Frozen Banana Cherry Ice Cream

“We all scream for ice cream!”

When I first read about frozen banana ice cream on the Safari of the Mind  blog, I was skeptical.  Freeze banana slices from 3 ripe bananas overnight.  Purée in a blender and voilà:  ice cream!  Who knew? So easy and so darn good! Dairy free, rich and creamy, fat free with none of those icy bits that some healthier ice creams have in it.    Loretta made hers with fresh cherries and some peanut butter as add ins.    I followed her lead and tried the same combination but increased the quantity of cherries in mine.  Still low fat and delicious!  And such a pretty pink with no color additives!  This is certainly a recipe that is ripe for experimentation. The puréed bananas are good alone or are the blank canvas for your own creations.  

Here’s the scoop:  I found it is easier to cream the frozen banana slices in a food processor than a blender, even a powerful Ninja one.  No matter what you use, you will need to scrape down the sides of the bowl several times as you work to get the creamy consistency of ice cream out of the bananas.  That is the secret to success.  The bananas at first will look crumbly.  Keep whizzing them and their consistency will become creamy as air is incorporated into the mash.  At this point, add in your other flavors.  In my case I used 3 tablespoons of peanut butter and 1 cup of pitted cherry halves.  Whirl until combined.  Place in a container and freeze until solid, about an hour.  Serve as you would any other ice cream.

3 bananas, sliced and frozen + 3 T peanut butter + 1 cup cherries = about 2 cups of guilt-free yet decadent ice cream!

What’s your favorite ice cream?