Healthy Chocolate Pudding....Banana and Avocado-Free!

One of the first things that got me interested in eating a more balanced way and especially in the "clean-eating" trend, was the "healthy" desserts. I have the biggest sweet tooth, so any desserts with without butter and refined sugars sounded fantastic to me. 

I tried a couple here and there, avocado cookies and pudding and they turned out great they really did! So delicious, and you really can't taste the avocado.

But sometimes, it's fun to play around. See this below?

Yes, yes. It's not the prettiest brown splodge in the world...*poo emoji* I was planning on making ice cream with it, but I couldn't be bothered to wait for it to freeze because it tasted DELICIOUS. You'll just have to take my word for it and try it yourself.

The other major plus with this recipe? It contains no avocado and no banana, which is important in my life as I have a boyfriend who isn't the biggest fan of bananas (I'm never going to be able to make healthy banana ice cream).

The recipe is still vegan, gluten, dairy and refined sugar free.

So then WHAT THE HELL IS IN THIS?! I hear you cry!

Find out below......


It's sweet potato!!!

A sweet vegetable, pretty tried and tested in brownies and pies, and you really can't taste it in this recipe.

If you have any left-over sweet potato in your pantry, like I did, just chuck them all in the oven and bake and make it into a ice cream, but I bet you can't wait either like me and eat it as a pudding! To make it you will need:

1 sweet potato (for 1 cup sweet potato purée)
1/2 cup cashew nuts
6 medjool dates, remove the stones
1 cup cold water
3 tbsp raw cacao powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

To decorate: any roughly chopped nuts, salt crystals or berries of your choice.

Firstly, prick the sweet potato all over, wrap in foil, and bake at 200ºC, Gas 6 for 45-60 mins untilyou can easily push a knife to the centre. It should be soft all the way through. Cut the sweet potato in half and leave it to cool. Then scoop out the flesh and discard the skin.

Meanwhile, cover the cashew nuts and pitted dates with boiling water for 15 minutes. Drain and transfer them to a blender. Blend with 1/2 cup of cold water until smooth. Add the rest of the water, vanilla extract, cacao powder, salt and sweet potato purée to the blender and blend until smooth.

For the ice cream:

If you have an ice cream maker, place the mixture inside and churn it until it is scoop able and ice-cream textured. If you don't have an ice cream maker, place the mixture in the freezer and remove ever 20 mins and stir. Repeat this for around 2 hours.

For the pudding:

Transfer from the blender to bowls and place in the fridge for around 15 mins. Add your choice of toppings and then EAT!!