CASHEW ICE CREAM

A big slice of (or, in the crumble case: pile of) warm fruit pie and ice cream is one of the best  combos there is! And in summer -at least if you have a garden- you're sort of obliged to make lots of pies and cakes all the time, to make use of what your garden produces. (And preferrably enjoy those in said garden, with ice cream.)

My friend K came over to the contrysidea few days ago. She has a vegan diet so I made us my healthier version of rhubarb crumble (I figured the measurements are about 1:1 with coconut sugar and oats - a tiny bit more oats perhaps- and a third  of the amount in coconut oil. I top the pie with almond flakes) and served it with vanilla ice cream based on cashews.

"Whipped cream" on cashews is a quite classic vegan cake filling/icing and is also seen in lots of raw food recipes as pie fillings and such. Or served with berries for breakfast. When you freeze it,  you get a very creamy dairy-and egg free (and sugar free) ice cream!

The cashew nut ice cream is very easy to make as long as you have a mixer; you don't need an ice cream maker. It takes about five minutes plus the freezing time. Just remember to take a peek in the freezer every now and then and stir the bowl.

For a small set you will need (as usual with me, measurements are a bit so-so):
250g of natural cashews,  a dash of water
1 ripe pear
real vanilla powder
(sugar for extra sweetening)
This makes enough to top about five to six servings of pie

The how-to:
Mix the cashews to a fine powder in the mixer. Add a little water if the mix seems very firm. Peel the pear and add it to the cashews, mix them smooth. Add the vanilla powder. I have this vanilla grinder, kind of like a pepper grinder, with which I sprinkle along. Utrekram also has ready ground real vanilla.  You can add quite a lot of it, I do so, but a little already will add the lovely scent and taste of vanilla. Put in some extra sweetener if you feel it needed (the taste depends on how sweet the pear has been.) I add about a teaspoon of coconut sugar. But the mix in a bowl and freeze for an hour or two. Stir and "fluff" the ice cream a few times during the freezing process. Then you eat it and amaze over how good it tastes!

PS. this works a chocolate version too, just add cocoa powder.