My third, and final ice cream made ready for Christmas.  I left this one until last as I thought it might be a bit trickier than the others, but I was wrong.   It worked perfectly but I would just recommend leaving the ice cream to set for half – an – hour or so before making the caramel.  I made my caramel as soon as I had popped the ice cream in the freezer and it was ready to pour too soon.  No problem really, as I just warmed the caramel slightly as it had set too firmly to pour on to the ice cream.  This caramel was delicious – I couldn’t stop licking the spoon and scraping out the jug!

INGREDIENTS:

Ice Cream
5 large extra-ripe bananas, frozen
1 cup (plus 2-3 tablespoons as needed) almond milk
A few pinches of vanilla bean powder
1 – 2 tablespoons dark chocolate chips
2 tablespoons chopped almonds (optional)
A few pinches of cinnamon

Almond Butter Swirl
2 tablespoons almond butter, softened to a drizzle-able state
Add 1-2 teaspoons melted coconut oil if the nut butter is too thick

Caramel Swirl
¾ cup coconut sugar
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon water

METHOD:

Place a stainless steel or glass bowl in the freezer before getting started. Having a chilled dish helps the ice cream freeze more quickly.

Add the ice cream ingredients, banana, milk and vanilla to a high-speed blender and start blending until the mixture becomes thick and creamy like a very thick shake, or smoothie. The thicker the better so only add the extra two tablespoons of milk if needed.
Once smooth and creamy, pour the mixture into the chilled bowl.

Fold in the optional nuts and chocolate chips.

Gently fold in the softened almond butter swirl and return the ice cream dish to the freezer.

Ice cream with almond butter swirl

Caramel: in a small saucepan, over a medium heat, add the caramel ingredients. Heat while stirring until the mixture starts to bubble. Allow the mixture to boil for about a minute, stirring all the time, then remove from heat.  Pour the caramel into a small mug or jug to quicken the cooling process. The caramel will thicken as it cools.

Once the caramel has started to thicken, pull the ice cream from the freezer and swirl the caramel on top and fold into the mixture. It doesn’t have to be perfect but try and get the caramel sauce folded in and swirled around.  As the warm caramel hits the cold ice cream, it starts to set very quickly so drizzle thinly rather than dollop else you will get clumps of caramel.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and return to the freezer.

Almond Butter, Caramel Swirled, Vanilla Bean-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

This ice cream tastes best when it is slightly soft but fully chilled. Before serving, thaw sufficiently as the banana base tends to make a hard ice cream. Store leftovers in the freezer.

Recipe loosely based on one from HealthyLife.com