SALTED TAHINI CARAMEL, ROAST ALMOND AND CHOCOLATE ‘NICE’ CREAM

Chocolatey ‘nice’ cream (this just means frozen banana blended to a an ice-cream consistency), crunchy roasted hazelnuts and chewy sweet and salty sesame spiked caramel. Serves 2

Ingredients
2 Tbs maple syrup
1 Tbs tahini
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 frozen bananas (freeze in pieces not whole or in their skins)
2 Tbs cacao or cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbs roasted almonds, roughly chopped

In a very small pot (1 cup capacity is excellent)*  combine maple syrup with the  first  1/2 tsp vanilla, salt & tahini. Bring to the boil, turn down heat & simmer gently until a golden colour is reached (a couple of minutes). Set aside to cool slightly – don’t allow to harden and stick to the pot!  

In a food processor or high speed blender combine the banana & second 1/2 tsp vanilla.
Process until a smooth soft-serve consistence is reached. Add cacao, process until uniform in colour. Stir almonds through. Pour into freezer-safe container & smooth out to about 1-2 mm thickness. Drizzle tahini caramel sauce over the top and place in freezer for 15 minutes.
Remove, fold most of caramel sauce through, don’t worry about chunks, you want these.

Return to the freezer another 30 minutes, then stir/fold icecream again, mixing up the more and less frozen bits. Repeat this for 1-2 hours folding occasionally. The stirring will create a creamy texture. When you have reached a consistency that you’re happy with, spoon it into bowls and eat.

I like it to be frozen enough that you can make soft scoops of ice cream from it. This isn’t actually that time consuming though. You could eat it all soft-serve like and melty and it’d be ready in minutes. Or you can do the refreezing part and have a more luxurious ice cream-like consistency. Up to you!

* (note: if you don’t have one, double the quantities for the sauce and just store in the fridge otherwise temperature control will be very difficult)