I scream, you scream, we all scream for…bananas??

When you think of a summer treat, what’s the first one that comes to mind?  Ice cream of course!  It’s sweet, and creamy and cold.  I remember from when I was a kid (but it still happens) hearing the music of the truck coming down the block. Then, as if we were all Pavlov’s dogs, we would stop in our tracks and yell out, “ICE CREAM!!” and either toward the truck, or run home to get money first and beg our friends to make him wait.  We were extra lucky in my neighborhood because we had a Mister Softie truck.  Mister Softie had soft serve ice cream on board and you could buy vanilla, chocolate or a swirl on a cone or in a cup.  Yum!  Or so I remember…

Fast forward 35 years and four food intolerances later, and even though I still scream when I hear the music of the truck coming, I can’t eat anything from it.  No ice cream.  No frozen yogurt.  Did you know that some sorbets have egg whites in them?  So not fair.  I have tried the soy based frozen desserts, but they just aren’t the same.  And I don’t like coconut, so all of those desserts are out too.  How do I soothe my craving for a frozen dessert that’s dairy, egg, gluten, and sesame free and that has no soy or coconut?  Enter the beautiful banana.

Believe it or not, when you freeze a banana, it’s texture completely changes from that delicate, sometimes mushy fruit, to a solid, frozen dessert ingredient capable of being chopped into something thick and creamy and delicious.  If you are like me, you buy bananas for the week and wait for them to turn from green to yellow before eating them.  But, if you wait too long, they start to get flecked with brown spots, and then turn completely brown.  I like them when they are yellow, and I will eat them when they have a few brown spots, but if they get any darker, they either hit the trash can or the freezer.  I started freezing slightly over-ripe bananas for banana bread to be made in the future, but when I could no longer eat banana bread, I had to find another use for them.  Enter banana “ice cream.”

Bananas must be frozen solid for this to work, so if you throw your bananas in the freezer now, check back in four or five hours.  Peel them first and put them in a plastic bag.  I keep a number of them in a gallon-size bag and add to it whenever my bananas are getting past the point of yummy.  You can freeze them whole or cut them into one inch pieces.  I keep mine whole so I don’t use more than one banana in my recipe (portion size is the key to indulging without going overboard.)  Once they are frozen, it’s time to start cooking (well, not really cooking, more like processing).  You can go the purist route and make the “ice cream” with just bananas, or you can add other ingredients.  When I make mine, I flavor it with peanut butter and a little dairy-free chocolate sauce.  If this doesn’t satisfy your craving, you can change the flavor by adding your favorite ingredients to the banana, like Nutella, caramel sauce, crushed walnuts, maple syrup; whatever floats your boat.

Before you start, gather your tools and ingredients:

Banana “ice cream” for one

One frozen banana, cut into one inch pieces

One tablespoon peanut butter

One teaspoon chocolate syrup

Food processor

 

First, cut up the banana, and put it into the food processor.

Then, watch the magic happen:  As you start chopping the banana, it breaks into small pieces.

Stop the mixer and add the peanut butter and mix again.  Leave the food processor running until the mixture is smooth like ice cream.  Really, it will get there.  At that point, stop the mixer, add the chocolate syrup, and mix once more to blend.

That’s it!  Feel free to put it into a bowl and add toppings like sprinkles (most are dairy/gluten/egg/sesame free), chopped nuts, or crushed cookies (G/D/E/S free of course).

If you prefer your ice cream in a cone, put the concoction into a freezer-safe container and freeze for two hours.  Then, scoop it into a cone.  I found two cones that meet my intolerance criteria.  Both are made by Edward & Sons.  They offer a wafer cone at 12 calories a piece and a sugar cone for 45 calories.  They are delicious!

Ever hear of the saying, “Life is short, eat dessert first?”  With banana “ice cream, ” you can!  Serve this as an afternoon snack, or even for breakfast and be the coolest mom ever!  After all, it’s only bananas and peanut butter.  Feel free to leave the chocolate out,  or use only a little, if you want to keep the sugar content low.

I hope you enjoy this favorite treat of mine, and don’t be surprised if the next time you hear the Ice Cream Man driving down your street, you scream “BANANAS!!”- just like me.

xo

B