Dream a little dream of... Salted Caramel Almond Dream

You can keep your Haagen Dazs... and your Ben and Jerry's!! 

Yeah! I really mean it!!

'Cos now I've got this:

Drool! Drool! Drool!

This, my friends, is Almond Dream Salted Caramel and I don't think I'll be sharing any of it with anyone... not even Baby... well she's got her Swedish Glace, anyway!

And as I've had to go on a bit of a hunt for it - round three stores no less ('cos not all of the branches of Waitrose that are supposed to be stocking it actually have it on the shelves just yet), I think I might just deserve it??

It is, I have to tell you, absolutely gorgeous!!

Just look at it:

Gorgeous huh?

What's in it??

There's only one problem, for me - it contains soya!! Not just soya lecithin (which, as it is a refined oil, which has all the proteins removed, is okay for me) but soya protein. 

Nooo!!! Boo hiss!!!

Soya!! I think I'm gonna struggle later (I'll draw a veil over the finer details). Looks like I'm gonna have to pass this one over to Baby after all - it's not worth upsetting my insides, even for this one!! Good job I enjoyed the Mint Choc Chip, so much!!

So, what else is in it??

Ingredients:
Water, Cane Sugar, Almonds (5%), Tapioca Maltodextrin, Vegetable Oil: Safflower, Brown Rice Syrup, Stabilsers: Guar Gum; Locust Bean Gum; Carageenan, Emulsifiers: Sunflower Lecithin, Soya Lecithin, Natural Flavouring, Salt (0.3%), Colour: PLain Caramel, Cocoa Butter, Soya Protein, Thickener: Pectin.

Besides the soya, other allergens include almonds.

Legume sufferers also beware!

Other allergen information states:

No added ingredients of dairy origin.

Manufactured in a factory that also handles peanuts, other nuts, eggs.

It's also gluten free!



Where can you buy it??
Well, I can't guarantee that you'll find this particular flavour in any given store, but the following branches of Waitrose are supposed to be stocking Almond Dream ice cream: 

Abergavenny, Abingdon, Admiral Park (Guernsey), Alcester, Allington Park, Alton, Altrincham, Amersham, Ampthill, Andover, Ashford, Aylesbury, Banstead, Barnet, Barry, Bath, Beaconsfield, Beckenham, Bedford, Berkhamsted, Biggin Hill, Billericay, Bishop's Stortford, Blaby, Bloomsbury, Brackley, Bracknell, Brent Cross, Bridport, Brighton, Bromley, Bromley South, Buckhurst Hill, Buckingham, Burgess Hill, Bury St Edmunds, Buxton, Byres Road, Caldicot, Cambridge, Canary Wharf, Canterbury, Cardiff Queen Street, Caterham, Caversham, Chandlers Ford, Cheadle Hulme, Cheam, Cheltenham, Chesham, Chester, Chichester, Chippenham, Chipping Sodbury, Christchurch, Cirencester, Clifton, Cobham, Colchester, Comely Bank, Cowbridge, Crewkerne, Crouch End, Crowborough, Daventry, Dorking, Droitwich, East Cowes, East Grinstead, East Sheen, Eastbourne, Edgware Road, Egham, Ely, Enfield, Enfield Chase, Epsom, Esher, Exeter, Farnham, Finchley, Fitzroy Street, Fleet, Foregate Street, Formby, Frimley, Fulham, Gillingham, Gloucester Road, Godalming, Goldsworth Park, Gosport, Great Malvern, Green Street Green, Greenwich, Hailsham, Hall Green, Hampton, Harborne , Harpenden, Harrogate, Harrow Weald, Headington, Helensburgh, Henley, Hereford, Hersham, Hertford, Hexham, Hitchin, Holloway Road, Holsworthy, Horley, Horsham, Hove, Huntingdon, Hythe, Ipswich, Jesmond, John Barnes, Kenilworth, Keynsham, Kingshill, Kingsthorpe, Kingston, Knutsford, Leeds, Leek, Leigh On Sea, Leighton Buzzard, Lewes, Lichfield, Lincoln, Little Waitrose John Lewis Southampton, Little Waitrose at John Lewis Watford, Littlehampton, Locks Heath, Longfield, Lutterworth, Lymington, Maidenhead, Malmesbury, Market Harborough, Marlborough, Marylebone, Meanwood, Melksham, Menai Bridge, Mill Hill, Monmouth, Morningside, Nailsea, New Malden, Newark, Newbury, Newmarket, Newport, Newton Mearns, North Walsham, Northwich, Norwich, Oadby, Oakgrove, Okehampton, Otley, Oundle, Oxted, Paddock Wood, Palmers Green, Parkstone, Parsons Green, Peterborough, Petersfield, Ponteland, Pontprennau, Portishead, Poundbury, Poynton, Ramsgate, Reading, Red Houses (Jersey), Richmond, Rickmansworth, Ringwood, Rohais (Guernsey), Romsey, Ruislip, Rushden, Saffron Walden, Salisbury, Saltash, Sandbach, Sanderstead, Sandhurst, Saxmundham, Sevenoaks, Sheffield, Sherborne, Shrewsbury, Sidcup, Sidmouth, south Harrow, South Woodford, Southampton, Southend, Southsea, Spinningfields, St Albans, St Helier (Jersey), St Ives, St Neots, St Saviour (Jersey), Staines, Stamford, Stevenage, Stirling, Stourbridge, Stratford City, Stratford Upon Avon, Stroud, Sudbury, Sunningdale, Surbiton, Sutton Coldfield, Swaffham, Swindon, Teignmouth, Tenterden, Thame, Thatcham, Tonbridge, Torquay, Tottenham Court Road, Towcester, Trinity Square, Twickenham, Twyford, Uckfield, Upminster, Wallingford, Walton-le-Dale, Walton-on-Thames, Wandsworth, Wantage, Warminster, Waterlooville, Wellington, Wells, Welwyn Garden City, West Byfleet, West Ealing, Westbury Park, Westfield London, Weston Super Mare, Weybridge, Whetstone, Willerby, Wilmslow, Wimbledon, Wimborne, Winchester, Windsor, Winton, Witney, Wokingham, Wolverhampton, Woodley, Wootton, Worcester Park, Worthing, Wymondham, Yateley and York.

