Bananas are not my favourite fruit. I usually go for a bit more tang and crunch, but they are such a great source of goodness and energy and they do bring a lovely natural sweetness to cakes and biscuits when you’re trying to cut down on sugar.
Frozen banana recipes have been around for years and to be honest they’ve never really appealed, but the other day when faced with a large hand of reduced bananas, I thought it was about time I gave it a go.
Frozen Bananas with Cocoa, Dates and Coconut
The result was a creamy, gooey ice cream, indulgent enough to rival any of the luxury ice cream brands, but without any dubious additives and with less than half of the calories. It’s really quick and easy to whip up, except you do have to remember to put your bananas in the freezer the day before and it does need a good food processor.
Of course you can add all sorts of different ingredients of your choice, but here I used cocoa and coconut for flavour and texture, dates to give it a nice gooeyiness and some of my Easy Amaretto to give it a bit of a kick!. I am now converted, and this Frozen Banana Ice cream will definitely be on the dessert menu in our house from now on!
- 4 well ripened bananas ( slice into coin sized pieces and frozen the day before)
- 2 heaped tablespoons of good quality cocoa
- 4 soft medjool dates (with stones removed)
- 3 tbsp desiccated coconut (more if you like)
- A dash of vanilla essence, or liqueur (I used my Homemade Ameretto)
- Freeze the sliced bananas the day before.
- Remove them from the freezer for 10 mins or so to allow to soften slightly.
- Place all the ingredients into the food processor bowl and pulse.
- You may have to scrape down the sides a bit, just to make sure everything blends well.
- Have a little taste and adjust accordingly.
- You might like to add a little maple syrup or lemon juice depending on your preference.
- You can serve immediately, or put in the freezer in a sealed plastic container where it will keep for at least a week or so.
YUM! I don’t add dates to mine but will have to try out your recipe the next time I have a sweet tooth for ice cream. Thanks for sharing at the Home Matters Party!
This sounds lovely. I’m trying low GI at the moment so will definitely give this a go. Thank you.
It’s so delicious, you would never believe it was such a healthy recipe.