My challenge was to make an easy chocolate ice cream that was a proper hit of chocolate, rich and creamy and really healthy. You don’t need an ice cream maker and the ingredients are simple. The pears make the flavour and texture work really well. My friends really like it… and it’s delicious with strawberries or raspberries. Perfect if you want a chocolate fix and still want to fit into your bikini (or speedos). A lovely follower of mine on Instagram called Sue added a smashed up bar of good quality dark chocolate at the end and said it made it deluxe.

Makes 1/2 litre.

Ingredients:
1 big pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ripe pears
3 tablespoons maple syrup
½ cup soya milk (I use Bonsoy) or coconut milk/cream
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

How:
Peel the pears and remove the core.
Slice into little pieces and put onto a sheet  of tin foil in a single layer and put in the freezer for a few hours until solid, or overnight.
Place all the ingredients in a food processor except the cocoa and blend until smooth.
You might have to stop the machine and get a spoon to squash down the lumps every now and then during this process to make sure all the pear has been blended.
Finally add the cocoa and blend till mixed through then freeze to firm it up.
Like most ice cream, it will be more scoopable if you take it out of the freezer 10 minutes before serving after its completely frozen.

I shop at:
Waitrose
Sainsbury’s
Tesco
Lidl