Guest Blogger: The Humble Plate – Five Minute Chocolate-Mint Ice Cream

We have a new contributor to VBU! Please meet the author of The Humble Plate Mary. Mary is a nutrition student from Winnipeg, Canada with a love for all things food and all things cat. The Humble Plate is dedicated to simple, comforting recipes which are manageable for all levels of chefs. Follow Mary on her adventure through her blog, Facebook page, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest. Welcome Mary!

Hemp hearts, combined with avocado, make a rich, creamy vegan ice cream overflowing with healthy fats. This five minute chocolate-mint ice cream is begging to become part of your summer.

You know those moments in life you realize you’ve been caught in the act of an embarrassing mistake? You search your conscience for what to do.. you could deny your faux-pas and surrender to the blood rush waiting to make it’s way to your cheeks then slowly sink away from social contact until your ego’s recovered.. or you could suck it up, admit you messed up and laugh at yourself.

This is one of those moments. Except, I’m not laughing at me. In fact, if anyone is going to be laughed at it might be you, because you aren’t eating this ice cream.

I really want to take credit for purposely designing a killer no-machine-needed vegan ice cream. I want to tell you I had some grand vision of a pile of chocolatey frozen hills dancing in my head as I threw in a dash of this and a pinch of that.

But, that would be a lie.

My real goal here was to make vegan fudgesicles that didn’t include coconut in any form (it’s been done) but after multiple attempts they just kept turning out too popsicle-like. Now don’t get me wrong, I like coconut. It’s delicious, extremely useful for baking in place of lard or shortening (uhh barf?) and it tends to act differently on health (in a good way) than other saturated fats. But, unlike the hundreds of claims made online, it isn’t a miracle food.

One last attempt to convince myself this could be a fudgecicle and not the perfect ice cream it actually is.. ice cream on a stick, anyone?

As I searched my mind for alternative plant sources of wow-ness that would make my ice pops into a river of velvet, it hit me– I already knew of an amazing little seed that would work perfectly, and doesn’t get nearly the attention it deserves.

Hemp!

I had a flashback to the first time I made my own hemp milk.. it was magical. So rich, so easy. I spent the entire night trying to stay away from the pitcher in the fridge as it called to me..
It also doesn’t hurt that hemp is basically the nutritional powerhouse.
3 Tablespoons of hemp hearts boasts:
10 grams of protein
30% Iron RDA
30% Zinc RDA
70% Magnesium RDA
110% Manganese RDA
10 grams of polyunsaturated fatty acids, in a beautiful omega 6:3 ratio

Oh yeah — it builds sustainable houses and cars too.. no big deal.

Mixed up with my other favorite fat, avocado, and we have one heck of an easy ice cream ladies and gents! Don’t be scared, this doesn’t taste like avocado, just cold spoonfuls of whipped chocolate.

Over the past few weeks, it seems that the recipe getting the most love (unsurprisingly, this stuff is addicting) has been my five minute cashew maple fudge. Now that it’s finally feeling like summer, I figured it’s time to expand on the idea and start a recipe series of five minute, no-bake desserts to get you through the rest of the season. Nobody wants to turn on their oven in summer when you don’t have to!

So let’s add this beautiful mistake to the list, shall we?

It’s time to spend five minutes giving this creamy, dreamy seed a chance to brighten up your summer.

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Please see under the recipe for a picture tutorial on thawing the ice cream from tupperware.

Five Minute Chocolate-Mint Ice Cream Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 3 hours 30 mins Total time: 3 hours 35 mins Serves: 4 Servings or 5-6 Popsicle Molds (depending on mold size) Nutrition (per serving): Calories: 290 calories Fat: 16 grams Protein: 8 grams Fibre: 7 grams Iron: 25% RDA Ingredients

Water – 1 Cup
Hemp Hearts – 1/2 Cup
Avocado – 1 Whole, Ripe (medium to large)
Cocoa Powder – 3 Tablespoons
Vanilla – 1 Teaspoon
Mint Extract – 1 1/4 Teaspoons
Agave or Maple Syrup* – 1/2 Cup (or more to taste)
Salt – Large Pinch

Instructions

Blend hemp and 1 cup of water until creamy in blender (blend at least 1 min).
Add the avocado, blend until smooth, wiping down edges as needed (approx. 1-2 min). The texture at this point should be very velvety and light, almost foamy.
Add the rest of ingredients, blend.
Adjust syrup to taste.
Freezing:
Use large, shallow tupperware container(s). Line with parchment paper, spray with cooking oil.
Divide contents evenly between containers, filling about an inch in depth in each.
Cover with Tupperware lid, securing the parchment paper under the lid so it is off the top of the ice cream.
Freeze about 3 hours, checking on it every hour or so and remove when it has reached the consistency of a soft ice cream.
If you freeze too long and it’s hardened or it becomes hard on edges, microwave 10-30 seconds (depending on how much of the ice cream is hard). Mix the ice cream and smooth out with back of spoon until it re-gains a soft texture (see pictures below).
Top with chocolate chips, hemp hearts and, if you want a bit more sweetness, maple syrup!

Notes *If you want to use table sugar, you can find a rough conversion here:[br]http://www.allaboutagave.com/substituting-agave-nectar-for-other-sugars.php 3.2.1311

If you have frozen the ice cream too long (the edges or the entire thing are hard, not the texture of a soft ice cream):

1. Microwave 10-30 seconds (depending on how much is hardened.)