...Of which there are four flavours:

Mint Choc Chip (see previous  post), Salted Caramel (as above), Praline Crunch and Velvety Vanilla.

How much is it??

At £3.74 a tub (472ml), given the cost of some of the other dairy free ice creams out there, I think it is incredibly good value!! Bargainous, in fact!!


Update Feb 2016:

Now also available from Asda and Morrisons supermarkets. It is cheapest at Asda - priced £2.50.

Related Posts:

Co-yo Morello Cherry Yogurt

Ice-a-cream-oh!

Bessant and Drury's Dairy Free Ice Cream

Co-yo Ice Cream

Free From Creamy Iced Vanilla Dessert - Tescos

Dream a little dream of... Mint Choc Chip Almond Dream

Stop the flippin' clock!! 

Just throw it across the room, will you??

Those of you wondering what on earth I'm on about will just have to read the post about Co-yo's Morello Cherry Flavoured yoghurt, to understand that comment, because I don't have time to explain it all again here!

I think I could be in some state of delirium, or maybe it's just a huge sugar rush, but I think I have just tasted the absolute BEST dairy free ice cream ever, ever, EVER!!

Ever since I first heard of this ice cream via various American bloggers, I have been sooo longing to try some and here it finally is:

Feast your eyes on this!

I just couldn't believe it, when I heard (via Hananh Banana Bakery, on Face Book) the other day tha it had come to our shores, but here it certainly is!!

It is quite simply every bit as good as I had imagined it would be and then even better, better, BETTER!

I am NOT usually a fan of adulterated chocolate. I'm even less of a fan of mint choc chip (except after dinner, on an odd occasion) but this Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream blew my socks off!! It's like After Eights churned up with cream. Yummy, yummy, YUMMY!!

What's in it??

Ingredients:

Water, Cane Sugar, Almonds (7%), Vegetable oil: Safflower, Tapioca Maltodextrin, Dark Chocolate Chips: Cane Sugar; Cocoa Solids;Cocoa Butter; Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin; Natural Vanilla Extract, Potato Starch, Stabilisers: Guar Gum; Locust Bean Gum; Carageenan, Emulsifier: Sunflower Lecithin, Rice Starch, Sea Salt, Natural Peppermint Flavouring, Natural Flavouring. Dark Chocolate Chips: Minimum Cocoa Solids 44%.

Allergen information states Almonds, but an additional statement read:

No added ingredients of dairy origin.

Manufactured in a factory that also handles peanuts, other nuts, eggs.

And it's gluten free!

Those of you allergic to soya, and unable to handle soya lecithin, will not be able to have it, though, and anyone sensitive to various forms of legume might have to watch out for some of the other ingredients.

Where can I get it??

Waitrose! 

Yippee!! 'Cos up to now, they've only had Swedish Glace, which I can't have. I had to travel to three different branches of Waitrose to locate some today, but I think the trek was still worth it!

