This picture doesn't do it justice - it actually looks like whipped cream!

Peep this: My Whole Chicken recipe was featured on Whole9 ‘s Steal This Meal this week.  Woot! Check it out and try it!  

I’ve been picking up berries every week at the farmer’s market, so I wanted to get creative and make a Paleo friendly treat.  My friend and fellow Paleo/Primal enthusiast Amanda and I were chatting one day at Hooverball and she mentioned that she had tried to make whipped cream with coconut milk.  It’s pure fat, much like whipping cream so it makes sense.  Vegan and raw foodies use coconut milk to make whipped cream.  I was intrigued and thought I’d give it a whirl.  Guess what? It turned out AMAZING and it’s so easy to make  This picture doesn’t do it justice – it actually does look like whipped cream, but the first time I made it (when I took this pic) I used a bit too much ground vanilla and hence it ended up a bit less fluffy (and a shade brown from all the vanilla).  The next time I made it I used less vanilla and it turned out just like whipped cream.  Warning, you need a hand mixer to make this!  

Ingredients (using 1 can of coconut milk ~4 servings)
– 1 can of GOOD quality coconut milk (not the light version).  Chilled in the fridge for 2 days.
– 1 tsp ground vanilla beans – I found these at a health food store made by “Organic Traditions”, but you can get whole vanilla beans at Whole Foods
– the zest of 1/2 an orange
– the juice of 1/4 an orange
– berries or any fruit that you want to top with cream

Directions:

  1. Make sure your coconut milk has been chilled.  If you didn’t do that, pop it in the freezer for a couple hours to speed up the chilling process.  
  2. The cream from the coconut should have separated from the water and be sitting at the top of the can.  Carefully scoop it out into a bowl and don’t include any water.
  3. Add the vanilla, orange zest and squeeze of juice.
  4. Using a hand mixer (you must use a hand mixer….sorry folks, there is no other way), whip the cream until it fluffs up a bit (about 3 min).
  5. Serve immediately or chill in the fridge for later use.  This is also great topped with some toasted coconut shreds.
  6. Enjoy!

Fully Primal Husband gave the following testimonial, “this tastes like a real dessert.  It’s equally as satisfying!  I’d be happy to eat this as a treat anytime.”  

I also brought this to a BBQ recently and my fellow Paleo ladies went crazy.  Their testimonials would sound more like, “mmmmmmmmmmmmm”  “oh. my. god.” “nom nom nom.”  They loved it.