one ingredient ice-cream

{an instant summer classic}

When I heard about one ingredient ice-cream I was skeptical. When I heard that bananas were the one ingredient I thought, yeah right. Well I am eating crow tonight ladies and gentleman -- that is, I will eat crow once I finish my bowl of delicious frozen banana ice-cream. I literally cannot believe it.

Let me back-track a little, my friend Jackie shared a recipe with me that uses frozen bananas to make a one ingredient ice-cream. All you need are four frozen bananas and a food processor. I was still wary, but I thought what do I have to lose -- four overripe bananas, I can handle that. Don't get me wrong I like bananas, but I don't love them. Like many people, I eat them mostly because I know they are good for me.

My parents came over for a quick weeknight dinner tonight and I decided to test out the banana ice-cream on them. This morning before work I quickly cut up four ripe bananas into thick slices and tossed them in the freezer. After dinner I popped the frozen banana slices into the food processor and waited. Low and behold after a minute or two the bananas started to look like ice-cream.

The recipe I was forwarded mentioned that you could eat the ice-cream as it is, with only bananas or you could add a little peanut butter and/or cocoa powder. I tried the banana ice cream without anything in it and it was delicious. It has the texture of a frozen cream pie. It was smooth and deliciously creamy. I decided to add a generous tablespoon of almond butter to the bananas for good measure. Oh my word it was delicious. I definitely think it was better with the almond butter, but I would eat it either way. I am excited to add cocoa next time (though I could hardly call it one-ingredient ice-cream at that point could I?)

I think this is something you have to taste to believe, so I'll give you the "recipe".

This is what I did (and what I will be doing again repeatedly all summer):

1. Chop four ripe bananas into 2 cm slices. Put them in the freezer in a ziplock bag.

2. Let the bananas freeze (I left mine in the freezer all day)

3. Put the frozen bananas in a food processor and whiz -- it takes a few minutes so don't be discouraged if the mixture doesn't look like ice-cream right away

4. Once the mixture is smooth (it looks like soft serve) add a heaping tablespoon of almond butter, but only if you want to take it to the next level, you could just eat the banana only ice-cream. It would make you happy too.

5. If you chose to add the almond butter, whiz until it is integrated.

6. Serve any way you enjoy ice-cream. It might be a little soft for a cone, but perhaps if you put the mixture back in the freezer it would firm up a bit (I'll test this and let you know).

So, you absolutely must try this. Go get bananas right now while you are thinking about it. It is so cussing delicious, I just know you'll love it.

Thank you Jackie for the recipe and you are welcome everyone who is reading this. This is a life changing moment for you (see Exhibit A). Healthy, easy, inexpensive ice-cream. Yep, that just happened.

xo

Em

Exhibit A: