Mint Chocolate Chip Sherbet Ice Cream

This blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in a few seconds. If not, click here:
www.dessertswithbenefits.com

Yes, a sherbet ice cream!  A hybrid between an icy, sweet sherbet and smooth, creamy ice cream.

Surprisingly, making ice cream is getting more fun each new recipe!  First was the Peanut Butter & Jelly Ice Cream, and then my favorite so far, the Spiced Pumpkin & Maple Ice Cream.  Although I've gotta say, using cream and whole milk would make things a lot easier...

But "easy" just reminds me of my past, when I used to slather butter all over my bagels, when I avoided the gym to avoid the uncomfortable feeling of effort, and give my all into my schoolwork... living like that is a breeze...

Whereas, making food 100% whole and nutritious (while also being tasty), takes a lot of time, care and effort--I like how challenging it is to make healthy desserts (as you can see in my plentiful "trial-and-error, then, trial-and-MORE-error" recipes).  But we just have to remember, there is always a replacement for an unhealthy ingredient!

Such as butter.  Such as powdered sugar.  And in this case, cream.

What could I do to replace the typical ice cream ingredients?  Like:

   Cream?  Use evaporated fat-free milk or coconut milk (depending on the ice cream flavor you are making)

   Corn Syrup?  Brown rice syrup, honey, maple syrup, agave, etc...

   Food Coloring?  Avocado and maybe even a handful of spinach!  (You know me! You've seen it before)

I know that my own version of the mint chocolate chip ice cream isn't an exact replica of the store-bought ice creams.  It doesn't have that bright blue/green color we all associate mint with.  It is a sherbet ice cream:  a mix of the frosty sherbets and the velvety ice creams.  But, it is minty and it sure is chocolatey!

Mint Chocolate Chip Sherbet Ice Cream:  [low sugar, high fiber/protein]

(makes 5 cups)

Mixture #1:

   225g Avocado (ripe, about two medium)

   1 tbs Lemon Juice

   10 Fresh Mint Leaves (you can definitely use more)

   42g (2 tbs) Honey

Mixture #2:

   two 12oz cans Evaporated Fat Free Milk (not condensed!)

   1 tsp Vanilla Extract

   1+1/2 tsp Mint Extract

   3/4 tsp Stevia Extract

   1/8 tsp Salt

Add-In:

   1/2-3/4 cup Mini Dark Chocolate Chips

Directions:

1.  In a blender, puree Mixture #1

2.  If your blender can hold more than 5 cups of contents, then add Mixture #2.  If your blender doesn't fit that much (like my Magic Bullet), put Mixture #2 into a large mixing bowl and whisk slowly to mix

3.  Stir in the blender mixture/Mixture #1 until combined, refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight

4.  Make the ice cream according to the instructions, and when the ice cream has about 5 minutes to go, add the chocolate chips (my ice cream was sort of like a soft serve after 20 minutes in the ice cream maker, so I froze it for about 3-4 hours)

5.  Freeze until firm but scoopable.  If you freeze overnight, you will probably need to let it sit on the counter for a bit to soften up.  Enjoy!

I could taste the avocado a little bit (which I wasn't very fond of), but that can be easily fixed by adding more mint leaves and obviously, more chocolate chunks  ;)

After every spoonful with a hunk of chocolate... I had no worries in the world  :)

Lemon Poppyseed Cake & White Icing

This blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in a few seconds. If not, click here:
www.dessertswithbenefits.com

Every time I go grocery shopping, the baking aisle seems to lure me in.  I just love looking at all the different flours, extracts, utensils and pans.  Recently though, I saw a bundt pan and just had to have it.  I picked it up and thought of what I could bake in it...

      Chocolate cake?  Been there.

            Pound cake?  Done that.

I turned around with the pan in my hands and saw the Betty Crocker Lemon Poppy Seed muffin mix sitting neatly on the shelf...  yeah, I'll bake that!  Only from scratch, and uh, not hazardous to my health (no, Betty Crocker, your mixes no longer appeal to me!)

Trial #1:

Pretty good! The cake was airy and sweet, but not sweet enough. The lemon wasn't as bold as I thought it would be, so the lemon extract needed to be increased. Sadly, it was a little heavy on the stomach. I need to lighten it up so I'll add more applesauce.

Trial #2:

I ran out of lemon extract so I knew there wouldn't be enough lemon flavor, but it was sweet enough from adding more stevia. I added more applesauce and added one more egg replacer. It was moist, but It was still dense and heavy like the first trial.

Trial #3:

Mmmm... the lemon flavor came through, and the sweetness made eating the cake much more enjoyable. It is still dense, but soft at the same time. If you don't have a bundt pan, I recommend baking this batter in 2 cake pans. Double the icing recipe below and put some in between the cake as well as on top, then slice and serve!

