- Hey, what's up everybody?
It's your girl, Merle.
And today I'm gonna be having my friend, Lindsay,
on the show.
She is a huge ice cream lover,
so I'm gonna go take her to get
some of the best vegan ice cream in LA.
And then, we're gonna come back to the studio
and we're gonna make our own delicious, homemade,
vegan ice cream.
Then at the end, she's gonna rate each one
and pick which one she likes best.
So let's go get Lindsay.
Lindsay, I'm so excited to have you here.
- Me too!
- So Lindsay is a Buzzfeed veteran,
doing a lot of beauty and fashion content.
You've never been on Goodful.
- No, I haven't!
This is my first Goodful video.
- I've done a little digging- - Okay.
- And I noticed that you're a big ice cream fan.
- How did you find that by digging?
- I have my sources.
- It is true though.
- Paint us a beautiful picture of your favorite ice cream.
You know what I mean?
- Okay, my new favorite is lavender honey ice cream
from Salt & Straw.
I love everything lavender.
It's so palate-cleansing.
It's so light.
But it's also so satisfactory.
- [Merle] Sign me up.
- But I also love cheesecake ice cream, cookie dough.
- All right, well today I'm gonna be taking you
to Dear Bella Creamery.
Good old Rach back there says
that you can't even miss the dairy.
I wanna know, what is your hot take on vegan ice cream?
Are we pro? Are we con?
Are we skeptical?
- I feel like you can do vegan ice cream
really, really well,
or you could totally miss the mark.
I can just tell when something's off.
- There's not a lot of all-vegan ice cream spots in LA.
There's a lot of places that have like vegan options
but this place is fully vegan.
And I think they're maybe even better than Van Leeuwen.
- Whoa. - I said it.
- Damn, she knows I love Van Leeuwen.
All right, let's go get some ice cream.
(upbeat music)
- So Belinda and I, we had met,
I think maybe about seven years ago.
And we became really good friends through going out
and eating.
We're both vegans.
Whenever we'd go out,
end of our meal,
we always wanted something sweet.
And they either have no vegan options
or only have like a sorbet.
With Belinda's culinary background,
my business background
I figure, why don't we try making our own?
So when we first opened in 2017,
we were called, Cocobella Creamery.
And that was because majority of our ice cream back then,
was coconut milk-based.
Although coconut milk has a really nice decadent mouth feel,
it has a really strong coconut flavor.
Over the years, we have developed different bases.
Primarily using old milk as a base,
'cause it's more neutral.
So we felt that it was kinda time for us
to rebrand ourselves.
Our style is very much kind of your traditional,
nostalgic, decadent type of ice cream.
There was really nothing like it before.
- So could you guys walk us through the process
of making your ice cream?
Tell us all the nitty gritty.
- [Belinda] We start out with the standard base
which we use as a blank canvas.
That includes oatmeal, coconut milk.
We use a oil to help us with the fat,
and refined cane sugar.
Any kind of acid that we need.
Then we can incorporate different flavors to that.
Our blueberry cheesecake has cream cheese,
and then we pour that into the ice cream maker,
and then that churns.
Once we extract it,
then we put in all the goodies in there at the end
from cookies, brownies, blondies.
Really delicious types of chunks and pieces.
And then we may incorporate a sauce,
like a caramel or a fudge or a strawberry syrup.
We freeze that off
and then it goes into our different cabinets.
- Chunks shouldn't be a word- (everyone laughing)
That I wanna hear over and over again,
but for some reason I was like,
"Oh my god, I can't wait to have all of the chunks."
- Yes! - Yes!
- [Belinda] We take a lot of pride in making everything
from scratch and in-house.
- We only use all-natural ingredients.
Our rainbow sprinkles,
it took us like a year
to be able to source all-natural food coloring.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Oh my god! - Wow.
- [Belinda] We really love making something
that we know that we would eat
and we would love to eat too. - Yeah.
- What are some of your most popular items on the menu?
- Definitely our Cookie Monsta ice cream.
