Fig & Lavender Nice Cream

Hannah Sunderani
Aug 31, 2016
4 min read

Yes, this recipe is as dreamy as it sounds! Oh the simplicity of lavender, figs and frozen bananas. Together it creates miracles! I can't begin to describe the complete euphoria that took over my body when ingesting this incredible nice cream. In fact, this dessert didn't even make it out of the kitchen! Nope. In all my excitement I stayed standing in the kitchen "mmm-ing" to myself with each bite until it was over.

I suppose it also doesn't help that I am FIG OBSESSED. To me, there is no greater food in this world than a fresh and juicy, bright and ripe red FIG! So adding it to nice cream was only a matter of time. Actually, moving to France has been a blessing for this obsession of mine. I think they love figs as much as I do. I'm not sure whether it's because the climate is better suited for growing them, or whether eating figs is more ingrained in their culture, but these little goodies are abundant! Especially right now as it is fig season. Which in my opinion is the most wonderful time of the year.

Mitch and I have been spending our Saturday's picking up a couple boxes of these beautiful fruits from the market and I often haven't made it home without devouring an entire box to myself. Fun fact about figs: Did you know it takes two to six years for a fig tree to start blooming!? Which really means I should savour them slowly to pay respect for all their hard work... must learn some self discipline. But just as my excitement for fig season overtakes my sanity so does the looming pang of sadness that follows a few weeks later, as all the fresh figs disappear, and what's only left is the distant memory of what once was.

UNTIL NOW!

It seems that someone, somewhere, rubbed a magical lamp on my behalf! Or maybe, the French understand the terrible circumstance of being fig-less for 48 weeks of the year. Because in France you can buy Frozen FIGS year round! That's right ladies and gents! There is a magical chain store called Picard here, that specializes solely in frozen foods. I happened to pop by to grab some frozen fruit for smoothies - when I discovered this little miracle: Frozen FIGS! Ummm...are you kidding me?! Have you ever heard of a more wonderful idea than freezing figs and having them year round!? I was in complete shock and awe, as if I had just spotted a band member from One Direction. Grabbing the bag, eyes wide, I held it in disbelief saying to Mitch in a very high pitched and embarrassing tone, "OMG! IS THIS WHAT I THINK IT IS!?" And it was! The glorious beloved fruit I long for each year. I'll be it frozen, but figs nonetheless.

So needless to say this recipe was inspired not only by our wonderful fig season, but also by my miraculous discovery of frozen figs at Picard. And blending them together with bananas and lavender takes the taste experience to a whole new level. This Fig and Lavender Nice Cream is by far my favourite nice cream blend, and my new favourite dessert. It combines the delicate flavours so well into a dreamy-creamy dessert. And topped with fresh figs, more lavender and chocolate chunks makes it undeniably the most drool-worthy dessert I've ever tasted. You MUST try for yourself! I used frozen figs in my mixture and saved the fresh for topping. But you can add fresh figs to your nice cream mixture instead, or chop your figs into quarters and freeze them overnight before using.

And if I can give you any advice from my incredible experience, it would be to buy heaps of fresh figs while they're in season, and freeze them for the winter. So that, like me, you will never have to suffer from withdrawal again. And you can enjoy recreating this divine Fig & Lavender Nice Cream throughout the year. I know I will. :)

Fig & Lavender Nice Cream

Serves: 2-3| Prep Time: 15 mins | Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tsp dried lavender
2 cups chopped frozen bananas (approx. 5-6 bananas)
1/2 cup frozen figs, or fresh

For topping:

Dark chocolate chunks
2-3 fresh figs

Preparation:

Pound lavender until finely ground using a mortar and pestle; place to the side.
In a food processor add chopped frozen bananas. Blend for 1-2 minutes, or until bananas have started to combine. Then add your frozen figs. Blend for another 1-2 minutes, or until nice cream starts to become smooth in texture.
When the nice cream is almost smooth and 1 tsp ground lavender, reserving approx. 1/2 tsp for topping. Blend nice cream until entirely smooth and the lavender is combined.
Scoop nice cream into bowls and sprinkle with remaining ground lavender, dark chocolate chunks and fresh figs. Serve immediately.

Approvals: