Our almost thirteen year old had friends sleep over the other night. We generally try not to be too weird and embarrass him by serving kombucha, homemade almond milk, and the like (though a few friends have really enjoyed kombucha). After reluctantly buying a few “healthy” convenience foods for them at our local health food store, I came home to him begging me to make homemade ice cream with frozen bananas!
Looks like some of our weird foods are actually cool, even by teenage standards! Homemade ice cream is a year-round treat in our home. In fact, we’ve been known to eat it for breakfast now and then, much to our kids’ delight – frozen bananas, nuts and seeds, coconut oil or coconut butter – it’s all good stuff! Let me just add that I don’t only make this for kids – I’ve made it on evenings spent visiting with good friends and they swoon over it every single time. For adults you can add some extra special ingredients like coffee or a liqueur!
This recipe was also published in The Aquarian; Banana Ice Cream That’ll Make Your Friends Swoon.
How to make frozen banana ice cream:
1. Peel and freeze bananas. We are fortunate enough to score these at our local health food store already peeled and frozen. They had the bright idea to rescue bananas on the tail-end of their edible lives by peeling, bagging and freezing them to sell at a great price. If you aren’t so lucky, you can simply peel your bananas, lay them on a baking tray and pop them in the freezer. Once frozen, seal them in a freezer bag and they will be handy for homemade ice cream and other frozen desserts.
2. Add milk of your choice to the blender OR food processor. If you are using a high powered blender or a good food processor, you won’t necessarily need to add any liquid to your ice cream. You can add dairy like whipping cream, cream or milk, or an alternative milk such as almond, coconut, or hemp. Once you figure out what your blender is capable of, you’ll find the right ratio of liquid to frozen banana. The ice cream shown in the dish up top is actually a lot more like soft serve because I added too much whipping cream. We like when we get it nice and firm, more like hard ice cream. We often start with no liquid and only add a tiny bit if needed to help the blender along.
3. Slice the frozen bananas and toss them in the blender.
4. Add your optional ingredients:
- cacao or cocoa powder
- nuts
- seeds
- coconut butter
- shredded coconut
- vanilla – Learn how to make your own vanilla here
- dried or fresh fruit
- peanut butter or other nut butters
5. Blend.
6. Scoop out using an ice cream scoop. Add toppings as desired and enjoy!
For more tips on eating well affordably, check out this post: Fitting Real Foods into the Budget – tips from myself on eating REAL food on a budget and links to some of my favourite posts on this topic.
For time and sanity saving menu planning help, grab our Tiny Peasant Menu Planners & Resources!
This sounds so yummy
Thanks! Let us know how you like it if you try it out!