CREAMY LINGONBERRY NICE CREAM

I can’t get enough of pink food. I could easily make this blog all about pink food, but for now I’m sticking to my once a month pink post. This time it’s about pink that melts in your mouth: cold and fluffy, sweet and creamy lingonberry nice cream. I’m using lingonberry gems from my berry forest to give a sweet and earthy flavor to the nice cream, and my trusted coloring agent beetroot powder to color it all perfectly pink.

How to make soft and fluffy nice cream

Making nice cream is easy. Making it taste good is easy too. But to get it soft and fluffy as a cloud is an art I’ve learned along the way by experimenting with different ingredients. Experimenting with food as tasty as this is pure pleasure.

Here are some tips I hope you’ll find useful

1. Bananas. I always freeze ripe and spotty bananas (which are peeled and chopped into four pieces) into zip lock bags. I use bananas which have been in the freezer overnight (or more) or at least four-five hours. When I make nice cream, I take the banana or bananas out of the bag and let them thaw for ~5 minutes before blending. Note: when using a powerful high-speed blender like Vitamix this thawing part is not necessary (in fact it might make the nice cream melt too fast)
2. Liquid. Although plant based milk such as oat or almond milk is a good liquid to use in nice creams to get the blender rolling smoothly, the secret to making nice cream soft and similar to basic ice cream is coconut cream. Coconut cream is the creamy part of a coconut milk can. A great substitute to coconut cream is soaked and rinsed cashews and a drop of liquid if needed.
3. Flavor, color and nutrients. I love to bundle flavor, color and nutrients together, because when it comes to nice cream these are a tight threesome. Usually the ingredient (or ingredients) which adds more flavor to basic nice cream, also gives it a lovely color. And most often this added ingredient is also full of good-for-you nutrients, such as the lingonberries and beetroot powder I’m using here. If you don’t have lingonberries, honestly any berry is good! I also love to color my nice cream green with leafy greens and green herbs or super powders. My other favorite healthy coloring agents are turmeric powder and orange (super cute yellow hue), wild blueberries (stunning purple), almond/peanut butter (the softest light brown) and raw cacao powder (chocolate brown).
4. Sweetener. When it comes to sweeteners, my recommendation is to start with only a little amount. Bananas are already very sweet, if they’ve been spotty and soft before freezing, so just a teaspoon of coconut nectar or maple syrup might be enough. Sometimes no sweetener is needed! The amount required of course depends not only on the sweetness of bananas (or plant based liquid used) but also on the added ingredients. If I’m using raw chocolate powder, I find it to be quite bitter without a sweetener, so I usually add much more sweetener than to my berry nice cream.
5. Toppings. Perhaps the greatest food category ever. They make a standard dish shine bright, and they make it YOURS. In my book, the more the better, but my children usually settle for one or two toppings (usually berries, granola or raw chocolate/raw treat bites). I add everything I can possibly think of and find in our cupboards and fridge (coconut flakes, mulberries, cacao nibs, seeds, granola, fruits, chocolate, brownies, nut butters), and must admit, my bowl of nice cream always looks very messy. A beautiful mess, I would say.

More nice cream recipes

There are a zillion nice cream flavors to try, here are a few of my favorites:

Strawberry cauliflower nice cream – I promise, you can’t taste the cauliflower 🙂

Chocolate, mint chocolate and strawberry nice cream – the delicious classics!