The following branches of Waitrose will be stocking it (but not all have it on the shelves yet):

Abergavenny, Abingdon, Admiral Park (Guernsey), Alcester, Allington Park, Alton, Altrincham, Amersham, Ampthill, Andover, Ashford, Aylesbury, Banstead, Barnet, Barry, Bath, Beaconsfield, Beckenham, Bedford, Berkhamsted, Biggin Hill, Billericay, Bishop's Stortford, Blaby, Bloomsbury, Brackley, Bracknell, Brent Cross, Bridport, Brighton, Bromley, Bromley South, Buckhurst Hill, Buckingham, Burgess Hill, Bury St Edmunds, Buxton, Byres Road, Caldicot, Cambridge, Canary Wharf, Canterbury, Cardiff Queen Street, Caterham, Caversham, Chandlers Ford, Cheadle Hulme, Cheam, Cheltenham, Chesham, Chester, Chichester, Chippenham, Chipping Sodbury, Christchurch, Cirencester, Clifton, Cobham, Colchester, Comely Bank, Cowbridge, Crewkerne, Crouch End, Crowborough, Daventry, Dorking, Droitwich, East Cowes, East Grinstead, East Sheen, Eastbourne, Edgware Road, Egham, Ely, Enfield, Enfield Chase, Epsom, Esher, Exeter, Farnham, Finchley, Fitzroy Street, Fleet, Foregate Street, Formby, Frimley, Fulham, Gillingham, Gloucester Road, Godalming, Goldsworth Park, Gosport, Great Malvern, Green Street Green, Greenwich, Hailsham, Hall Green, Hampton, Harborne , Harpenden, Harrogate, Harrow Weald, Headington, Helensburgh, Henley, Hereford, Hersham, Hertford, Hexham, Hitchin, Holloway Road, Holsworthy, Horley, Horsham, Hove, Huntingdon, Hythe, Ipswich, Jesmond, John Barnes, Kenilworth, Keynsham, Kingshill, Kingsthorpe, Kingston, Knutsford, Leeds, Leek, Leigh On Sea, Leighton Buzzard, Lewes, Lichfield, Lincoln, Little Waitrose John Lewis Southampton, Little Waitrose at John Lewis Watford, Littlehampton, Locks Heath, Longfield, Lutterworth, Lymington, Maidenhead, Malmesbury, Market Harborough, Marlborough, Marylebone, Meanwood, Melksham, Menai Bridge, Mill Hill, Monmouth, Morningside, Nailsea, New Malden, Newark, Newbury, Newmarket, Newport, Newton Mearns, North Walsham, Northwich, Norwich, Oadby, Oakgrove, Okehampton, Otley, Oundle, Oxted, Paddock Wood, Palmers Green, Parkstone, Parsons Green, Peterborough, Petersfield, Ponteland, Pontprennau, Portishead, Poundbury, Poynton, Ramsgate, Reading, Red Houses (Jersey), Richmond, Rickmansworth, Ringwood, Rohais (Guernsey), Romsey, Ruislip, Rushden, Saffron Walden, Salisbury, Saltash, Sandbach, Sanderstead, Sandhurst, Saxmundham, Sevenoaks, Sheffield, Sherborne, Shrewsbury, Sidcup, Sidmouth, south Harrow, South Woodford, Southampton, Southend, Southsea, Spinningfields, St Albans, St Helier (Jersey), St Ives, St Neots, St Saviour (Jersey), Staines, Stamford, Stevenage, Stirling, Stourbridge, Stratford City, Stratford Upon Avon, Stroud, Sudbury, Sunningdale, Surbiton, Sutton Coldfield, Swaffham, Swindon, Teignmouth, Tenterden, Thame, Thatcham, Tonbridge, Torquay, Tottenham Court Road, Towcester, Trinity Square, Twickenham, Twyford, Uckfield, Upminster, Wallingford, Walton-le-Dale, Walton-on-Thames, Wandsworth, Wantage, Warminster, Waterlooville, Wellington, Wells, Welwyn Garden City, West Byfleet, West Ealing, Westbury Park, Westfield London, Weston Super Mare, Weybridge, Whetstone, Willerby, Wilmslow, Wimbledon, Wimborne, Winchester, Windsor, Winton, Witney, Wokingham, Wolverhampton, Woodley, Wootton, Worcester Park, Worthing, Wymondham, Yateley and York.

When you hit Waitrose, you'll be looking for a tub like this:

How much is it??

A measly £3.74 a tub for 472ml, which, given the cost of some of the other dairy free ice creams out there, it is (quite frankly) bargainous!!


Update Feb 2016:

Now also available from Asda and Morrisons supermarkets. It is cheapest at Asda - priced £2.50.



