Pistachio + Thai Basil Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Magic Shell [Vegan + Naturally Sweetened!]

Happy National Ice Cream Day! But seriously, everyday is ice cream day if you ask me – especially the insanely delicious, raw, vegan, refined sugar-free kind! (eeeee!!! so excited!!)  Ok, before you jump to any conclusions, let me explain. Up until a couple weeks ago there were two types of ice cream in my life: the frozen banana kind and the pint-sized, super rich stuff. Obviously the banana kind is more popular in our house. Marks stomach starts to make weird noises when he eats lactosey things and all that sugar and rich cream just doesn’t leave you feeling ready to hit the pool or, more likely in our case, work on some summer diy house projects. The other ice creams on the spectrum in-between with their reduced sugars and added gums and thickeners to compensate for the lack of the real deal never seemed worth my time. But then I read this article and with that got a whole new perspective on what ice cream could be, what it should be (plus an even greater love for cashews and cocoa butter). It’s a treat yo self, have my cake and eat it too event, minus the weird tummy noises and that ugh feeling. I made some modifications to the original recipe, mainly in flavor and method because I’m lazy and I don’t want to turn on the stove to make ice cream – that just doesn’t make sense, ok! I’m trying to stay cool over here! Oh and I went out on a limb and sweetened it all naturally with brown rice syrup instead of sugar – it worked! Heck, it more than worked! It was magic. So yay to ice cream day you guys! *cheersing my cone with yours!

Ingredients for the Pistachio Ice Cream 

1⁄2 cup raw, unsalted cashews

1 cup brown rice syrup

1⁄4 cup cocoa butter

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons coconut oil

3 tablespoons pistachio butter from about 1/2 cup roasted, salted pistachios

3 tablespoons pistachio oil

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons coconut milk

1 handful thai basil leaves or sweet basil

1/4 teaspoon wheatgrass powder (optional for coloring)

Ingredients for the Dark Chocolate Magic Shell

your favorite bar of dark chocolate (100g)

1 tablespoon coconut oil

Directions 
Soak cashews overnight in water. The next day, drain and transfer to a high speed blender with the cocoa butter and a bit of coconut milk. Start on a low speed and work your way up. Letting the heat from the blender completely melt the cocoa butter and blend the cashews until super smooth – that’s the goal. Add the pistachio butter and a bit more coconut milk, blend. Then the rest of the ingredients and blend on the highest speed until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate until cold; transfer to an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s instructions until churned and thick. Transfer to an freezer-proof container; freeze until set, at least 4 hours. For the magic shell – just melt the two ingredients together. I find that a double boiler (or a bowl placed in a pot with a tiny bit of water) on low heat works best for melting chocolate. Garnish ice cream with magic shell and crushed pistachios.

Notes

An ice cream maker and high speed blender are needed to make this super rich, smooth and creamy ice cream.

If you’re not using salted pistachios add 1/2 teaspoons salt.

Air bubbles are kinda the enemy of super dense and rich ice cream. I poured the liquid mixture through a strainer to get the air out before churning in the ice cream maker. You could do the same or just tap the bowl against the counter a couple times.

Magic shell can be swirled into ice cream (which is what I ended up doing) instead of just using it for topping. So good.

I didn’t want the flavor of the coconut to compete with the pistachio so I used refined coconut oil for zero coconut taste.

When I say raw I just mean you don’t have to cook anything – I’m not sure if the ingredients are all technically “raw”.

Experiment with flavors but go bold!

Recipe inspired from here.