5 Minute Banana Berry Ice Cream

My little Samuel asks me for ice cream almost daily.

Although making homemade ice cream is not really too big of a deal, it requires a little bit of patience. And since Samuel and I are alike in so many ways, sometimes neither of us have the patience required to wait for the ice cream to freeze.

In comes 5 minute Banana ice cream. Aaaahhh. And it is almost done in an instant.

Because it is made from bananas, berries, raw nuts, and minimal added pure maple syrup, I have no problem serving this to my kids as an afternoon snack. Kinda' as a replacement for yogurt or cottage cheese or something like that.

You do need a food processor. Or if you don't have one I have seen some people try it with a blender. I have been very frustrated in trying to use my Blendtec to get it to work. Perhaps try adding the maple syrup with the bananas in the first step to get it to blend?

Here is a great little video with Dreena Burton, demonstrating how to make Banana Ice Cream. I will post her recipe, and also my modifications so you can see what I did.



Dreena has other movies that you can watch. I think she's the best!

Cashew Banana Ice Cream
By Dreena Burton, with some modifications of my own that my kids love.

When I have overripe bananas, I slice them, measure 3 cups to a container or ziploc bag, then store in the freezer so they are readily available to make this ice cream.

Ingredients: (Tree NUT FREE variation)

(About 3 cups)

3 cups frozen sliced bananas (4–5 medium bananas) (see notes)
1/3 – ½ cup cashew butter (raw cashew butter is especially good; also try a combo of almond butter and macadamia nut butter) (if allergic to tree nuts, use peanut butter)
1/8 tsp sea salt
3-4 tbsp pure maple syrup (or less/more as desired)

And my variation:

Includes frozen mixed berries, and less nut butter.

3 cups frozen sliced bananas (4–5 medium bananas)
1/2 cup frozen berry medley
1/4 cup (scant) cashew butter
2 Tbsp almond butter
1/8 tsp sea salt
3-4 tbsp pure maple syrup (or less/more as desired)


Instructions

In a food processor, process bananas until they are roughly chopped. Add frozen berries, cashew butter, salt, and syrup (starting with 2-3 tablespoons) and purée until very smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

Taste test, adding remaining syrup if desired.

Serve immediately, and store leftovers in the freezer. (This ice cream freezes well, being easy to scoop again within a few minutes after removing from the freezer. In fact, I prefer to freeze it to reharden the ice cream somewhat before digging in!)

Notes:

When I have overripe bananas, I slice them, measure 3 cups to a container or ziploc bag, then store in the freezer so they are readily available to make this ice cream.
The more overripe your bananas, the sweeter this ice cream will be. Also, softer ice cream is sweeter to our tastebuds than hard, frozen ice cream, so you can adjust sweetness to taste with the maple syrup. (don’t omit the salt, it enhances the sweetness and also rounds out the overall flavors.)

You can modify this ice cream as you like. I prefer the simplicity of bananas and cashews, but you could add vanilla extract (or paste), almond extract, cinnamon, and/or nutmeg. Also, try pulsing in some raw cashews or macadamia nuts, or some chocolate chips.

PROJECT VEGAN KIDS
DAIRY FREE SERIES
AND
We all want VEGAN FAST FOOD!
This will be our first contribution to this new fast food series, as I really do make this when I am panicked and don't know what else to feed my kids in a hurry.