze it, follow the directions on your machine.

*I stored mine for several hours. By the time I was ready to add it to the freezer, it had solidified to a mousse like texture. If this happens, blend again until it is pourable. Add more soy milk, if necessary.

The cherries turned out to be completely unnecessary. If you decide to use them, you may want to add a bit of sugar or use maraschinos. Next time, I'm planning to forgo them entirely and add chunks of frozen peanut butter instead. I'm also going to try cutting the chocolate chips by half to make it slightly healthier. It is excellent in mousse form as well, but I would cut the soy milk to 1 or 1 1/2 cup(s) for an extra thick texture.

Mason approved.