Lemon Poppyseed Cake:  [low fat, high fiber/protein]

(makes one large bundt cake)

   Dry:

       480g (4 cups) Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

        120g (1+1/2 cup) Whey Protein Concentrate

        96g (1/2 cup) Sucanat (or dry sweetener of choice)

        1/4 cup Poppyseeds

        1 tbs Baking Powder

        1 tsp Baking Soda

        1/2 tsp Sea Salt

   Wet:

        21g (3 tbs) Egg Replacer + 1/2 cup Water

        738g (3 cups) Unsweetened Applesauce

        225g (1 cup) Plain, Nonfat Greek Yogurt

        84g (1/4 cup) Honey

        56g (1/4 cup) Grapeseed Oil (or any other neutral oil)

        5 tsp Stevia Extract

        4-5 tsp Lemon Extract

        2 tsp Vanilla Extract

        2 tsp Butter Extract

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and spray a large bundt pan with cooking spray.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg replacer and water, then whisk in the rest of the wet ingredients.

3.  In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.  Add the wet to dry and fold gently (do not overmix).  Pour batter into the bundt pan and bake for 80-90 minutes, or when the surface is firm when touched.

4.  Flip the pan onto a wire cooling rack, but leave the pan on the cake for ~10 minutes.  Remove the pan and make the icing (recipe below)

^^ it looks and tastes like real icing!

I'm so happy an icing can be healthy.

White Icing:  [fat free, high protein]

    147g (7 tbs) Honey

    52g (6 tbs) Dried Nonfat Milk

Directions:

1.  In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, microwave the honey for 10-15 seconds, until slightly warm.

2.  Stir in the dried milk (it will look like there is not enough honey, but just be patient, it will mix in.  It will also be super thick so flex those muscles!)

3.  Let the icing cool, then drop dessert of choice!

If you don't use all the icing, place in the fridge and use for any other dessert topping  :)

Pistachio Snacking Cake & Citrus Glaze

This blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in a few seconds. If not, click here:
www.dessertswithbenefits.com

Many of you probably know how challenging it is to get kids to eat their veggies, right?  Well, with some adults, it can be just as difficult.  Someone very close to me--aka, my dad!--has despised veggies for the majority of his life (he even refuses to drink my green monsters because of their green color)

Old habits die hard right?  Well, I sure got him with this Pistachio "Hidden Veggie" Snacking Cake!

Citrus Pound Cake & Date Sugar Icing

This blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in a few seconds. If not, click here:
www.dessertswithbenefits.com

A healthy Pound Cake?!?

Yes!

A healthy icing?

Yes!!!

I don't think there is one baker out there who answered those two questions like I just did.  I mean, a healthy poundcake?!? I think this is a day that history books need to include!

If you have ever read my Banana Bread post or the About Me page, then you know about my childhood addiction to sugary, buttery, baked goodness.  But now that I have perfected my own 100% healthy banana bread recipe, I no longer crave the perfectly laid out slices at the Starbucks checkout line.  Instead, my cravings have led me to another one of their no-good confections: the Iced Lemon Pound Cake.  I searched FoodGawker, TasteSpotting, I searched Google, I searched everything for a healthy Pound Cake recipe, but failed to find one.

From my previous recipe, the Dark Chocolate Coconut Cake, I had used some tofu and had a bit leftover.  Since I needed four trials to perfect that recipe, I had a chance to make another recipe with tofu in it.  And holy cow, I never realized how fussy tofu is!  You need to submerge it in a bowl of water, refrigerate it, and change its water every day.  Oh, and then use within seven days... how needy!  Anyways, I read that tofu can be used as an egg replacer as it is dense and provides moisture.  This is great for pound cakes because a basic pound cake uses many eggs and a lot of butter...  I found pound cake recipes that use 4 sticks of butter, 2-3/4 cup of sugar and 8 egg yolks...  Uhh, no thanks?  I'll make my own!

Trial #1:
     The first trial was surprisingly a successful one! The only problem were the flavors--I used 1 tablespoon of lemon zest which turned a little bitter after baking... I will use pure extracts in the next trial. This cake was beyond moist, it was wonderful and dense, and the butter extract really came through. Because of the moisture level, I thought that I was able to lower the amount of coconut oil and use applesauce instead. The only wrong thing about this cake was that it didn't look like pound cake. It was flat and more cupcake-like rather than pound-cake-like.

^^ Naked

^^ Dressed

Ain't it purdy?

