RAW CHOC CHIP ICE CREAM

So I’m sitting in Switzerland, snow falling outside and obviously I’m writing about ice cream.. 

Ummm, but ice cream’s perfect all year round, no? 

This recipe came about because I’ve been addicted to this chocolate cashew ice cream lately, so I felt like I had to have a go at making it myself.. Add some cocao nibs and it’s chocolate chip! Raw, vegan chocolate chip ice cream. Yum! 

Another thing I’ve been eating a lot of lately is dark chocolate with raspberry chips. Mmmm, chocolate and raspberry, hardly a revelation of mine, but when I was photographing the ice cream and trying to jazz up the appearance a little, I thought about what would go well and look pretty.. Raspberries, yes! 

I just crumbled some frozen raspberries on top. Easy and seriously satisfying.

Berries and chocolate is something special for sure, and as you can tell, I like chocolate (...and berries). 

Now a little word on cashews, if you didn’t know already, they make the most delicious creamy sauce and desserts. I have a vegan cashew caesar salad I need to share with you too! So watch this space.. I’ve actually been tricking my meat loving friends into eating a lot of plant based meals recently, and while they obviously are aware there’s no meat and maybe even aware there’s no dairy, everyone's leaves just as happy!

NB. You’ll need to soak the cashews for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, so little planning is required but the recipe itself is super simple. 

I used coconut nectar here but you can substitute with maple syrup or brown rice syrup, which will be a little less sweet. 

I’ve given weight measurement for most of the ingredients here, for me it’s just an easier, less messy and more accurate way of measuring ingredients. 

So here’s my recipe for cashew ice cream. 

250g raw cashew, soaked for 4 hours at least

35g cocao

55g coconut nectar

200ml water

25g cocao nibs

frozen or fresh raspberries to taste

Drain your cashews and rinse. Using a high powered food processor or blender blend all your ingredients except the cocao nibs. If you have an ice cream machine add the cocao nibs at the end of churning. If you don’t have an ice cream machine, stir through the nibs after blender, place in a container and freeze for a few hours. Take out of the freezer about 15 minutes before serving. Scoop, serve with crushed frozen raspberries or fresh.