Related Posts:


Co-yo Morello Cherry Yogurt




Ice-a-cream-oh!



Bessant and Drury's Dairy Free Ice Cream



Co-yo Ice Cream



Free From Creamy Iced Vanilla Dessert - Tescos

Vegan Devonshire Klotted Kream (or 'Mimilicious' as it's now known)

Hmm! It's a dilemma! Now, do you call a scone 'scone' as in 'gone' or 'scone' as in 'cone'? I never know which it's supposed to be, but I'm pretty sure that the correct accompaniment, along with some jam (preferably homemade) is cream as in clotted!

Gluten and dairy free cream tea, anyone?

I have to admit, I've felt rather glum, at times, when coeliacs have drooled over a gluten free something or other that they've found - it's often been accompanied by some long last product from the land of dairy. One such has been cream teas. 

Now, I can manage to source a dairy and gluten free scone - they sell them in the Free From section of places like Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Tesco and I've even made my own! I have also found dairy free creams that I can use and like, which I have posted about previously. you can read about them here. But! Dairy free clotted cream?? However, thanks to a link posted by Hannah Banana Bakery (a vegan bakery) on Face Book. It seems that it might be entirely possible.

The other month, up popped a link to Klotted Kream - a vegan version of clotted cream. At that point, it was yet to be, but has since been released. I inquired by email to find out how 'gluten free' it was. Update May 2013: At that time, I was informed that it was below 20ppm and so I sampled this product based on information. It now looks as though this information has been changed. Unfortunately for coeliacs, it's now below 100ppm, and is now classed as 'low-gluten'. If you're OK with oats being tested as below 100ppm, then you should be alright. Should you wish to contact them and ask your own questions, they were very good at getting back to me very promptly. 

Naturally, I wasted no time in ordering some to try. And here it is:

Gotta love the cow on the label!!

If I'm completely honest, although on first inspection it certainly bore a resemblance - minus that honey crusted coating that you can find on a fully dairy pot of clotted cream, my first impression was that although not bad, it could still perhaps do with a little bit of tweaking in the taste department. For one thing, I thought it tasted a bit salty. I say that, though, thoroughly aware that to develop this concoction, the people behind it have spent hours and hours lovingly toiling over it, just to get it to this point. And although the taste might need tweaking, the texture seemed just right - with those little creamy lumps of resistance that you find when you eat 'real' clotted cream.

The texture certainly feels right

Now, you don't usually eat clotted cream, just by itself, do you? Although I must admit, given half a chance, I probably could! So I blobbed some on to a scone, together with some raspberry jam, made by my Dad. And actually, I have to say, it improved the experience an awful lot! In fact, I thought it worked rather well.  

So I think I would order some again, come the summer, for that clotted cream tea experience  but for a treat, as does work out quite pricey. A 4 oz. pot like mine costs £1.99 plus £2.95 post and packing. There is a special offer on delivery at the moment, but I'm unlikely to be needing six pots of cream, right now, although they can be frozen!!

If you're interested in the ingredients, they're here:

Water, Pure Oats, coconut Oil, Rapeseed Lecithin, Sunflower Spread (sunflower oil, vegetable oils,* emulsifier (mono and diglycerides of fatty acids), Vitamin E, Vitamin A, Colour (natural carotenes), Vitamin D2, Vitamin B12), Vanilla Extract, Sea Salt

* 'vegetable oils' were not soya, when I first enquired. 


Important Update May 2013:
Due to unexpected influx of orders, Klotted Kream were restructuring, to keep up with demand. This meant Klotted Kream was temporarily unavailable. However, rebranded as 'Mimlicious' it now appears to be available to order once again.

Similar post:

The Creme de la dairy free Creme

Other posts about dairy alternatives can be found by following the links on this page of the blog:

Dairy Substitutes

The Creme de la dairy free Creme

Oo! How I love/loved cream!! 

Along with cheese, it's like the Holy Grail of my dairy free world! It's fine if you can tolerate soya - many dairy substitutes are made with soya, but I can't. 

I don't know about you, but I've tried a few.

In the early days of going dairy free (pre-discovering I couldn't tolerate gluten) not being able to tolerate soya, I used to use Oatly as my milk replacement and Oatly cream as an accompaniment for a dessert. 

Like many dairy replacements, the Oatly cream needed a good shake, before you opened the carton - as the contents tend to have separated a bit, whilst they've been sat on a shelf. I didn't get as far as baking with it, although it says that you can on the carton, but I did like a blob of it on my apple crumble. By itself, it was bland enough and didn't leave any nasty after taste.

