Caveman Chocolate Soft-Serve Ice Cream

Follow the chocolate pudding recipe from my blog, then put it in an ice cream maker and you'll have Caveman chocolate soft-serve ice cream just like in the picture! It's best eaten right away, because like most low-fat ice creams, it doesn't freeze well.  As is melts, it's very similar to a Wendy's chocolate frosty or a chocolate milkshake.

It contains only 75-100 calories per 1/2 cup and is completely Paleo. It contains no sugar or other sweeteners and no dairy. Once again, the secret is sweet potatoes.

Japanese sweet potatoes will make sweeter ice cream than the kind that are orange inside, sold in most stores, but the orange ones work fine too. They're called either sweet potatoes or yams. Both will work. If you use the orange kind, try using 1 1/2 cups water and 6 Tablespoons cocoa powder instead of what the recipe calls for. That's what I did for the ice cream in the picture.

Once you and your friends have had your fill of the soft-serve ice cream, when it melts you'll have a mouse-like pudding once again, also delicious. I'm thinking of making pudding pops. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Paleo Chocolate Pie

On Sunday, the Austin Primal Living Meetup Group held a Paleo Picnic in the Park that was filmed for a local TV show that's just starting up called Paleo Cafe. Hats off to Judith, Dorian, Herman, and Eddie for their awesome production and camera work.

We all brought dishes. I made kale chips, Nutty Chocolate Truffles and, my coup d'etat, Paleo Chocolate Pie.  Thanks to the magic of sweet potatoes, yuca, and plantains, the pie contains no sugar, flour, dairy products, or condensed sweeteners.  And it tastes as good as it looks (I know that's bragging, but I really do like it).

PALEO CHOCOLATE PIE

(From memory--everything is approximate.)

Filling

• 2 cups mashed Japanese sweet potatoes, no skin
• About 2 oz baking chocolate (unsweetened)
• About 1/2 cup egg whites (pasteurized)
• Very small pinch cinnamon
• Very small pinch cayenne

Blend in two batches in food processor until the chocolate is somewhat broken up. In a nonstick skillet over low heat, cook until chocolate is melted, then cook five minutes more, stirring frequently so chocolate doesn't burn. Blend it again in food processor in two batches to get a smoother texture. 

Crust

• About 3/4 cup cubed flesh from a green plantain
• About 1/2 cup cubed yuca root, peeled
• About 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 banana
• About 1 tsp baking powder

Blend in food processor to make a wet dough-like mixture that holds together fairly well. Grease a glass pie pan well with olive oil. Pat crust mixture into pan so that it rides up the sides but doesn't leave any holes in the crust. Try to make it thin. This is what you'd do for a graham cracker crust.

Bake at 300-350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until it's almost about to brown but not quite browning.

Putting the Pie Together

Add filling to the crust. Smooth it out with a dinner knife, and then use the flat part of the knife to make swirls toward the center as seen in the picture. Bake at 300-350 degrees for about 20 minutes until outer edge of crust begins to brown.

Strawberry Garnish

Choose a nice strawberry. Cut it lengthwise into five slices but don't cut all the way through the cap. Spread the strawberry out like a fan and place in the middle if the pie. The pie will cut easily with a dinner knife.