One thing I wish I could share with you, is this icing.  It was fantastic.  Unfortunately, the sugar I used was to never be found again!  I could have sworn I bought it from Whole Foods, but I couldn't find it anywhere after that.  Not Mrs. Greens, not Nature Works, and not even two other locations of Whole Foods.  I used 1/2 cup of powdered coconut sugar with one tablespoon of water.  I bought coconut sugar because it is low glycemic (like honey, agave and maple syrup), it is high in B vitamins, Vitamin C, potassium and magnesium.  So if all that could come from a sugar, yes, I am making an icing with it!  But, like I said, I never saw it again... :(

Trial #2:

Just like my Dark Chocolate Coconut Cake, I thought I could use arrowroot starch in this as well to firm up the structure and make it more "pound-cake-like." I used 3 tablespoons because that was how much I used in the Dark Chocolate Coconut Cake and it turned out well! Next time, I would test using 1/4 cup though...

Trial #3:

This cake is very moist and dense, and you won't miss that buttery taste of regular pound cake because of the butter extract! The stevia will satisfy your sweet tooth, and the citrus gives the cake some tang. One big plus about this cake: it is low fat! The coconut oil is the only source of fat in this recipe, so bake this and eat up.

Citrus Pound Cake:  [low fat/sugar, high fiber/protein]
(makes one large loaf or 2 mini loaves)

   Dry:
       240g (2 cups) Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
        20g (1/4 cup) Whey Protein Concentrate
        48g (1/4 cup) Sucanat (or dry sweetener of choice)
        32g (1/4 cup) Arrowroot Starch (or cornstarch)
        1+1/2 tsp Baking Powder
        1/2 tsp Baking Soda
        1/4 tsp Sea Salt

   Wet:

        182g (2/5 package) Lite Silken Tofu, drained

        123g (1/2 cup) Unsweetened Applesauce

        113g (1/2 cup) Plain, Nonfat Greek Yogurt

        42g (2 tbs) Honey

        28g (2 tbs) Coconut Oil
        2 tsp Stevia Extract
        2 tsp Vanilla Extract

        1+1/2 tsp Lemon Flavor

        1+1/4 tsp Butter Extract
        1/2 tsp Orange Flavor

Date Sugar Icing:
   192g (1 cup) Powdered Date Sugar
   3/4 cup + 1 tbs Water
   1/4 cup + 2 tbs Honey

Directions (for the cake):
1.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
2.  Put the wet ingredients into a blender and puree, set aside
3.  In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients
4.  Pour the blender mixture onto the dry ingredients (every last drop!) and fold until everything is incorporated. Batter will be thick (I tend to overmix, and it still turned out fine)
5.  Spray a loaf pan with PAM, and scoop the batter in. Flatten the top with a spoon or spatula and put into the oven.  Bake for about an hour, until a toothpick comes out clean and surface springs back when touched.
6.  Top with icing. Slice into 8 slices when completely cooled! Otherwise it will not slice neatly.

Directions (for the icing):
1.  Measure out the date sugar and put it into a blender, blend/puree/liquify (whatever setting is fastest and strongest) for 30 seconds to a minute.  Shake the container to release any chunks that may not have been blended, and blend again for another 30 seconds or so.  By now, you shouldn't be able to see through the container, sugar should be floating around.
2.  Keep shaking the container, blend, shake, blend.  If it looks ready, it probably won't be... so keep blending!  You don't want a gritty icing (take it from me)
3.  When the sugar is finely ground like regular powdered sugar be, pour it into a medium bowl and stir in the water and honey.  When there is not enough liquid, it will look like a stiff, jam-like spread (which isn't a bad thing, I guess!).  Pour/spread over the cake.

This icing (seen in the Trial #1 pictures) was actually the first icing I had ever made! I had originally used powdered coconut sugar, but never saw it in stores again. I was tempted to buy a premade Pillsbury frosting (even though it is loaded with sugar), but I was saddened to see "partially hydrogenated oils" on the top of the ingredient list... an ingredient that I will never put into my body (read bottom of the linked page).

not buying it = good choice

So, I decided to just powder some sugar myself. Coconut sugar has a strong, distinct flavor, and sucanat didn't taste very good on the cake.  So, I used date sugar! It comes pretty finely ground, but not powdered like regular powdered sugar.  The extra work of powdering your own sugar is so worth the health benefits!  I like how this icing uses fruit sugar rather than processed stuff that a machine dumped out. Date sugar is high in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, while providing a great, unique flavor! Although the color needs some getting used to, I think you will enjoy it  :)  If you don't like it, I guess you can always use regular powdered sugar.  If you like white icings, try this recipe!

I am so happy to see that unhealthy foods actually can have a healthy alternative.  Make this recipe. You won't regret it!