Hello, hello! Just stopping by real quick to share a fun autumn inspired nice cream idea. I know, great timing by me. Now that I’m finally getting around to post this cool treat, the temperature decides to drop. I don’t know about you all, but around here it has been positively beautiful outside the last two weeks. When I first made this a couple weeks ago, we were enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures and clear sunny skies. Today the “feels like” temp is 39 and we have wind advisories and spitting rain. Ah well, sometimes you just need some nice cream. Throw on another blanket and maybe whip up a nice warm pumpkin latte to go with it.

This Apple Spice Nice Cream was my experiment with using other fruits in addition to bananas to make ice cream. I love frozen apples in both my green apple pie smoothie and my caramel apple smoothie, so it wasn’t a huge stretch of the imagination to put them in a nice cream. The apples lend a light, whippy texture to the nice cream. My daughter loves this blend! I like to add a pinch or two of fresh ginger and a little cinnamon and cardamom, but use whatever spices you like the best.

We’ve been loving persimmons this year so I served those along with it, as well as some frozen wild blueberries, and raw apple slices. Persimmons are so delicious and they are high in vitamin A, vitamin C, fiber, and contain all sorts of antioxidants, flavenoids, and phytonutrients. A and C are great for your skin. The unique antioxidants in persimmons have been shown to inhibit tumor growth, support cardiovascular health, and protect eye health. One important thing to know when buying persimmons, is that there are astringent and non-astringent varieties. The astringent type will leave a bitter taste and temporarily cause the inside of your mouth to feel like sand paper, it’s quite an unpleasant experience. The non-astringent type is juicy, and sweet even while it’s still firm. Definitely buy the non-astringent variety for eating raw. You’ll want to look for the squatty, tomato-looking persimmons (these are non-astringent). The heart/drop shaped persimmons are astringent.

If you’re like us, ice cream sounds good all year round. Make something a little special to celebrate autumn while it’s still around, with this ginger infused apple spice nice cream!

Apple Spice Nice Cream

• 2 small-ish apples, cored/chopped and frozen (use a sweet variety like gala or honeycrisp)
• 1 1/2 bananas sliced and frozen
• 2-3 medjool dates, soaked in hot water for a few minutes and drained
• a splash or two of almond milk
• pinch of grated fresh ginger root
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• one or two dashes of cardamom
• optional: a tablespoon of raw cashew or raw almond butter
• for serving: sliced persimmon, apple slices, blueberries or blackberries

Directions: blend everything in a high speed blender. Add splashes of almond milk if needed. Use the tamper with a Vitamix to push the frozen ingredients into the blades, until everything breaks down and you get the tell-tale 4 lumps/swirl. If you don’t have a high speed blender, you should still be able to make this in a food processor. You may need to let the frozen fruit thaw very briefly before processing.

You might also like:

Nectarine Strawberry Nice Cream

Green Apple Pie Smoothie