Sweet Potato Chocolate Caramel Creamsicles
When I was a little girl, my best friend and I would run to the local deli after school and stock up on snacks. My favorite was always the snicker bar which I could get there or from the ice cream truck.
As I’ve grown older and developed autoimmune issues, allergies and food intolerances consuming snickers bars on the regular stopped being a healthful option that would keep me full, satisfied and help my body heal from it’s varying chronic issues.
A healthier option
I decided to create the base of these popsicles using sweet potatoes, which are a better option than nuts for keeping blood sugar balanced. Nuts and nut butters in particular are not great options for those of us with autoimmune conditions, particularly thyroid conditions as those nut butters tend to stick to the back of your throat when consumed. This causes the production of bile in the liver to slow and function poorly.
Substitutions
Sweet potatoes: Sweet potatoes may be substituted for taro root or bananas here if tolerated. You may also substitute them with an extra half of a cup of coconut cream for a lower carb version of this delicious treat
Dates: The dates here act as the caramel sauce. If you can tolerate sugar you can replace the dates with 1/2 cup coconut sugar and carmelize it on a stove for a few minutes before pouring onto these popsicles. Alternatively you may use another variety of dates as well. I used deglate-noor. There are hundreds out there.
Coconut creams/milks: Coconut milks and creams can be substituted with cows milk (if you are cleared by your team and do not have any reactions to them), tigernut milk, banana milk or a nut milk of your choice.
Cashew butter: Instead of using cashew butter to mix the dates, you could also use tigernut butter or any other nut butter you like if you can tolerate them. Or substitute melted coconut oil for phase 1 AIP
Ingredients:
400g Japanese sweet potatoes
1/2 cup organic coconut cream
1.5 cups coconut milk
1/4 cup tigernut flour
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp cashew butter (sub melted coconut oil)
6 medjool dates
12oz 100% chocolate chips or chocolate bar
Chocolate Free Version:
1/2 cup carob powder
1/2 cup melted palm shortening
Preparations:
If using carob chocolate, make it the night before you plan to make these treats and keep them stored in the freezer. Start by placing 1/2 cup carob powder into a bowl. Melt some palm shortening and mix it with the carob powder in a small dish until smooth. Pour this into chocolate molds and freeze overnight. Keep in the freezer until ready to use as it may soften too much in the refrigerator.
Peel and steam the sweet potatoes in a large pan. Add water to a the pan and chop the sweet potatoes roughly. When the water comes to a boil, turn it down to medium and continue cooking on a soft rolling boil until a fork goes through easily.
Sift the tigernut flour and place it into a small dish. Mix the flour with 2 tbsp of water in a small dish until creamy and smooth. Set aside. Then, add the fork tender sweet potatoes to a food processor with the coconut milk, cream and tigernut flour mixture. Blend until smooth and creamy and no lumps remain.
Pour this into popsicle molds of your choice and freeze for two to four hours. While this is happening, soak the dates in water for 5-10 minutes to soften them. Once soft, remove the pit, if there is one. Then blend in a food processor with cashew butter (or more tigernut butter mixture) and coconut oil. A thick and creamy paste should form. Its ok if there are chunks in it. Set this aside.
Melt the chocolate on a stove or in a microwave safe dish. Remove the popsicles from their molds once they are hardened completely. Spread the date mixture on one side of the popsicle. Immediately dip it into the melted chocolate and set aside on a wire rack to cool.
Substitution note: if using carob chocolate make it at the same time as you would the melted chocolate
Freeze again for a few minutes. Then, transfer to popsicle bags and store in the freezer until ready to consume.