I know what you are thinking: "Emily told us she was gonna lay off the desserts!" Well, you are right. I did say that. I was burnt out after writing an entire book on raw vegan desserts in 4 months... so I thought I wasn't going to want to make any for a looong time. Then this past weekend, I visited my friend in Victoria (on Vancouver Island) while camping nearby with my beau (it was a fab trip) and we ate at this fantastic restaurant called be love. I will be posting a review on our experience there soon. We all loved our meals so much that we ordered dessert too. Eva was given this amazing plate featuring a cherry ice cream sandwich and it reminded me of why I love[d] raw vegan desserts so very passionately! My meals and recipes have been so simple lately, and personally I have been loving that. Yet at the same time, none of them have the capacity to make people swoon and moan with pleasure, and simply be wowed at the sight of the dish, like raw vegan desserts do. My sweet treat creativity got flowing once more and I couldn't wait to get home and whip up all these ideas I have for raw vegan desserts! No, really. I have a lengthy list. This was one of the items on said list, and since it was reminiscent of the yumminess in Victoria, it felt like the perfect fit. I can confidently say they turned out wonderfully, and the whole family loved them; even some friends from Switzerland who are visiting right now! I mean, they KNOW their chocolate.
I used chocolate mint leaves from the garden, but you can use any kind of mint leaf you like. I also used some beautiful peppermint oil from doTERRA, because it's so organic you can eat it! Highly recommended. Top secret info that is no longer secret because I am typing it out on a very public blog: I used a little bit of spirulina powder to give the ice cream that classic mint ice cream colour we all learned to love as kids. You cannot even taste it but it worked perfectly. Nobody knew... mwahaha. Call me the devious nutritionist. But don't actually, 'cause I ain't certified; I am just a crazy girl in a kitchen who likes eating plants and photographing everything. If you wanna keep this recipe low-fat, I give a few adaptions you can make in the recipe directions. As for me? Even though I am super into the whole high carb thing right now, I still love me some fats and I adore nothing more than getting my daily recommend intake of them in desserts like this. We should all be eating some healthy plant-based fat everyday, we just don't need much! So that being said: please enjoy the heck outta these, and share them with those you love. Or those you don't love, so you can improve that relationship. Or let's be real - you might just hoard them in your freezer and not tell anyone, so you can devour them all in stealth mode. I know you.
MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM SANDWICHES
Cookie:
1 cup walnuts
1 cup dates
1 tablespoon cacao powder
Pinch Himalayan salt
Chocolate chips:
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1 tablespoon cacao powder
1 tablespoon maple syrup
Ice cream:
1 cup young coconut meat
1 cup cashews
2 cups water
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup mint leaves
3 drops doTERRA peppermint oil
Spirulina powder, as needed (optional)
ADAPTIONS: if you wanna make this low-fat, use rolled oats instead of walnuts; use bananas instead of cashews; and use date paste instead of coconut oil.
To make the cookies: pulse the walnuts in a food processor until they become a fine powder. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until it all begins to stick together. On parchment paper, shape the dough into cookies however you like. I used a circular cookie cutter and dropped a spoonful into it, pressed it down, then gently tugged the cookie cutter off and made another. Set these in the fridge overnight.
To make the chocolate chips: whisk together the ingredients, then pour onto a flat plate and freeze until solid. Chop into small pieces and stir into the ice cream when it's thick enough (otherwise the pieces will just sink to the bottom).
To make the ice cream: blend all the ingredients until smooth, adding tiny amounts of spirulina until the mixture is the colour you want. Put this mixture into an ice cream maker and follow the instructions of the machine. If you don't have an ice cream maker (like me), simply pour the mixture into a metal pan and stick it in the freezer, whisking it up every 30 minutes until it's transformed. Remember to add your chocolate chips!
Assembly: cookie, scoop of ice cream, cookie.
Did you like this post? Then *subscribe to my blog* and get all my posts by email!
No comments:
Post a Comment