This vegan key lime pie ice cream is a play on my favorite Mexican dessert, carlota de limón. (In Mexico it is also known as pay de limón ice cream.) A tangy and sweet key lime-coconut milk base is churned until it is light and creamy and then mixed with crumbled vegan Maria cookies It has the perfect ratio of cookies to ice cream with that classic lime flavor that is a Mexican favorite.
Ice Cream in Mexico
Mexico loves ice cream. You can find hand-churned ice cream made in huge stainless barrels and being sold on the street. Mexican ice cream is famous for being made with ripe and juicy seasonal fruit. You can find classic flavors like mango, strawberry, and chocolate, and some unconventional flavors like corn rose petal, and tres leches.
Mexican Ice Cream is similar to gelato since the fat content is much lower than American ice cream, so it is creamy and delectable yet light and refreshing. You can also find ice cream at paleterias or neverías. The most famous one is La Michoacana. To find vegan ice cream simply ask for nieve de agua, which means it’s made with a water base.
Making vegan ice cream
Ice cream is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world and I’m so glad that there are many vegan options available at grocery stores. My favorite hands-down is Nada Moo, but if you want to make your own ice cream I recommend the FoMu Ice Cream cookbook. If you’re looking for an ice cream machine I use the Cuisinart 2-Quart Ice Cream Maker. What’s your favorite ice cream flavor???
The Recipe: Vegan Key Lime Pie Ice Cream
Key Lime vs Persian Lime
For this ice cream, I recommend you use key limes which are small and have a stronger and tangier flavor than Persian limes.
Vegan Maria Cookies
If you live in Mexico the Maria cookies from the Soriana brand are accidentally vegan. If you live in the US I found that Mcvities Rich Tea Cookies are also vegan and can be found on Amazon. If you can’t find either of them you can use vegan graham crackers to make this ice cream.
Vegan Key Lime Pie Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 cups Canned Coconut milk unsweetened
- ¼ cup Granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup Agave nectar
- ⅓ cup Fresh key lime juice or regular lime juice
- ½ cup Crumbled Maria cookies see note
Instructions
- Place the coconut milk, lime juice, sugar, and agave nectar in the blender and process until smooth.
- Let the mixture cool in the refrigerator for at least two hours, preferably overnight.
- Once the mixture is cold, add it to your ice cream machine and churn according to the machine’s instructions. It could take anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes.
- During the last couple of minutes of churning add the crumbled cookies to the ice cream.
- Transfer the ice cream (it will look like soft-serve a freezer-safe container with a lid and freeze for at least 5 hours.
- Enjoy!!
Notes
- To crumble the Maria cookies, place them in a Ziploc bag and pound them with a rolling pin.
- If after freezing the ice cream is too hard, leave it out at room temperature to soften a little bit.
Jenny
Hi there! Maria cookies are not vegan. They contain milk. Any other options?
Dora S.
Hi Jenny the Gamesa Maria cookies are indeed not vegan. If you live in the US you can order Mcvities Rich Tea Cookies on Amazon that are accidentally vegan and are just like Maria Cookies