We are T-minus three days until it’s officially midterm Election Day, but the frenzy has been in full force for, well, two years? More? Regardless, here we are. We are older, wiser, and better equipped to actively participate in the resistance. And ice cream? Ice cream.

I’ve been deeply immersed in the launch of What’s Your Story? podcast—the first season is well underway, a powerful symphony of stories from women running for office—and have hardly had a moment to spare for the kitchen. But. But. Late one night, early this week, I found myself attempting a batch of vegan chocolate chip cookies for my neighbors. They were a flop (I tried to sub almond butter for almond milk, heaven forbid), but the perfect crumbly texture for…ice cream?

I liked where this was going, and decided to keep with the vegan theme. Remembering I’d once made a literally perfect batch of vegan vanilla ice cream from the book N’ice Cream by Virpi Mikkonen and Tuulia Talvio, I got to summoning ingredients. It’s simple, thank goodness, because the election anxiety-addled brain could hardly handle anything complex.

Here’s what you’ll need: A couple cans of coconut milk. Some raw cashews, soaked. Some maple syrup. Some sea salt. Some vegan chocolate chip cookies, or your cookie of choice. An ice cream maker, whose churning vessel you’ve frozen overnight.

The point here is to de-stress, to let the political anxiety and news cacophonies inside your mind flow away like rivulets of melting ice cream. For the sound of the ice cream churner to gently massage the corners of your soul that have become mangled messes of polling results and forgotten hope. This is ice cream to fill your psychospiritual bucket of resistance, to get you through whatever might happen on Tuesday.

And if the thought of making ice cream is contributing to, rather than detracting from, your election anxiety, might I suggest this handy kitchen trick? Go buy yourself a pint and forget I ever mentioned making it yourself.

But in the case that you feel drawn to give yourself the gift of this extraordinary plant-based, totally vegan ice cream, know that you are in for an incredible treat. This recipe makes enough to serve at least 8, so feel free to halve it if necessary. But maybe you’d like to de-stress a crowd of anxiety-ridden friends, too?

Go forth and election anxiety ice cream yourselves through Tuesday. And might I suggest an episode of What’s Your Story? with your next scoop?

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