Blackberry Açaí Nice Cream

Spring has just started and I'm already thinking about summer and all the things I love about it like watermelon gazpacho, endless afternoons and ice creams! We actually can't complain about the weather being terrible in Barcelona but it's that time of the year when you simply need to feel some sunshine on your face. So in order to bring summery cozy vibes I decided to make this colorful nice cream which happened to be a total hit at home. It's a creamy nice cream loaded with super antioxidant blackberries, açaí powder and a hint of almond butter.

This nice cream came out better than I expected since I was playing with proportions and wasn't sure at all if the amount of coconut cream was enough to make it creamy and scoopable. It turned out that I was right (*insert happy dance here*) plus the addition of another healthy fat like almond butter helped too. Also very important, the level of ripeness of my bananas was excellent, and that's essential if you want to get delicious banana-based ice creams.

So I'm going to leave you with the recipe and off I go to the kitchen cause someone's in charge of dinner tonight. Hope you like my nice cream and you try it at home, let me know how you customize it and what kind of flavor combos would you like me to publish in the near future.

Happy weekend!

¡Receta en español aquí!

Blackberry Açaí Nice Cream
(4 to 6 servings approximately)

Ingredients
1 can full-fat coconut milk, refrigerated overnight.
4 frozen bananas (very ripe).
1 1/3 cups frozen blackberries.
2 tablespoons natural almond butter.
1 to 2 teaspoons açaí powder.
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla powder.
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (or more, to taste).
- To serve:
Fresh fruit like blackberries, strawberries, melon, etc.
Cashews.
Hemp seeds.

Notes:

- An important tip about coconut milk: when making ice creams I recommend to use full-fat coconut milk (the ones that are canned). But most importantly, the percentage of coconut milk versus water and the possible addition of thickeners is what you should really pay attention to when you are buying coconut milk. If the recipe calls for refrigerated coconut milk or coconut cream you'll need to use the most natural coconut milk you can find, avoid (trust me, avoid!) any milk that contains guar gum or xanthan gum, these thickeners prevent any separation so even if you let the can refrigerated for days you won't get that much needed thick white cream (coconut cream), it will still be liquid. 

You will have to try different brands until you find 'the one', one that doesn't have additives and has the highest percentage of coconut. Certain brands don't indicate the quantity of coconut milk and water.

- Before transfering the nice cream base to the container taste and adjust the sweetness, if necessary. It will depen on how ripe the bananas are and most importantly the level of tartness of the blackberries.

Directions

Place the can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight or, even better, a day before. Open the can and scoop the thick white cream and add it to a high speed blender or food processor. Add the bananas, blackberries, almond butter, açaí powder, vanilla and maple syrup.

Blend until smooth and adjust sweetness if desired.

Transfer the mixture to a freezer-safe container (with a lid) and freeze for about 2 hours or until scoopable. 

You might need to let the nice cream thaw at room temperature for 10 minutes approximately before serving. Homemade nice creams tend to be rock solid after sitting in the freezer but if you add the right quantitity of fats it's just a matter of patience and a few minutes until it reaches the creamy consistency again.

Scoop the ice cream and serve topped with fresh fruit, nuts and hemp seeds. Also you can serve it with your favorite chocolate or caramel sauce, it's up to you!