Frozen Banana 'Icecream'
Our food blogger, Janey Green makes a delicious frozen Banana icecream, perfect for the weekend!
This idea has been around for years but for those of you who don't know about it, it is a miraculous feat of nature and technology!
Unlike many homemade ice-cream recipes, you don't need an icecream maker for this one, but you will need a food processor.
(A basic one will do, but not a hand-held one used for soups and purées).
Unlike many homemade ice-cream recipes, you don't need an icecream maker for this one, but you will need a food processor.
(A basic one will do, but not a hand-held one used for soups and purées).
Frozen banana, when blended in a food processor, becomes the most incredible, sweet, soft-scoop textured low fat and dairy-free 'icecream'. It takes a little patience, but once you have mastered the basic blending technique which I will show you here, the possibilities are endless.
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The Basic Recipe
Frozen Bananas
(Allow 1 per person)
(I find that 'just-ripe' bananas work best for this recipe rather than over ripe ones)
I freeze bananas in their natural state. Some people peel, slice them up and put them on trays to freeze but there really is no need. You can just keep a few bananas in the freezer, shoved into the spaces you can find, ready for whenever you want to make this.
Remove the bananas from the freezer and allow to stand for about 10 minutes. Using a bread knife, slice the banana into large chunks. Slice off the peel. It comes off really easily.You will end up with chunks of banana like this.
Cut each chunk into 3 or 4 slices.
Pop into the food processor. Prepare your ears for noise, then blend on high until the mixture stops circulating.
At this stage, it will resemble 'crumble topping', with uneven pieces of banana. Dislodge the pieces from around the blade and the sides with a spatula or an every day knife you would use to spread butter (or low fat margarine!) etc. Blend again until it stops moving.
This time it will be tiny pieces of granular banana. I call this the 'cous-cous' stage. Dislodge and blend again. This is where the process takes patience. You will need to dislodge and blend around 8-10 times and you will feel like it's never going to happen.
Towards the final stages, the mixture will form a ball. Again, break up the ball and blend. You can see where the 'icecream' is starting to form around the edges. It resembles cookie dough.
All of a sudden, after about 10 minutes of blending, dislodging and blending again, the frozen banana realises you mean business and it forms this incredible, smooth textured bowl of joy.
I prefer to make these mixtures fresh - as I'm about to use them, as the texture is at its ultimate in softness and silkiness straight from the food processor. (Once you start refreezing, ice crystals will form and you will need to stir after 2 hours, then leave out of the freezer for an hour or two before using). Somehow, it's never as good if you refreeze it.
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Alternatively, if you are happy to make the investment, a Yonanas frozen dessert machine makes the process really easy!
Try adding any combination of frozen fruits to the banana to make your desired 'icecream'. Always blend them with the frozen banana at the start of the process so that you end up with a silky smooth result. The texture will be more like a sorbet if you use lots of water-based fruits like mango and cherries.
Try adding reduced calorie drinking chocolate for chocolate 'ice cream'-it's delicious!
Try layering reduced fat mini rolls, fresh fruit and your chosen flavour of 'icecream' with some reduced fat fruit or natural yoghurt for a Slimmerbocker Glory!
Chocolate/Orange and Cherry/Chocolate are my favourite combos! These are really fun to make with the kids too as they can layer up their favourite ingredients without even realising how healthy their dessert is!
TIP
As with anything banana based, wash out or rinse the food processor/blade and bowls immediately after using as once oxidised and blackened, it is as sticky as glue and difficult to clean up.
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As with anything banana based, wash out or rinse the food processor/blade and bowls immediately after using as once oxidised and blackened, it is as sticky as glue and difficult to clean up.
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