Paleo Cashew Ice Cream

When making ice cream it is good to have one basic recipe what can be varied endlessly. This one is a recipe for a basic vanilla ice cream using cashew nuts. It takes time to make even with an ice cream maker, but it is worth every minute. Every ice cream maker is different. I use the attachment to my Kitchen Aid and it will make a nice thick ice cream in about 20 minutes if I put the ice cream batter in the freezer for an hour before moving it to the ice cream maker. This technique not only have the ice cream freeze faster but gives the gelatin in recipe time to make it creamy. So please: no short cuts. This ice cream can be eaten right out of the ice cream maker or stored in the freezer.If you store it, remember to take it out of the freezer 30 minutes before serving to soften it up - otherwise it will be quite hard to serve. In this recipe I use xylitol as a sweetener. If you don't like xylitol it can be substituted for any type of organic sugar, or you can add 6-8 dates instead for a sweet taste (this will affect the color though). Once you have the basic recipe down, try experimenting with adding other flavors, like cocoa powder and nuts.


Ingredients:

4 egg yolks 
1/4 cup xylitol
1/4 tsp. Vanilla bean
2 cups of cashews
2 cups of water
2 tbsp. gelatin powder



Instructions:

1) Whisk the egg yolks, sweetener and vanilla bean until light in color and smooth. 
2) Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth. 
3) Transfer to a bowl and freeze for 1 hour.
4) Scrape down the sides of the bowl and either put back in the freezer or transfer to an ice cream maker, then follow instructions on the machine. 
If you use your freezer, keep scraping down the sides and mix every hour until it has the consistency of soft serve.

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