Black Forest Ice Cream

This recipe is gluten free, soy free and nut free but is NOT dairy-free. Compared to commercial brands this ice cream is indeed a healthy choice. When you see the first ingredient, you will be shocked! This was a request from one of my supporters, she wanted a healthy chocolate cherry ice cream. This is one of her favorite flavor combinations. I normally don’t cook with very much dairy but since she has been so wonderful since the launch of my page, I really wanted to thank her with this recipe.

Ingredients:

After Picture

3/4 Cup of Low Sodium Cottage Cheese
1 Tsp. of Vanilla Extract
5 Tsp. of Organic Cocoa Powder
2-2.5 TBS of Raw Organic Honey
1/2 Cup of Frozen Cherries
(Optional): 1/4 tsp. of Almond Extract
(Optional): 2 tsp. of Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Reminder, please use low sodium cottage cheese if not you will have salty ice cream!
Place the cottage cheese, vanilla extract, cocoa powder and honey in a food processor or blender. I used a Magic Bullet and that did the trick.
Process and blend till the mixture is smooth.
Place in a Tupperware and set it aside.
Clean your blender and then add the semi-thawed cherries and almond extract to the blender and pulse it. (Note this is a matter of personal preference…if you like your cherries to be chunky, pulse it just a few times. If you like a smoother cherry swirl, then run the blender or food processor longer)
Before Picture
Place your blended cherries into your chocolate container. (You can probably eat it straight away as a soft serve but I’m aiming for a hard scoop!)
Don’t mix the two mixture, just let it sit in its own location and let it set over night (See the “Before Picture” for reference).
DO NOT freak out that next day when you take it out of the fridge and you can’t eat it right away! It will be a solid block, remember its low-fat. Take it out and let it sit 15 min to soften a bit and then scoop it out. It’ll be ok…don’t worry so much and just enjoy!
The chocolate chips is an optional topping. I use Enjoy Life brand since they are free of the top 8 allergens.