banana ice cream
From minimalistbaker.com
Ingredients
Ice cream base recipe
- 2 ½ cups sliced frozen ripe banana (~2 medium-large bananas as recipe is written — adjust amount if adjusting serving size // the riper, the sweeter)
Flavors
- Vanilla (base recipe + 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- Strawberry (base recipe + 1 cup frozen strawberries, organic when possible)
- Berry (base recipe + 1 cup frozen mixed berries)
- Green Dream (base recipe + 1 tsp spirulina + 1-2 tsp matcha + 1 tsp maple syrup)
- Chocolate (base recipe + 2 tbsp cacao or cocoa powder + 1 tsp maple syrup)
- Chocolate Nut Butter (base recipe + 2 tbsp cacao powder + 2 tbsp nut butter)
- Peanut Butter (base recipe + 2-3 tbsp peanut butter or other nut butter of choice)
*For serving (optional)
- Sliced fresh fruit (such as kiwi, banana, or berries)
- Cacao nibs
- Nut butter
- Shredded coconut
Instructions
Freeze bananas
- Be sure to start with ripe and spotty bananas. Peel and slice into 1/2-inch slices for easier blending (large chunks tax the motor). Then add to a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until firm (3-4 hours or overnight).
Food processor
- Add sliced frozen bananas to a food processor fitted with an “S” blade. Then blend for 4-5 minutes or until completely smooth, fluffy, and blended. You’ll need to stop occasionally to stir and scrape the sides. You’ll be left with a soft serve texture. See “FREEZING” below for freezing tips.
High speed blender
Add sliced frozen bananas to a high-speed blender, our most recommended model being the Vitamix 5200 for ultimate control and its powerful motor. Turn the Vitamix dial to its lowest setting and ensure the switch is flipped to “Variable” NOT “High” to start with. It’s too much to jump the motor from 0-100 that fast.
Once it’s started blending, quickly switch from “Variable” to “High” speed and use the tamper to press down and stir/agitate the bananas, which should turn into soft-serve texture banana ice cream quite quickly. If the motor seems to be struggling, stop and pause momentarily. Be sure to switch back to low speed / “Variable,” then switch to “High” speed every time to protect the motor.
Flavors
- Adding flavor to your nice cream is easy! For every flavor besides strawberry, berry, or Salted Caramel, simply add the recommended amounts of each ingredient to your ice cream at this time and blend until creamy and smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. If making strawberry or berry, we recommend adding them at the beginning with the unblended bananas for best texture.
Freezing
- At this point you have soft-serve texture banana ice cream. To get more of a scoopable ice cream texture, simply spread into a Tupperware or parchment-lined loaf pan and freeze for 2-3 hours. Then scoop with an ice cream scoop! If too firm, let thaw 15-30 minutes to soften.
Storage
- Best when fresh. See freezing instructions above. Frozen banana ice cream should keep for up to 1 month if well covered, though we find it’s best when used within the first week.