A friend of mine from New York recently emailed me this recipe. She wrote: “Thought of you the other night. We made a delish dairy-free, sugar-free banana ‘ice cream’ with a bit of chopped salty almonds and maple syrup on top!! Yum-yum for sure. Gwyneth Paltrow recipe (of all things! I know) but it was actually super tasty.“
It’s definitely my kind of recipe and the best part is that it doesn’t require an ice cream maker! Cause I don’t have one. Thank you, Lori!
Variations
I’ve made this friendly, creamy nice cream in so many variations I’ve lost count. A couple of times with whisky and coconut milk — highly recommend. And when I want to make my husband happy, in go the walnuts, toasted almonds or toasted peanuts.
This unfussy one can adapt to almost any flavor you’re craving; espresso, cardamom, vanilla bean.
A quick note on the milk: Any dairy-free milk works too, as long as it has enough fat. If it doesn’t, add a spoonful of nut butter to thicken things up. Really, the possibilities are endless.
So now it’s your turn to come up with a delicious version, I’d love to hear about it– leave a comment below!
And if this made you happy, please pass it on so others can enjoy it too. To see more of my recipes, click here.
No-Machine Banana Ice Cream
Equipment
- Food processor or a strong blender
- 1 container with lid
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas* (see note) - sliced and frozen
- ½ cup coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup or 1 medjool date
- ¾ cup roasted hazelnuts and/or almonds, pistachios - crushed
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
You can
- 1) with the nuts mixed in with ice cream.
- 2) or to crush them and sprinkle them over.
To make the ice cream
- Remove the frozen bananas from the freezer. Break into small chunks and put in the food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse. Scrape the sides with a spatula and continue to pulse until the ice cream is smooth like soft-serve ice cream. Put the ice cream in a pint or container and put in the freezer up to two weeks. I like to eat it when it's still soft and very creamy.
Notes
- * to make it easier to process the frozen bananas, slice the bananas and put them flat in a ziplock bag so it’s easy to break them into pieces once frozen.
- to toast the hazelnuts, simply put them on a baking tray in a 300°F preheated oven for 5 minutes or in a skillet over low heat, until they are golden brown. Let them cool down, then rub a handfuls between your palms to peel.
