How To Make Delicious Purple Nice Cream

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With summer just around the corner, you may be craving a delicious sweet treat – and what’s more satisfying than delicious nice cream! ‘Nice cream’ is simply the plant-based and healthier version of ice cream. Made with simple organic frozen fruits, you can enjoy this fun dessert without consuming any dairy products or refined sugar. 🍦🍓🍨🍌

Ingredients:

1 Asana wheel (or another Evive flavour)
2 frozen bananas, cut into pieces, equivalent in size to the cubes (about 250-300 g)
3 tablespoons of nut/seed butter (optional)
2 to 3 tablespoons of plant-based milk (optional)
Optional: a pinch of ground vanilla (or ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract)

Steps:

In a large high-speed blender or food processor, place the smoothie cubes as well as the frozen banana pieces. Let sit 5 to 10 minutes at room temperature, so that everything thaws slightly. This allows you to use very little (or even to omit) the plant-based milk that facilitates the blades to spin, allowing you to obtain a deliciously thick and creamy texture.
Add the nut/seed butter to the food processor. Pulse 2 to 3 times while checking between each pulse to scrape the edges of the blender using a spatula. The goal here is to avoid transforming the bananas and cubes into a lumpy, non-creamy texture.
If necessary, add here a few splashes of plant-based milk (2 to 3 tablespoons), then mix the nice cream at the rate of three intervals of ten seconds, while scraping the edges of the container between each interval.
Form balls with an ice cream scooper and serve immediately (before everything melts) with your favourite toppings!

evive, evive smoothie, nicecream, purple ice cream, vegan ice cream, plant-based ice cream — Photos by Odile

Notes:

For this recipe, I prefer to use my large high-speed blender. You can use a smaller mixer, but I find the bottom usually too narrow, which makes the process a little more difficult, especially when it comes to scraping the edges to scoop out the contents. Also, since we aren’t adding too much liquid, the frozen ingredients often remain around the blades.

Adding nut/seed butter is optional. However, I find that it gives an even creamier texture to the nice cream. Depending on the butter used, it may change the taste of the nice cream. Personally, I like to use tahini, but peanut butter or even hazelnut could go well with the Azteque and Cashew Mocha. Almond and/or cashew butter pairs well with all the Evive flavours.

In this recipe, I use frozen bananas since it’s an inexpensive fruit that we usually all have at home. Once frozen and mixed, the banana creates a super creamy texture. You can still replace some or all of the banana with other frozen fruits, but some contain more water, and therefore may create a more grainy texture (adding nut butter may remedy this problem). You can also partially use frozen avocado pieces; they’ll give a lovely creamy texture to the nice cream. Another option is to use frozen coconut milk in an ice cube tray, substituting a few pieces of bananas with a few cubes.

If ever you over-mix your nice cream, transfer the contents to a bowl and put it in the freezer for ten minutes so that it hardens. You’ll then be able to make scoops much more easily.