Handmade pumpkin spice ice cream

Just in time for thanksgiving! Enjoy some home made and hand made ice cream with the festive pumpkin flavor. Topped with chocolate raw vegan cookie dough bites and chocolate sauce.

You won't be able to eat it all so this recipe is for you to share with someone else. So if you want to make it for yourself, cut the ice cream ingredients in half.

 For the ice cream:

• 1 can coconut milk (do not use the light kind or this won't work!)

• You can use fresh or canned pumpkin (I used fresh sweet pumpkin and baked it for about 45min, then puréed in the blender) use about 1/3 a cup or a little more if you like.

• Pinch or more to your liking of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla.

Blend all the ingredients and place in a large bowl (small enough to fit in the freezer tough) 

Now this is def something to do while cooking other stuff or when your home doing other things because you need to place the mixture in the freezer and use a wisk to mix it all every half an hour for about 3-4 hours depending how strong your freezer is. Wisk for about a minute or so each time. Each time you take it out to wisk it will start becoming thicker and thicker until finally it is ice cream consistency. Too little time and not enough wisking will result in runny ice cream, no bueno!

Chocolate cookie dough bites:

• Dates! Yes dates! About 9

• Raw cacao powder (few tbsp)

• A couple tbsp coconut oil

• You can add some crushed nuts but that's totally optional

Mash the dates very very well until you get a paste like consistency and blend with the other ingredients. Freeze for about 20min for the coconut oil to harden.

Chocolate sauce:

• About 2 tbsp coconut oil

• 3-4 tbsp raw cacao powder

• 1-2 tbsp agave, more or less depending how sweet you want it.

Enjoy! :)

Raw vegan pumpkin spice "cheesecake"

Fall is my favorite season hands down. The layered fashions and seasonal food are upon us. It's officially chilly in New York and that means pumpkin flavored everything, everywhere!

As I follow a mostly raw vegan diet, I created some delicious pumpkin flavored cheesecake cupcakes with chocolate sauce. They are nearly raw, as I did bake the pumpkin beforehand to get it nice and soft, ready to use. Slice up your sugar pumpkin and bake on medium heat for about an hour or until tender before continuing with the recipe.

For the base:

• 8-10 dates, chopped and smashed up

• a few tbsp your choice of nuts finely crushed, I used pecans for this one

• pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and sea  salt.

"Cheesecake" filling:

• 1/2 cup cashews, soaked in water overnight and then drained

• 1/3 -1/2 cup of the baked pumpkin 

• 4 tbsp coconut oil

• a few tbsp agave, use more or less to your liking of sweetness level

• pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon

Chocolate sauce:

• 2 tbsp coconut oil

• 3 tbsp raw cacao powder

• 2 tbsp agave

Take your base ingredients and mix well, should be a dough like texture. Place on the bottom of your pan or in my case: cupcake tins.

In a blender, purée well all the cheesecake ingredients until super smooth and pour over base. Leave in the fridge for about an hour or freezer half an hour. That's it! Ready to eat! Placing them in a cool place allows the coconut oil to harden and while blended with the other ingredients it creates a cheesecake like consistency. Pour your chocolate sauce when you're ready to serve!

Makes about 7 cupcakes or a small cake. 

Hope you enjoy! If you recreate this and post on instagram, please @ and # me!