Ice Cream Recipe, A Superfood Cashew Coconut Ice Cream

This is our deluxe strawberry superfood ice cream recipe, made from scratch using some of our top favorite superfoods. A completely vegan nut-based ice cream, it is made with a cashew and hemp seed nut milk along with the creamy consistency of fresh coconut meat.

Containing many energizing ingredients, like cordyceps, maca, bee pollen, goji, rhodiola and schizandra, this ice cream is more like a meal than a frozen dessert. It is also 90% raw and enzymatically active, making it easy to digest and assimilate as an energy burning fuel source.

Together with a pre-decocted super tonic tea blend to the create the nut milk, we also include lucuma powder, the popular fruit used to make traditional Peruvian lucuma ice cream. Two other South American superfood additions to this recipe also include camu camu, a potent source of vitamin C and maca root, known for its libido enhancing effects.

One of the best kitchen appliances you can buy if you love to eat ice cream, is an ice cream maker. This gives you creative control over ingredients used and enables you to make ice cream the healthy way using non-dairy cream and natural sweeteners.

They are extremely affordable devices, easy to operate and a necessary kitchen tool to have for making perfectly smooth and creamy frozen desserts.  We use a Cuisinart ice cream maker model, which has a double insulated freezer bowl insert that makes up to 1 1/2 quarts of ice cream in usually less than 25 minutes.

This recipe, however, can also be made without an ice cream maker, if you don't happen to have one on hand, by simply freezing your blended ingredients in a plastic container. The results are a little different but still quite delicious. This recipe can additionally be made in popsicle molds for a refreshing, easy to eat top superfood treat.

This ice cream recipe is basically a four step process which includes:

1. Making the tea and allowing it to cool.
2. Blending and straining the nut milk.
3. Adding the superfoods, other ingredients and allowing it to chill.
4. Creating your ice cream in an ice cream maker.

There are some things to prepare in advance before you are ready to assemble your ingredients and make the ice cream. When using household ice cream makers, you usually need to freeze the bowl insert at least 24 hours in advance. This enables the machine to slowly freeze the blended mixture while the bowl is turning.

Another thing that requires some prep work is soaking the schizandra berries to remove tannins before simmering them with other herbs to create the tonic tea base. The tea can be made the day before and kept in the fridge or can be strained and cooled after the brew time.

One last thing is that the cashews will require soaking for a few hours to remove the phytates and enzyme inhibitors, which are often found in many nut and seed varieties.

• 2T schizandra
  
• 1T rhodiola
• 1T goji berry
  
• 1/2T orange peel
  

Soak schizandra berries overnight or for 5 hours and strain to remove tannin content. Decoct or simmer the above in 1 quart of pure water for 20 minutes. Allow to cool and strain.

Blend the liquid tea with the following ingredients to make the nut milk cream.

• 1/2C hemp seed
  
• 3/4C raw cashew nuts soaked in 3/4C water
  
• 3/4C tonic tea
  

Soak cashews in 3/4C of pure water overnight or for at least 4 hours and strain. Add the tonic tea to a blender mug and blend hemp seeds and cashews until smooth and strain through a fine mesh strainer or nut milk bag.

Place nut milk in a high speed blender and add the following ingredients.

• 2C chopped strawberries
• 1C coconut meat
• 1C dates
• 1/2C goji berries
• 1/4C coconut oil
• 2T irish moss gel
• 1/4C lucuma powder
  
• 1/2t green stevia powder
  
• 3T bee pollen
• 3T maca powder
  
• 2t cordyceps powder
• 1t camu camu powder
  
• 1 vanilla bean (cut and scrapped) or equivalent
  
• pinch of sea salt

1. After storing your ice cream mix in the fridge for 3 hours or until chilled, you are now ready to make your ice cream recipe in an ice cream maker.
2. Remove your ice cream insert from the freezer and place it on the stand with the mixing arm inside and the transparent lid on the top.
3. Turn on the ice cream maker.
4. Pour your blended superfood ice cream mix into the machine through the wide spout opening at the top of the device.
5. After about 20-30 minutes you will have a soft serve ice cream.
6. For firm ice cream, place it in a bowl and allow to freeze in the freezer for another 2 hours. This will give you a nice thick ice cream you can scoop out and serve.

Enjoy this raw coconut cashew ice cream recipe with other kinds of fruits and over time, when you are an experienced ice cream maker, experiment with other flavors and superfood combinations.