Vegan "Orange Julius" Slushy

♥ Bring on summer! ♥

European readers will have to bear with me here as I relive my 1980's Canadian mall rat youth with the quintessential food fair staple of an "Orange Julius". How on earth does one even describe one of these? They basically took over malls all over North America in the 80's and I, as many others, loved them. They would have been particularly popular in my hometown which was so small we had no fast food outlets - no, not even a McDonalds! BUT we got an Orange Julius one day to much excitement; as well as the orange slushy they did sell fast food - hotdogs, burgers etc... but I only ever got the orange slushy. That being said, if I really knew how they were made, I probably wouldn't have - not much real orange juice, milk and eggs. Yes, eggs. Gross.

Still, I  can remember how they tasted and suddenly had an urge to try a vegan one. Here I have used fresh navel oranges, peeled and membranes removed, froze them and then blended with coconut milk and my own 'secret ingredient'  (far less vomit inducing than eggs) - Bird's Custard Powder. It adds the same thickness and colour that eggs would have plus has a vanilla flavour already added. I then added some sugar and a little more vanilla  - perfect! Just as I remember....no, it's better as this one is made with mostly real oranges! 

Please note you have to do some prep the day before you want to have this. Oh, and if any of you follow the daily food blog and are wondering why you never read me making or drinking this it's because I actually made this ages ago but wanted to wait and blog it in summer :-)

Vegan Orange Julius Slushy: makes 1 large slushy.

250ml orange segments and juice, about 2 navel oranges

250ml coconut milk*

1 Tbsp Bird's Custard Powder

1 1/2 Tbsp caster sugar (or more to taste)

1/8 tsp clear vanilla

* I use Kara coconut milk here, it is not a thick, canned coconut milk but the type you get in a regular milk carton so is thin and not overpowering in coconut flavour. Although I haven't tried this with any other dairy free milks I assume your favourite will work here.

First prep the oranges: slice off the top and bottom of the orange then peel with a knife removing not only the peel but the membrane as well. Then slice out the orange segments without the membranes (don't worry if some stays attached) and place in a bowl. Take the orange peel and squeeze all the juice out of them as well into the bowl. You want all the juice and the membrane free orange segments here. Once you have 250ml or 1 cup pour it all into a freezer safe ziplock bag and pop it in the freezer. 

In a pyrex jug measure out the custard powder and sugar then add some of the milk to make a paste. Slowly add the rest of the milk, stirring all the while until mixed. Cover and refrigerate and give it a stir now and again.

Once the oranges are frozen remove from the freezer and leave out until you can break the mass apart with a fork, only because if you try and blend it right away you may damage your blender! Now add it to your blender, give the milk/custard powder mixture another stir and add it too the blender with the extra vanilla. Blend until smooth. If it is too thick and not blending simply leave it about 5 minutes then blend again. The oranges probably just need to thaw a little more. Taste and if you would like it sweeter add more sugar as oranges can vary wildly in how sweet they are.

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 slushy.

Calories: 269

Fat: 5.2g

Sat Fat: 4.8g

Protein: 2.1g

Fibre: 3.9g

Sugar: 36g

Carbs: 56.1g

Sodium: 161mg

Calcium: 371mg (depending on milk used)