This delicious dairy free ice cream cups recipe is made with only 4 ingredients and combines cool vanilla “ice cream” with immune boosting elderberry syrup!
Dreaming of Dairy-Free Ice Cream Cups
The Dilemma: you want a cool, sweet, satisfying summer treat while still giving your body some healthy love.
The Solution: 4-ingredient dairy free ice cream cups boosted with elderberry syrup. You get the best of both worlds, a super delicious summer treat packed with all the immune-boosting and seasonal allergy-combating power of elderberry syrup.
I’ve been seriously enjoying this sunshine and hot weather we’ve been having here in Edmonton and I already have a face full of freckles (my version of a tan). So, as expected, I’ve been whipping up salads, summer grilling recipes, and cold treats to munch on during these toasty days.
These sweet and super easy ice cream cups were an invention that came about when I was trying to make a popsicle recipe that quickly turned into an epic fail. Luckily I was able to turn this recipe fail around and use what was supposed to go into a popsicle in a chocolate cup instead! Not all of my recipe fails turn out so positively so I’m very happy about the success that came out of this one.
The Benefits of Elderberry Syrup:
I’ve been using Feel Good Syrup elderberry syrup for over a year now and I’ve been incredibly impressed with how powerful and potent the little elderberry is. If you follow me over on Instagram you’ll see how often I gush over this syrup and how it helps keep me and my little toddler healthier by boosting our immunity against colds and flus. I’ve found that even when either of us do get sick, taking the elderberry syrup also helps reduce the duration and severity of our symptoms.
Elderberries and elderberry syrup was traditionally used by Native American herbalists for many years as an ingredient that worked to boost immunity, heal wounds, ease pain in the body and support digestive regularity. In recent research, elderberry has been proven to be an immune system activator and can significantly reduce the length of a cold or flu bout. Elderberries are often made into a syrup and brewed with spices making it very flavourful and great to take alone or add to recipes.
Feel Good Syrup is a local company that produces a delicious elderberry syrup brewed with honey, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, lemon juice, and water. It’s seriously so elderberry good! While the company is local to the Edmonton region (and available in tons of stores in the area), they ship free to Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario as well as the United States (excluding Hawaii and Alaska)!
Back to the Ice Cream Cups!
I’ve been experimenting with adding elderberry syrup to many recipes and this particular recipe, while a bit of an unplanned surprise, is one of my faves to date. I mean who doesn’t love classic vanilla bean ice cream covered with a perfect layer of dark chocolate then topped with crushed almonds and cocoa nibs?? The Elderberry syrup adds the perfect spice and berry flavour to the vanilla ice cream and even pairs wonderfully with the dark chocolate.
These ice cream cups are incredibly easy as you really need just 4 main ingredients; dairy-free vanilla ice cream (I used my favorite Coconut Bliss brand), dark chocolate chips, coconut oil, and elderberry syrup. The almond and cocoa nib topping is totally optional but adds a delicious crunch and a little extra dose of antioxidants and healthy fats. Because my last version of a healthier treat cup was so well received, I’m guessing this one is going to be a hit too! If you want to healthify this recipe even more, you can sub out the dairy free vanilla ice cream and make your own vanilla ice cream using just blended frozen bananas with vanilla extract.
I ended up using quite a bit of elderberry syrup in these cups so each serving has around 1 tablespoon of elderberry syrup goodness. So if you have been experiencing the treat dilemma, here’s a great solution to try. You can have your cake and eat it too!
- 1 cup dairy free vanilla ice cream of choice (I used Coconut Bliss brand)*
- ½ cup Feel Good Syrup elderberry syrup**
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- ¼ cup crushed almond slivers (optional)
- ¼ cup cocao nibs (optional)
- Fill a muffin tin with 8 muffin liners.
- Melt the dark chocolate chips with the coconut oil over low heat until smooth, set aside.
- In a food processor (or blender) add the vanilla ice cream and elderberry syrup and blend until a soft serve consistency is achieved.
- Pour approximately ½ tablespoon of the melted chocolate into each muffin liner and using your finger or a small spoon, swirl the chocolate around so that it makes a thin layer of chocolate along the inner edge of the muffin liner about 1 cm deep.
- Add around 2 tablespoons of the ice cream filling to each cup then pour the remaining chocolate over the ice cream filling to cover the ice cream.
- The chocolate layer will harden quite quickly, then top each cup with a sprinkle of slivered almonds and cocoa nibs if using.
- Place the ice cream cups in the freezer for at least 3-4 hours for the ice cream to harden and set, or preferably leave overnight!
**You can omit elderberry syrup from the recipe but then you don't get the awesome benefits of elderberry!
Lastly, don’t forget to PIN the photo below to save this recipe for later and of course, share the love!
Have a wonderful Sunday,
DISCLAIMER: THIS POST WAS MADE IN PARTNERSHIP AND SPONSORED BY FEEL GOOD SYRUP. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE MY OWN.
