roasted fig and macadamia ice cream

It is mid-September and 26 degrees.

Yes, it might be Autumn but this warmer weather calls for ice cream (and a G&T) and this roasted fig and macadamia ice cream is in my opinion the perfect choice. Figs are currently in season and they are jammy sweet!

I absolutely love figs. They remind me of my childhood on the farm where we had a couple of fig trees standing in the garden. It was mostly a pull and tug war with the branches trying to reach the ripe figs, followed by the sticky fingers from the sap when finally reaching one. But one didn't care as they were always worth the effort.

On the weekend we bought a big box of fresh seasonal figs and as they were getting really ripe I thought instead of buying a vegan ice cream to celebrate (what might be the last bit of warm weather for this year), why not make one with these fresh figs. It had been a while since I have used my ice cream churner after all.

We don't have ice cream too often, so I was all too happy to dust off my ice cream churner to start the process.

Tip!

Roasting the figs beforehand makes them extra jammy, sticky and sweet.

ROASTED FIG & MACADAMIA ICE CREAM

(VG)

Jammy figs and crunchy, toasted nuts. Perfect Autumn ice cream? I think so!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup cashews, soaked overnight
5 - 6 ripe, fresh figs
600ml plant-based milk / cream* (I used a mix of 270ml plantbased cream and 330ml almond milk)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xanthan gum (optional, but makes it creamier)
1 tsp vanilla paste
1/3 cup cane sugar
3 - 4 tbsp agave syrup **
50g macadamia nuts, chopped

INSTRUCTIONS:

The day before:

Cover the cashews with warm water and let them soak overnight.

The next day:

Cut the figs in quarters and roast them in the oven for 15min, until sticky and jammy.
Remove them from the oven and set aside to cool.
Roast the macadamia nuts for about 3 - 4 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
Drain and rinse the cashews and add them to a high-speed blender, along with the plantbased milk/ cream, salt, vanilla paste, sugar, agave syrup and xanthan gum (if using). Blend on highspeed for about 2 minutes, until completely smooth.
Pour the mixture into a container and chill in the fridge for about 2 - 3 hours.
Rinse the blender and add the roasted figs and blend into a paste. Refrigerate until needed.
Once the ice-cream blend has chilled for 2-3 hours, pour the mixture into your prepared ice-cream churner. Add the fig paste and the macadamias and churn as per manufacturing instructions. Mine took about 20 min.
For a soft-serve consistency serve immediately or transfer into a sealable freezer-safe container and freeze until needed. Once it has been frozen the ice cream might be really hard, allow about 15 - 20 min to sit before serving to make it scoopable.