Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Chocolate sweet potato ice cream (without an ice cream maker)

If 2012 and 2013 were the years for avocado desserts (and with 8 avocado dessert recipes, I think they probably were), 2014 may become the year for sweet potato desserts.

Raspberries and sweet potato. Breakfast, snack or dessert of champions!

On the weekend, I enjoyed the combination of raspberries (thawed from frozen) on cooked and cooled sweet potato, and found it more amazing than should be possible from just two ingredients.

Then, yesterday, I made frozen banana soft serve with sweet potato and cocoa.

Chocolate sweet potato ice cream...with peanut butter

Dear readers, that was amazing too.

Being naturally sweet and creamy, banana and sweet potato make a perfect ice cream base and could probably have stood alone without the added cocoa (perhaps with a drizzle of maple syrup to get things really dessert-like). However, I was committed to chocolate, and the peanut butter topping was an after thought that worked really well. I can picture Mr Bite wrinkling his nose in disgust - he doesn't like sweet potato or peanut butter - but from were I sat, it was divine.

I know it's horribly cold and snowy / rainy in the US and UK, so I apologise if this is a long way off what you want to eat. Perhaps you could sit by a heater and close your eyes to the weather?! Otherwise, well, it will be summer again in due course. For my fellow Australians, I think we can all agree that now is the perfect time for ice cream.


Chocolate sweet potato ice cream
Decadence on 3 whole food ingredients!
Vegan and low fat
Serves 1
Food processor required


Ingredients
1 medium-large banana, frozen
1/3 large sweet potato, cooked and cooled to fridge temperature (approximately 3/4 cup sweet potato flesh)
2 tbsp cocoa

Method
Process the banana and sweet potato in a food processor until smooth. Add the cocoa and process to incorporate.

Serve immediately (no further chilling required), either plain, or with a dollop of peanut butter, or drizzled with extra chocolate sauce.


I have Johanna's orange and sweet potato filled chocolates on my list of things to make, but if you have any other sweet potato dessert ideas...please share!

Submitted to minimal ingredient Mondays and Ricki's Wellness Weekend.

What is your favourite sweet potato dish, sweet or savoury?

28 comments:

  1. Sounds great - did you just use the bananas to make it cold or did you put it in the freezer after blending? I can't say I bake with sweet potato a lot (or if I do it is not memorable) but I would highly recommend Ricki's sweet potato in a frosting

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    1. The frozen banana was enough actually - it wasn't scoopable ice cream but much firmer than soft serve. I did put it in the freezer for a couple of minutes but only while I was washing out the food processor; it didn't really need it.

      I'll have to look up Ricki's sweet potato frosting!

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    2. I think you might like the frosting - and don't forget about her sweet potato muffins - you can find a version on her blog but I don't think it is gf like the one in her book

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  2. I love the idea of a year full of sweet potato desserts!! Can't believe you turned it into ice cream. YUM.

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    1. Let's hope I can deliver on the rest of the as yet unmade desserts ;)

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  3. Love the simplicity in this dessert. While is it FRIGID here, sweet potatoes are very wintery to me so I might just be able to muster the strength to eat something cold and make this. Because it sounds delicious! Good thing I have a hot water bottle to warm me up after ;)

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    1. Normally I associated sweet potatoes with winter too...I guess I'm making it a year round thing! I hope you can enjoy it without getting colder than you need to xo

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  4. banana sweet potato ice cream sounds good to me!

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  5. Mmm...I'm definately making that ice cream. Plus Vince doesn't like sweet potato so I don't have to share. Winner :)

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  6. Yummy! Sounds like my sort of food! I've been enjoying baked sweet potato for breakfast recently. Topped with almond butter mixed with cinnamon and a little almond milk to make a sauce, it's wonderful!

    Did you freeze the sweet potato too or was it icy enough with just the frozen banana?

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    1. Your breakfast sounds wonderful - I will definitely have to try that soon!

      The sweet potato was just chilled at fridge temperature; I cooked it the day before and then had it in the fridge for about 24 hours before using it. I've clarified on the post because you and Johanna asked similar questions so I probably wasn't very clear! It was icy enough with just the frozen banana :-)

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  7. Oh my lord, I am trying so hard not to write what that first photo looks like. I mean, I'm sure it's delicious, but I have to skip past it, haha!

    PS -44C windchill today. I would say "I can't even", but clearly I can, because I am.

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    1. Try as I might, I can't see anything but deliciousness in that first photo! I'm going to leave your visions to you :P

      Your weather really is quite scary Hannah. I would say "I can't even" and the truth is I quite likely couldn't. I hope it improves soon xo

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  8. Crazy stuff! This looks sooooo good, Kari! You probably already know by now that I'm a lover of all foods, especially banana and potato-y stuff. That orange+chocolate sweet potato combination sounds amazing by the way! I Have a quick question. Do you mostly eat desserts at home, or super healthy desserts instead of eating out? Just curious because I'm always wondering how vegetarian+vegan people get their daily/weekly dose of dessert, haha.

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    1. I chuckled at your question because I have no trouble at all getting my dessert fixes ;) We don't eat out much anyway so finding desserts out isn't really an issue; occasionally I'll make a special trip to somewhere I know does vegan desserts / snacks, but usually we're eating at home. I have soy or coconut ice cream at least once a week, dark chocolate many times a week (!), and something like this ice cream or chocolate avocado mousse at least once a month. I usually bake on the weekends too, so will have muffins or cookies or a cake that I'll then work through. And I eat mounds of fruit :-)

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  9. Yum! I often turn sweet potato into desserts :-) It really does work well hey

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  10. I by chance had some cooked sweet potato so I made this today- yum!!!! Thanks :)

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    1. Oh, wonderful! I'm so glad you liked it Kate - thanks for letting me know.

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  11. Woah, this sounds insanely tempting, Kari! I love your creativity! :)

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    1. Thanks so much Janet! I love it when it works out, unlike some of my 'creative' failures ;)

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  12. Oh my goodness, this looks so yummy! Ive heard of adding avocado to desserts before, but never sweet potato, I can imagine its so deliciously creamy - so yummy!

    http://journeysthroughmeadows.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. It was a fairly random idea but I'm so glad it popped into my head! You're right - really creamy and yummy :-)

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  13. This sounds really interesting, although I am digging the sweet potato/raspberry combo too.

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  14. Sweet potatoes are always a good thing. I never thought about making an ice cream out of them though, brilliant! Thanks for linking-up to Minimal Ingredient Mondays, hope to see you back this week :)

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  15. looks amazing!!!!!! I'm a big fan now of sweet potato in baked and icecreamy treats and this is certainly something I will try :)

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