Chocolate Peanut Butter Tofu Ice Cream

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Chocolate Peanut Butter Tofu Ice CreamI seem to work in progressions or themes in my cooking. No sooner did I taste the Chubby Hubby Tofu Mousse, did I realize I wanted to test out tofu in its ice cream making abilities.

The chocolate peanut butter mousse, Chubby Hubby Goodness, is a variation on a ubiquitous tofu mousse recipe that is a staple in vegan pastry making. The use of specialty chocolate chips (Tropical Source is one brand) and maple syrup make this simple recipe vegan. However, chocolate syrup, sugar, and traditional chocolate chips can be used for a non-vegan tofu based dessert that hides its soy base.

I make my tofu mousse in the blender, so it is very easy to adapt the recipe to ice cream making by simply adding a good glug of soy milk and a touch more sweetener. The chocolate peanut butter variation won over my ice cream taste buds immediately! The tofu remains silky smooth in its chocolate embrace, and continues the illusion of a heavy cream base. I look forward to testing this ice cream recipe with hazelnut butter and cashew, as well as nut free variations. Chocolate cherry and chocolate mint can’t be too far off… oh, and chocolate banana, chocolate orange, maybe even sneaking a white chocolate pistachio in there too! Oh Joy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Tofu Ice Cream

Chocolate Peanut Butter Tofu Ice CreamIn a double boiler or in the microwave melt one cup of chocolate chips. Let the mixture cool slightly (while preparing your other ingredients).

In a blender combine:

  • one 12oz package of silken tofu
  • one cup of peanut butter
  • 3/4 cup of maple syrup*
  • 1 – 1 1/2 cups of soy milk, enough to get it to the consistency of a milk shake

*If you don’t have maple syrup, substitute 6 Tbs chocolate syrup or 4 Tbs agave nectar as the liquid sweetner.

Add the melted chocolate and blend until combined.

Chill your tofu concotion thoroughly in the refrigerator before adding to your ice cream machine. Process in your ice cream maker (or freeze in ice cube trays and whirl in the blender) and return to the freezer to harden into a scoopable ice cream.

Enjoy!

33 Comments

posted September 23rd, 2005 at 5:18 am

I must say that I am suprised that this worked out so beautifully – I wouldn’t have thought that tofu would take so well to ice cream!

  • I’m familiar with Toffuti Cuties, so I knew it was possible, though I was still surprised that it worked out so well. Silken tofu seems to be such a different creature from “normal” tofu (I have know idea what to call the regular straight up refrigerated tofu- someone want to enlighten me?). The tofu base stayed creamy smooth while frozen and after thawing from a frozen state (Makes good “milk” shakes!).

    –McAuliflower

- Nic
posted September 23rd, 2005 at 3:07 pm

I’ve got a great recipe for chocolate-peanut butter tofu pie, but I’ll have to give this a try next time around…it sounds great!

- Moira
posted September 25th, 2005 at 2:49 am

This looks and sounds amazing – I have been on a bit of an ice cream making spree lately but never thought about using tofu. What does it taste like? I have had some tofu-based ice creams that have a bit of a chalky aftertaste…I assume this one doesn’t have that?

  • No chalky aftertaste. I don’t have any sitting in front of me right now, but I do remember that it does have a very slight tofu flavor at the end. I presume that is because this recipe uses half the chocolate that the straight up chocolate mouuse recipe uses.

    –McAuliflower

- Jennifer
posted October 2nd, 2005 at 5:23 pm

Ohhh—it looks so delicious! I have cooked lots of vegan meals for my clients and have learned to LOVE IT! Thanks for the recipe :)

- cookingdiva
posted October 8th, 2005 at 12:43 am

You’re thinking of Chinese-style tofu, the refrigerated kind. (I’m still trying to teach my kids they don’t have to refrigerate the Japanese-style tofu.)

I made a pie with similar ingredients the other day (posted it Wednesday on my blog) but I never thought of making ice cream!

Thanks for the suggestion.

- KathyF
posted May 16th, 2007 at 1:07 am

[...] an ice “cream” fiend, and this recipe totally satisfies my cravings, for way cheaper. here I used the agave nectar option, and added little chocolate sprinkles during the last five minutes [...]

- homemade purely decadent peanut butter zigzag « have cake, will travel!
posted May 16th, 2007 at 1:33 am

this is incredible! I went for the agave nectar option, and it is the tastiest thing ever. thanks for this recipe!

- Celine
posted May 16th, 2007 at 1:41 am

ps: your “in case of fries” tees are cracking me up.

- Celine
posted May 17th, 2007 at 11:47 am

Wow! This looks amazing. I can’t wait to try it. I just got an ice cream maker and am so ready to start rocking out the vegan frozen treats.

Glad you found the recipe! It’s a perfect example of a salty sweet treat. Just thinking about it makes me feel all poetic towards chocolate and peanut butter together…

–McAuliflower

- Emilie
posted June 1st, 2007 at 1:56 pm

Can you use unsweetened cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate chips?

Hrmmm- yes, but unsweetened cocoa and chocolate chips are completely different beasts. You can perform the substitution and get a similar flavor, but I doubt the texture would be the same. Add the unsweetened cocoa powder to hot water and sugar (or syrup) and mix thoroughly into a sauce to add.

