I love the combo of ginger and apple so was excited to see how the ice cream would work out. As with the raw ice creams I have made so far the main base is nuts (cashew nuts)

Other ice cream links: Booja Booja Ice Cream | Home made vegan ice cream | Vanilla Booja Booja

For the basis of the ice cream you need a ratio of 1:1 nuts and water, and the key to the ice cream is how the nuts are processed.

Raw ice cream recipe

In a blender place a large mug of cashew nuts (about 200g), then pulse initially to break up the nuts. After a few pulses put the blender on constant for a few minutes. The nuts slowly break down so that they end up in tiny pieces so that when pressed with your finger they are almost paste like. This is when they are ready, if you are not sure then blender for longer as more pulsing will ensure the ice cream is not bitty.

This is the point when you can flavor the ice cream. So for apple and ginger ice cream I juiced three apples and an inch of ginger in my Lequip Juicer, taste the juice and add more apple of ginger as needed, I like mine with a ginger kick.

In a jug add a mug of filtered water  (same volume of water as nuts) and the ginger/apple mix. Whilst blending the nuts slowly slowly add the flavoured water to the mixture – the slower the better. After a about a third of the water the mixture will change to almost cream like, and then become more watery as the rest of the water is added. Once 1/2 the water is added give the mixture a stir with a spatula to make sure everything is combined and then carry on blending and adding the water until all the liquid is added.

Once the nuts and water are blended you can add two big squeezes of Agave Nectar and a tsp cinnamon (for extra spice) then blended to combine. At this stage taste to check for sweetness and flavouring  as one point to bear in mind is once the mixture freezes the tastes are weaker so over flavour slightly at this stage, else the mixture can end up tasting just of cashew nut.

Once the mixture is ready, place in a bowl and in the freezer for 10 mins. This puts it at a good temperature before you add it to your ice cream maker. After 10 mins remove from the freezer and place in your ice cream maker mine takes 30 to 40 mins, the ice cream will be a Mr whippy style. I like to have a sampling at this stage and then add the ice cream to a few small tupperware containers (each being the size for one large portion), this way you can easily get them out of the freezer as individual portions to slightly defrost (say 10 mins) before eating and they are less likely to go icey.

That’s it my apple and ginger raw ice cream recipe – love to know what you think! Sorry no photo but my camera is on the blink.

It has the texture of a chocolate spread and for me the taste too, next time you are in your local health food store look out for a jar of this fantastic almond butter, seriously that tasty you will wonder why you ever needed sugar.

Recipe for sugar free chocolate spread (makes a small pot):

• Nuts x100g (I used a packet of mixed nuts but you could just use hazelnuts, almonds or whatever you prefer)
• Banana x1 medium
• Cocoa x2 tbsp
• Agave nectar (or honey) x1 tsp

Put the nuts in the bottom of a blender/food processor and blitz for 20-30 seconds until they start to become pasty. Now add the banana, cocoa and agave/honey and blitz some more!
You might need to shake up the blender or get in there with a teaspoon to keep it moving. It should end up looking something like this…

heaven in a pot – loving my sugar free chocolate spread!

The best thing about Julian Graves is that they always have lots of items on offer, so if you go regularly you never need to pay full price for anything.

Yesterday Miranda and I were supposed to be clothes shopping but we couldn’t resist the pull of Julian Graves and came out laden down with dried apricots, dried figs, mixed nuts, linseed, crushed chillies, pine nuts and Italian seasoning! Well how could we resist, most of these items were half price!

After struggling home with the heavy goods I looked into ordering my Julian Graves products online. A lovely website with ‘grapevine’ magazine articles and allergen advice on all products. The range is better than in the shops and all the offers are there but to qualify for free delivery you need to spend £50 – that’s a hell of a lot of dates and apricots!!

Any other Julian Graves fans out there? What are your favourite products?

Free from cheesecake photo not doing it justice

This makes a large free from cheesecake I think I will have mine in the freezer for a month. So feel free to half quantities.

Free from cheesecake ingredients:

• 3 cups of almonds
• 1 cup of pecans
• 2 tablespoons of raw carob powder or cocoa
• 2 cups of dates, soaked and stoned – check to make sure they are free from sulphur etc
• Juice of 1 orange
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1 vanilla pod
• 5 bananas, chopped thinly and frozen for at least 12 hours
• 4 kumquats – I used whole shanon fruits here as easier to get hold of (optional)
• 1 large mango – peeled and stoned

NB I used 3 cups of peanuts and 1 cup of macadamia nuts so can play around with nuts you prefer and can tolerate.

Free from cheesecake recipe

First step is prepare the cake tin, use a loose based round cake tin and cover the base in cling film, the cake base is pretty sticky so well worth taking a few mins to do this.

Add the nuts, soaked dates, an inch of the vanilla, a sprinkling of nutmeg, the carob or cocao powder and the juice of the orange to a food processor. Process gently to start with, and continue until you get a cookie dough-like consistency, but still chunky. Place in the cake tin, and flatten down and place in the fridge.

Clean your food processor and add the chopped frozen banana and kumquats or shanon fruit, and the mango to the processor. Slit the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds into the processor. Add most of the rest of the nutmeg. Add a couple of chopped dates if you like, too. Process for several minutes, until the whole mixture turns to white fluff. Don’t be tempted to process this for less time, but do stop for a minute if your machine gets hot. It needs to go white and fluffy. Scrape it down every now and then so everything gets processed. Add this to the cake tin, on top of the nut base and smooth it all down.

Return it all to the freezer for at least an hour. Once ready to serve, turn out the cake by pushing the loose base out and up. Take the foil off and place on a serving plate. Voila tasty Free From Cheesecake.

Free From Cheesecake challenge verdict:

Really excited have found a new dessert recipe to add to my portfolio and this Free From Cheesecake will be made again. Might have to get a piece out of the freezer for an afternoon treat.

sugar free peanut butter

Looking at this in my fridge this morning has inspired me, so I am going to try out a few recipes later… thinking maybe some sugar free peanut butter cookies?