Ice cream is the perfect summer treat. It is scorching hot here in Italy and we cannot get enough of this creamy and delicious dessert. While dairy ice cream leaves us feeling heavy and bloated, this dairy free and refined sugar free leaves us feeling light. Pistachio flavour is one of our favourites. Easy to make, creamy and healthy! The base for vegan ice creams is always bananas or full fat coconut milk or cream. It has to be creamy. We use guar gum in our recipe to make it extra creamy and less watery.

Ingredients

1 can (40Oml) of full fat coconut milk or cream. It has to be full fat. We used coconut cream

1 cup of pistachio nuts

1 cup of almond milk

3 – 4 dates

1/4 teaspoon of guar gum

Optional

Maple syrup ( we did not use any as for us it was sweet enough with the dates. It depends how much of a sweet tooth you have.

Start by blending the pistachio nuts until a flour like mixture forms. Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend until lovely and smooth. Taste to see if you want it sweeter. If you do you can add the maple syrup.

If you have an ice cream maker you can place the mixture inside and follow manufacturers advice. If like us you don’t have an ice cream maker place in a freezer safe container and freeze for 6 hours or over night. Freezing times will vary from freezer to freezer.

Once ready to eat take it out of the freezer and leave to thaw for 15 minutes and serve. We had ours with chocolate dipped cones.

Melt the dark chocolate and dip the top part of the cones and sprinkle with chopped pistachio nuts. Place in the fridge for 10 minutes. Once ready enjoy with your gelato!

Dania Trapani  is a fully qualified nutritional therapist and naturopath. Make sure to follow her blog for her latest recipes and healthy tips.