Chocobanutty Ice Cream

Some years I discovered the magic that is banana ‘ice cream’. You take your old spotty brown bananas being ignored in the fruit bowl that no one wants to eat, and if you don’t fancy baking a banana bread or two, peel and break each banana into one inch segments and freeze them solid. Then, when you’re in the mood for a guilt free treat process the frozen bananas in a food processor until they turn thick and creamy. Voila! Instant ice cream! I’ve played with this basic recipe, adding a little double cream sweetened with some icing sugar, or when I was feeling like I wanted something a bit more indulgent I’d add some chocolate chunks and walnuts.

I love homemade ice cream. I treated myself to an ice cream maker a few years back and it regularly churns out fantastic homemade delights. However, I’ve recently seen several homemade ice cream recipes which don’t involve an ice cream maker, something that is often in demand as not everyone has the space for a machine. Most of the recipes seem to involve sweetened condensed milk. I have tried a few ice cream recipes involving sweetened condensed milk and I find they impart a lovely rich, creamy texture and slight cooked caramelly flavour to the ice cream without the need for additional sweeteners. So, when I found a bag of one inch frozen banana segments abandoned at the bottom of my deep freezer the other day I had an idea and this ice cream recipe was born!

This is a simple recipe; just mix the ingredients in the food processor, stir in the nuts and chocolate and transfer to a freezer proof container to harden. Ten minutes’ work. That’s it. Easy-peasy! The addition of sweetened condensed milk keeps the texture of the ice cream perfect, even after storing for a few days. Be warned though, this ice cream is incredibly moreish and you may end up eating more than you intend!

A special thank you goes out to Christena A. from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, who came up with the catchy name for this ice cream flavour. I was drawing a blank in the naming creativity department and so I turned to my Facebook friends for assistance. They came up with a wide range of interesting names from Wackanana to Banana-choconut to The Monkey’s Nuts, but Chocobanutty has a lovely ring to it and instantly won approval. Thank you Christena!