Going Bananas? Make Banana "Ice Cream"

We had a delivery from Safeway last week that included eight free bananas - eight bananas! Too much for two people and cat. We thought that this was a great deal since in addition to the fruit, it also included free delivery. We also thought that we can finish all that bananas. After all, my husband had visions of peanut butter filled bananas as a snack.

Well, that did not happen, and we still had six bananas! Now, they're getting brown.

I remembered reading about banana ice cream from frozen bananas; that seems like a great option for the remaining six. So, I put the whole bananas in the freezer: peel and all.

Bananas in a blender - Puree & Stir

Over the week, I finally got around to making Banana Ice Cream based on the recipe from Sparkpeople.com. This recipe is a combination of peanut butter and bananas so it follows my husband's vision.

One problem though: I did not peel the bananas first. DUH!

I searched Google again for possibilities and found a lot of options. What I tried is the technique shown in Happy Herbivore.com. I got my trusty knife and surprisingly, the bananas did peel easily. The fruits were extraordinarily cold though, so it helped to put on a latex glove.

I followed the recipe - but there was another problem: I do not have a food processor. I had to use my blender, which did not quite like pureeing frozen bananas without anything liquid. It needed a little bit of liquid, so I had to add a bit of almond milk (about 1/4 c). I figured the nuttiness of the almond milk would compliment the peanut butter. After adding the almond milk, the pureeing came easier. Still, a lot of stirring was involved.

Verdict

The result was actually pretty good. Pureed frozen bananas turned out to be surprisingly creamy. I wanted to try the recipe as-is first and see if we need to increase the peanut butter. My husband said we should.

I served this batch with some light whipped cream and peanut butter granola for crunch. The granola also tied to the hint of the peanut butter flavor of the ice cream. I think next time, we'll try 1 Tbsp instead. 

Serving it in a ramekin also added a touch of elegance to it. I could have gone overboard and added chocolate syrup, but I opted for simplicity for this one and focusing on the natural flavors of fruit and nut, with a hint of cream. It was yummy, almost like ice cream.

Perhaps next time, I will use the recipe at Herbivore.com that uses vanilla and cinnamon or maybe some combination of it. Vanilla and Peanut Butter does sound great together.

Just goes to show: When life gives you bananas, make banana faux-ice cream. Until next batch.