Even if you live in Australia like I do and miss out on snowy holidays, it’s easy to connect Christmas with spice. Mull your fruit, nog your egg and stud those oranges with cloves to have the festive season enveloping you in a warm cloak of heartiness…. until the beads of perspiration break out on your brow, that is!
Then you crank up the air-conditioning to 11 and pray for an afternoon breeze. Instead of sugar plums dancing in your head, you want party ice, mangoes and a kilo of prawns. Isn’t it grand!
But you can have the best of both worlds quite happily when you’re canny about it, and today’s Christmas Spice Ice-Cream is a delicious way to combine the fragrant goodness of spices with the frozen chill we long for when the temperature and humidity are heading skywards.
We’ve adapted this recipe with the inclusion of essential oils. Young Living essential oils can be safely added to food and drink when the label indicates you can do so. Note: not all essential oils are suitable. The quality of oil must be impeccable – such as Young Living’s – and the oil itself must be suitable for ingestion. Just because they all come from nature, doesn’t mean they are all meant to go down the hatch. Check your labels and use common sense. Discover why Young Living oils are so good in this short video.
The essential oils we’ve included are cinnamon bark and orange: why mess with the classics!
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) is a warming spice and the essential oil has the same properties. Steam distilled from the bark and originating in Sri Lanka, Madagascar and Ceylon, cinnamon was listed in De Materia Medica (On Medicinal Substances) way back around AD70. This five volume seminal work was written by physician and herbalist Pedanius Dioscoridies and has been an authoritative source on the subject for over 1500 years. From a folkloric and energy perspective, cinnamon is thought to attract wealth. Why not put in a lotto entry after you’ve whipped up this ice-cream recipe!
Orange (Citrus sinensis) is one of the cheeriest feel-good oils on the planet! All citrus oils are uplifting, but orange is perhaps the queen of them all. It’s also off the charts in the constituent d-limonene at around 90%. If you don’t know how exciting that is, hit the research to find out more. You’ll want some!
Christmas Spice Ice-Cream with Cinnamon & Orange Essential Oils
Recipe adapted from Cooked with Love Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
- 4 frozen bananas, chopped
- ½ cup organic coconut milk
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon or 1-2 drops Young Living Cinnamon Bark essential oil (Earth Kosher certified)
- 1 ½ tsp mixed spice
- ½ tsp organic vanilla extract
- pinch of Himalayan or Celtic sea salt (rich in well-balanced minerals)
- small dash of Young Living Blue Agave Nectar
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 2 drops Young Living Orange or Tangerine essential oil
- ½ cup fresh Medjool or sun-dried dates, chopped (plus extra for serving)
- ½ cup roasted pistachios, roughly chopped (plus extra for serving)
- 200g of chopped fresh pitted cherries, raspberries or blueberries (plus extra for serving)
METHOD
In a food processor, combine chopped bananas, coconut milk, spices and essential oils, vanilla, agave and salt. Wazz until the mixture comes together.
Add dates, pistachios, orange zest and oil just until combined.
Transfer to a freezer-safe container, cover, and leave for at least 10 hours or overnight (until frozen)
Remove from freezer around 15 minutes before you’re ready to serve up. Leave to stand for 10 minutes or less – it just needs to be soft enough to cut.
Cut into 4cm chunks and wazz in the food processor until the mixture comes together into an ice-cream texture. Add chopped cherries / berries and give just a quick blitz. You want some of these to remain intact for the visual appeal and not turn the ice-cream pink – unless that’s the colour scheme you’re going for!
Scoop into bowls, top with the fruit and nuts you’ve set aside for serving and enjoy ! Serve in miniature waffle cones for fun and a touch of extra decadence.
When choosing oils, please remember that not all oils are created equal. Quality varies immensely, so please ensure you are choosing an exceptional brand with complete transparency from seed to seal, such as Young Living. Discover why we love them so much in this short video.
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Enjoy the good oil daily.
The information on this site does not constitute advice. Please consult with your health practitioner. When using any of the products mentioned throughout this site, please be sure to read the labels and follow their suggestions for safe use. We make commissions from sales via many of the products we recommend but we only suggest products we genuinely enjoy and want you to benefit from.