One thing I found, though, was that the cream would start out fairly thick, in consistency, but would soon go runny, once it came into contact with the heat from the apple crumble.

Apple Crumble and 'cream' - delicious!

Once I became gluten free, as well as dairy and soya free, I really thought that my options were limited, until I came across the following, by Ecomil.

Look carefully,  when shopping, it's actually quite a small carton.

Basically, it's a 'cream' that's made with almonds, and, like Oatly, is suitable for cooking. I've used it on desserts ( as with the apple crumble above and now, also, to make a rich chocolate sauce (which I'll tell you more about another time).

On it's own, it tastes fairly bland, but actually works well as an accompaniment, I think. It's fairly thick in consistency, but doesn't work well in coffee - I should know, I've tried. It was an experiment too far!

Look, how it's split!!

It didn't taste bad, but it looked awful, as you can see!

I didn't manage to get hold of any more for quite a while, until I moved to our current location and found that it was stocked by my current 'local' health food store.

So, for a while, I was cream free, until thanks to my friend Sarah (@Sugarpuffish on Twitter) I was pointed in the direction of The Vegan Store and the somewhat misleadingly named Soyatoo.

I say misleadingly, because although they do make products from soya, they also make 'cream' from rice and coconut.

The first product of theirs, that I tried, I think I actually found locally. It was an aerosol cream, made of rice - very similar to the actual cream one I remember we sometimes had as a treat, when I was growing up. At the risk of making you drool, I have to tell you that I thought it was perfect on top of a hot chocolate, although the heat did make it melt in to the drink!

Deep joy!

Obviously not meant for cooking, I also tried it with strawberries - my favourite fruit! By itself, it had no real particular flavour, but I thought it had a nice enough taste and accompanied the strawberries quite nicely.

Just right for Wimbledon!

However, the spray button caused me a bit of trouble. I don't know if I was being thick, but I could only get tit to work properly the first time. On subsequent occasions, despite following the instructions on the can, to the letter, the nozzle didn't seem to spray too well. How disappointing!!

Once opened, I refrigerated it though, and this may have been the problem as it was meant to be kept at ambient temperature apparently, but for no more than two or three days. This I discovered, once I emailed the company.

Since then I have discovered that Soyatoo also make a dairy and soya free rice whipping cream (sold by The Vegan Store). It is long life, so it can be stored in the cupboard for some while - ideal to keep handy in case you suddenly feel the need! 

Having tried it, I think it makes quite a good alternative to cream. There's no unpleasant after-taste. It is easy to whip up cream, but is best chilled first - when chilled it becomes a little more solid and holds shape well. 

One to try!

Although I am still breastfeeding, I felt fine to try these, as it's not like I am planning to eat them everyday!! (If you'd like to know why I am avoiding rice milk, whilst breastfeeding, you might be interested in reading this earlier post.) However, for those who are scrupulously avoiding rice milk, Soyatoo also make a coconut whipping cream.

This is it:

Sorry about the photo quality, here, folks!

On first opening the carton, I couldn't help noticing the smell of the coconut, from which it was made and it didn't look too appetising when I emptied it out into a bowl to be whipped. I planned to use to as an accompaniment to my Christmas pudding. With an electric whisk, like the rice whip, it didn't whisk up too badly, at all. 

Christmas pudding soon being off my list of 'foods I can eat,' I tried it instead with, yes, you've guessed it - crumble! Raspberry and apple this time!

Yes, there's a LOT of cream in this picture but it made lot and I was the only one eating it!

And again, with Strawberries - only this time I combined them with a meringue nest. Hey presto! A mini pavlova!

Obviously, whipping cream is just that - and can only really be used for a topping. Funnily enough that is just what it reminded me of - Dream Topping! The flavour was more artificial, I think, than others I had tried. I could cope with it, but it wasn't my favourite. The consistency was good, though - it held shape well. It did occur to me, that because of this it could be frozen (once whipped) and eaten as a kind of ice cream, but I haven't tried it myself.

However, there's another kind of cream that you might want to try. I've come across it, in blogs, but not yet tried it myself. It is, however, probably the most easy to find in your local stores - canned coconut cream! Canned Coconut Cream can be whipped up and in this blog, by Oh She Glows, there is a really good demonstration of how it can be done. 

Now, I'm supposed to avoid canned food - I don't think it does anything too nasty to me, but it brings out quite a rash on my face, which is itchy and gives me exactly the same reaction as I get from my nickel allergy. Despite my funny rash, I think one day that I might give it a go. After all, you only live once!  :)

Other posts about dairy substitutes can be found by following this link.

Update - I've found another vegan cream:



Vegan Devonshire 'Klotted Kream'