It's a blue cookie butter ice cream with a ton of cookies.
That one is really beautiful and blue,
that we color naturally with spirulina.
And then we also have a new fan-favorite.
It's the Taiwanese Pineapple Cake
which is really special to us,
because our Taiwanese background.
That's a very popular and traditional dessert in Taiwan
that you bring to celebrations.
A lot of the classic flavors are popular.
And then we also have our cones, of course.
Gluten-free waffle cones we make in-house too.
- [Merle] Waffle cones!
- [Belinda] Yeah.
And that we can't find anywhere else either,
so that we really love.
- When I first became vegan,
there was no option of anything.
I remember these moments I have being a child,
having desserts or ice cream,
or even later when I go on dates with my husband.
Those are really sweet moments
that I want to recreate for other people
that may have dietary restrictions like me.
Ultimately, I think our product speaks for itself.
- Can we try some of the ice cream now?
- Absolutely!
- And by some of it, I mean all of it.
(Merle laughing) - [Belinda] Yes!
(Lindsay gasps)
- Yum!
- Oh my god, look at the blue!
- I know.
Oh my God, this tastes like blueberry pie.
Holy moly.
- That is like a blueberry pie.
- Right? Oh my God.
It's so good.
- [Lindsay] I love how there's like real blueberries.
- Me too! - In there.
Like everything tastes so homemade.
- I agree.
The cone, especially.
I'm amazed that this is gluten-free.
- It does not taste it.
Oh wait, the blue one is so good!
The chunks in the blue one.
Look at that!
- Oh my God! (laughs)
They weren't lying.
I don't taste any coconut.
And I'm always like kind of looking for it
with vegan ice cream.
But it's not here. - Yeah.
- Ooh!
- [Lindsay] (gasps) Okay, this is the pineapple one,
I really wanted to try.
- [Merle] I want some of that jam.
- Whoa.
- Oh my god.
- I really like that one.
- [Merle] It's like a piña colada.
- [Lindsay] It is like a piña colada!
- [Merle] Right?
- The fresh fruit?
You don't get that in regular ice cream.
- No.
All right, well that was delicious.
But now, I'm gonna take you back to the studio,
and we're gonna make our own vegan ice cream.
Do you feel like I can compete?
- I don't know.
We have a lot to live up too.
- We're gonna do it.
- Maybe.
(both laughing)
- We're back in the studio.
We're going to be making a lavender-based ice cream
with cheesecake chunks in it.
- Are you kidding me?
- No, I'm not kidding you.
- We're making like the best ice cream ever.
- Well, it's 'cause those are like some of your favorites.
- This is gonna be good.
- Yes. - Should we start a business?
Oh my god. (Merle laughing)
We haven't even made it yet.
- So the first thing we're gonna do
is make the graham cracker crust of our cheesecake.
(Lindsay gasping)
We got the crushed graham cracker
and then some melted coconut oil.
And then finally, of course, some sugar.
See, I wish baking was always like this.
Where it's just pre-made little...
(Merle chuckles)
You don't have to measure anything.
- Same.
So you go ahead and stir that up
until she's nice and mixed.
Now, we're gonna transfer that over to this baking pan.
Nice.
So, you wanna pack it down.
Try to pack it evenly if you can.
- Okay, all right.
- [Merle] It's kinda like a meditative sand garden.
- This is good.
- It looks beautiful.
So now we're gonna set this aside to freeze
for about 15 minutes.
All right, so now we're gonna make the cheesecake.
- Ooh!
- So add in some of that coconut milk.
- Okay, I am curious how you do this when it's vegan.
How you get that sweet, lovely cheesecake taste
without cheese.
- Buckle up.
Then we've got cashews over there
that have been soaked in boiling water
for about 30 minutes.
- [Lindsay] Okay, so what does the cashews do?
- Cashews add a nice like, healthy fat.
That's vanilla, so you toss some that in.
Lemon juice.
- And then what's this?
Is this peanut butter?
- It's white miso.
So it'll add a little more depth
and like complexity to the flavor.
