Toasted Almond-Cherry Ice Cream

Since my daughter Heather, her husband and their little girl were coming over to watch football last night, I decided to make some fun ice cream for them. I put several ideas together & came up with one of the tastiest ice creams I have ever had.  It satisfied all the wonderful things you want from ice cream -smooth texture (for a perfect looking scoop), sweet, flavorful, HEALTHY and a toasted nutty crunch!! I used organic coconut milk, Medjool dates, agave, frozen dark & sweet pitted cherries (No sugar added), vanilla & toasted almonds. As you can see by the picture, this was a heavenly treat that everyone loved!  It passed all my taste testers with a 10!  To freeze the mixture I put it in Cuisinarts Ice Cream Maker.  It takes less than 20 minutes to freeze it to soft stage and then an additional hour or two in your regular home freezer. This Ice Cream maker does a great job and is fairly inexpensive to buy.  It doesn't require salt or ice which is really nice. I hope you will give it a try-it's amazing!

Toasted Almond-Cherry Ice Cream
Printable Recipe                   Serves 4-6

3 cups organic unsweetened coconut milk (Cold)
2 Tab. raw agave nectar
7 Medjool dates
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 12 oz. frozen package of dark, sweet pitted cherries
          (save a few cherries & some juice for putting on top of ice cream)
1/2 cup lightly toasted almonds, diced with skins on

To toast almonds:
Dice each almond into about 6 pieces. Leave skins on. Toast almonds in pan with 1/2 tsp. olive oil. Watch and stir carefully so you only lightly toast them. Set aside.

In blender add the 3 cups of coconut milk, agave nectar, Medjool dates & vanilla.  Blend until you can't see the dates very well.  You will still see specks of dates and that is normal.

To the blender add your package of unfrozen cherries.  There will be a little liquid in the bag. You can either add this liquid to the mixture or save to drizzle over the frozen ice cream.  Save a few cherries to sprinkle on top as well. PULSE THE BLENDER A FEW TIMES TO CHOP THE CHERRIES-YOU DO NOT WANT THEM TO BECOME MUSH IN THE ICE CREAM BUT REMAIN IN CHUNKS. (So, just a few pulses)

Fold in toasted almonds and you are ready to place in ice cream freezer.

Put mixture in Ice Cream maker until solid. Mixture will still be a little soft. Transfer to regular home freezer and let sit an additional 1-2 hours. 

Enjoy!!