LEMON-THYME ICE CREAM

What do you do when you're blessed with an abundance of fresh herbs and you're looking to get creative?  You make raw ice cream!  

That's right, incorporating fresh herbs into raw desserts has become one of my latest intrigues.  It's so much fun discovering new flavor infusions.  The possibilities are endless!  This one is a citrus-thyme combo – fragrantly sweet, slightly zesty, and oh so divine! 

Start by making your own homemade thyme infused raw honey... 

Lemon-Thyme Ice Cream

1/3 cup raw honey
2 Tbsp fresh thyme, minced

Stir in fresh, minced thyme into raw honey and allow to infuse overnight.  

1/2 cup cashews (soaked 2 hr)
1 cup water

Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
Pinch Himalayan salt

Soak cashews to soften, rinse and drain.  Blend all ingredients (expect the thyme infused honey) until smooth and creamy.  Add honey in at the very end and blend on low to incorporate.  Pour into an ice cream maker, following the manufacturer's instructions.  That's it!

*If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can freeze the mixture in a glass container overnight... comes out just as good!

CACAO-BANANA "PEANUT" BUTTER TARTLET

Looking for a low-glycemic treat to satisfy your sweet tooth?  Look no further, this one's a must try!  It's very reminiscent of a chocolate-peanut butter combo... yum!

If you can believe it, I'm ONLY using ripe bananas to sweeten this entire rich and creamy tart.  Yep, you heard me right – no agave, no honey, not even dates!  And yet it's delicately sweet and super satisfying!  

With this one of a kind dessert, you've got my thumbs up to indulge your sweet cravings!

Crust

3/4 cup raw almonds (soaked and dehydrated)

1 ripe banana (diced and dehydrated)

1/2 Tbsp melted cacao butter

Pinch Himalayan salt

Soak almonds overnight, rinse and drain.  Next, dice a banana and dehydrate (along with the almonds) for about 4 hours at 115 degrees.  

Using a mini-food processor, process all ingredients for a sticky crumble-like consistency.  Form a crust inside a 4-inch tart pan and place in the fridge to solidify.  

Filling

1 ripe banana

2 Tbsp almond butter

1 Tbsp raw cacao powder

Process all ingredients using a mini-food processor until smooth and creamy.  Transfer into the tart and refrigerate for another 30 min before serving.

Keep in mind, organic raw almond butter is hard to come by!  I've even struggled to find some at a health food store before.  So I typically order my almond butter online, along with my cacao products.  Here's my source for almond butter... RawFoodNaturals.com