- All right, let's blend it
- Blend it up.
(blender whirring)
(blender contents spluttering)
Oh, that noise.
It's like the squelching sound
that I imagine Vecna makes
when he's making love. - Oh!
- So now you're gonna add in some vegan cream cheese.
We used Violife cream cheese today.
Then just add in more sugar and you know what to do.
(blender whirring)
- Oh, that's nice.
- Okay, we're on the right track team.
- Okay!
- We still gotta think of our business name.
Merlindsay.
(both laughing)
- That sounds like a disease.
- Oh no!
Too many of those going around right now.
So now you're gonna take our beautiful mixture
and just pour it over our graham cracker crust.
Beautiful.
- [Lindsay] Like this is good.
I'm not gonna be making regular cheesecake again.
- Ooh!
- Anytime I can get something that's just better
for my stomach to digest,
and it doesn't compromise the yumminess,
like let's do it, baby.
- Cool.
All right, now we're gonna let our baby freeze
for four hours.
So now, we're gonna go ahead and make our ice cream base.
- Yeah. - Got some boiling water.
- Alrighty, little lavender.
You're gonna take a little bath.
- Okay, so we're gonna let that steep for about 10 minutes,
but no more than 10 minutes,
'cause you don't want your lavender to get bitter.
But in the meantime,
we're going to do some vegan trivia.
- Oh no! (laughs)
I'm gonna fail!
- [Merle] How many times more water does it require
to produce dairy milk than soy milk?
- I feel like dairy doesn't take water.
- (laughs) Why are you saying it like that?
- I'm just thinking of when you take a cow and you milk it.
Where's the water?
- We'll get into that in a minute.
- I feel like it's like five times more.
- 22 times.
(Lindsay gasping)
The reason is because you know,
it requires a lot of water to raise cattle.
So soy milk, oat milk and hazelnut milk
are like the most eco-friendly-
- Okay.
- If you had to choose to get one.
- That makes a lot more sense.
- Now this is done steeping.
So you can remove the plate.
- Can you smell that?
- I know it smells like heaven.
- Oh!
- We're gonna add the blueberry jam.
And if you want a more purple color,
you can add food coloring,
but this is a healthier alternative.
- And at blueberry and lavender are great together.
- Maybe that should be the name of the business.
- Blueberry and Lavender. (gasps)
This looks questionable.
- [Merle] It does.
It looks questionable at best.
So now you're gonna strain it over the pot.
Is it kind of satisfying?
- It really is.
Squishy squish.
- I feel good about this.
We're gonna add some sugar in there.
- [Lindsay] (gasps) That's a lot of sugar.
- [Merle] It's a lot of sugar.
- [Lindsay] Remember vegan does not mean healthier.
- I mean, if we were making this with dairy,
you'd still be putting a ton of sugar in it.
- It's true.
- [Merle] That looks so pretty.
- [Lindsay] Oh, the color is amazing.
- Right?
Now, you're gonna add in some cocoa butter.
And cocoa butter is super important
for the texture of our vegan ice cream,
because it'll make it much more creamy.
- We don't want icy ice cream. - No.
There you go.
That's all you ever really need.
- Little salty.
The oil coming off of that.
- [Merle] Yeah.
- It's getting bubbly.
- Oh, it smells so good.
So now you can go ahead
and take that right off the heat.
- Blender's back, baby.
- We've got more soaked cashews.
And then we've got some water.
And then we'll blend those up.
(blender whirring)
So now we're gonna add in some more coconut milk.
And you can blend that on low.
And then once that's like blended up,
we're gonna add in our lavender base.
(blender whirring)
- I'm scared!
- [Merle] I think the key is holding it up high.
- [Lindsay] Yeah.
- Yay! - Good job!
- That was really scary.
So you transfer that on over.
The purple diluted a bit,
but it looks more like lavender color.
- [Lindsay] Yo, it really does look like lavender.
- And then we're gonna just chill that for about one hour.
So, we just took this out of the fridge.
It's done chilling,
and now we're gonna churn baby churn.
