Homemade Icecream! (Mango / Chocolate / Coconut & Ginger / Macadamia)

Home-made ice-cream! Definitely one of my favourite summer staple desserts or snacks enjoyed by young and old alike. In keeping with my food philosophy of nutrient-density and utter simplicity, my basic Vanilla ice-cream recipe calls for only 4 ingredients:

2 tablespoons vanilla bean powder
5 egg yolks from pastured hens (reserve the whites for omelettes or scrambled eggs)
500g full fat cream
3 tablespoons maple syrup (could substitute raw honey)

Blend ingredients in a food processor until well mixed.  It's that easy. The key will come down to the quality of the ingredients so buy the best quality you can afford.

Pour into iceblock moulds (for iceblocks) or small glass containers (for ice cream) and freeze (will keep for 2-3 months in freezer).

Take glass container of ice cream out of freezer and place at room temperature about 15 minutes before serving to soften. To remove iceblocks from moulds, run under hot water for a few moments.

Iceblock moulds can be bought from any homeware store (eg Peter's of Kensington, Wheel and Barrow etc). More expensive über groovy ones can be purchased from Seed Clothing.

Other ice-cream variations to basic recipe:

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Mango ice-cream:    

The flesh of 5 mangos5 egg yolks500g full fat cream5 tablespoons coconut oil Note- no sweetener required as mango is sweet enough

Chocolate ice-cream:

5 tablespoons raw cacao powder5 egg yolks500g full fat cream 3 tablespoons maple syrup 

Coconut and ginger ice-cream:

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger 5 egg yolks1 can coconut cream (I prefer the Ayam non-organic brand without the guar gum additive to the organic brands that all contain guar gum). 3 tablespoon maple syrup 

Make up your own flavours. I recently experimented with strawberry and with banana/coconut. Or freeze your favourite breaksfast smoothie. If dairy doesn't agree with you, opt for coconut cream instead of cow's cream. Or if cream is too rich, substitute yogurt for a frozen yogurt dessert.

With only a couple weeks to go before summer ends, what are you waiting for?!

Various ice-block moulds sold at Wheel & Barrow Homewares

Cool ice-block moulds sold at Seed Clothing

chocolate coconut whipped cream

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Here's another grain-free sweetener-free dessert that you can whip up in literally minutes. I typically have all of the ingredients that go into it on hand so it’s dead easy to make on the spur of the moment.

I always recommend teaming fruit with quality saturated fats to: (a) slow down the release of the fruit sugars to avoid insulin spikes and crashes; and (b) liberate the fat soluble vitamins and minerals in the fruit so that they can be better absorbed.

Many cultures world wide traditionally team fruit with saturated animal fat and/or protein. For example,  the English serve strawberries with cream, the Italians serve rockmelon with procuitto, and the Cypriots serve watermelon with Halumi cheese (what I grew up on) etc etc. These couplings did not happen by chance or simply because they taste good together. They are the result of  culinary wisdom passed down generation after generation.

So I am often thinking of different saturated fats to serve with fruit. Cheese is quick and easy but for something different and a little more decadent I came up with this concoction.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons coconut cream (I like the Ayam brand as there is no added guar gum which is found in the organic brands. For more information on guar gum see note below)
2 tablespoons thick mud cream (eg Ivyhome brand)
1 tablespoon home made gelatinous beef stock (yes I try to squeeze this super food into everything whenever I can get away with it!)
2 teaspoons raw cacao powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
½ teaspoon vanilla bean powder
1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)

Directions:

Blend all ingredients together with hand held blender. That's it. Done. As my 4 year old says "easy peasey, japanesey, lemon squeezy!).

Serve with fruit or eat as is for a decadent dessert. Dust with extra cinnamon powder if desired.

I make this recipe without the maple syrup if I serve it with fruit which is sweet enough especially for young children. If eating the whipped cream by itself you might want to add the maple syrup (or some other natural sweeter such as raw honey).

The addition of beef gelatin adds a thick mousse-like texture to the cream (as well as loads of nutrients). I promise that you wont taste the beef at all.  You could omit this if you don’t have beef stock on hand. If your cream mixture is too thick then simply thin with 1 tablespoon of whole milk. If using pouring (runny) cream then you wont need to add milk as it will be thin enough.

Note on Guar Gum:  guar gum is found in many canned organic coconut cream and coconut milk products. Guar gum is primarily the endosperm of guar beans. Beans (and legumes) have a variety of compounds in them that make them difficult to digest, especially for people with digestive problems (source: www.chriskresser.com). There are literally only a couple of canned products that I buy and canned Ayam coconut cream is one of them.

Enjoy!

Raw chocolate mousse recipe

Process the following ingredients in a food processor and mix well:

2 ripe avocados
200g cream (eg Barambah) or cream cheese
4 egg yolks 1 cup (10 tablespoons; 82g) 
raw cocoa powder (eg Loving Earth)
¾ cup maple syrup
40g (3 tablespoons) coconut oil (I like Nui’s or Aclara Health)
1 tablespoon vanilla bean powder

Store in fridge.