FROZEN BANANA ICE CREAM, 4 FLAVOURS
It’s Valentines Day tomorrow, an occasion that brings together two of my great loves; anthropomorphised fruit and food puns! Below are a couple of puntastic vintage Valentines Day banana cards, dredged from this flickr collection.
While we’re on the subject of bananas, may I slip (‘scuse yet another pun) into a beautiful natural banana ice cream recipe? It’s a departure from my usual 1=2 theme, but I just had to share it.
You’ll no doubt have a few over-ripe rock hard bananas lurking in your freezer, and once you’ve tried this ice cream, banana cake will be a thing of the past. It’s even better than a Barney Banana, and it has no added sugar.
Processing frozen bananas isn’t my original idea; in fact you can even purchase a special machine for the job. A hardy food processor will perform the task perfectly though, and adding a touch of yogurt or coconut cream makes for a smoother, creamier consistency.
A whipped frozen banana is a thing of great beauty, so rich and silky. Quite honestly, it tastes exactly like ‘real’ ice cream. We’ve been experimenting during Melbourne’s heatwave and have come up with some fab flavour combinations. Methinks the pink one in particular would make a sweet Valentines Day treat for your loved one. My lovely 6 year old, and chief taste tester along with his older brother, can attest to how delicious this stuff is, and one serve contains a whole banana. So ap-peeling!
Natural frozen banana ice cream, 4 ways
Tips: Peeling and cutting a frozen banana is an easy way to lose a finger. Be careful! I like to cut them in half first, which provides a flat base for easier removal of the skin. Use a sharp knife to take off the skin in downward slices. Bananas can also be peeled first, and frozen nude in a ziplock bag. I tend to throw them into the freezer whole though, as their skin functions as natural packaging!
The riper the banana, the sweeter the ice cream.
Ice cream can be eaten immediately, or popped back in the freezer for an hour for extra firming.
Frozen banana ice cream is best eaten on the day it is made as it will begin to discolour. Frozen leftovers are a lovely addition to a smoothie though.
There are beautiful vanilla yogurts with no added sugar available in Australia; my favourites being Jalna, Evia and 5:am.
Number 1: Banana ice cream (2 ingredients)
4 frozen very ripe bananas, peeled and chopped
½ cup vanilla yogurt (frozen, if time permits)
Place bananas and yogurt into food processor. Whiz until smooth. Serve as is, or spoon ice cream into a plastic bag with the corner cut off, and pipe into an ice cream cone (pictured). Serves 4.
Number 2: Mango Tango ice cream
1 mango, peeled, chopped and frozen
4 frozen very ripe bananas, peeled and chopped
½ cup vanilla yogurt
Shredded coconut to decorate
Chop up the frozen mango pieces, and place into food processor with bananas and yogurt. Whiz until smooth. Sprinkle with shredded coconut. Serves 4–5.
Number 3: Tropical ice cream (vegan)
1 cup chopped frozen pineapple
4 frozen very ripe bananas, peeled and chopped
½ cup natural coconut cream, frozen in an ice cube tray
Chop up the frozen pineapple pieces, and place into food processor with bananas and coconut cream blocks. Whiz until smooth. This blend takes a little longer to become smooth. It’ll look quite dry to start with, then will miraculously begin to swirl into a heavenly creamy concoction right before your eyes. Serves 4–5.
Note: Check coconut cream ingredients – many tinned varieties contain thickeners and preservatives. Look for ‘100% natural’ on the label.
Number 4: Banana Berry ice cream
1 cup (125g punnet) frozen raspberries
4 frozen very ripe bananas, peeled and chopped
½ cup vanilla yogurt
1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)
Place raspberries, bananas and yogurt into your food processor. Whiz until smooth. Taste for sweetness and add maple syrup if desired. Whiz again. Serves 4–5.
OMG do you know how many bananas I have frozen in zippy bags in my freezer? Um like at least 3kg. USING THEM TODAY!!
Hah. Likewise – it’s like they’re multiplying in there. Enjoy!
PS. Cass, I still receive an ominous ModSecurity warning message every time I try to comment on your blog – it’s as if I’ve been silenced! It happens on two other blogs I read. Quite a mystery.
I gotta admit I saw ice cream and I assumed it was a complicated thing but holy hell it sure looks doable so I am going to do it this weekend and my kids will think I am so ace!
Ace Fran! Hope you made it and they loved it. I haven’t bought supermarket ice cream in yonks! We actually prefer this one.
Your #1 is a favorite go-to…love that toothless grin!!
Yep, that’s definitely one very happy (and cute) toothless grin!
Lovin banan ice cream all the way!!!
the card is so cute…
Thanks Dedy. I imagine you’d have plentiful bananas where you are! Actually, I reckon banana ice cream would go pretty fabulously with Pisang goreng. Banana overload, in a good way!!
