Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Raw Strawberry Ice Cream

An ice cream healthy enough to have for breakfast? That's right. I am in love. Cashew based ice cream. I would have never guessed it would taste so amazing! Really guys, I promise, this is not one of those ice creams that only health nuts with super tolerable pallets will enjoy - this is an ice cream for all ice cream fans alike! I stumbled across it in my local health food store, super ecstatic at the thought of raw ice cream, but then nearly feinted at the sight of the price. They ranged from six to eight dollars for a container that I considered to be a single serving. Ouch! So, naturally, I thought "I'll just make it!" And here you are, four times the ice cream of the tiny container for half the cost. Did I mention it is raw, vegan, gluten free, soy free, processed sugar free, and tastes freaking incredible?! Top with my favorite granola (recipe here), keep it 100% raw with a homemade or store bought raw granola, or deck it out with dark chocolate chunks and crushed Speculoos cookies (as Scott would have it, of course).

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups raw cashews soaked
3 cups cold water
10 dates pitted and chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla
10 large sweet strawberries divided

Begin by soaking your cashews in a bowl of water for 4-6 hours, or overnight. Drain the cashews and place them in a high-speed blender along with the 3 cups of cold water. Blend until smooth, around 30 seconds. Add the dates, pitted and chopped, and let soak for 10-15 minutes. Then blend for another 45 seconds to 1 minute to ensure a super smooth mixture. Add the vanilla and 5 strawberries, and blend again until smooth. Process the ice cream mixture in your ice cream maker according to its instructions. When the ice cream begins to thicken a bit (usually after about 10 minutes of processing for mine) mash the last 5 strawberries up in a bowl and add them to the mixture in the machine. My ice cream is usually ready after 30 minutes of churning, and is the consistency of a thick strawberry milkshake (mmm...) before I freeze it for a few hours. When the ice cream is finished, transfer to an airtight container and store in the freezer until ready to consume. Let thaw for 20 minutes before serving. 

16 comments:

  1. Question - does this taste like cashews? HONEST

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    1. Only slightly and in the best way. the overall flavor is a creamy strawberry one. Let me put it this way, I hate cashew cream and I love this...!

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  2. Dear Jessie

    your strawberry ice cream looks amazingly delicious!!! And it's even raw! so cool... I think you have a wonderful blog...
    Amy

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    1. Amy, thank you so much! That is so sweet of you to say and I really appreciate it! Hope you get to enjoy some of the recipes :)

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  3. This sounds delicious! Have to give it a try. Love to try new combinations. Thank you for sharing! Have a wonderful day dear :) Love your website! Hugs, Katrin

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    1. Aw why thank you! So sweet of you. Hope you have a lovely day as well! :)

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  4. Mine was a little too chalky and lacked a strong strawberry flavor, any recommendations? I also always have an issue with freezing raw and homemade coconut milk ice cream. They are always fantastic right out of the maker but they turn hard as a rock in the freezer and never return to a nice texture... Any advice other than to just eat it all right away? :)

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    1. So sorry to hear that. What type of blender did you use? The chalkiness could be because your blender did not blend the mixture fine enough, and/or because the cashews needed to be soaked longer. As for the strawberry flavor, I used super sweet and ripe large strawberries. So it could depend in the size and sweetness of your strawberries! If using smaller ones, definitely use more than I recommended above! Hope this helps.

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    2. Ps. Oh! And about the freezing. Yes, both types freeze so hard (I don't like it either!). But I've just gotten use to setting the container out on the counter to thaw way before I'm ready to eat it so it has time to soften.

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  5. This is such a neat idea - can't wait to give it a try! Actually, I love your entire blog - can't wait to give many of your recipes a try! :)

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    1. Thank you so much, Tess! I really hope you get to try a few and enjoy them!!

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  6. Unfortunately I'm allergic to dates! Is there anything I can use as a replacement/could I just ommit the dates entirely??

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    1. Hi there! The dates act as the sweetener, so I would replace them with a different raw sweetener such as raw agave nectar or coconut nectar! I would say about 1/2 cup of the nectar should do it, but taste and sweeten to your liking!

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  7. It is in the freezer now. Can't wait for it to be finished.

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  8. what can i do when i haven't got an ice cream maker? i want it so bad! it looks soo tastyy!!

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