Ice cream is one of the things we love the most as a sweet treat at home, and since I bought my first Vitamix machine, I have been making it regularly. I would make raspberry ice cream using some of our home-grown fruit.
The main thing was to create a recipe that would tickle our taste buds and feel moreish without any guilt whatsoever. As our first home-grown raspberries were just ready to eat, I was determined to make raspberry the star flavour of one of my new concoctions. My vegetable of choice was beetroot, simply because its colour would enhance that of the raspberry. Nobody eats it at home, so it would be perfect for my little taste experiment!
I was also determined to make my creation healthy, avoiding refined sugar as much as possible. Do not get me wrong; I love sugar, but when we make smoothies or ice cream, we never add refined sugar, as it simply is not needed. If we want our sweet treats to taste sweeter, we just add honey or dried fruit.
I am not going to play it cool and say I succeeded the first time round. I really struggled to get this ice cream recipe absolutely right. The beauty of having children around is they tell you immediately whether something is foul. Everyone apart from Crevette and I enjoyed it. My little man is a people-pleaser, so I am sure he was just being polite. Beanie did not touch it, Hubby winced when he has a small spoon of it and the little ones were not impressed either. My mum refused to try it.
As for me, I think I only enjoyed it because I had made it. With hindsight, it was a very earthy-tasting ice cream and two whole raw beetroots were definitely too overpowering. It also lacked sweetness.
My second attempt was much more successful, with added honey and less beetroot (cooked & cooled this time). The third time round was heaven on a spoon! I had added a quarter of a chili pepper and the slight kick it gave the frozen treat was incredible!
The recipe is not set in stone. Quantities do not have to be precise, which is why I used cups only as the measuring unit. You can adapt the recipe and add more chili or halve the dried fruit if you prefer a treat that is not too sweet. It works well with raw or cooked beetroot, but you will need a really powerful blender if leaving it raw.
Healthy Raspberry Ice Cream in 5 Minutes – No Churning, No Refined Sugar
Ingredients
- ¼ cup full fat Greek yoghurt
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- 1 small beetroot raw or cooked, peeled and diced
- ½ cup frozen banana slices
- 1 ½ cups frozen raspberries
- ¼ medium chilli seeds in, finely chopped
- Optional : to serve
- a few mint leaves
- fresh raspberries
- Ice cream cones
Instructions
- Blend all ingredients together.
- Enjoy straight away!
Disclaimer: I received the Vitamix Pro 750 photographed above free of charge. I was not paid for this post. All photographs and opinions are my own.
Oh YUM! This looks gorgeous. I often make instant ice cream with berries and yoghurt, but I’d never think to add beetroot or chilli – wowie! xx
Thanks my lovely. I always chuck loads of (mostly random) things in our smoothies and ice creams and this one is divine!
Oh yum! Clever lady x
Thanks sweetie. x
I am exactly like you! I never read manuals!! I love that this has different settings. So jealous – I want one. Sharing!
Sorry for teasing you Nagi. You would love the Pro 750. It is the Rolls Royce of blenders!
I need that blender in my life! Raspberries are my favourite fruit so I’ll give this a go (somehow, without a blender!) #recipeoftheweek
I used to make ice cream with a stick blender (my old soup one from the 1990s). It wasn’t as good as the Vitamix, but with cooked beetroot and slightly thawed fruit, it used to work.
Wowww
This ice-cream looks soooooooooooo GOOD !!
And I’m intrigued as you add chilli …
It is really good, and completely guilt-free! What more could you wish for?
Oh wow Mel this looks and sounds so good! We have some beetroot and chilli in the garden that needs using! This is a must try! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Oh brilliant! I’d love to know what you think sweetie. x
Will this work using a regular blender or food processor? This sounds like you’re being indulgent while eating healthy. It sounds great.
It is yummy! I would say if you’re using a stick blender or regular blender, just use cooked beetroot (will be softer) and you might have to give the fruit a few minutes to thaw slightly so they blend a bit more easily.