Guilt-Free Chocolate Ice Cream
LeAnne Campbell, Founder and Executive Director of Global Roots and Author of The China Study Cookbook, shared with me a recipe for chocolate ice-cream that has become a favorite in my household. Rich and I typically don’t eat desserts; we reach for fruit when we want something sweet. Now we can have it both ways. This creamy soft-serve style ice cream is made from frozen bananas and takes only a few minutes to make. While LeAnne makes it in her Vita-Mix, I find that I prefer making it in my food processor. It retains more of its frozen quality and requires less plant milk. Use whatever you have, it’s all good!
If you let the bananas thaw a little (as I did in the video), you don’t even need to add the plant-based milk. The pecans are just a bonus. If you don’t care for them, leave them out or fold in your favorite berries, like fresh strawberries, raspberries, or cherries. YUM!
Guilt-Free Chocolate Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 cups (300g) bananas frozen
- 1 ounce chopped pecans, fresh strawberries, cherries, or raspberries
- 1/4-1/2 cup plant-based milk
Instructions
- The first thing you will need to do is freeze some bananas. I slice mine lengthwise into three strips and then lay them on a silicone mat or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Next pop them into your freezer and let them freeze solid. This takes anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour and a half, depending on how cold your freezer is and how thin your banana slices.
- Once frozen, you may use them right away or store them in your freezer in a zip-lock bag until you're ready to use them. I usually do both, use some now and save the rest for later. I also keep several bags of frozen bananas in my freezer for convenience.
- Now, to make the ice-cream. Take your frozen bananas (The quantity is dependent upon how many people you are feeding or how hungry you are.) and break them into manageable pieces. Transfer them quickly to a food processor and pulse until you get a rough, crumbly sort of mixture. Do not add milk until all of the fruit you intend to use is as fine a crumble as you can get it. Otherwise, your ice cream will be full of fruit lumps. If you let it melt a bit, you don't even need to use the plant-based milk and you'll have a richer, chocolaty flavor.
- Then add the plant-based milk of your choice, just enough to break the banana crumbs into a creamy consistency. I've used soy milk and almond milk to this recipe with great results. You won't need much, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Process on high, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides or to break up large balls of banana that have formed. The entire process shouldn't take more than two or three minutes. Process until smooth and creamy.
- Add a heaping scoop of cocoa powder. I use two 1/8-cup coffee scoops but if you like it dark, feel free to add more. Blend until the chocolate has fully incorporated. Spoon out into individual serving bowls. Add favorite topping and serve immediately or return to freezer to enjoy later.
Notes
Nutrition
Below are the equipment and products I used in this recipe. Click on the photo to order yours through my affiliate link with Amazon.com, for which I receive a small advertising fee. Please visit my Store for more information.
Cuisinart 14-Cup Food Processor
Vitamix 5200 Blender
Sounds like a fun recipe but a little unclear when the other fruit (in ingredients list; below) is added to the recipe since it’s also not shown in pic:
“1 ounce chopped pecans, fresh strawberries, cherries, or raspberries”
Also a possible suggestion: I’m assuming the following sentence (below) was referring to the frozen bananas, but why not just say to do this in the instructions and omit the milk entirely from the ingredients list since who wouldn’t want the final results to have a “richer, chocolaty flavor”… right??
“If you let it melt a bit, you don’t even need to use the plant-based milk and you’ll have a richer, chocolaty flavor.“
Thank you so much for your time:) Diana
Hi, Diana,
Thank you for your comments and suggestion. Of course, I am using frozen bananas. Whether you choose to use plant-based milk is a personal choice. I don’t think it affects the flavor in any major way to use a little milk. I served it to my carnivorous sister and she said it was the best chocolate ice cream she’s ever eaten. You’ll have to judge for yourself. It will largely depend upon how powerful your food processor is. I add fresh or frozen fruit and nuts after the ice cream is completed, leaving crunchy bites to enjoy. I hope you’ll give it a try.
Happy Cooking!
Danielle