It's the Christmas season, so you probably wouldn't think to want something healthy..but you want something sweet! I have just the thing for your sweet tooth, and your waistline. It's Vegan, Paleo, Dairy Free!

I'm going to be putting together a list of healthier alternatives (Christmas Hacks / Christmas sweet treats) so have a larger variety to your super sweet traditional Christmas options, but for now I'll be adding a new recipe each week to the Purely Recipes page and the Ice Cream store.

So, I was sifting through my cupboards the other day looking for something sweet, I'd ran out of my  paleo pancakes and had no fruit in until the evening. I found my old Icecream jars and really wanted to make a new flavour for the store. I really felt like chocolate would be the best for this time of year, we all gift and receive it over Christmas anyway so why not?


Rich Chocolate Paleo Ice cream
2 Medium Bananas, Frozen is better!
1/2 can of coconut milk (thick)
2 tbsp of Honey (Agave will do)
3 tbsp Cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1 tbsp of Sweet cocoa powder
Serves 5 / 15m Prep / 62 calories per serving (a bit more than 2 scoops)

Instructions
Step 1 Pop your bananas into the freezer over night or two hours before if you can. If you already have some frozen leave them to thaw for 15 minutes. With your coconut milk.. just add it to the fridge for at least 3 hours (the milk solids should rise to the top) and then careful scoop the solids out of the can.

Step 2 Then pop the frozen bananas into a blender, no need to freeze them if you can't, it's going back into the freezer to be ice cream soon anyway!

Step 3 Add all of the ingredients except for the milk, pulse. The mixture should look crumbly after 30 seconds. Keep blitzing until the mixture smoothes out to a fix paste.

I'm not the best photographer...

Step 4 The milk solids thicken really quickly which is why we've left them until last, pulse the mixture until it's all blended and has almost doubled in size.
*Tip You can whisk it in a separate bowl first and then slowly spoon it into your ice cream, blending gently to keep the air in.

Step 4 Spoon into a container if you've used thawed bananas or into your bowl!

Step 5: If you're using frozen bananas in your mix you can re-freeze the mixture within 15 minutes to thicken it up enough for serving. If you're using raw bananas you'll have to freeze for at least 2 hours.

You don't need a Professional Ice Cream/ frozen yoghurt Maker. Just stir every 45 mins or as frequently as you can to reduce crystals. I stirred mine twice and it was fine! The coconut milk has some fat in (quite a bit considering it's a fruit/nut)so it really is smooth like cream.

Obviously the mixture is fine to duplicate as it's no bake so won't cause disruption to quantities! The more bananas the stiffer the mixture, so add the coconut milk along with the bananas.

The flavours were so much more than I had expected, My other recipes for ice cream were purely banana and took 15minutes to defrost and were still somewhat hard-scoop. However, this recipe is made with coconut milk that seems to defrost so much quicker and became a smooth glossy ice cream with such an intense flavour. By far my most successful healthy swap to date.