–McAuliflower

- Iris
posted June 1st, 2007 at 8:12 pm

I just made a batch of ice cream in my new ice cream maker and it was yummy.

1C fat free half and half
1/2 C usweetened cocoa powder (Herseys)
1/3 C dark agave (or to taste)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 16 oz package Nasoya silken tofu

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend at medium speed until incorporated, scraping down sides as necessary.

1)Pour into frozen canister and process for abour 25 min
It will have a soft serve texture.

2)I transfered it to a quart container and froze for two hours. The consistency was creamy and the taste was rich. The touch of cinnamon made it taste like Mexican chocolate.

Excellent! The Mexican Chocolate is a nice variation.
Thanks for sharing that here Iris.

–McAuliflower

- Iris
posted June 10th, 2007 at 12:37 am

[...] my tastebuds have been overly spoiled with my own frozen creations and the ones of others, but I found this bar to be so-so at best when it comes to flavor, texture, and chocolate [...]

- product review: Soy Delicious Vanilla Almond frozen dessert bar « have cake, will travel!
posted June 21st, 2007 at 7:03 am

Did you ever figure out how to make this chocolate mint? Is the peanut butter necessary to the texture? This sounds amazing, and I’d like to try my hand at those variations, too…

Definitely! Make up a batch of the chocolate tofu mousse, add 2 drops of peppermint essential oil to it, and also add more soy milk to get it thinner for the ice cream maker. Have someone who hasn’t been smelling the mint come in and test the mint level before you freeze the batter. Add more essential oil as necessary.

–McAuliflower

posted November 12th, 2007 at 3:24 am

[...] pint cost me $2.99 [not on sale]. more expensive than making a favorite frozen dessert myself? I’m not even sure. let’s break it [...]

- VeganMoFo: Sharon’s Sorbet « have cake, will travel!
posted March 6th, 2008 at 6:08 pm

Thanks for the recipe. It’s the best I found on my search on google. (Or at least it has the best picture next to it.) I just made my first batch of a slightly modified recipe. It’s not fully frozen yet, but I’ve been tasting it along the way and it’s yummy. I used the agave nectar rather than syrup. And rather than peanut butter I used 1 Tbs of Coffee Extract. I like the coffee and chocolate flavors playing against each other. I also didn’t melt the chocolate fully, so the chocolate is a bit gritty. I like that textured feel. I threw in some whole chocolate chips as well. I enjoyed playing with this recipe. Big thanks :)
Chad

- Chad Ernst
posted May 14th, 2009 at 9:18 pm

[...] if you really want to go wild.. Brownie Points � Chocolate Peanut Butter Tofu Ice Cream [...]

- Tofu Ideas? - SLUniverse Forums
posted March 5th, 2010 at 8:51 pm

Made this tonight. Amazing “ice cream.” I used vanilla soy milk which is sweetened, so I added the maple syrup one tablespoon at a time until the mixture reached a good level of sweetness. I thinned it to the thickness of yogurt and threw it in my cusinart ice cream maker. There was a bit too much for the 1.5 qt capacity but it would be fine in a 2 qt machine. It froze perfectly and was super creamy. My non-veg, dairy-loving roommate thinks it is out of this world. I’m thrilled to have a dairy-free desert!

- Susan
posted September 28th, 2010 at 6:30 am

I made this w/ coconut milk. It was delicious! Perfect except one thing. The next day it was ROCK hard. I had to leave it out on the counter to be able to scoop it. Is this just how this is, or can I add/decrease something to make it more scoopable?

- Jenn
posted October 28th, 2010 at 2:01 am

[...] I started blogging, what feels like eons ago: this is a chocolate peanut butter dessert made from a Brownie Points recipe, for which I actually don’t bother using the ice cream [...]

- have cake, will travel |
posted June 30th, 2011 at 12:17 pm

[...] Chocolate Peanut Butter Tofu Ice Cream from Brownie Points blog [...]

- meansoybean » A peek at my browser: tabbed food links
posted July 4th, 2011 at 9:27 pm

Sweetened mine with 2TB molasses and then about 1/4c simple syrup, had to use some white chocolate chips and add extra cocoa powder because I didn’t quite have enough regular chips. Turned out amazing in our little rival ice cream maker though! A little too much for one batch so we’ll be making the rest tomorrow! It should be super easy to sweeten with stevia too. Yom!

- annie danger
posted May 12th, 2012 at 6:33 am

in my experience, homemade ice cream always freezes harder than store bought. Probably because we don’t add guar gum or some other ingredient.

- Jennifer P
posted November 25th, 2012 at 10:40 pm

Silken tofu is the soft type. The hard one used in cooking is “firm” tofu. There is also “extra firm” tofu. :)

- Visitor
posted January 23rd, 2013 at 7:01 am

To keep ice cream soft for better scooping add 1 oz. of any liquor to the mix, like coffee liquor to coffee ice cream (Nigella has perfect and super easy recipe for this, no ice cream maker required even.

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posted July 25th, 2013 at 8:37 pm

I’ve made it twice and my vegetarian kids love it. Second time I skipped the PB and it was still delicious. Thank you!

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