- Ooh, it already looks so good.
This little guy?
- [Merle] Yes.
All right, ready?
- [Lindsay] Yeah. (claps)
- So that should only take like 20 minutes.
So our ice cream has been churning.
- [Lindsay] It looks good.
- You can go ahead and uncover our cheesecake here.
(Lindsay gasping)
There you go.
Gorgeous. - Oh my god.
Look how good that crust looks.
I love this for us.
- So I'm gonna have you cut those up
into like little half inch cubes.
- This looks so good, Merle.
- [Merle] They're so cute.
- Our business is gonna boom.
- [Merle] So now we're gonna put in just like a third
of our ice cream in the bottom there.
- [Lindsay] Oh, okay, okay.
This coloring on this ice cream is-
- Luxurious.
And then you're gonna layer in our little cheesecakes.
- We have a lot of cheesecake. - I was gonna say.
- I think we gotta like really go in.
- [Merle] I feel like we're living within a Pinterest page.
- We're like the East Coast's grandmas
that are so in right now, you know?
- Great, so now we're gonna pop this
in the freezer uncovered for six hours.
Great, okay.
Our ice cream is done freezing.
- Woohoo!
- Movie magic.
- Okay, let's see how this scoop-a-roos.
Oh my God.
- Whoa. - (gasps) Merle!
- Beautiful!
- We've done it!
- It looks so real.
Like it looks like ice cream.
- [Lindsay] All right!
- Wow.
- This is it!
Cheers!
(Lindsay chuckling)
- (beep) That is good.
- Merle, that's the best ice cream I think I've ever had.
(Merle laughing)
And that's like, including dairy.
(triumphant music) I can't.
- Are you serious?
- It's like the perfect amount of lavender,
and that cheesecake is like unreal.
- And like I'm not tasting blueberry ice cream.
It's the perfect lavender dream.
We did that.
- I'm kind of mad that this is going on the internet,
'cause someone's gonna steal it.
- Drop the copyright.
Okay, I don't think I've ever been more confident
with a rating in my entire life.
So let's just move right on to the rating section.
- Let's do it, baby.
- It's judgment time.
So here we have the perfect 10 in your eyes, right?
- Yes. - Salt & Straw honey lavender.
Then we have the blueberry cheesecake
and the Cookie Monsta ice cream we had earlier
from Dear Bella.
And then finally, we have our ice cream.
So why don't you go ahead and start with your perfect 10.
- Okay, okay.
I haven't had this in a while, so we'll see.
Great. It's great.
Honey lavender, it's wonderful.
Got that.
- It's a blueberry cheesecake.
- [Lindsay] That is sugar overload.
Okay.
(Merle chuckling)
This is difficult because they're special in their own ways.
Like the texture of Dear Bella is so different
than the texture of ours.
There's a lot more variety in the Dear Bella one,
as far as texture and flavor.
And then ours is just like super smooth.
This is just screaming lavender.
And the cheesecake is also a punch of cheesecake.
And never in a million years would I have guessed
this is vegan.
Like this tastes like dairy to me.
This is my 10.
I would give this one a six.
Now ours.
I would give ours...
(laughs) I'm so dramatic.
I would give it like a 15.
- Oh my god!
- It's so good.
The punch of the lavender is stronger than this one.
This is like a very small little peep of lavender.
This is like full on flavor in a perfect way.
And the cheesecake is the added level of amazingness.
I'm kind of almost sad
'cause I'm not gonna be able to enjoy this one the same way.
- Oh my god. - And this was my favorite.
So I'm now gonna have to like buy an ice cream maker.
- This is insane.
This has never happened.
Well, I guess I have to retire now
because I feel like what the heck.
You can't go up from there.
Wow, thank you, Lindsay.
I mean, I don't even really know what to say.
- Thank you, Merle!
- This was so fun!
In the meantime, please let me know in the comments below
who you'd like to have on the show next
and what you would like us to make vegan.
- Bye!
Yeah, I know. (laughs)
(upbeat music)