vegan black forest ice cream

hello, again! it's been quite a while. a lot has happened since i last posted a recipe! i went on vacation to st. john; i began college shopping; my long-term boyfriend dumped me :-); i became absolutely obsessed with "mamma mia! here we go again"! (i am listening to "andante, andante" as i write this. no shame.)

but, most importantly, perhaps, i have regained my chocolate addiction. i went the past few months only mildly craving chocolate, but, this past month, i (my uterus) has really, really been wanting chocolate again. that is half of the origin story of this creamy, silky, rich ice cream.

the other half of the origin story is that my mother NEVER listens to me when we go food shopping and bought a bag of five avocados at costco even though we still had two avocados at home at the time. she has a bad habit of buying everything she sets her eyes on without having a plan for how to use it, and then it goes bad on the counter, or in the fridge, or in the pantry-- you catch my drift. so, those five avocados have been on our counter for two weeks. until today! i opened up the (unpleasantly mushy) fruits and used whatever parts of the flesh that weren't moldy or blackened to make the base for this ice cream.

recently, cashews and coconut both have not been sitting well with me at all. this is an immense problem, considering they are the two most popular vegan ice cream bases, and it is summer, and i love ice cream more than i love life itself.

in comes the avocado! full of fiber, vitamin b-6, magnesium, healthy monounsaturated fats- and even a little bit of protein (!)- it is a true super-food to me. whether eaten straight out of the skin with a spoon, in guacamole, mashed onto sweet potato toast, or in this ice cream, it is, frankly, DELICIOUS.

this ice cream does not have any avocado taste, so if you are looking for a sneaky way to give your kids (or family, or self!) some healthy, fruity nutrients, this is a perfect way!

without further ado...

INGREDIENTS (serves 6)-

• flesh from 3 avocados

• 1/3 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (i use almond)

• 1 tsp lemon juice

• 3-4 dates, to taste

• 2 heaping Tbsp raw cacao powder

• hearty pinch of salt

• 1/2 cup cherries, halved

• 1/4 cup dry roasted (or raw) almonds (i used dry roasted and salted almonds to add more flavor, but use whatever almonds you prefer!)

• 1 Tbsp enjoy life (or any brand you prefer) vegan mini chocolate chips

instructions-

1. halve your avocados and scoop out all of the flesh. add it to a blender (i used a nutribullet) with the milk, lemon juice, dates, cacao powder, and salt. blend for about 2 minutes until everything is very smooth and no chunks of dates remain.

2. IF YOU HAVE AN ICE CREAM MACHINE, assemble it. turn it on and then pour the ice cream base into it while it is spinning. churn it for about 25 minutes for very soft ice cream, 30-35 for firmer ice cream. add the cherries, almonds, and chocolate chips by hand. store leftovers in a tupperware in the freezer. to serve again, you will need to thaw the ice cream for about 15 minutes at room temperature.

3. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AN ICE CREAM MACHINE, stir the cherries, almonds, and chocolate chips into the ice cream base by hand and then pour that mixture into a loaf pan or tupperware. put that mixture into the freezer for at least 2 hours. this will need to sit on the counter to soften before scooping-- about 15 minutes should do it!