Chick-O-Stick Ice Cream

Don't ask why, but vegans love Chick-O-Sticks -- that bright orange, round stick of crunchy peanut butter and toasted coconut candy that, if you've never had one, is somewhat similar to the center of a Butterfinger Bar.

Okay, I'll tell you why vegans love Chick-O-Sticks. When you're a starving vegan on a road trip in the middle of no where, the Chick-O-Stick is your best bud, as it's one of only a few vegan candies in the aisles of a 7-11. And Chick-O-Stick is quite good. Who doesn't like crunchy peanut butter and coconut candy that sticks in your teeth!

I had this fabulous idea of making vegan Chick-O-Stick ice cream, but, dang it, someone beat me to it. To quote a Chumbawamba lyric (yeah, I like them, despite that one hit in the late 90's), "you can't write a song that's never been sung," and, similarly, you can't create a dish that's never been made.

Ah, well, I made the ice cream anyway, but with my own recipe. Since the vegan chocolate coconute ice cream I made last year turned out so well, I used the base from that recipe with added peanut butter, and Chick-O-Stick bits thrown in toward the end of the churning process.

And it was AWESOME! So awesome, I made a second batch almost immediately. Slightly peanuty, slightly coconuty, with lots of fun crunchy candy bits.

Get on it, vegans (and non-vegans), you know you love Chick-O-Sticks!Chick-O-Stick Ice Cream
makes about 1 quart

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
2 cups canned coconut milk
3 (2 oz) Chick-O-Sticks, crushed

• Heat water and sugar in a medium saucepan until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
• Add syrup, peanut butter, and coconut milk to a blender, and blend until peanut butter is thoroughly incorporated.
• Chill ice cream base for a couple of hours or overnight.
• Freeze in ice cream machine. During the last minutes of churning add crushed Chick-O-Sticks and churn for a few more minutes until candy bits are evenly distributed. (I experimented with crushing the Chick-O-Sticks, and found pulsing with a food processor produced too much powder. Smashing the sticks while still in their wrappers with a cast iron skillet, just a couple of bonks, gave the results I desired -- large to small chunks with minimal powder.