Oh, I just love banana ice cream and it brings to mind our time as newlyweds. We had a cute little apartment on an island in Helsinki with the rocky shore just a stone’s throw away. We were both poor students and making banana ice cream made an regular appearance on our menu as an evening snack. It was perfect, sweet, fairly inexpensive and healthy.
Ooooh, love this story, and your student digs sound just magic, and so romantic. My husband and I met as students too. Our regular cheap evening snack was hummus and pickles on Atlantic-brand rye bread (a local supermarket variety Rye, known for its’ ability to magically never go moldy. It lasted forever and I shudder now to think of what must have been in it)!
My small boy has been pestering me to make more ice cream…would I get parent points by going off to make some now in readiness for this evening…oh yes I would! 🙂 on it. Thanks Saskia.
I hope your son was appreciative! I love that parent points can be earned from something so healthy. Last night my 9-year old suggested a nectarine version, so we froze a container of it to try after school today. I’m looking forward to it too!
My kind of ice cream making.Getting ripe bananas for the freezer ASAP.
Yay! Enjoy Norma.
oooo!! the tropical one for me and easy to make too. i dig the kitschy uber bright green basket weave table decor and sprinkled coconut on top. your little guys are so lucky to have such a cool mom + ice cream taste tests.
Thanks heaps Kim! I love that basket weave paper too. It’s a big fat roll of wallpaper, and I’ve been using it to wrap presents for years!
I’m bananas for these variations of such a creamy, healthy dessert 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks for the punny compliment CCU ;0
Not having an ice cream maker, this would be a perfect frozen treat for me to enjoy.
Love this recipe for that exact reason. I did own an ice cream maker once but it took up too much valuable space in my compact kitchen so out it went. Also found I was purchasing much more than the recommended human daily allowance of cream.
That is exactly what I’m afraid would happen in our home as well. I’ll stick with your recipe instead. 🙂
How did you know what I have in my freezer! A mountain of overripe bananas, and absolutely no plan for dealing with them. These treatments sound seriously yummy Sas, and as someone who also stockpiles frozen berries I think number four will be my first attempt. We don’t have your heatwave to justify this kind of pudding, but who cares! Those vintage cards are so sweet.
Ha! Thanks df. I reckon ice cream is good in any weather too. You could probably scoop up the top layer of your garden or lake at the moment, and make an iced slushie version!
Now there’s a good idea!
Hahahaaa, love those Valentines cards! I got a punny one for Aaron this year too, with a whale on the cover and “I Whaley Love You” as the tagline (no doubt he’ll think it’s lame but I’ve drawn a zombie inside so hopefully that’ll make up for it!). As for the banana ice cream, I’ve been wanting to do this for AGES! I think I need to get my act together and actually do it this weekend. Healthy and delish, yum! Happy Valentines, sweetheart 😉 xxx
Ha! Zombies are the perfect foil for a cuteness overload. Hope you loved the nana ice cream if you tried it. We made a choc version yesterday with frozen nanas, raw cacao powder, frozen coconut milk and a touch of brown sugar. Holy moly. SO delish.
There are always bananas in my kitchen, and nearly always overripe bananas, great ideas. I especially like number 4 but raspberries are hard to get here (even frozen ones). But I’m always on the lookout! xx
Thanks Sofia. Raspberries are fairly easy to get here but SO expensive! Any other berries can be used. Frozen over-ripe strawberries are beautiful too.
I love this recipe, it’s a favourite in our family too, a guiltless pleasure. We sometimes lightly process frozen blueberries in at the end so we have banana blue chip ice cream.
We’ve tried frozen blueberries too and they were fab. Love the idea of lightly blending them in at the end though – much prettier!
Love your vintage cards! And the banana ice cream is brilliant! You just made my teenage banana loving son very happy by sharing this with us. We always have both bananas and vanilla yogurt in the house. I need to go home and stick some in the freezer. Nice to see you today! Happy Valentine’s Day Saskia!
Thanks! With a teenaged son you’d better put double the bananas in your freezer – not sure the noted quantity will be enough for him! My 9-year old eats like a horse. Terrified at the thought of how much he will put away in a few years time!
Just yesterday I put 6 bananas in the freezer! This one eats like a cow! Non-stop. I would be terrified too Saskia! It’s coming….
I hope 6 is enough!
Fabulous as usual Sas. Next can you post a few recipes for the year-old frozen mangos I found at the back of my freezer! m
Hey Michelle. Thanks! I reckon you could try one of those geriatric mangoes in the Mango Tango version (recipe 2). Not sure about the best-before date for frozen mangoes, but you could give them a sniff. Glad I’m not the only one with questionable bits and pieces at the back of the freezer.
Love the recipes – and the cards! I’m making my “punny” Valentine gifts today too!
Thanks Julianne. Can’t wait to see ’em! Pinterest is awash with Valentine puns today, and I’m in heaven.