Healthy & Delicious: Three-Ingredient Banana, Honey, and Peanut Butter Ice Cream
This Recipe First Appeared In: Come on in 'The Kitchn'
Editor's note: On Mondays, Kristen Swensson of Cheap, Healthy, Good swings by these parts to share healthy and delicious recipes with us. Take it away, Kristen!
[Photograph: Kristen Swensson]
Lately, I've been loving The Kitchn almost as much as I love Friday Night Lights. And for a food blog to surpass Tim Riggins in the hierarchy of Things That Are Nice to Look at—well, that's pretty big stuff.
A few months ago, the blog re-posted a recipe for ice cream made entirely from one ingredient: bananas. You simply freeze the fruit, whip it in a food processor for a few minutes, and *poof*. It morphs into a custardy, soft serve treat.
Since Valentine's Day and its obligatory dessert indulgences are around the bend, the dish had to be attempted. A few readers suggested adding peanut butter and honey, which sounded most excellent. (Elvis would be pleased.) So, away I went.
However, as I'm functionally illiterate and dangerously negligent when it comes to directions, I forgot to peel my banana before it went into the freezer. Consequently, the fruit had to thaw for a full half-hour before its jacket could be wrestled off. By some miracle, though, the recipe still worked, and the puree process resulted in a half-cup of creamy, delicious ice cream. It's kind of magical.
As this is a column about healthy and delicious food, it should be mentioned that even with the peanut butter and honey, each serving only comes to 173 calories, about 3 grams of fat, and around 4 grams of fiber. To put it in perspective, a half-cup of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey is 300 calories, 18 grams of fat, and 1 gram of fiber. So there you go.
In conclusion, thank you (again), Kitchn. You are truly the Taylor Kitsch of food blogs.
Ingredients
serves 1
- 1 large, slightly over-ripe banana
- 1 teaspoon peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon honey
Procedures
-
1
Peel banana. Slice it into about ten chunks. Freeze the chunks. Once frozen, put them in a food processor with peanut butter and honey. Puree until creamy, like soft serve ice cream, stopping the processor to scrape the sides when necessary.
-
2
OR
-
3
Forget to peel banana. Freeze it. Wrestle futilely with now-frozen banana peel. Give up and let it sit for 30 minutes to thaw. Peel banana like a two-year-old. Break it into three or four pieces. Add pieces to food processor with peanut butter and honey. Puree until creamy, like soft serve ice cream, stopping the processor to scrape the sides when necessary.
29 comments:
lol--I think option two is more suited to my average daily kitchen behaviour.
BananaMonkey at 11:33AM on 02/08/10
Hee hee, love option 2.
car1fsu at 11:40AM on 02/08/10
you can also make sorbet from frozen peaches as a base mixed with other fruit, like raspberries. stick some frozen peaches in the food processor, add some frozen raspberries, some sugar, some lemon juice, a splash of vanilla, and some sugar, and turn it on. you can add a bit of yogurt too.
cybercita at 11:43AM on 02/08/10
this sounds fantastic and healthy!
LaurenRachel at 11:46AM on 02/08/10
I use frozen bananas more than fresh-- I have a smoothie addiction-- and I never unpeel before freezing. I just nuke them for 20-30 seconds, then peel, or use a knife to cut the peel off.
BTW, the PB &Co Dark Chocolate Dreams would be amazing in this recipe!
shalomblack at 11:47AM on 02/08/10
will it work using an immersion blender?
gastronomeg at 12:03PM on 02/08/10
@gastromeg, i bet it would if you have one powerful enough and use a narrow container.
cybercita at 12:20PM on 02/08/10
darn, I actually had an overripe banana in the freezer had I not mistaken it for a sausage and put it into a curried lentil soup (real story)... this sounds a lot better.
hmw0029 at 12:32PM on 02/08/10
@hmw0029: ha!!!!
callmenaomi at 12:51PM on 02/08/10
PUT SOME BACON ON IT!
Lola del Rio at 1:15PM on 02/08/10
Damn this sounds awesome, we've always wanted to make home made ice cream... I think I might suggest this to the wife for valentine's day dessert.
Any more suggestions for additions?
steamsoldier at 1:39PM on 02/08/10
@shalomblack, I wish I had thought of that. Will definitely keep it in mind for next time.
@hmw0029, that is hilarious.
@steamsoldier, Kitchn readers added nuts and mini-chocolate chips (stirred in, not pureed). Sounded good to me.
