Two Sin-Free Ice Cream Recipes

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Posted by Lynda on December 7th, 2012 (Diet, Good Foods, Healthy Recipes)

Healthy ice cream is easy to make with these two sin-free ice cream recipes from Sydney dietitian, Lynda Hamilton.

Healthy ice cream might sound like a contradiction in terms, but it is possible with these two sin-free recipes for smooth, creamy ice cream. They are simple, fuss-free and easy to make which is even better at this busy time of year. Kids love them too, making them the perfect healthy sweet treat over the Christmas season and sunny summer months.

Sin-Free Ice Cream Recipe

These two recipes are based on two fruits which freeze incredibly well and naturally have a thick, creamy consistency – mangoes and bananas. Once frozen, use a hand blender or food processor to blitz them up and you have instant ice cream.

Banana Ice Cream

Peel and roughly chop 6 bananas. Pop them into a freezer bag and freeze overnight. To make the ice cream, blitz the frozen banana with a hand blender or food processor until smooth, and serve straight away.

It is delicious as it is, and also brilliant as a base for all sorts of flavours.

Make it Vanilla
Slice open a vanilla pod to reveal the seeds and add before you blitz the frozen banana. Alternately add 1-2 drops of vanilla extract before blitzing.

Turn it Berry-Delicious
Add strawberries. raspberries, blue berries or any other kind of berry to the bag before you freeze the banana, and blitz to make berry flavoured ice cream. (Or drizzle over a berry coulis – recipe below).

Nutty-Finish
Top each bowl of the finished ice cream with a teaspoon of crushed toasted macadamias to create a nutty finish, or use almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts or any kind of nut. You can read how to dry toast nuts in the Healthy Snacking post (just scroll to the end).

Non-Alcoholic Rum ‘n’ Raisin Ice Cream
Soaked dried fruit is a great healthy ice cream topping. You do not want to drown the fruit though – you want each piece to plump up and absorb whatever liquid you are using. So do not cover them in fluid, just sit them in the liquid for a few hours or overnight.

A fantastic non-alcoholic alternative which gives a similar flavour to rum is to really strong black tea. Make the black tea as usual, but only add enough water to just cover the teabag so the tea is strong – but don’t let it stew for ages or else it becomes bitter. Remove the teabag pour the hot tea over the dried fruit and leave to soak. Spoon over the ice cream before serving.

For the usual version – and it is Christmas! Soak the fruit in a splash of rum or brandy and spoon over the ice cream before serving.

Christmas-Spice Ice Cream
Add 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and half a teaspoon of mixed spice before blitzing the bananas. Serve the ice cream with a drizzle of raisins soaked in black tea or rum.

Mango Ice Cream

Like bananas, the consistency of frozen mango also becomes ice-cream-like when frozen and blitzed. Children of all ages love it, as do teething babies because the coldness of the fruit helps ease the gum pain.

Mangoes are fiddly fruit to prepare, so I do this two ways. The lazy way for every day use is to slice off one side of the mango to reveal the stone. Put both parts in the freezer. Once frozen you can cut off slices around the stone with a sharp knife – and its these slices that are great for teething babies and a healthy snack for children (and adults!) too.

To make a job lot, peel and de-stone a tray of mangos, leaving the flesh in fairly large chunks. Split between a number or freezer bags for different occasions and simply blitz the frozen fruit to create ice cream to serve immediately.

Berry Coulis

Mango ice cream is delicious topped with a berry coulis. Place whatever berries you like, fresh or frozen, into a small saucepan with a dash of water over a low heat. Gently warm until the liquid boils and the fruit turn soft. Cool a little and either spoon over the ice cream as it is for a chunky fruity finish, or blitz to make a smooth berry sauce. If the small seeds bother you, strain before blitzing.

If you have a healthy recipe or a healthy ice cream topping idea, I’d love to hear about it. Leave a comment below or drop me an email.

By Lynda Hamilton

Lynda Hamilton is an Accredited Practicing Dietitian and Accredited Nutritionist BSc, BHSc (N&D) at Hamilton Dietetics. If you would like to speak to a dietitian in Sydney, get in touch with Lynda.

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