Did you notice the exclamation point in the title?  I need you to know how excited I am about this.  !!  I’ll confess right here that ice cream is probably my favorite food.  That I don’t eat.   Ice cream doesn’t agree with me, if I can get personal with you.  But I think this is definitely for the best because it’s just not good for you.  Pasteurized cow dairy + sugar + ice cold = digestive nightmare.  But just because I can’t eat ice cream doesn’t mean I don’t dream about it.  Yes, of course there are alternative “ice creams” made from soy or coconut.  But soy milk is something I avoid (way too processed and hard to digest) and most of the coconut frozen desserts taste like coconut, which I like, but not every time mixed with every flavor.  Just an FYI, you can take two cans of full-fat coconut milk, mix it with sweetener to taste plus a drop of vanilla extract and pour it into your ice cream maker and get coconut ice cream.   That’s the recipe right there!

But recently I saw a cashew-based ice cream at Whole Foods and a light bulb went off.  Of course!  Why didn’t I think of that?  I use raw cashews all the time in my classes to make non-dairy substitutions for my DF friends.  When you soak raw cashews and then blend them with a little water, you have the beginnings of lots of dairy-free possibilities.  I even made a cheesecake with blended raw cashews that was to die for.  I need to post that one day.  What’s great is that raw cashews are pretty bland tasting, unlike coconut which definitely has a pronounced flavor, even when mixed with other stuff.  Also, soaked, raw cashews are loaded with protein and much more digestible than pasteurized heavy cream and milk.  !!

I wasn’t sure if you all would be interested in knowing how to make dairy-free ice cream since I can’t assume everyone has an ice cream maker.  But after an unscientific poll on Facebook, it seemed like enough of you wanted to know.  I made three different cashew-based ice creams in the last month and I thought they were all great.  My kids had NO IDEA they were made from cashews.  And to take it one step further (better), I sweetened two of the ice creams with dates.  Dates!  This is an ice cream that is cashews blended with dates.  Are you freaking out right now?  You should beeeeeeee!

 

The three flavors I made were Buttered Pecan (ok, technically not dairy-free because I used butter on the pecans, but you can use Earth Balance), Chocolate Peanut Butter, and Mint Chip.  I loved them all, but let me mention that although these are more digestible and arguably more healthful than regular ice cream, I wouldn’t say they’re low-fat or low-calorie.  And I’m sorry if you’re nut-free or cashew-intolerant because that’s the only way to go here.  I am posting the recipes for Buttered Pecan and Mint Chip and as soon as I find the scrap paper with my notes for the chocolate version I will revise this post and let you know!

I’m just sorry that we may only have another month of warm weather and therefore not much time left for ice cream.  Make the most of what’s left of summer, friends.  Hope you enjoy this as much as we did!