Kristen Swensson at 1:49PM on 02/08/10
That frozen banana purée may taste good, but, come on, folks, it isn't ice cream.
I made some good stuff over the weekend, with cream, milk, egg yolks, sugar, overripe baby bananas, dark rum, and chopped walnuts.
My next batch is going to be Fage Greek yogurt ice cream with macerated strawberries.
salpico at 2:37PM on 02/08/10
@salpico, right you are. but some of us need to find ways to have our cake and fit into our jeans too.
cybercita at 2:40PM on 02/08/10
I made this exact thing last night for the Super Bowl! I did 4 bananas, a little over 1/4 cup of peanut butter, 3 tbs honey, and 1/2 cup Nilla wafer crumbles. I stirred in the Nilla wafers at the end and then packed it in a container to re-freeze to the right consistency. Made about a pint and a half. No one could believe it was "sugar free" and dairy free. Wonderful.
stellabee at 3:50PM on 02/08/10
@steamsoldier, cocoa powder would be lovely too, as would cinnamon (not necessarily together, though).
SEAtoNYC at 4:12PM on 02/08/10
I squealed with delight at this! Cannot. Wait.
Erin Meister at 9:48PM on 02/08/10
As a lactose intolerant ice cream lover, I'll have to try this.
Avocado at 1:21PM on 02/09/10
yo I have been eyeing this recipe since peeping it a while back...so much so that there are two (unpeeled, mind you) bananas sitting in my freezer right now. Thanks for the heads up, I can just picture myself wrassling those frozen skins and cursing later on. The more you know, the more you know.
porkydickens at 3:46PM on 02/09/10
oh and by "unpeeled" I mean with peel on. Der.
porkydickens at 3:46PM on 02/09/10
I think I'm going to make this tonight!
cb1414 at 4:31PM on 02/09/10
If you freeze the banana with the peel on, you can run it under hot water for 10 seconds or so to loosen it up. It'll come right off.
aravenel at 12:09PM on 02/12/10
I tried this a while back with just the banana. The results were nothing even reminiscent of ice cream, and while the additives might improve the taste a little, I'm not buying the prospect of deliciousness. And I'm not even a lover of the rich stuff, I'll eat cheap, low-fat ice cream or soft serve, as lot as it has some air whipped into it.
ChloeA at 5:44PM on 02/13/10
Hey- how lucky am I! In my freezer I have an enormous collection of over-ripe frozen bananas without the peels. Three people in my household decided to buy bananas one day (not a clue why- some cosmic occurrence, since neither my husband nor my teenagers have ever come home from the grocery store with bananas) and too many ripened before being eaten so I froze them thinking of making banana bread or cran-ana jam. If not for the honey it would fit into a Southbeach phase 2 diet, don't you think? I made some and it really is excellent. Thanks!
Dogwood at 7:16PM on 02/13/10
i tried this using my magic bullet and the bananas wouldn't puree well, so nuking it for about 30 secs helped. This was a perfect snack after a long bike ride! I wonder how it would taste with some Nutella? (Nutella makes everything taste better imo)
smruti at 7:28PM on 02/13/10
i LOVE banana ice cream/smoothies ...
my trick is to take the over-ripe bananas and slice them into pieces then throw in freezer, that way when blending, it's faster/easier because they're ice cube sized.
Also i add peanut butter sometimes, but for a real kick, dissolve a tsp or two of instant coffee and add that to the mix ... good for you with a jump start to the day. very tasty ... if too thick, add a splash of milk (vanilla soy milk works very well).
yom yom
izwombat at 11:34AM on 02/14/10
o, btw, i do ALL my smoothies in Magic Bullet ... works perfectly.
izwombat at 11:35AM on 02/14/10
My favourite recipes are from a vegan website: Veggies Unite!
I make smoothies/shakes from recipes posted there, then freeze them!
Sugar at 1:17AM on 02/16/10
I am now in the habit of looking for fresh yogurt or fruit shake recipes to make my lifestyle healthier. I came across your post and realized that I can whip up homemade ice cream too!
I am thrilled at consuming several helpings of banana-flavored ice cream, and am excited to add peanut butter for texture. This is a wonderful idea, though I'd rather buy creamed honey instead of the raw liquid variant because I'm sure the taste will come out fuller and more heavenly.
Thank you and more power to your site!
Bart Santana at 12:33AM on 06/21/10