Cashew Ice Cream

We stumbled upon this concoction – no joke - at a Costco Vitamix demonstration. I didn’t get the exact recipe from the demo guy, but he gave us enough information that I was able to go home and recreate it. It’s become a staple dessert in our house (especially lately, since we’re testing out being vegan… yikes! More on that later).

Ingredients

1 ½ cups cashews (roasted or raw is fine, but must be unsalted)

1 cup non-dairy half and half, unsweetened

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon agave nectar

2 to 3 cups of ice

1/2 cup frozen raspberries (optional)

A handful of chocolate chips (optional)

A really good blender

Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips in a really good blender (start with just 2 cups of ice). Blend on high speed until creamy. It takes 45-60 seconds in my Blendtec, but every blender is different! If you want it creamier, add more ice. When it’s the texture you’re looking for, add the chocolate chips and blend until you can see they’ve been chopped up into little chunks.

Pro tip: I make mine without the chocolate and serve it to my kiddos, then add the chocolate for mine. 

Note: This will not work quite as well in a basic blender (I’ve tried). You can do it, just be prepared to stop and scrape the sides half a dozen times, and you’ll want less ice and extra half and half. The texture won’t be as ice-creamy, more like a dessert smoothie. Still delicious though!