Christmas is such a special time of year. Gathering of family and friends, taking the time to share the day with those you love.

Each family has their own Christmas traditions – a special way the presents are opened, a Christmas beverage, who’s house the Christmas meal will be at. Our family also have our own Christmas traditions and one of those traditions only started with my Mum.

Being part of the festivities on Christmas day was so important for my Mum that she ‘broke’ with the family tradition of the baked Christmas lunch. Instead of being in the kitchen all day, preparing for the Christmas lunch and then cleaning up afterwards, Mum decided to have our baked Christmas meal the evening before on Christmas Eve. We then had salads and leftover cold dishes on Christmas day.

Being a mother I now appreciate this ‘new’ tradition on two fronts:

• I also wish to spend Christmas enjoying the day with my partner and children and being part of the excitement, joy and laughter.
• Christmas in Australia is hot and so a Christmas meal of salads and cold dishes makes so much sense.

One of my favourite Christmas dishes is Mum’s Ice Cream Cassata. Growing up in Alice Springs where the summer temperature hits 35 degrees plus, a hot pudding for dessert seemed ridiculous. So instead of baking the dried fruit into a pudding, Mum would soak the dried fruit in orange juice and then blend them through vanilla ice cream. YUM!

Now it is my turn to break with tradition. Having started on a raw food journey over 5 years ago I have been playing in the kitchen ever since. Since we have always had salad and cold dishes on Christmas day I haven’t had to venture too far from that tradition except we now have a number of raw vegan options.

So in keeping with the raw and vegan theme it is time to recreate the Ice Cream Cassata.

Spiced Apple Ice Cream Cassata

Ice Cream

2 cups cashews, soaked over night

2/3 cups sun dried apples, soaked in 1 cup of filtered water over night

1/2 cup + 1/3 cup apple soaking water

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1 Tbs honey

3 tsp lemon juice

Dried fruit for cassata

Juice of 1 orange

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1/3 cup goji berries

1/3 sun dried apples, diced

1/3 cup currants

1/3 cup sun dried apricots

1 cup of grated raw dark chocolate

Directions:

1. Soak over night the goji berries, dried apple, currants and sun dried apricots in the juice of the orange and 1/2 lemon

Ice Cream

1. Drain and rinse cashews and put into a high speed blender
2. Drain the sun dried apples, keeping the soaking water. Place the sun dried apples into the blender along with 1/2 cup and 1/3 cup apple soaking water, cinnamon, cardamom, honey and lemon juice
3. Blend until smooth
4. Pour mixture into an ice cream machine and churn following manufacture’s instructions
5. Mix in soaked dried fruit and grated dark chocolate, then pour into sealed container and freeze for about 3 hours until firm
6. Thaw for about 20 minutes before serving

If you do not have an ice cream maker then pour the ice cream into a bowl. Mix in the soaked dried fruit and grated chocolate. Pour this mixture into a sealed container and place in the freezer. About every hour for about 4 hours, remove from the freezer and stir content. This will keep the ice cream ‘light’.

I hope you have a magical Christmas and if you wish to start your own traditions embrace the opportunity and have fun!

Vicki Cook is a Kinesiologist, Coach and Raw Food Teacher.

She believes that life’s challenges are there to offer us the chance to grow and learn to create a new, more positive and empowered path, and feels truly blessed that though her practice she can provide insights and support that facilitate that growth.

She holds regular RAW food workshops, click here for the details.