Who doesn’t like having a container of ice-cream in the freezer?  Especially if you are a chocolate lover and summer is upon us.

I was amazed at how creamy this ice-cream was but as with many home-made ice-creams, it does need to be taken out of the freezer at least 20 minutes to half-an-hour before using at it freezes ‘hard’.

INGREDIENTS:

2 x 14oz cans coconut cream or full-fat coconut milk, chilled overnight in the fridge.
2/3 cup unsweetened cacao powder
400g dates, stoned
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup unsweetened almond milk

METHOD:

Place a large mixing bowl in the freezer to chill.

Meanwhile, add moist, pitted dates to a food processor and blend until small bits remain.   If your dates are a bit dry, soak for ten minutes in hot water before using.

Slowly add a little hot water until a thick paste is formed.

Without tipping the cans, scoop out the coconut cream, which will have ‘set’ reserving the water for another use.   Put the cream into the chilled mixing bowl.

Whip until creamy and smooth.

Add the cacao, vanilla, almond milk and half of the date paste. Whip until fully blended.

Taste and adjust for sweetness by adding the remaining date paste and/or more cacao.

Transfer to a container, cover loosely and freeze.

Freeze for just a couple of hours for a mousse-like ice-cream, or overnight for a firmer one.

Leave to ‘come to’ for at least 20 minutes before scooping into bowls and sprinkling with cacao nibs.

Chocolate Ice-Cream with Cacao Nibs

Unlike many chocolate products, cacao nibs are naturally low in sugar;  they are highly nutritious, providing an impressive amount of protein, fibre, healthy fats, minerals, and plant compounds like flavonoids.

Recipe adapted from Dana,  Minimalist Baker

NB:  All photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared and served myself.