Raw Vegan, Gluten Free, Mango Macadamia Nut Ice Cream Sweetened With Dates

Making your own ice cream is easy and fun.
Most of all, it allows you to control the ingredients!

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One of my Favorite Kitchen Toys!
Last summer we bought a 2 quart Cuisinart ice cream maker and we've been using it ever since! Basically you just blend up a smoothie, throw it in the ice cream maker and around 25 minutes later you have ice cream! This is especially nice when you have lots of extra ripe fruit. For a little more info on the Cusinart and some very low calorie recipes, check out  Vegan Mango Peach and Strawberry Ice Cream.


Knowing What's in your Food
The best thing about making your own ice cream is knowing EXACTLY what's in it. Especially for those of you who are on a gluten free diet, you know that gluten lurks in additives like food coloring and thickening agents. So today we are going to make a raw, vegan ice cream that is simply made up of nuts and fruit. 


Mango Macadamia Nut Ice Cream
Raw Vegan,Gluten Free
[makes 8 servings]
2 ounces raw cashews (1/2 cup), soaked for 6 hours and rinsed 
3 Medjool dates, pitted and soaked in 2 cups water 1 or more hours (save water)
1/2 teaspoon gluten free almond extract (optional)
2 cups mango, peeled and sliced (about 2 mangos*)
1 medium banana, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts, slightly crushed.
* I like to use Manilla mangos when you can find them but other mangos are fine.


Rinse cashews and place them in a Vitamix or other high speed blender with the dates, all of their soak water and almond extract. Process until mixture looks like milk.
Add mango and banana and blend until smooth.
Add mixture to a 2 quart ice cream maker and process, according to instructions. 
To crush macadamia nuts, place them in a plastic freezer bag and gently crush with a mallet until each nut breaks into about 4 pieces.
Add macadamia nuts to the ice cream machine during the last few minutes of processing.
Serve immediately.


Per serving: 163.5 calories, 9.4 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 2.3 g protein, 20.6 g carbohydrates and 2.9 g dietary fiber.