This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Albertsons. All opinions are 100% mine.
Natural ice cream or "nice cream," made with bananas and chocolate is a healthy, dairy free, and delicious way to indulge in dessert! This recipe comes together in just 5 minutes and is always a family favorite!
Natural Ice Cream (Nice Cream)
Banana ice cream, or natural ice cream known as "nice cream" is a favorite healthy dessert around our house! The secret ingredient that makes it so delicious and creamy (just like the real thing!) is frozen bananas. I always throw my overripe bananas in the freezer to have on hand for these recipes including my family banana bread recipe and strawberry almond butter smoothies.
Whenever I go to visit my sister, we usually end up at a restaurant having our favorite "nice cream" milkshake. So, years ago, I decided to figure out how to make healthy ice cream at home for myself! This recipe is easy to make at home, budget friendly, and just as yummy!
It feels like such an indulgence and is actually healthy enough to eat for breakfast!
How to Freeze Bananas
Freezing bananas for recipes like this natural ice cream or other smoothie recipes is very quick and easy to do. I usually only freeze my overripe bananas, but less ripe bananas will work for this recipe as well. The more ripe, the sweeter they get, so it does affect the flavor.
To freeze bananas, follow these simple steps:
- Remove peel from bananas.
- Slice
- Lay flat on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer. (If we are being honest, I totally skip this step)
- Once frozen, add them to a freezer bag and store in the freezer. (Honestly, I usually just put my banana slices straight into the bag and try to lay the bag flat and separate them as much as possible while they freeze. This does cause the slices to stick together more often, but I don't really care- I blend them up pretty easily anyway)
Natural Ice cream Ingredients
The beauty about this recipe is that you can customize it to fit your tastes as long as you always use the frozen bananas as the base.
For the best tasting natural ice cream, I use high quality ingredients that are minimally-processed plant-based products free from food additives. O Organics® and Open Nature® offer high quality, plant-based products available exclusively at Albertsons. I love to use their convenient Grocery Delivery and Drive Up & Go™ services, especially when I have my kids in tow.
You can also find O Organics® and Open Open Nature® plant-based products at the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, Safeway, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, and Tom Thumb.
For my natural ice cream recipe, I use:
- frozen bananas
- cocoa powder
- O Organics coconut milk
- Open Nature creamy almond butter (either with honey or coconut)
- dark chocolate shavings garnish (optional)
Other Nice Cream Flavors
It is easy to customize your nice cream with other natural flavors. You can choose to keep or omit the cocoa and add in some of these combinations. Keep in mind that it is completely up to your taste buds, so if you do change up the recipe, keep adjusting your ingredients until you get it right where you want it. If it gets too thick to blend, just add more of the coconut (or almond) milk.
- Strawberries
- raspberries
- blueberries
- pineapple (omit cocoa)
- orange (omit cocoa for a creamsicle taste)
- peaches (omit cocoa for a peaches + cream flavor)
- dark chocolate chips
- drizzle extra nut butter on top with dark chocolate chips
- protein powder
- Mango
- pumpkin and a dash of cinnamon (omit cocoa)
How to make Natural Ice Cream (Nice Cream)
- Freeze bananas. If you don't already have frozen bananas on hand, cut and freeze bananas completely before making ice cream.
- Add frozen bananas, cocoa, almond butter, and half of the coconut milk to a blender.
- Blend.
- Add as much of the remaining coconut milk as needed to make all of your ingredients blend until very smooth. You may need extra milk if your blender is not very strong. This should yield a soft-serve consistency result, and can be served this way if preferred.
- Line a bread pan or other freezer-safe pan with parchment.
- Pour natural ice cream "nice cream" into pan and stick in the freezer for 2 hours before serving. This will give it more of the traditional, firm ice cream consistency.
- Garnish or add toppings as desired.
Note: if you freeze banana ice cream overnight, it will become much harder. You will need to pull it out for 20 minutes or so to soften before serving. You can store nice cream in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Natural Ice Cream (Nice Cream) with Bananas and Chocolate
A delicious, all natural chocolate ice cream made with frozen bananas that is rich, creamy and guilt free.
Ingredients
- 2 Frozen Bananas
- 2 T cocoa
- 2 T nut butter
- 1/2 cup coconut milk may substitute almond or other milk
- chocolate shavings optional garnish
Instructions
-
Freeze banana slices completely
-
Blend together frozen bananas, cocoa, nut butter, and half of the coconut milk. Add as much of the remaining milk needed until ingredients are blended and smooth.
-
Line a pan or freezer safe dish with parchment. Pour nice cream into pan. Place in freezer for 2 hours before serving.
Recipe Notes
Note: To fill up this bread pan, I tripled the recipe.
I hope you get a chance to make this delicious ice cream and then let me know what you think!
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