This post is sponsored by Earth Echo, with a recipe featuring Cacao Bliss, a chocolate superfood powder. If you would like 15% off of your order of Earth Echo products, follow this link and use the discount code FOODIES.
I’m a huge fan of ice cream. I’m an even bigger fan of chocolate ice cream, particularly if it’s naturally fruit-sweetened and healthy! This vegan chocolate coconut ice cream is all of that and more!
Here are a few reasons to love this Chocolate coconut ice cream
- Antioxidants: Chocolate is naturally high in antioxidants. At least that’s the excuse I use to keep a bar of dark chocolate in my kitchen cupboard!
- Probiotic: While you don’t have to use cultured coconut milk, I recommend it for a probiotic boost.
- Refined sugar-free: This banana-sweetened ice cream is free of refined sugars for a naturally sweet treat.
- Diet-friendly: It’s dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, vegan and healthy!
- Cacao Bliss: Cacao bliss is a bit different from typical cocoa powders. It’s a blend of raw cacao powder with other superfoods like turmeric, MCT oil and cinnamon. It can be mixed with water for a hot chocolate-like beverage or used to make healthy chocolate treats.
A few notes about fruit-sweetened ice cream
Sugar, honey, agave syrup and most other sweeteners really impact the texture of ice cream by controlling the amount of ice formed during the freezing. This means it’s easier to scoop and serve sugar-sweetened ice creams.
In comparison, fruit-sweetened ice cream is a bit crumbly. Here are a few suggestions for getting around these issues:
- Allow the ice cream to warm up and soften for 30 minutes before serving.
- Freeze the ice cream in small straight-sided mason jars for individual serving-sized treats. I like using 1-cup jars, then popping them in the microwave for 10 seconds right before serving. It’s just enough to soften the ice cream without melting it.
- Make ice cream sandwiches.
- Make ice pops instead. Freeze the coconut ice cream mixture in a popsicle maker, for delicious coconut ice cream pops.
Vegan Cacao Bliss Ice Cream
- Yield: Serves 4 to 6 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 14 oz can of coconut cream (see notes)
- 2 ripe bananas (the riper the better for flavour and texture)
- 2 tbsp of Cacao Bliss (see notes)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 pinch of salt
Instructions
- Place your ice cream maker in the freezer at least 24 hours before you plan on churning ice cream. If you don’t have an ice cream maker make ice cream popsicles instead (see section above for details).
- Combine the coconut cream and bananas in a blender. Pulse until the bananas are fully blended into the coconut cream.
- Add the Cacao Bliss, vanilla extract and salt. Pulse a few more times to combine. Then place the blender in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes before churning.
- Follow the instructions on your ice cream maker and churn until the ice cream is starting to freeze (about 15 minutes).
- Serve it at this point for a soft-serve ice cream consistency. Otherwise, transfer it to a freezer container and store it in the freezer.
Notes
- I recommend using coconut cream for richness, however, it’s fine to use coconut milk. The resulting ice cream will freeze harder, so it’s best to turn the mix into coconut ice cream popsicles instead. See the section above for more details.
- Cacao Bliss is a chocolate superfood powder that adds richness to this ice cream. It is sweetened with monk fruit which adds to the overall sweetness. And MCT oil improves the texture, making it softer and creamier. It can be replaced with regular cocoa powder, however, it won’t have the same texture nor sweetness.
Keywords: dairy-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, probiotic, summer, healthy, egg-free, fruit-sweetened
So excited to try this! Thanks!
★★★★★
Great! We love it.